Trip to Downtown Orlando and Silver Springs

Wednesday 12/28.

Happy Birthday to my oldest buddy Wayne. I don't mean he is the oldest in age (although he is quite antique) but I have known Wayne longer than any of my other friends. I have known Wayne for almost 70 years. Actually Wayne is more than a friend and although we are not from the same womb he is truly my brother and I love him dearly.

Today we took a ride to downtown Orlando. We have come to this area a number of times over the years but never went to downtown Orlando. I guess we were not attracted to downtown and the traffic but now it was time to check it out.

There were a few nice parks downtown but we didn't get out to walk around and just took pictures from the car.

We are glad we took the trip even though the traffic was bad downtown and there was a lot of construction. We took the northern scenic route to Orlando and made good time but took I - 4 back. Route 4 was grid lock the whole way.

This week is the main tourist season and the crowds are everywhere. All the attractions, including Disney, were filled to capacity and they had to close the parks because there was no room to let any more people in. The people inside the parks had to wait hours in line for rides. People interviewed on the news were complaining that it cost a fortune to get in and they could only get on 3 rides the whole day. News helicopters were taking pictures from above and the people were jammed in like sardines. They even kept the parks open later than normal because of the crowds. What a mess trying to leave the parks at the end of the day. Bev and I are sure glad we decided not to go to Disney this week.

On the way back we passed the Holy Land. I believe this is a religious theme park because they have entertainment and attractions. We have not been there but I checked it out on the Internet. If you are interested google Holy Land Orlando.

From the grid lock on Route 4 we were able to see the balloon rising from Disney Downtown. It is a large balloon on a tether giving rides. I believe it rises to 400 feet.

Back at the campground I checked out the RVs on display. Every week they have a different dealer in the area displaying their rigs. It was fun checking them out but nothing interested me.

After I checked out the rigs it was time relaxed on our patio. As you can see below we are on a corner lot and I get to see most of the people in the campground walking, riding golf carts, or bikes. Of course when the many little dogs walk by with their mommies and daddies I get my puppy fix.

This is the view I get from our patio.

Thursday 12/29 we took a ride to Silver Springs. We followed U. S. 27 north instead of the Florida Turnpike and the scenery was great although we did hit a lot of traffic and construction along the way.

Many years ago Bev and I went to Silver Springs and we wanted to see if had changed. Did it ever change!

When we first went the only attraction was a cruse on the river in a glass bottom boat. The glass bottom boat offers a view of the underwater life in the 99.8% pure waters of the Silver River. Along with major formations there are dozens of species of fish as well as alligators, clams, craw fish, shrimp, snails, six different kinds of turtles, and tiny fossilized shells from 70 million years ago. Along the shores we saw monkeys leftover from a Tarzan move filmed many years ago.

Today along with the glass boat tours there are amusement rides, wildlife exhibits, botanical gardens, shopping and dining. Of course the admission price has to reflect all this.

To enter the parking lot we paid $7.00 just to find out how much the main entrance fee was. 

We did take these pictures walking from the parking lot to the main entrance.

Yes, that is me by the sign. See the alligator below, he must be waiting for visitors to feed him.

Yes, that is Bev ready to head for the entrance.

To enter they wanted another $31.95 per head with our senior discount. I THINK NOT! We will just have to live with our memories from the past so we left.

On the way back home of course we had to eat so we stopped at a Chili's in The Villages. Thank you Pam and Kent for the coupon to Chili's.

The Villages are billed as Florida's friendliest retirement hometown. Everything a retiree needs is in this community.

It was an enjoyable trip even if we didn't enter Silver Springs. It's always good to get back home to the camper and put our feet up.

Tomorrow 12/31 we will be getting up at the crack of dawn to head down to Cape Coral to spent New Years Eve and day with our dear friends Don and Joni. Thank you for inviting us, we really enjoy your company.

