Fun at Walt Disney World

We finally made it to Walt Disney World on Sunday February 8,2009. We stayed in EPCOT the whole day and enjoyed lots of exhibits and rides, and countries too! Favorites were Soarin' (definitely awesome!), the eels at the Living Seas, Test Track, and a fun recycling game called "Don't Waste It!" was pretty humorous! Being a Weather Channel junkie, I made everyone go to the Severe Weather Replicator because Jim Cantore was doing the promo/introduction! There were lots of native birds including this juvenille White Ibis.

We saw several characters, including Mary Poppins. I couldn't resist this shot of Mary with an unknown Disney visitor!

The following day was dedicated to the Magic Kingdom and its parades and fireworks. Here's cousins Alyssa and Kathy on Aladdin's Magic Carpet flying high in the sky!

Below, in the center car, back seat, are Alyssa and Kathy (with her arm waving wildly!) on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad on our last day.

We spent most of a day in Animal Kingdom on rides and seeing a great musical "The Festival of the Lion King". Complete with tumbling monkeys, men on stilts, a man with a baton of fire, and fabulous vocal preformances! Was like a broadway play! We had a great time and it was absolutely wonderful to release my inner child again. Only at Disney can one go back to being 7 years old along with every other guest in the park!

Motorin' For Manatees!

On Saturday February 7th, my cousins (Kathy, Mike and Alyssa) and myself finally made it to the Florida line! While at the Welcome Center I inquired about the location of the manatees that I saw on the Weather Channel were congregating in warmer waters. She informed me that there was a rather large group that day at the Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida at the wildlife refuge. It was about 230 miles away and it was after 2pm, the park closes at 6pm! YIKES! TIME was our enemy! I put the address into the GPS ("Richard") and away we went speeding across I-10 and down some 2 lane road running parallel to I-95. I put the pedal to the metal and sort of exceeded the speed limit and cruised thru some traffic lights that some would feel questionable, all in the name of adventure! Due to my crude calculations I figured we would make it to the destination 15 to 25 minutes prior to closing, depending on how many slowpokes I got behind and couldn't pass. We made it at 5:45, the park ranger discouraged us because we ONLY had 15 minutes. I informed her that I was WELL AWARE that I only had 15 minutes and I would make the most of it! I instructed my cousins that as soon as the car was in park to jump out of the Durango and run toward the water! I believe I was beyond the hood of the car by the time my door shut (according to them). They experienced my excitedness firsthand and were frankly amazed that I didn't durf it on the exposed tree roots (well, me too)! No, there was no time to count to 10 and walk in an orderly fashion! Anyway, we saw about 6 different manatees but only 1 of them was close enough to get close ups of in the sunset!

All too soon, a ranger came and shooed us out. I begged for 5 more minutes, but he wouldn't hear of it. Oh well, 15 minutes seeing manatees in the wild was better than not being able to see them at all! There also appeared to be a lot of nice hiking trails there too and guided kayak and boat cruises! I will definitely explore Blue Spring State Park more on future Florida vacations!

And You Wonder Why I am Accident Prone

As I am sure you all know, when I get time off work for what most call a vacation, I go on "adventures". A huge part of my adventure is the planning and researching everything and anything that I can possibly fit in until the point of exhaustion. So, on my fall 2008 adventure, I made a 2 night stop on Campobello Island, New Brunswick. Fabulous place! I highly recommend it! One of the "highlights" is the Head Harbor Light on the northern side of the island. Built in 1829 its the 2nd oldest light on the Bay of Fundy and purported to be the most photographed light in all of New Brunswick! But, its only accessible 1 hour each side of low tide. On September 30th, that would have been at sunrise, roughly 7am. I just couldn't miss out on that! So, I got up early & headed out. The locals told me it was an awesome hike, just beware & get back before the tide comes in. This above photo is where the "trail" begins. There is a large white sign about the trek being "risky" (the locals said it was safe) and in the far background you can just make out the top of the lighthouse.

At no time did any one tell me there was 4 large metal stairs anchored to the rocks and the "beach" was actually large boulders covered in slick seaweed! The first and last flight was about 75 steps, and the middle 2 were only about 30. This is BEFORE I trekked across this treacherous terrain, slipping multiple times! I truly pictured a sandy, small stone covered area, similar to Hopewell Rocks (see below story).







I paused for a moment to investigate the seaweed covered rocks and the creatures attached!

After I climbed the 2nd staircase, I had second thoughts. After all, I was by myself and what if I fell and broke something. There was not a sole around to rescue me! Was I crazy? Maybe I should turn around. But, I still had to go back across the boulder field, I might as well press on...also, the view excited me!

This was the view after I crossed the "dry" island and just before descending the 3rd set of stairs. Then it was across another seaweed covered rocky seabed, and a few more stumbles before....a knight in shining armor (actually sandals) approached. Out of nowhere, this young man came scurrying toward me warning me not to step on a certain rock. Apparently he had burned it there moments before & didn't want me to suffer the same fate. I wonder if he saw me durf it all the other times. Anyway, I was VERY grateful for the assistance in the last few feet!

It was a very picturesque lighthouse. I wish I could have gotten into the buildings and climbed to the top, but there isn't always staff present, especially this late in the season.

Another couple arrived shortly after, and I felt this was a sign that I should head back with them in case trouble arose. Yes, I did fall 2 more times..but the bruises were definitely worth the experience! Below is a photo taken from the whale watching cruise I took later that day about 1pm. You can see that the tide has filled in the "trail". The 1st section wouldn't fit in the photo, but you can get the drift. That day, the tide difference was about 19 feet! Glad I got back to dry land!!!

Hopewell Rocks - the Highest Tides in the World

On my fall vacation last year to New Brunswick, Canada and Maine, I was quite intrigued about the claims of the Bay of Fundy to have the highest tides in the world. I just HAD to check it out! I arrived in Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick on 9-26-08 so that on Saturday I could get to Hopewell Rocks bright and early so that I could see both the high and low tides and get to walk on the ocean floor! It was a pretty dreary day as you can see, the weather was deteriorating as Hurricane Kyle was expected the evening of the following day. Oh well, that's why I have rain gear! :-) This photo was taken about 11 am at the height of high tide. Today, that rise was 41 feet (measurement taken about 100 yards further out). As you can see, the arch is nearly full with water (it helped that it was a full moon too)!






After lunch and a bit of hiking on the trails and a visit to Desmoiselles Beach I made it back to the stairway that leads to this particular area about 4pm . As you can clearly see, a large amount of water has receded from the area, and the lowest point was still about 2 hours away!! They say during the summer months in pleasant weather, the area is quite congested.






Once I was on the ocean floor, I turned to document where I had been standing. The water
<----- level today was just a titch higher than this inserted arrow. Wouldn't want to be left behind!

And finally, me, in front of the arch that was nearly full of water. From the sea floor to the top of the open hole is 18 feet!