Thursday, December 26, 2013

FAUNA

NEVER SAW ANY THO * REAL * NEAR ORLANDO
HUNGRY EGRET AT DISNEY WORLD



AS CLOSE AS WE GOT TO A GATOR * ACTUALLY SMALL GECKO

A HAWK PATIENTLY WAITING FOR LUNCH * MCDILL AFB
SEA GULLS VYING FOR A POST * KEY WEST
PELICA
SANDPIPER * LARGO FLORDIA
NS * KEY WEST FLORDIA
SMALL QUAIL * KEY WEST FLORDIA

EGRETS * NEAR ORLANDO

FLORA

BIRD OF PARADISE TEMPLE GROUNDS ORLANDO
FAKE CHRISTMAS TREE * REAL PRETTY THO * MAHOGANY BAY

WEIRD PLANT, REAL FUZZY * TEMPLE GROUNDS ORLANDO
 THESE ARE LIKE OUR HOUSE PLANTS GROWING IN OUR NIECE'S YARD IN LARGO, NEAR TAMPA FLORDIA.  THEY ARE HUGE!
BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY - KEY WEST

NIECE'S YARD
NIECE'S YARD



THIS IS SPANISH MOSS GROWING IN THE TREE IN HER YARD

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL!!



    OH BEAUTIFUL FOR SPACIOUS SKIES....
FOR AMBER WAVES OF GRAIN....

FOR PURPLE MOUNTAIN'S MAJESTIES...
ABOVE THE FRUITED PLANES

AMERICA, AMERICA
GOD SHED HIS GRACE ON THEE


AND CROWNED THY GOOD WITH BROTHERHOOD
FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA!!
MAY GOD CONTINUE TO  BLESS AMERICA OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!!!

WE ARE TRULY  BLESSED TO BE ABLE TO TRAVEL AND SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL LAND






Sunday, December 22, 2013

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS * FLORIDA STYLE

                                        LARGO FLORIDA CITY PARK
Have to have a pink flamingo
Cindi, Karl and Vern



And a tree of course
This was neat! Light in tree defused on side walk. Didn't photo well.
 Looked like you were walking on shiny marbles.
What amazed me about this walk in the park, viewing the Christmas lights?  Everybody was in tee shirts and shorts.  No coats, no sweaters.  December 8.  Children playing on the play equipment.  People walking dogs.  After the park, we drove by a Church that was doing the live nativity.  So we decided to do that.  You just stayed in your car and drove past the different scenes.  Very well done, with costumes and live animals.  They gave you a CD to play in your car and you passed by, telling the Christmas story.
 










Friday, December 20, 2013

DAY SEVEN * FUN DAY AT SEA

If you look real close, it was snowing in the atrium!
Our last night * A heart * How sweet


                                ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END!!


 In the afternoon they had a Christmas show.  We really spaced out on that, must have been in our room taking a nap.  They said it was really good.  "Snowed" there too.
For entertainment the last night we had fellow cruisers dressed up like some famous people and singing and dancing.  We had Gladys Knight, Elvis, Madonna, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Elton John, Garth Brooks, and I don't remember who else.

     Then of course when you get back to your room, you have to think about packing!  Ugg!  But what a wonderful vacation within a vacation.  And we didn't need to buy any air fare!  If you have never been on a cruise before, they had tons of tours that you can take at every port.  They seemed a lot more expensive than what they were on past cruises.  But of course that has been at least 10 years ago.  We had decided that we wouldn't spend any extra money, so we didn't take any of the offered tours.  There were a few that we were interested in.  Tubing thru caves in Belize sounded like fun, but you had to go on a zip line to get in or out of that one!!  Plus they had some Mayan ruins in Belize also, that could have been good.  We had done the ruins at Tulum in Mexico on a previous cruise.
    The one thing I did not like about the cruise:  I had checked on line before hand to see if the ship had wi-fi.  It said it did, but didn't mention anything about the cost.  So we lugged our lap top aboard, since that is the way we do all our banking and communicating while traveling.  What a waste.  We found out you can get wi-fi aboard the ship for a price, a very high price.  I think it was $.79 a minute.  And they warned that it was slow, via satellite.   No thank you.  Plus if you wanted to use the ship's phone, it was $1.99 a minute.  I guess that was a good price, since we got charged by Verizon for two incoming calls and one call we made while still on the ship in Tampa.  That was $12.85 for roaming charges!

    All and all we had a great time.  Very relaxing, I would recommend it to anyone.  I think going on a cruise is the ultimate vacation.  Food included, a different port everyday and no packing and unpacking, leaving the driving to someone else, free entertainment, what ever you little heart's desire!

DAY SIX * GRAND CAYMAN

Because of the shallow port we had to tender in again
Making friends


What's with these islands 8 chickens everywhere
Taken from the ship * Not very far off shore


We found an internet cafe - first contact with the outside world in 6 days - waiting patiently, not!

A scorpion in our bed!
We had an illusionist for entertainment this night.  He was really good, don't know how he did some of that magic!

Went to an earlier show with a magician from India.  He was a comedian also.  What a card!
Really good.

                                                   ANOTHER FAVORITE