Thousand Trails Dance and Christmas at the Tassinaris

Bev has been disappointed with the Christmas decorations in the Orlando area. The malls and stores do not have any Christmas decorations at all. It's not like up north where all the malls, towns, and stores decorate for Christmas. Individual homes and communities have their decorations and a lot of the campers at Thousand Trails are really in the spirit as you can see by the photos.

Friday evening 12/23 the entertainment at Thousand Trails was a great country band, Pure Country Gold, and they were outstanding. There was a large group of line dancers and you know Bev was among them. There was also a good group of two steppers doing their thing. I got to dance a couple of slow dances with Bev along with a Polka which darn near killed us. I would line dance if I could just remember the dances but that just wont happen.

You can see Bev on the left and she is even wearing her cowboy boots.

Saturday morning 12/24 we got up before the crack of dawn and headed south to Cape Coral to spend Christmas with Don and Joni. The drive from our campsite at Peace River in Wauchula is only and hour and a half but we are now in Orlando so it was a 3 hour drive. It was a very nice scenic drive though and worth it to be with friends for Christmas.

They had a great looking Christmas Tree and as you can see by the gifts under the tree Santa came for all of us.

Here is Bev and Joni relaxing while Donnie and I were busy eating snacks and drinking beer. Life is good when you have beer and snacks.

You don't see the Orchids in bloom like this up north.

In the evening Don and I did what most guys like to do, watch movies. It's great that he has Netflex on demand.

Joni's sister Toodie and husband Carl joined us Christmas day. We all had such a wonderful time visiting and talking about everything under the sun. They really are nice people and a lot of fun to be around.

We all had a great time and of course the food was fantastic. Don is a champ when it comes to grilling and he did an outstanding job grilling the prime rib. I ate so much that I could hardly waddle around the place. When it comes to good food especially prime rib I have no self control. Bev was good though and didn't go crazy like I did.

After a great weekend, this Morning Bev and I said our good-bys to our great hosts Don & Joni and headed back home to Thousand Trails Orlando. We had such a great time it was hard to leave but we left with the knowledge that we will be back to see them this coming weekend for New Years.

Thanks Don and Joni for a great Christmas and we are looking forward to spending News Years Eve and day with you.

Relaxing around the campground.

Today is a day of rest around the campground. Bev did her line dancing and I should be continuing with the wash/wax on the camper but I'm to lazy. I did spend a lot of time on the bike riding around the campground checking on all the big rigs. As I mentioned I have class A envy. It is quite enjoyable sitting on our patio. The temperature is 82 and sunny but there is a good breeze which keeps us very comfortable.

Today while I was sitting around I read the latest copy of the Gypsy Journal RV travel news paper which is published by Nick & Terry Russell every other month. The RV travel newspaper is about their travels and the sites they have seen RVing around the U.S.A. They cover the not so popular spots so we know what else is out there to see. I also follow Nicks blog daily to see what their up to. I find it enjoyable following the adventures of other campers and it gives us ideas of what to see and do. Check them out at http://gypsyjournalrv.com/ click on Nicks blog to follow their travels. Nick also posts Bad Nicks Blog which is not about camping but whatever is irking or interesting him at the time. I find it interesting and you should really check it out.

A couple of months ago we attended their rally in Celina, Oh and had a great time partying and attending the many seminars on the RV lifestyle. They are full time Rvers and it so happens that they are camped near us at Thousand Trails Orlando in their Winnebago Ultimate Advantage motorhome.

I also listened to "Living the RV Dream" pod cast today. The pod cast is like a weekly radio program on the Internet. They talk about what is going on in the RV community including what they are up to. You can listen to it at http://livingthervdream.podomatic.com/ I find this very enjoyable and I think you will too.

We like to see the sites but there are days we love just hanging around the camper chilling out.

In a couple of days we will be heading out to spend Christmas with our dear friends Don & Joni. We are lucky to have such good friends that didn't want us to spend Christmas alone. Thanks Don & Joni we really appreciate it.

