A few days in Orlando

We went to Orlando over New Year's with my daughter, her husband and his children. Orlando is not my most favorite place. Too much traffic. Too many people in the traffic that don't know where they are going. Too commercialized. But, in spite of all of that, we had a wonderful time. We didn't do any theme parks...only hung out at the pool, did some shopping, and enjoyed each others company. Oh, we did go to the Ice Palace. It was very different, and my thumbs froze.

First, here are some photos of Nikki, Robert, the kids and Blue, their dog.

"he followed the sun & she followed the stars & in dreams they listened closely for the beginning of all things, for that was where they knew they'd find each other"
¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople

"I don't think of it as working for world peace, he said. I think of it as just trying to get along in a really big strange family."
¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople

"not sure whether to smile too much because someone might put them on the hospitality committee"
¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople

"willing to surrender for treats as often as necessary"
¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople

"The future is a funny thing, she told me one day, because we're the only ones who care about it."
¸.•*´¨`♥ StoryPeople

You know my love for signs. Here are a couple from Celebrations...a most interesting little suburb of Orlando.

We had dinner on New Year's Eve here

Day Dreams

On Bloom & Front

After eating at the Boston Garden in Celebration, we took a walk and did some Geocaching.

"This is a Tale about a tail — a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Beatrix Potter ~ The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903)

The geocachers leaving the cache

The ice sculptures were amazing at the Ice Palace.

Snowflake

Ice bunnies

Ice woods

Icey penguins

Little santas in the gift shop (not ice)


This was the dome in the lobby of the Gaylord Hotel where the Ice Palace was displayed.

“Happiness is like a cloud, if you stare at it long enough, it evaporates”
¸.•*´¨`♥ Sarah McLachlan

The 60 foot Christmas tree at Gaylord

The Light Show after the Ice Palace

Sea World and Orlando

We took a trip to Orlando to visit my daughter and son-in-law. What a great trip. But as always...not long enough.

We went out to eat one night and this was the building next to our restaurant. We didn't go in, but I did snap a few pictures. And, I apologize for the blurriness in some of them, especially the whale photos. I'm still learning my camera and I left my manual at home. While in Orlando, I couldn't get it to auto focus. *sigh*

Wonderworks

Just freaky
The highlight of the vacation for my son-in-law was renting a convertible. Needless to say, this was my view for much of our travels in Orlando.

The convertible
One day we visited Sea World. Not quite as I remembered it from about 15 years ago. It is much more commercialized. Sadly. And, it is kid central. If you have a kid, that is the place to go. But, we enjoyed it in spite of Sea World's efforts to make it all that it shouldn't be.

The landscaping, of course, was beautiful. The flowers were in full bloom.

Fairy gowns

A riot of hot pink
Please forgive me for all the whale photos I'm about to post. (And I had a hard time getting it down to this amount.) If you don't love whales, or if you fear whales, you may want to skip ahead.

Look at his little face!

They were affectionate

This was the last thing the people in the front rows saw before getting drenched!


The wind-up

The splash

To our left

To every action...

...there is always opposed an equal reaction

Riding high

In flight

Grace and beauty

The dance

Taking their bow

Anheuser Busch now has their fingers in Sea World as evident by the Clydesdales.

A sea horse?

Do you see the real sea horse?

Big 'ole manatees

Happy dolphins

Da-dum ... Da-dum, da-dum da-dum da-dum!

The end.