DisneyWorld

Weddings

Culture

Education

And really really good friends who work there and take you in free as a guest. Thank you Betsy and John!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DisneyWorld

What could be more spectacular than Disney World. From the finale at the Fantastica Show to live animals in Safari Land.

The live performance of the Festival of the Lion King was a must see.

Woody jiving

MiniRang in FL

Oh the good life. Good friends, Good food. The Crawfords came by for a few days on their way to their Christmas Tree job. We called Frank and Dianne and had a very small but no less fun mini rang sharing a good meal at T-Bones. So glad to see Betsy and John.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

November 14th 2008. This is the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour which lifted off at 7:55p.m. ET. It is the 27th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
The blast is so bright you cannot
see the shuttle. It was a spectacular sight, one we will never forget!

Frank and Dianne Gruelle shared this fantastic day with us. We had a 1 1/2 drive to the complex arriving at opening hour 9:00am were we spent the day leisurely touring the complex.
Returning home was another story though, it took us 4 1/2 hrs! Oh my gosh, creep crawl creep creep, you just can't get far at 2mph.

The 2 most famous astronauts, hee hee

We were so lucky the weather was agreeable and the shuttle was not cancelled. Perfect day.

Wekiwa Springs State Park

Jim spotted this interesting creature while on our bike ride. We don't know what it is. Do you?

And look what else we came across. Yes a rattlesnake. It doesn't look large in this picture, it was about 6-7 ft. Looked 20 to me!!!! I would not cross the road until it got off the road, even then I couldn't ride my bike fast enough to suit me!

Birds, turtles, fish abound. No gators though.

We rented a canoe and thoroughly enjoyed the Florida experience. One can canoe, kayak, bike, hike, and swim in the spring water. There is a great beach and picnic area.

Cypress Gardens in FL

Look at the unusual growth pattern of this tree. Cypress Gardens is a lovely place to spend a day. There is Nature's Way that houses many different and interesting animals. Shopping and food venues of course. Shows in each area, providing music, comedy and animal behavior. Also a Plantation garden, a Topiary garden and a Botanical garden. Adventure Grove offers thrills with many amusement rides for big and little kids. And in season Spash the water park rounds out this fun park.

There was a very entertaining ski show.

And of course some photo ops Jim just couldn't resist.

What? I just get a seal with a ball on it's nose.

Volunteering

This must be the reason Obama won Florida. Huh!

Dianne and Frank joined us in cheering for Obama

Florida Fun

Our friend Frank at the car show. Old Town in Kissimmee has a car show every Saturday night.

Here we are in Old Town

Dianne and Frank met us in Old Town on a very warm Saturday night. There are gift stores, lots of food, rides, live entertainment plus two blocks of antique cars.

No this was not at the car show. This is the hostess station at Manny's Restaurant which is full of fun things. The early bird specials were still large enough to have lunch the next day and the drinks were two for one. How can one go wrong.

Dianne and Frank seem to find the best food. Great pick! Mannys Restaurant in Haines City FL.

The Obama Rally in Orlando FL

This rally started at 11:00pm. We got in line at 6:00 thru the gate into the stadium at 9:00. We were thrilled to see and hear Bill Clinton and Obama.

As you can see we were still awake and smiling at midnight.