Tag Archives: Travel

Gatorland

Posted on by

On Saturday the sun was back out. Originally I was supposed to be attending an all day photography seminar at Busch Gardens but thanks to my budget I didn’t get the registration fee into them in time so I found myself a bit more flush but with time on my hands.

Once again I turned to my friendly concierge. They are an absolutely awesome resource. They are familiar with the area and attractions and even have discounts on tickets if you get them through the resort instead of on your own. I had already searched the internet and had some idea what I wanted to do so now I turned to them to set it all up. I handed over my credit card and gave them my available times and what I wanted to do and they handed me back the tickets and brochures and the itinerary. Couldn’t have been easier.

For the morning I wanted to go to Gatorland. I hadn’t been to a place like that in a long time..years actually…and alligator sanctuaries are big on TV right now with shows like Gator Boys and Swamp People and Operation Wild. I plugged in the coordinates and was off.

I didn’t expect to spend a lot of time at Gatorland. After all, they all look-alike except for the individual’s size but I was sure wrong. I could have spent the whole day there.

The first thing you see when you leave your car is a building with a huge mural meant to look like an old post card from Gatorland.

 As you turn the corner there a big “gator head” that makes a great photo spot!

Once in you follow board walks between gator pens, big one, little ones,  medium-sized ones but what really hit me was the birds!

There were a ton of them and they showed no fear.

They sat on the decks right under the alligator’s noses.

Obviously these alligators are well fed and the birds know it.

They had a small petting zoo and some parrots.

In another enclosure were white alligators. 

 Each enclosure had educational material posted by the exhibit. In the White Alligator section it was explaining the difference between an Albino alligator and  a Leucistic Animal. This was educational for me. I knew about albinos but I had not heard of leucism. I’ll let you look it up. 🙂

In back of the pens and enclosures there was a little train.

 Riding that was an additional charge but it was only a couple of dollars so I bit. It was a short ride around the grounds. the narrator pointed out more enclosures with animals like Florida cows and emus. There was a salt water enclosure for some crocodiles and well as more alligator pens. They also have a Zip Line over the farm.  Keep your feet up over the alligators!

Back from the train ride I hustled back to the main enclosure for the alligator feeding show.

 Here the keepers, I hesitate to call them trainers, were tossing raw meat out to the alligators. The black headed vultures were hopping up and down for scraps. One actually went right up to a big ‘gator and plucked the meat right out of its mouth.

That gator never made a move.

The the keepers tried hand feeding them, teasing them over to the side of a platform and the reaching down as the ‘gator jumped up.

 Another way they encouraged the ‘gators to jump was to slide raw chickens down a rope suspended above the water. The ‘gators would swim over and then leap up and grab the chickens. Chomp chomp and it was all over.

I’m sure it sounds gruesome but it was actually pretty interesting. After that show I went back out to one of the many trails that crisscrossed the park. This area was a bird breeding area. The birds love to make their nests near the alligators because the alligators protect them from predators.

 Yes they lose a chick here and there that falls out of a nest but the birds seem to feel it’s a good trade-off. It is breeding season now and the Egrets are all fledged out in their breeding plumage. Just beautiful.

By now it was almost noon and time to head to my afternoon appointment in St. Cloud. I wished I’d reserved more time so I could walk the other trails. On my way back I spotted swans and pink flamingos in a pond that seemed to be ‘gator free”.

Some really ugly birds were lined up along the railing. They were big white birds but they had heads that were black and scaly like a vulture. A passing keeper said they were storks. Wow, somehow they didn’t look like I imagined when we used to say the stork brought the baby.

 

Nightime Downtown Disney

Posted on by

You saw some night scenes in my post Ahh Orlando, Home of the Mouse. Here are a few more evening photos from my 2nd visit to Downtown Disney.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Polynesian Cultural Center

Posted on by
 

After a breakfast at Smorgy’s (this was fast becoming our eating place of choice) we headed for the North Shore. Destination: Polynesian Cultural Center. Along the way I wanted to detour to see the Sacred Falls that I had read about but when we found the turn off there was a chain across the road and a “closed “ sign.

Respecting the sign we moved on to Hauula Beach Park where we could see the little island called Chinaman’s Hat (Mokoli’i) and the amazing Ko’olau Mountains.

