Florida Trip Report (the final four days)

Written by ceddammit

…and on the 11th day, Cedric rested…and tried the new nachos at Chili’s…and he saw that they were good.

After seeing loads of wildlife inside amusement parks, I decided it was time to see wildlife in the wild. So on Day Twelve, I made the 2.5-hour drive from my hotel near the Orlando airport to Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Near the visitor center, I watched a nesting pair of bald eagles coming and going from their gigantic nest WAY up the air. Unfortunately I was unable to get pictures of them with the limited photographic gear I had packed for this trip. But I did get a few pics as I roamed about..

Bison and gators in the same state park? Who’d a thunk it?
Hoping to see bison, I was instead blessed with an armadillo.
Prairie in Florida? Yup. Hence the bison that I didn’t see.
Plenty of Spanish moss, which is neither Spanish nor moss
Can you spot the baby alligator in this picture? I can’t, either. But it’s in there somewhere.

While at the Paynes Prairie Preserve, I spoke with a ranger, who told me about the nearby Sweetwater Wetlands Park. So I headed there next. Here I saw…

I like turtles.
Waterfowl
Can you spot the alligator in this picture? I did, when I was already too close.

I had intended to spend Day Thirteen at Universal Studios. But I had gotten so little sleep, and there was so much traffic heading into Universal, and it was such a beautiful day…I decided to head out to Cocoa Beach instead. As I was meandering back across Orlando towards my hotel, I spotted this place:

…and they weren’t kidding! I stopped on in and ordered the Eggs Benedict. This is what they brought me:

Once I was done fking my diet, I headed back to the hotel where I took a much needed nap. But I didn’t really feel better after the nap. In fact, the ol’ Parkinson’s exhaustion and depression kicked in to the point where I didn’t feel like going anywhere or doing anything. However, I also didn’t feel like just hanging out in my hotel room, either. So I dragged myself out to the car and made the one-hour drive to the coast. Once I had been driving for awhile with the Megadeth blasting, I felt a little better. It was pretty much a wasted afternoon, though. I never made it to the beach; just wandered around seeing the sights, including this one…

Rocket boosters and fuel tank from the defunct space shuttle program at Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida

Day Fourteen started with 30 minutes on the stationary bike in the hotel gym, then packing and weighing my bag (also in the hotel gym), because my checked bag on the previous flight had almost been heavy enough to incur additional charges. I had identified another interestingly named restaurant for lunch. I had Brazilian food at Mrs. Potato.

I ordered a rosti potato, which is similar to a Hot Pocket, but the “shell” is composed of hash browns. The food was quite good, but I must warn you that the price was a little steep. With tax and tip, this was a $32 lunch.

Finally, I was off to Dezerland Park, a former shopping mall that has been converted to “Florida’s Largest Indoor Attraction” with go karts, a car museum, bowling alley, and more. I was there specifically for the Pinball Palace. For a $25 admission fee, you can play pinball all day. I’ve been to several such places, and I must say I was a little disappointed with the maintenance of their machines, though I’ve definitely seen worse. But it finally occurred to me that my favorite pinball games are now around 30 years old, so you’d be lucky to even find a non-working one that you could use for parts. Once that sunk in, I spent a few hours enjoying some old favorites, and trying some of the REALLY old ones (in the neighborhood of SIXTY years old) right up until I had to leave for the airport. And with that, my work here is done.

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