Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, ThrowBack Thursdays have returned! This week, we wander back to June of 2018, when I had a most excellent vacation in Missouri. Many of my east coast acquaintances asked me at the time why anyone would want to spend … Continue reading Missouri, part one (June 2018)
The Florida trip that I just completed was to be the “proof of concept” for this here Parkinson’s / Travel Blog. So, has the concept been proven? Some reflections:
My insomnia provided me with plenty of time to do my blogging during the early morning hours. And for the first few days, I did just that. After those first few days, I never felt like writing during the wee-soaked hours. I just kept coming up with one excuse after another – couldn’t type due to tremors, needed to plan the coming day’s activity in more detail (e.g., learn the names and details of each roller coaster at the park I’d be visiting), etc. And even when I did get around to writing, it seems I had less and less to say as the trip progressed. My post for Day One was huge (887 words), and I had a couple more topics that I could have written about but chose to leave out. My write-ups for the last three days of the trip were much less verbose (averaging 225 words per day).
Ultimately, I got some likes and some comments that indicated there were people actually reading this stuff as I posted it, so I think I’ll keep at it. My next trip is not much more than a month away, when I will be in east Texas. In the meantime, ThrowBack Thursdays will resume. Next stop: Missouri in June, 2018.
…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 … Continue reading Florida Trip Report (the final four days)
Let me just start by saying, this trip has had the worst traffic of any vacation I’ve ever been on. During my previous trip to Florida, where I went all the way down the Atlantic coast and out to Key West, traffic was hardly a concern at all. But central and southwestern Florida have been a COMPLETELY different story. From Orlando down through Tampa to Sarasota: Massive traffic jams somewhere along my route EVERY DAY so far. So today, when I had planned to leave early enough to get to Sea World at opening time…I didn’t leave nearly early enough. But that’s OK; I didn’t stay all day, anyway.
I found Sea World to be similar to Busch Gardens, and not just because they’re the same company. They both have animal displays scattered amongst thrill rides. The difference being that Busch Gardens seems to be a little more about the rides, while Sea World is a little more about the animals…which seems to make sense. Officially, I came here for the coasters, but I quickly converted to the marine life side of things. I only rode three coasters (one of them twice). They were good, especially Mako, which felt like a cross between Intimidator and Fury 325 (both of which are at my home park, Carowinds). But I spent much more time at the shows and the walk-through animal exhibits.
I went to the orca show, the sea lion / otter / walrus show, and the dolphin show. Due to the show times, I did them all back-to-back-to-back, which led to my afternoon dose of Parkinson’s meds being taken an hour late, right before the dolphin show. So I headed into the dolphin show feeling tired and weak, and thinking that I would leave the park right after the show. But the meds kicked in during the show, re-energizing me. I stayed for another couple hours, and considered staying even longer. But it was dark by then, and I was ready to find some dinner. Some dinner that wasn’t worth blogging about.
I leave you with a quick video of a ride I didn’t fully notice until just before I left Sea World. In all my amusement park travels, I have seen and ridden many a river rafting ride and many a flume ride, but this is the first time I’ve seen the two concepts merged into a single ride…
Do you remember the Ringling Brothers? Of course not, you never met ’em! But do you remember the NAME Ringling Brothers? In 1870, five brothers from McGregor, Iowa founded what later became the biggest circus in history. John Ringling lived until 1936; by then, he … Continue reading Florida Trip Report (Days 8 and 9)
Way back in 1990, I started to build a list of Must Ride roller coasters. This list has waxed and waned since then, but I’ve always kept it short enough that it could be maintained in my noggin; never has it been written down. I … Continue reading Florida Trip Report (Day 7)
…and on the 5th day, Cedric rested…and had German food for lunch…and watched the Rams win the Super Bowl…and saw that it was good.
I set aside the entirety of Day Six for the Salvador Dali museum, not really knowing what to expect. Dali had a wider variety of work than I had anticipated. While he is widely known for his surreal paintings, his early works were largely impressionist, and he did some sculpting, as well. Late in his career, he did some HUGE paintings – like 12 feet high, and loaded with the activity and detail one would expect from Dali. But most of the paintings they have on display are quite small. My favorite, if only for the title, was “Atmospheric Skull Sodomizing a Grand Piano”. Do a Google image search…it’s out there.
The Dali collection was quite broad and very enjoyable (though the place was crowded), yet I was done within a couple of hours. The museum also had a temporary exhibit on Picasso’s sources of influence. Not on his actual art, so much as his home land and life experiences. There were more photos of Picasso than there were paintings by Picasso. It was interesting, but I didn’t spend a lot of time on this exhibit.
So now it was only lunch time, and I had nothing else planned for the day. So I hopped into the car and wandered blindly around the greater Tampa Bay area, doing some random shopping along the way. BTW, my rental car is tiny (a Chevy Spark). I shouldn’t have tried to ‘hop into’ it. Ouch.
On my last trip to Florida a few years ago, I saw a couple of the grand hotels that were created by Henry Flagler, a railroad baron who was largely responsible for the development of Florida’s east coast. On my current trip, I saw one … Continue reading Florida Trip Report (Day 4)
Not a whole lot happened on Day 3 (and no photos). I met a friend / former co-worker for lunch at Kojak’s House of Ribs. I had some excellent pulled pork, and caught up with the goings-on in my old line of work. From there, I went to the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. This was an interesting visit, and got me tossing some concepts around in my brain. It lives up to its name as a museum of photographic arts, rather than a museum of photography. I must say that the museum is not nearly as big as I had hoped, and that I had a Hell of a time finding it – in terms of both where to park and how to get there from the parking structure. But in the struggle to find a place to park, I accidentally happened upon the Henry B. Plant Museum, which was my planned destination for Day Four. So I was able to do some recon and planning for the next day. Based on what I saw, I think I’ll be taking a lot of pics of the Plant Museum’s exterior.
I asked some friends who live in the Tampa area to recommend a local beach. The unanimous reply was Clearwater. Now I don’t know where I got this assumption, but I was picturing Clearwater as being a quaint little seaside town; something like Rehoboth Beach … Continue reading Florida Trip Report (Day 2)
Voyages with Parkinson's 