We had a nice day today. I started it out with an hour's walk on the beach. Then we went geocaching on the way to our goal of the day -- the Ringling Museum. We looked for two and just found one so that's 5 out of 6. We had our lunch in the park where geocache #1 was. It's so neat seeing all the bird life and people fishing off docks. There is water everywhere here. All the Keys appear to be islands (some very narrow) connected by massive bridges. There are small pockets of natural land but most is developed. That's one reason we've enjoyed the geocaching as it's got us into the parks.
Now the museum. There were several buildings with memorabilia and also a miniature model of the circus. It is on a scale of 3/4 inch to the foot and includes 8 tents, 152 wagons, 1300 circus performers, 800 animals and a 59 car train. It is a huge display and took the model builder more than 50 years.
Tonite we are joining three other couples (from Scotland, England and US) for dinner at a restaurant up the road aways. Many of the others are doing a dinner cruise. Tomorrow am is brunch before we head for the airport. We are flying out of Tampa which is just over an hour up the road.Turns out we are on the same flight as the UK couple but don't think we can give them a ride as our little KIA won't hold all our luggage. We arrive in Kelowna about midnight Friday but won't seem too bad as it will be 9 pm here.
So, back to fall weather and gardening chores!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Time to get back to communicating.
On Monday we got a rental car and headed for Sarasota. We were amazed at how flat the countryside is and at how much water there is. Seems so strange to us. Even the prairies have a variation in the horizon.
Monday evening we had a "casual" cocktail hour beside the pool then dinner there. Let me tell you that casual in this crowd is not Salmon Arm casual. Don was in dress shorts but was the only one. So the next night we dressed up much more even though it was still "casual".
So, we are in what is probably a 5 star resort -- certainly has 5 star prices. Our room is wonderful with a kitchen , laundry, living room and king size bed. We have used the washer and drier twice so really a blessing. We are looking at the ocean and white sandy beaches. We have a balcony, but it's much too hot to use it in the afternoon.
Tuesday morning we went to a panel discussion on the economy with 4 experts. Two of them are from Don's class and two were local big wigs in finance. One is Senior VP with a wealth management company. Very interesting 3 hours.
For the afternoon we toured a local garden. Fascinating seeing the local plants plus they had a whole greenhouse full of orchids. In the evening we went to the "vacation" home of one of Don's classmates. He's the one who organized the reunion. Well, his condo takes up half of the floor he's on and has two elevators serving it!!! It was quite stunning, as was the view from the 9th floor. But it certainly isn't for me. I'd be bored to tears with nothing to do. The food was all brought in and served by hired people. This couple have bags of money and three homes. They love to golf so that keeps them buys plus he's still working.
Today we went for a long walk on the beach after breakfast. The shore birds aren't at all disturbed by people so I got very close to them. The beach is white sand with loads of shells. We then went off for an afternoon of geocaching. We looked for four and found four. I was hoping I could get some more travel bugs and was in luck with two of the sites. One had two and another three. So I was able to exchange my two. (I have hit an unknown button and now have a different font.) It will be interesting to see where my travel bugs go. I have requested that they be returned to Salmon Arm and expect that it will take years. I found it fascinating that the one travel bug I had earlier this year spent three years travelling around and still hadn't got "home".That was the one I took to Montreal.
Tonite we had a lovely experience. Do you recall the Ringling Bros. circus? Well, we had a tour of his house -- built from 1926 to 1928 at a cost of $1,500,000. It is magnificent. It deteriorated and was closed for 6 years in the 1990's for restoration. Cost of that was $15,000,000. We had dinner on the patio. Now, this is no ordinary patio. It is huge and marble. It is on the water and the front facade of the house is Italian. Mrs. Ringling had a gondola in which she took her lady friends for rides. Well. we had supper out there. Lovely. It is such an expensive place to eat (eg numerous people serving us plus the cost of renting the house) that it was subsidized by that wealth management company.
I have met a lovely couple and the four of us get along well. Of course Don knows Nigel from the course and I remember Vicky from 3 years ago, but we never really talked that time. They live south of London in a house that is really old and on about 50 acres. She loves to garden so we have a lot in common. They have pots of dough too as he was the head of \Marks and Spencer for England and Europe In addition to the time she spends in the garden, she hires a full time gardener!! I think just about everyone has pots of dough which is why these reunions are held in such pricey places.
One fellow, who owns pulp mills,couldn't understand how Don could be happy in a backwater like Salmon Arm. (I am now back to normal font -- ????)
Tomorrow we have another free day. We plan to visit the Ringling Circus museum. May do more geocaching after that. The interesting thing about today is that we got into three parks we wouldn't have seen otherwise. One was especially interesting as we had good views of the city and were walking (on boardwalks) through mangrove swamps. Again the birds aren't wary so got to see them up close.