 The morning was overcast and threatening rain but we still took time for a short walk on the beach where we saw little transparent crabs that scooted across the beach into little holes. We were told that these are called “ghost crabs”. They are well named.
There were a lot of white birds that seemed to tease you to get close enough to take a picture and then fly away again right before you reached them. Sandy thought it was pretty funny as I tried to sneak up close enough to get a picture with a little point and shoot. I wasn’t too successful.

As we progressed up the coastline we spotted another pretty park named Pupukea Park. Here we watched snorkelers and some scuba divers head into the ocean. The shore was dotted with tide pools formed from the lava rocks and formations. We arrived at the Polynesian cultural Center at 11:00 but the doors hadn’t opened yet so we decided to explore a bit further up the road.

We found a roadside vendor where I bought a necklace and bracelet for a mere $8.00, much less than I would have spent for the same thing in the Honolulu souvenir shops.

When we returned to the Polynesian Cultural Center at 11:30 the doors had opened.

The Polynesian Cultural Center was created by the Mormon (Church of Latter Day Saints) Church to keep the various heritages of Polynesia alive. Proceeds generated from the Center support the Center and Brigham Young Students. Visitors to the center explore 7 of the South Pacific Island Cultures, Fiji, Hawaii, the Marquesas, Maori New Zealand , Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga. Each village is represented by students who are actually from these islands. They wear traditional clothing and demonstrate traditional skills.

 We ate coconut bread baked in underground ovens, watched natives climb coconut trees, and learned how coconuts were shucked. In one village we joined in a native dance class. It seemed to be a type of Hula but with vigorous hip action!

We enjoyed a canoe ride that took us past all 7 villages so we could actually see the different building styles. The afternoon wound down with the Parade of Canoes. Each village had a canoe that resembled a flat raft.

Each village was assigned a color and their traditional clothing was in that color. The rafts came into the lagoon and the native dances for each heritage were demonstrated. It was a great finale to the afternoon but the day wasn‘t over yet.

With the afternoon festivities wrapping up we made our way to the IMAX theater to see a film about coral reefs. By the time that was over it was time to head for the Luau. We had been to one last year on the Big Island and in many ways they were similar. One difference was that we were given leis of shells on the Big Island but at the Polynesian Center the leis were very beautiful flower leis such as one normally thinks of when you imagine a lei.

The evening wrapped up with a spectacular stage show called The Horizon Show. It was a true celebration of the south Pacific heritage.

We made very good time getting back to the condo after the show and didn’t even get lost this time, in spite of it being dark.

The Polynesian Cultural center was well worth the $65.00 fee to get in. We could have easily spent another 3 days there because there was so much to see and do. We saw several tour groups come through and the guides were moving the guests through each exhibit very quickly. I am sure they got to spend a few minutes at each thing but we took our time and spent more time at the exhibits we went to, granted we didn’t see everything but I think we enjoyed our way more in this case.

　
Tahitian Coconut Bread
 
 
2 cups fresh grated coconut
4 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 ½ Cups Sugar
1 ½ Cups Water
 
Combine coconut, Sugar, and water.
Blend flour and baking powder together.
Mix all ingredients to a doughy texture
adding a little flour as needed so it is not
too sticky. Wrap in aluminum foil and
bake in oven at 350 for 1 to 1 ½ hours.
Makes 5 loaves.
 
J
 
Mahalo =
 

　
　
　
　
　
　Hawaiian for thank you(modernized version)

O’ahu , Pali Lookout

Posted on by

I’m not sure where I heard it but it seems to me someone told us that one of Oahu’s nicknames is the Rainbow Island and it was easy to see why. Each morning there were rainbows and again each afternoon. Our recreation deck was on the 29th floor. The pool, hot tub and grills were located there. The first morning we were there I headed up bright and early and there it was…an almost perfect rainbow arching over the building. There was always a wonderful breeze thanks to the trade winds so even at 80 degrees at 8:00am, it didn’t feel hot. When you look from the 29thfloor toward the ocean and Waikiki beach, you can see the pink building that is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The Royal Hawaiian is an icon that has hosted such guests as Babe Ruth, President John F. Kennedy and numerous Hollywood Stars.We started our first full day in Honolulu by doing a little exploring on foot. We walked down to Waikiki Beach first and then worked our way back to the condo by going through the International Market Place. Every kind of souvenir and T shirt was available here. There were a couple of men with parrots outside and we spent some time with them taking pictures.

