D, E, F & G

Posted on September 15, 2013September 15, 2013 by Dusty Roads | 2 Comments

We are on a roll now. We can cover Delaware, Florida and Georgia. There’s no state starting with E so we’ll just skip right over that.

D is for Delaware

No. This teeny, tiny state ranks # 49 in size. I don’t know much about the state but when I search it on trip advisor there are just loads of attractions and things to do. A lot of it seems to revolve around the seashore, wine and food. They have a Delaware Wine Trail, a Delaware Culinary Trail, a Boardwalk Arts festival, a sandcastle competition, and for the lighthouse lover Breakwater/Harbor of refuge.

F is for Florida

YES! and YES again.

Florida is almost like my 2nd home. From Key West at the tip to South Florida (Miami/ Fort Lauderdale) on to Central Florida with Disney, Kissimmee and surrounding area the only places I haven’t spent much time is the Gulf coast and the northern section and panhandle. I seem to find myself going back there every year or so as I love the Everglades and other natural areas. I don’t need to visit Mickey and Minnie every time I go down.

There are an array of Botanical Gardens and parks, both State and National, there are lighthouses and forts, when I can tear myself away from the alligators and tropical birds.

I still want to see more of the Everglades.

There are 2 more entrances to the park that I haven’t been to. High on my list as well is Miami Zoo and a place, I think it’s called Bird Island.

Mermaids

G is for Georgia

Yes. I’ve been to Atlanta. I even went to a Halloween Party in Georgia.

I visited Stone Mountain

and followed “Homer” The Atlanta Braves Mascot around.

No, I wasn’t stalking him, I was “assisting”. 🙂 I went to the zoo and the huge Georgia Aquarium and rode a Segway. ( I even fell off!) And I watched the fountains in Olympic Park and visited the World of Coca Cola.

And I can’t forget that we had dinner at Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffle restaurant. That was a very full trip!

So I can check Georgia off the list.

So lets me see, what’s the tally now? 10 State in A – G and I think we’re tied up. 5 states visited and 5 still to go. Let’s see how it goes with H & I.

Washington to Orlando

Posted on January 22, 2013January 22, 2013 by Dusty Roads

That plane was one of the smallest I’ve been on in a long time. 2 seats on each side of the aisle. No wonder they had to put the roller bags in cargo! But in spite of it all the flight was smooth and uneventful (boring). I tried to grab a few ZZZ’s but having bun on the back of your head makes it kind of hard to get comfortable.

The first leg was to Dulles in Washington DC. I had a layover there and a change of planes. It was a full house. In fact at first they thought they were going to have to “bump” someone. They were offering a $200 voucher toward a future flight. I volunteered along with one other lady but in the end they didn’t need either of us…but once again they wanted to check the roller bags..no charge. This time not because the bags were too big but because it was so crowded there wasn’t enough room. Once again I pulled out the lenses. In the process of unpacking again I lost my boarding pass.

Oh boy…Now I figured I was going to “get it” but no. One of the attendants saw me frantically searching and offered to print another one for me. I didn’t even have to ask! Either United is taking customer service to a new level or there’s something to this “dress the part”.

The plane touched down in Orlando just after 2pm to blue sky, fluffy clouds and 70 degrees. Perfect weather. Joe was already waiting so as soon as I grabbed my bags we were on our way.

Joe’s renting a cute little house 5 blocks from Eola Lake.

The house is set back behind the main house. The foliage makes it look like it’s in a jungle. There’s even Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.

Before we headed off to dinner we took a stroll around the lake.

Cypress knees

Dinner was at a little restaurant called Bananas. The thing that sets Bananas apart is the staff. From the hostess to the wait staff to the person cleaning up..all drag queens. The only times I’ve been exposed to Drag Queens they were wild. Not so here. The atmosphere was quiet and everyone was polite.

Time now to get a good night’s sleep before the drive to Miami in the morning.

Day 20~Lake Eola Golden Hour

Posted on January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Always Something

Posted on January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 by Dusty Roads

It won’t be long now before I’ll be in the air and winging my was south to warm weather. My 2nd annual winter migration to escape the snow and cold of New England. Cat sitter has been secured. Extra cat food, treats and kitty litter brought in so at least the furry children will be well cared for in my absence.