Time for bed.
On Monday we got a rental car and headed for Sarasota. We were amazed at how flat the countryside is and at how much water there is. Seems so strange to us. Even the prairies have a variation in the horizon.
Monday evening we had a "casual" cocktail hour beside the pool then dinner there. Let me tell you that casual in this crowd is not Salmon Arm casual. Don was in dress shorts but was the only one. So the next night we dressed up much more even though it was still "casual".
So, we are in what is probably a 5 star resort -- certainly has 5 star prices. Our room is wonderful with a kitchen , laundry, living room and king size bed. We have used the washer and drier twice so really a blessing. We are looking at the ocean and white sandy beaches. We have a balcony, but it's much too hot to use it in the afternoon.
Tuesday morning we went to a panel discussion on the economy with 4 experts. Two of them are from Don's class and two were local big wigs in finance. One is Senior VP with a wealth management company. Very interesting 3 hours.
For the afternoon we toured a local garden. Fascinating seeing the local plants plus they had a whole greenhouse full of orchids. In the evening we went to the "vacation" home of one of Don's classmates. He's the one who organized the reunion. Well, his condo takes up half of the floor he's on and has two elevators serving it!!! It was quite stunning, as was the view from the 9th floor. But it certainly isn't for me. I'd be bored to tears with nothing to do. The food was all brought in and served by hired people. This couple have bags of money and three homes. They love to golf so that keeps them buys plus he's still working.
Today we went for a long walk on the beach after breakfast. The shore birds aren't at all disturbed by people so I got very close to them. The beach is white sand with loads of shells. We then went off for an afternoon of geocaching. We looked for four and found four. I was hoping I could get some more travel bugs and was in luck with two of the sites. One had two and another three. So I was able to exchange my two. (I have hit an unknown button and now have a different font.) It will be interesting to see where my travel bugs go. I have requested that they be returned to Salmon Arm and expect that it will take years. I found it fascinating that the one travel bug I had earlier this year spent three years travelling around and still hadn't got "home".That was the one I took to Montreal.
Tonite we had a lovely experience. Do you recall the Ringling Bros. circus? Well, we had a tour of his house -- built from 1926 to 1928 at a cost of $1,500,000. It is magnificent. It deteriorated and was closed for 6 years in the 1990's for restoration. Cost of that was $15,000,000. We had dinner on the patio. Now, this is no ordinary patio. It is huge and marble. It is on the water and the front facade of the house is Italian. Mrs. Ringling had a gondola in which she took her lady friends for rides. Well. we had supper out there. Lovely. It is such an expensive place to eat (eg numerous people serving us plus the cost of renting the house) that it was subsidized by that wealth management company.
I have met a lovely couple and the four of us get along well. Of course Don knows Nigel from the course and I remember Vicky from 3 years ago, but we never really talked that time. They live south of London in a house that is really old and on about 50 acres. She loves to garden so we have a lot in common. They have pots of dough too as he was the head of \Marks and Spencer for England and Europe In addition to the time she spends in the garden, she hires a full time gardener!! I think just about everyone has pots of dough which is why these reunions are held in such pricey places.
One fellow, who owns pulp mills,couldn't understand how Don could be happy in a backwater like Salmon Arm. (I am now back to normal font -- ????)
Tomorrow we have another free day. We plan to visit the Ringling Circus museum. May do more geocaching after that. The interesting thing about today is that we got into three parks we wouldn't have seen otherwise. One was especially interesting as we had good views of the city and were walking (on boardwalks) through mangrove swamps. Again the birds aren't wary so got to see them up close.
Time for bed.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Today was our last day here. In the morning we went by boat into Downtown Disney. DD is just more stores and restaurants. I did find a Christmas store so bought myself the usual ornament. The boat ride was interesting. They have taken some inland lakes and a stream and turned it into a waterway. This was engineered by the guy who did the Panama Canal. It took about 15 minutes to get down to the end on a cool river boat that held about 20 people.These boats run every 20 min during the day and every 10 min in the evening. Cirque du Soleil is downtown. The Disney property is absolutely huge. It goes on and on. And their bus and boat system is immense.
Don's feet are worn out plus he's getting a cold so I went back to Disney Hollywood by myself this afternoon. Caught the stage presentation (musical theatre) of Beauty and the Beast. Well done. Then I did a Studio Backlot tour which was very interesting. Then I ordered funnel cake which isn't good for a person but \I was determined to eat one before leaving the area. Last activity for the day was American Idol again. This was the final for the day and hard in some ways to choose. All 5 could sing! They were way better than any of the early ones I've seen on TV.