We miss our family at home who will be spending Christmas this year without us. They are always on our mind and at least just a phone call or text away. Yes, we miss you too Ben, Holly, and Dave, Merry Christmas.

Cleaning the Camper and Visiting Gatorland

Monday I got ambitious and decided to clean the camper or at least start cleaning it. Being retired I don't want to work to hard so it will take a few days to complete the task. We can't use water to clean the camper because of the water shortage in the area so I have a dry wash/wax system to clean the camper. I wipe it on with a damp cloth and wipe it off with a dry cloth which leaves the surface clean and shiny.

I started out by washing all the windows with Windex then I decided to work on the front of the camper only. Wipe on wipe off, it sounds easy, YEA SURE! The windows were easy but the front of a class C motor home is a pain in the #**. I would rather clean a 45 foot class A motor home because it is shaped like a shoe box with flat surfaces. The front of a class C has more nooks, crannies, and overhangs to deal with not counting the dried on bugs. The front of the camper looks great but I got crippled from the effort. It took a couple of days to start walking normal again.

While I was working on the camper a MetLife blimp flew overhead.

According to their website it was one of three they fly, this was Snoopy 1.

Yesterday we decided to play tourist again so we went to Gatorland which is only a half hour away. Our Garmin got us there without a problem but it took us on a toll road. We were only on the toll road for about two miles and they charged us $1.75. I guess they are trying to pay for all their roads with this one toll booth.

Along the way we passed this massive mall which had every department store in existence including a Bealls (Pronounced Bells). As we passed Bev informed me that we must stop there on the way back. Just Great!

Just down the road from the mall we arrived at Gatorland. We looked at the sign with the prices and it was about $25.00 a head but when we check with the admissions person we were surprised. I am a veteran so I got in for free and because Bev is old it only cost her $10.64 including tax. That was great and left us with enough money to by ice cream in the park.

They had Alligators everywhere.

The Egrets were brave and we saw one grab food from an alligator's mouth. They also like to ride on the gator's back.

They also had White Alligators. As you can see from the sign these are not Albino and are very rare.

They almost look fake but believe me they were real. If you have good eyes you can read the Legend of the White Alligator sign.

They had tortoises.

The place was overrun by Black Vultures. They were on the ground, on the buildings, and in the trees.

And more birds

They had snakes. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Southern Copper Head

Cotton Mouth

Eastern Diamond Back Rattlesnake

I'm glad they were behind glass although in one of their shows they had a couple of rattlesnakes crawling around the stage rattling their rattles.

Their shows were kind of hokey and were really for the kids. On one of the shows they were going to get the gators to jump for food but it was cold the night before so the gators didn't care about food they just wanted to lay in the sun. A couple of gators grabbed the meat offered but most just laid there. The egrets were brave though and took the food from the gators. The Black Vultures really wanted to get the food but were afraid. They would approach them but fly or run off even though the gators did not move. Like I said it was hokey but the kids got a kick out of it.

One show was Up Close Encounters. They had spiders and rattle snakes on the stage and here is a Burmese Python being held by people from the audience. (Not me, I don't like snakes.)

Gatorland is really for kids and there were a lot of them there. Some of them had a great time playing in this water feature.

It was fun walking around the place even if I was still stiff from working on the camper.

Time to head home to Thousand Trails Orlando, but no Bev is making me go to that large mall to shop at Bealls. Oh how I hate to shop and I really don't need anything! Oh No I thought I could wait in the car but no Bev wants me to buy pants and a shirt. I have one pair of black jeans and one pair of tan jeans. I also have a couple of shirts I don't need anymore. I lost, Bev made me buy pants, shirt, and a jacket. Bev also got some things and I have to admit it was a great deal. They were having a 50% off sale and because we were old we got another 15% senior discount. Great savings but I still say I didn't need any more.

Finally, we got to head home and yes we hit the $1.75 toll road again.

It was such a traumatic experience shopping that on the way home we had to stop at our favorite steak place the Santa Fe Cattle Company. Did I mention we like to eat out.