There was also a gorgeous mosaic wall that we just had to take pictures of too.

Then back to the condo to pick up the car and drive around a bit. We followed the coastline taking time out and stopping at every Scenic Overlook. It was just so beautiful. One spot that was a must see was the Pali Overlook and it did not disappoint. The views from here are magnificent! The official name is Nu’uanu Pali Lookout. Pali means cliff in Hawaiian. It was here that Hawaiian Warriors fought for control of the island. The King of O’ahu who also ruled Maui, Moloka’i and Lana’i sought to defeat Kamehameha, the ruler of Hawai’i but that wasn’t how things worked out. Kamehameha’s warriors forced the defenders of O’ahu back to the Nu’uanu Valley until they reached the Pali where many warriors refused to surrender, instead jumping over the cliff. With this victory Kamehameha gained the momentum he needed to unite the islands. This unification was completed around 1810 when Kaua’i (which was never defeated in battle)  joined by treaty.

A century later when the first paved road was built through the mountains workers uncovered an estimated 800 skulls at the foot of the cliffs, the remains of those Hawaiian warriors lost in that fateful battle so many years before. There are story boards at the lookout that commemorate this event in Hawaiian history.


I took many pictures here because of the spectacular views and was pleasantly surprised when I was given a calendar with Hawaiian photographs to see that I had taken an almost identical picture of the Pali to the one in the calendar! Nice to know the pros liked that shot too .

After the drive we stopped at Hilo Hattie’s and that turned into a real shopping spree.
Hilo Hattie’s is the flagship store for Hawaiian apparel. I still visit their web site regularly.
Back at the condo we spend some time in the pool and hot tub before we headed down to dinner. There’s a buffet on the corner near us called Smorgy’s so that was our stop for dinner. Very convenient. There was a brook running through the restaurant and it was only partially roofed. The windows were open so birds flew in and out even joining us at the table. Might not be the most sanitary way to have dinner but no different than having a picnic and it was fun.

It doesn’t sound like we did all that much but in fact it was a very full day.

Short Takes

Posted on by

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I’m pretty sure we hit 70 degrees. Amazing for November in New England and even more amazing when you think we had a snow storm only a week ago.

I wish I could say I was outside enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and gaining experiences to share but unfortunately I spent the whole day inside catching up on housework and laundry. I couldn’t put it off for a day(although I was tempted) because I already agreed to work an extra shift and then it will be back to my own schedule…no other day to take care of the chores.

As I sit here writing this I have the TV on watching Operation Wild. I really enjoy this show. I guess you’d call it a reality show along the lines of Cops but it focused on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The officers they feature are very personable and a lot of the stories are laced with humor. I also like the show because it’s set in Florida. It’s not Miami Vice it’s more about the animals and the Everglades or the Florida Keys.

I am planning to go to Orlando in January but I don’t know if I’ll get anywhere near the Everglades. I think it’s at least a 4 hour drive from Orlando to the Everglades but there are other parks and recreation areas to explore this trip.

The things I’ve learned while writing this blog occasionally come in handy. Tonight I got a call from the marketing department of my time share. They were promoting a new Resort in Orlando and offering a discounted 3 day trip. I explained that I wasn’t interested this time but the rep went on to ask where I lived in Ma. Seems he was coming out to Cambridge  for a few days and wondered what he should see. I immediately encouraged him to take the time to spend a day in Boston. I recommended he take the Old Town Trolley tour because he will be able to get on and off as well as enjoy a narrated tour.

I told him about the Old North Church, The Freedom Trail, Faneuil Hall and the Boston Gardens! And it all just poured out without a thought! I’m so glad he called. I was getting in a rut for material but after answering his questions I realized that what I take for granted because it’s right here in my back yard is interesting to folks that don’t live here!

And my last bit to share is that Costa Rica is giving away hundreds of trips. It’s called Costa Rica’s Million Dollar Gift of Happiness. To enter go to: www.facebook.com/visitcostarica