So, our experience at Disney world is over. Worthwhile going, but don't need to do it again. Tomorrow we are off to Sarasota. We'll be picking up the rental car at the airport.
Don's feet are worn out plus he's getting a cold so I went back to Disney Hollywood by myself this afternoon. Caught the stage presentation (musical theatre) of Beauty and the Beast. Well done. Then I did a Studio Backlot tour which was very interesting. Then I ordered funnel cake which isn't good for a person but \I was determined to eat one before leaving the area. Last activity for the day was American Idol again. This was the final for the day and hard in some ways to choose. All 5 could sing! They were way better than any of the early ones I've seen on TV.
So, our experience at Disney world is over. Worthwhile going, but don't need to do it again. Tomorrow we are off to Sarasota. We'll be picking up the rental car at the airport.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Saturday, October 16,2010
Today we were off to Disney Hollywood Studios. Each area is so different in layout and looks. We didn't get very far distance-wise today but spent a lot of time seeing things. First was Indiana Jones -- a 30 minute show of how they do the stunts. Really interesting. Then it was on to watch a real live American Idol. Our pick made it -- actually had a good voice and kept the tune. After this we went on a ride which featured many of the classic movies of the last 50 years. We then did a journey through Narnia which was pretty noisy -- not great. The Voyage of the little mermaid was well done with real people and the other critters by special effects.
Don was pretty sore today as his PMR is acting up so we cut the day short. We have an extra day so will go back tomorrow for another half day.
Food is quite interesting at some of the venues. Eg. at our local eatery, I've had jambalaya a couple of times. It comes with cornbread which is really good and sweeter than the way I make it. Had chicken gumbo another
night The waitresses, waiters, serving people, etc. are all dressed as if they were from Louisiana. Some are black of course and some are seniors. In fact, we see loads of seniors working. Seems to be the way it's done down here.Eg. Don's aunt retired when she was 80.
The weather is awesome. We were supposed to get the edge of that hurricane but it self destructed on Cuba's mountains with some help from a cold front. We have the cold front here which has just resulted in temps going down a couple of degrees. No need for sweaters.
I'm really enjoying going to bed after 11 pm then sleeping in til 8 am. Nice life!
Don was pretty sore today as his PMR is acting up so we cut the day short. We have an extra day so will go back tomorrow for another half day.
Food is quite interesting at some of the venues. Eg. at our local eatery, I've had jambalaya a couple of times. It comes with cornbread which is really good and sweeter than the way I make it. Had chicken gumbo another
night The waitresses, waiters, serving people, etc. are all dressed as if they were from Louisiana. Some are black of course and some are seniors. In fact, we see loads of seniors working. Seems to be the way it's done down here.Eg. Don's aunt retired when she was 80.
The weather is awesome. We were supposed to get the edge of that hurricane but it self destructed on Cuba's mountains with some help from a cold front. We have the cold front here which has just resulted in temps going down a couple of degrees. No need for sweaters.
I'm really enjoying going to bed after 11 pm then sleeping in til 8 am. Nice life!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, October 26, 2010
Today we went to the Magic Kingdom. Again a full day, leaving here at 930 and arriving home at 530. Don's feet are holding up well as we walk slowly everywhere.
Forgot to tell you about something cute we saw yesterday -- a baby elephant running along the lake shore chasing the ducks. Kid will always be kids.
And speaking of kids, some of them shouldn't be here. We hear a fair amount of wailing from the younger ones.
Some of the little girls are so cute dressed up in their $60 fairy outfits with glitter in their hair if they've gone for the hairdresser part.
Today we had an "exciting" ride on Dumbo then the carousel. Those horses are so beautiful and the big ones were just our size. We went on a dumb little thing called "Stitch's great escape." Don't know who Stitch is but
there was one cute line -- a robot who got scared said that he had "oiled himself".
We wanted to see "It's a small world" but it's closed for renos. Did see Pirates of the Caribbean and went on a jungle cruise.
They certainly are creative in how they snake the line-ups so that you are never sure how far away you are from the end. They do put a time up at the beginning but sometimes it isn`t accurate. Our longest wait today was 30 minutes for a 15 minute ride.
Our maid is leaving cute facecloths. We have had Mickey (round small towel with two facecloths made into more circles for the ears), a squid, a catapillar and today a heart sitting on another face cloth. Sone have sticky eyes attached and todays had a smile. I have them all perched on the TV.
Speaking of TV, we spent the first two evenings here staying up to midnight to watch the live coverage of the mine rescue in Chile. Very moving.
That`s all for today, except that our ``bug`` seems to be waning.
