When Worlds Collide

Like his movie counterpart Clark W. Griswold, Scott Dalzell loaded up his kinfolk into the family truckster for an extended summer trip of thousands of miles on a pilgrimage to visit the world created around a cartoon critter.

And this is the tale of how Wally World, Disney World and Mark's World finally collided.

The Dalzells – Scott, Ruthann, Zack, Emma, Nathan and Luke – are friends from Crystal Lake, Ill. Mary and I used to work with Scott at the Northwest Herald and we got to know his terrific family through various get-togethers, mostly involving pro wrestling and video games, oddly enough. Scott worked in the photo department at the newspaper for many years and spent his last dozen years as photo editor. As we have moved on, so has Scott and after returning to college and earning another degree, he will start his first year as a full-time teacher this fall.

But before he starts his new gig, he packed up the family for the kind of cross-country trip that our parents once planned and we now fear. The family had already spent a week scouring every inch of Disney World by the time we invaded their condo. Saturday night, Zack and Emma got babysitting duties so Scott, Ruthann, his sister Laurie, her husband Rich, Mary and I could head out to Old Town to have a couple of drinks and eat and play.

It rained almost the entire time we were there, but its hard to have a bad time at Old Town. I had already promised Scott in an e-mail that I was going to kick his butt in that game where you use a water gun to shoot into a target and compete to see who can race to the top first. We played four rounds. Scott won three of four with Mary taking the other win (she won me a rather odd-looking Spider-Man).

Here are Scott and Ruthann, again, with their winnings. She doesn't look too happy, does she?



Ruthann might be the happiest person I've ever met. Here she is with Mary:



This picture has a back story. Scott had lost an expensive pair of Oakley sunglasses earlier in the trip. Here he is picking out a less expensive replacement pair:



It was a blast seeing all of the Dalzells again. Someone told me that one of the great things about moving to Central Florida is that you will always have visitors because, eventually, everyone comes here to play. We are definitely glad that is the case. We can't wait to visit with them again!

More later,


Mark