I Wish Life Had A Fast Pass

On Saturday following the museum trip, we wanted to go ice skating in the sculpture garden. EVERYONE says this is a must-do winter activity in DC and I had begged the group to do it with me. Since we were finally in the museum area and the weather was gorgeous, we decided to try to skate. Yes, even to a Floridian, 40 degrees is gorgeous in the winter when it has been in the teens and dreary for weeks straight. I never thought I would see the day that 40 was warm, but then I moved north and my entire temperature perspective shifted. So, I will still complain when it is 40 in Florida, but its Florida, its not supposed to be 40. It is all relative.

The skating setting is ideal. All around the cute little rink and restaurant with hot chocolate are famous sculptures. My favorite was either this Lichtenstein house or this silver tree, which I picture in some fantasy film, preferably Harry Potter. Side note, I cannot even wait for the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal this spring (http://www.universalorlandoresort.com/harrypotter/) and may even go down there when it opens with some of the costume wearers and people who believe they are actually wizards. Looking at this cool tree, I wonder if they have to polish it, and how long that would take. True, these thoughts were obviously NOT the artist's intention, yet, I can't control where my mind takes me....(if you have not noticed already).

Unfortunately for us, it seemed like ALL of DC had the same idea for Saturday afternoon. First of all, the line was ridiculously long. As the skating blocks were in 2 hour sessions, in my world, this meant we would be in the line for AT LEAST 2 hours. As impatience is a trait that I inherited early on from my family, my brain quickly thought of possible ways to skip the line. The old "HEY GRANDMA..Wait up" as you walk to the front of the line struck me as the most useful. I also begin to wish that everywhere had fast passes like Disney World, or at least that I could have called ahead and reserved a time to skate, since we did plan it. BUT NOOOO, the government just does NOT work like that. LAME.

Secondly, all of the skaters were skating in a circle with little space between them, for virtually the entire 2 hours straight. To the person who has not skated in over 10 years (hint: this means me), the idea of having no space to fall, or rest, was completely unappealing. I kept thinking about Superstar and how her parents were stomped to death when they fell in their river dance like competition, and then my thoughts turned to the sharpness of skates. I quickly realized that this busy rink was a MAJOR buzzkill.

Lucky for us, and not the government, we used our skating investment on refreshments and instead went to the roof of my building, checked out the view, and had a glass of wine or a beer. CHEERS to Disney World for once again reminding me how efficient attractions are run. Even though my expectations are now too high for other places to ever match up, it is no wonder they call you the happiest place on Earth.