Forgot to tell you about something cute we saw yesterday -- a baby elephant running along the lake shore chasing the ducks. Kid will always be kids.
And speaking of kids, some of them shouldn't be here. We hear a fair amount of wailing from the younger ones.
Some of the little girls are so cute dressed up in their $60 fairy outfits with glitter in their hair if they've gone for the hairdresser part.
Today we had an "exciting" ride on Dumbo then the carousel. Those horses are so beautiful and the big ones were just our size. We went on a dumb little thing called "Stitch's great escape." Don't know who Stitch is but
there was one cute line -- a robot who got scared said that he had "oiled himself".
We wanted to see "It's a small world" but it's closed for renos. Did see Pirates of the Caribbean and went on a jungle cruise.
They certainly are creative in how they snake the line-ups so that you are never sure how far away you are from the end. They do put a time up at the beginning but sometimes it isn`t accurate. Our longest wait today was 30 minutes for a 15 minute ride.
Our maid is leaving cute facecloths. We have had Mickey (round small towel with two facecloths made into more circles for the ears), a squid, a catapillar and today a heart sitting on another face cloth. Sone have sticky eyes attached and todays had a smile. I have them all perched on the TV.
Speaking of TV, we spent the first two evenings here staying up to midnight to watch the live coverage of the mine rescue in Chile. Very moving.
That`s all for today, except that our ``bug`` seems to be waning.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thursday, Oct.14
We arrived safe and sound on Tuesday night -- but rather sleep deprived. One note: the Kelowna airport security for going to the States has really increased since we went last -- not that long ago. We almost didn't get through security in time. Also found out that the airport opens around 430 am so will get there earlier next time.
We are in the neatest resort. It is Louisiana style so the buildings are only three stories high with beautiful grounds, porches, etc. Very attractive. Our room is good with a king bed, two sinks (though a bit low as I think they make everything for kids),Tv, internet connection and fridge. The bus stop for going to Disneyworld is about two minutes walk away. There is a cafeteria style restaurant with many different options -- have breakfast there and sometimes supper.
Our only complaint is that we both have something bugging our stomachs. Since we ate different things, we can only assume it was the water. So we are buying bottled.
Yesterday we went to Epcot centre. Very interesting and took us about 9 hours. We avoided a couple of interesting looking rides due to the uncertain tummies. I really enjoyed the international component to it. Today we went to the animal kingdom. Their new ride is the Everest one which we did despite all the warning signs. We were both very glad when it was over. Despite that, we enjoyed the walk through stuff before getting on the ride as it reminded us of our trip to Bhutan. I think we were the oldest ones on the ride!! Then it was on to the Planet Watch section which was all about preserving endangered species.Then we went to Africa and the safari. That was interesting too but Don says that now we don't have to go to Africa itself!!There were lots of walks down paths, into enclosures holding bugs, birds, gorillas, tigers,etc.etc. These were cool and shaded. I was surprised both days at how little time we actually spent out in the sun. By the way, it is about 80-90 degrees.
We also have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the lineups move. Not a lot of people here compared to a holiday time I guess. Most waits are from 5 to 20 minutes.
Tomorrow we are going to the Magic Kingdom.
We are in the neatest resort. It is Louisiana style so the buildings are only three stories high with beautiful grounds, porches, etc. Very attractive. Our room is good with a king bed, two sinks (though a bit low as I think they make everything for kids),Tv, internet connection and fridge. The bus stop for going to Disneyworld is about two minutes walk away. There is a cafeteria style restaurant with many different options -- have breakfast there and sometimes supper.
Our only complaint is that we both have something bugging our stomachs. Since we ate different things, we can only assume it was the water. So we are buying bottled.
Yesterday we went to Epcot centre. Very interesting and took us about 9 hours. We avoided a couple of interesting looking rides due to the uncertain tummies. I really enjoyed the international component to it. Today we went to the animal kingdom. Their new ride is the Everest one which we did despite all the warning signs. We were both very glad when it was over. Despite that, we enjoyed the walk through stuff before getting on the ride as it reminded us of our trip to Bhutan. I think we were the oldest ones on the ride!! Then it was on to the Planet Watch section which was all about preserving endangered species.Then we went to Africa and the safari. That was interesting too but Don says that now we don't have to go to Africa itself!!There were lots of walks down paths, into enclosures holding bugs, birds, gorillas, tigers,etc.etc. These were cool and shaded. I was surprised both days at how little time we actually spent out in the sun. By the way, it is about 80-90 degrees.
We also have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the lineups move. Not a lot of people here compared to a holiday time I guess. Most waits are from 5 to 20 minutes.
Tomorrow we are going to the Magic Kingdom.
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