My own preparations have been a teeny bit more challenging. My tripod wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. Why bother you ask? Because the 2nd half of my trip is the Florida Everglades and if I want to use my telephoto lenses I need a tripod for stability. I haven’t mastered the monopod yet but it makes a great walking stick. So it was off to the store to find a 27 inch suitcase instead of my 25 inch.

Next step was to log onto Carnival Cruise line’s web page to do my online check in and set up my “on board account”. Carnival is “cashless” while on board. That part actually went pretty smooth until I got to the part where I had to print the documents. The luggage tags printed , the cruise documents printed but not the boarding pass.

I thought it might be because my sailing partner had not set up his on board account yet so I sent an email off to him to get going on his docs. Good thing I did. Apparently the Carnival web site has issues. When he tried to access his booking it told him there was a problem and to book again. As he struggled with Carnival I went back into my account and could now print my boarding pass so I was all set. Not so my buddy. It was 2 full days before they told him the problem was corrected. I haven’t heard yet if it really was.

Tomorrow I’ll check my flight to see if that’s all set and finish packing…carefully…so I don’t get a furry stow away.

To be continued…..

Epcot

Posted on March 7, 2012March 7, 2012 by Dusty Roads

My visit to the sunshine state is winding down. Tomorrow morning I’ll be winging my way back to Providence and home. It’s been a full and fun vacation filled with new experiences. But there’s still one more evening before I pack up and leave and I’ll be spending it at Disney in the Epcot Park with my good friend Joe.

It was just about sunset when we reached Epcot. My old legs and feet were complaining but Joe promised I would not be disappointed.

Epcot is different from the other parks. It’s more adult or maybe sophisticated is what I’m looking for. It’s educational.

We admired the fountains and what I like to call the Epcot Golf Ball as the twilight deepened.

We passed the Nemo exhibit which has a fun little ride where you learn about the sea.

My favorite Sea Gulls must have been motion activated because they set off a chorus of “Mine, Mine, Mine” whenever anyone passed by.

They even have a Manatee in a huge tank.

We went on a futuristic ride that was a gentle coaster through the millenia. You get to see the timeline of human advancement. It was a really good ride. In the beginning you enter some basic information about yourself into the console computer. At the end of the ride you see yourself on a huge map of the world based on the information you entered.

At Epcot you get to visit many different countries in the world. Each little section is created to replicate a small section of the country you are exploring. We were working our way to “France” for dinner because I wanted escargot.

The wait at the restaurant wasn’t too long. It was very loud inside. I kept asking our poor waiter to repeat himself. He thought it was his accent. I still say it was the noise level. But speaking of accent each waiter was really from France so their accents were authentic. Their name tags not only gave their names but also where they were from in France.

The waiter recommended a nice Merlot wine. It was very expensive even for a glass but we are in France are we not? So of course , mais oui, I will have a glass. It was exquisite! So smooth. It was like silk!

I got my escargot in a light garlic and white wine sauce for an appetizer and chicken for my main course. Everything was wonderful. We skipped dessert as Joe wanted to go to Germany for that. We strolled along the lighted streets passing from one country to another. I think we finally stopped at the Swedish kiosk for hot chocolate and a pastry. I passed even though they looked wonderful.

By then it was about 8:30. The fireworks would begin around 9pm so we began to look for seats along the waterfront. Even with a slow week, any seats were going to fill in quickly.

Before the show started the lights were lowered on the streets and huge torches around the lake were lit.

The buildings were outlined in lights as well. This alone was beautiful. Then minutes before the fireworks started the torches went dark as well.

Bam! The first volley was off and for the next 30 minutes the lake surface and sky above it were filled with lights and flashes and smoke.

At the end of the show the park closed so everyone made their way back to the tram for the ride back to the parking lot. Seems so long ago we parked the car and entered another world.

We had one more stop to make. We’d been looking all week for a couple of gifts for my friend’s children and we hadn’t been able to locate them. We were going give it one more try at Downtown Disney. It would be our last chance.

We almost missed Buzz again but as we passed the display I somehow spotted the words “talks” on the box. Joe was ahead of me but returned when I called out that I thought I had one. Now we just needed the Princess. Joe led me to rack after rack of Cinderellas, Snow Whites, Rapunzels and Ariels. It was almost overwhelming. I selected a Barbie Sized doll and crossed my fingers that it would be the right one.

We’d been in this store 3 times looking so I don’t know how we missed them before but we could now put Mission Accomplished to this search. A perfect end to a great vacation.