About a month ago, I showed you the photos from my first “major trip” to Florida, including many pics from Miami Beach. But I didn’t mention that I had taken a day trip to Miami Beach once before, in late summer of 2013. This was … Continue reading Miami Beach, summer 2013
Eight and a half years ago – that is to say, last week – I left Miami Beach, headed towards Key West, Though Google Maps says this is only a 4.25 hour drive, I scheduled two full days for the trip, as I intended to … Continue reading Florida 2015, part three
For this week’s ThrowBack Thursday, we resume where we left off in last week‘s ThrowBack Thursday: Florida in January 2015. More specifically, Miami Beach in the late afternoon. This is probably my favorite beach in the world. The water is just the right temperature, and … Continue reading Florida 2015, part two
If you’ve been a reader of this blog for at least a year and a half, you may remember I reported in near-real-time on a Florida trip I took in February of last year. What you may not realize is that this was actually my … Continue reading Florida 2015, part one
I’m not a normal tourist. (I’m not a normal ANYTHING, but humor me here.) Most tourists bring home souvenirs from their travels. Not me. I normally just take pictures and blog about my experiences. I haven’t purchased a souvenir since I got that “South Dakota … Continue reading My Favorite Souvenir
…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.
Voyages with Parkinson's 