I’m going to keep this week’s whine short and simple. It’s based on a few less-than-pleasant recent experiences where I should have known better, but wasn’t really paying attention to the fast-approaching onslaught of…

Florida Heat

Inevitably each year, Spring comes along and I completely forget just how hot it gets in Florida as Summer approaches. Then a day comes where I visit a theme park without sunscreen and deeply regret it later. That day was last week.

I visited the Magic Kingdom for only 3 or 4 hours, taking some photos, riding a few rides, and generally having a good time. My good time ended later that day when I returned home to find that my nose, cheeks, and forehead were bordering the danger zone between receiving a day of healthy sunlight and one of painful scorching. Fortunately, I left early enough to avoid that whole scorching part.

A few days later came my visit to both of Disney’s water parks, to scout photo locations for an upcoming article in Orlando Attractions Magazine. After my Magic Kingdom experience, I made sure to lather up with plenty of SPF 50 and didn’t have any sun problems that day. The water kept me cool and all was right with the world.

Another couple days later, I returned to the water parks, not to actually go in the water but to take some pictures. On this day, I brilliantly thought that since I’d only be walking around the parks for a couple of hours early in the morning, I didn’t need any sunscreen. Again came the sunlight danger zone, except this time the reflections off of the water, the morning sun, or a combination of both made my encounter with solar rays a bit more unpleasant. Fortunately, still no burns, but definitely a not-so-healthy glow.

The following day, I attended the opening day preview of the new Manta roller coaster at SeaWorld, which ended up being the hottest day ever in the history of the world. Exaggeration? Probably. Is that what it felt like? Absolutely. I did remember the sunscreen that day but that didn’t help the overbearing heat poundin on me throughout the day. While I loved riding Manta, I couldn’t bring myself to ride more than twice, not because of the G-forces, twists, or turns, but rather because of the oppressive heat that beared down on me while I was on the ride.

I’ve never been good with hot weather and generally try to stay inside the air-conditioning during the Summer months. But as I wrote at the top of this post, I always forget when those Summer months are approaching and get hit with an unexpected blast of heat every year. Now, it’s predicted to stay in the ’90s for the rest of the week (and possibly the rest of the next 3-4 months) and thus begins my return to reclusion. I will gladly stay tucked away inside my house for a while. E-mail me when it’s October.