Now where were we? I remember - Disney and David's marathon. He ran a half marathon the week after with his friend Dane in New Orleans. He managed to complete it despite very sore feet. I am going to take a moment here to have you think of the proudest moment in your children's lives.Was it a graduation, grade, marriage or an athletic achievement like David is accomplishing?
The day after the marathon we visited a botanical garden in Orlando (yes, even David and Gary). It was not the most interesting as there was not much in bloom. The garden was known for its camellias - over 200 and many different varieties. I have a Camellia at home and it flowers in December despite the cold and frost. It is nice to see some colour in the garden at that time of the year.
The gardens had a house attached that you could go round with a guide. It was interesting but what interested me the most was a wedding dress on display. It dated from the 1920s (I think). I thought it was quite similar to mine (1979) with the high neck, long sleeves and ruffles across the bust.
See, fashions always come back in style!! My dress will be in style in another 50 years!!!
On Wednesday, we went to Gatorland. I do not think Gary and David were too keen but I wanted to go. It turned out to be the best visit of the trip. I have never seen so many gators and the birds were wonderful.
It was surprising how close the birds got to the alligators.
Great Egret
I thought this was interesting the way the stork was sitting down with his feet out front. I guess he couldn't sit down with his feet behind him - silly me.
Gatorland has 4 white alligators. They are not albinos and I forget the name of their reason for being white - sorry! A senior moment!
A limpkin, I think.
Where does our son get his goofiness from, I wonder!! He should have been given an academy award for his acting!!!
This bird was signalling he/she is in the mood for love!!
I just liked the colours in this photo.
Another signalling bird - "see how attractive I am"
Great Egret chasing off Snowy Egret.
This black crowned night heron had unfortunately lost his left foot. I wonder if a gator got it.
We went to a gator show and prior to the show you could have your photo taken with an alligator. If I had sat on him he would only have been good for handbags afterwards.
This young man was very entertaining. He wrestled the alligator onto its back where it fell asleep due to "sensory overload". So now we know what to do if an alligator grabs us, roll him onto his back and run like ----!!!
The alligator woke up when the man tickled its belly and then he ran like ----.
I do not know if this duck has a name. I could not find it in my bird book. What name would you give it? Ducky!!!
Two pally alligators in the photo above the one above. It is not focused very well, unfortunately.
I was fascinated to see a Great White Egret and a Great White Heron riding on the back of the alligators. Perhaps this is what is known as "fast food".
We also rode a zip line (yes, even Gary and myself). I was not nervous at all for some reason and thoroughly enjoyed the "rides".
The highest we dropped from was 85 feet and the longest we rode for was approx 400 feet. It was over so quickly, we never had time to be scared. We flew over tree tops and an alligator pit on five different zip lines - wheeee!!! Prior to the last zip line we had to cross a suspension bridge made of wooden slats and rope. I was not too happy on that as I was afraid Gary would catch up with me and the bridge would swing even more. I hurried to get over it before he stepped foot on it.
I am going to risk that you can tolerate a longer blog because I am going to tell you about our last day in Florida. We went to Universal Studios. I had heard so much about Harry Potter Land from my friends Linda and Pat that I wanted to see it for myself. Gary and David did not mind going so off we went on a cold day for Florida - 56 degrees and windy. Well, Harry Potter was disappointing. There were hundreds of people there and they got in the way of my photos. We rode the inside Harry Potter ride and after 2 secs of the ride starting I had to shut my eyes and pray for the ride to end. The ride was one of the longest I had been on (or it just seemed like it as it spun, dipped and plunged). I gripped the bar in a death like grip and hated every minute of it. When I got off my knees were shaking, my hands hurting from gripping the bar so hard and I vowed not to ride that ride again. Even David said it was a rough ride.
We did not go on this water ride as we did not have spare clothing and it was too cool and windy. Boy, did this boat make a splash. In the hot summer of Florida this must be a super cooling ride.
Here is a photo of David "pinching" a snapdragon/antirrhinum. I do not mean stealing but pinching the side of the flower to make it open its "jaws". Granddad Fuller taught him to do that years ago and he could not resist it. Thank-you, Dad!!!
I did go on this ride with David - Gary opted out. It was not as bad as it looked.
David doing his impersonation of Mohammed Ali!!! with two characters (I do not know who they are - am I showing my age?).
David on the roller coaster by himself. He is at the back, on the right wearing a turquoise jacket (mine, because he was cold). I would NEVER EVER go on a roller coaster like this and I would NEVER take my hands off the grab bar let alone wave. David said it was one of the best he had been on.
I think that is more than enough for today. I hope you have enjoyed our visit with David in Florida. I know we did and we miss him already. We love you, David!!
Kingston Rover Loop Map
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