For the first time since my sabbatical in 2018 we are finally taking a vacation. This one is to Orlando, Florida. We decided to drive so we could see more of the country and enjoy the trip as much as the destination. We decided to go east and then south through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Georgia and finally Florida. When we left it was foggy and quite chilly.
The first day of our drive we crossed all of Kansas and stopped for the night in Columbia, Missouri. Kansas is very long, flat and, to be quite honest, ugly. There are no mountains, trees or water to be seen. I was hoping a bit to at least see a tornado (in the distance) just for something visually interesting but no such luck. Once you get to the very west end of Kansas is starts looking much better. By the time we reached Kansas City there were trees and it was quite beautiful. That’s when we crossed over into Missouri. In Missouri the trees were changing to their fall colors and it was absolutely beautiful. The entire drive from Kansas City to Columbia was a beautiful color wash of trees all along the highway. It was quite impressive and made the drive really enjoyable. It was a long day so we didn’t stop to take pictures. The only pictures we got were from the car moving at 75 mph.
We finally arrived in Columbia around 8pm. We checked into the Staybridge Hotel which was very nice. Unfortunately they had just cleaned the carpet in the room we were in so the floor was a little damp still. But otherwise it was a nice hotel. We went and had dinner at TGI Fridays. It was really tasty. We then just went back to the room and relaxed a bit before hitting the sack.
While driving through Kansas, we encountered a long stretch of road where they were doing construction. It seems when putting down the stripes in the middle of the road that the driver was a bit drunk as the stripes were all really crooked. We found it quite entertaining. We didn’t see this in any other state yet we did encounter a lot of road construction.
This morning we slept in quite late. It just didn’t feel right to get up early when we couldn’t check in to our VRBO until 4pm. We checked out of the Westin and had the valet deliver our car and off we went. It was a long day of driving through Georgia and a bit of Florida to get here at a constant 5-10 mph. It seems the majority of the day was spent in stop and go traffic. It’s hard to know why as there never was an accident or road work or anything else. It was just really slow for no apparent reason. After the grueling stop and go day, we finally arrived at our VRBO in Orlando Florida at around 6pm.
Less than a week ago Florida was hit by a Category 5 hurricane, named Ian. It beat up the coast but didn’t do too much damage in Orlando. By the time we arrived most of it was cleaned up. There were a couple places they were repairing downed signs but overall it was difficult to tell that it had ever hit.
After arriving at the room we got everything put away and went to go see if we could get a tripod for my camera. I realized that I’m an idiot and forgot my tripod so it’s quite difficult to get pictures of the things I want. We also picked up some dinner and a few items from the grocery store.
First we went to a camera store we found on Google only to find it was inside Epcot and they wouldn’t let us in without paying $164 per person. Well I wasn’t about to pay $328 for the 2 of us just to go into the camera store at 8pm so I took a single picture of the Epcot and we left. Next stop, dinner. We went to a small Chinese restaurant called Pearl’s Chinese Restaurant. We got dinner to go and just brought it back to the room to eat. While dinner was being made we ran next door to Publix (grocery store) and picked up the few items we needed. Then we came home and ate dinner, took a shower and relaxed for a few minutes before heading to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. Super excited!
While staying at the VRBO we experienced some of the most beautiful sunsets.
The next two days we went to Disney World, Hollywood Studios. We were primarily interested in the Star Wars theme park called Galaxies Edge. So that is where our time was spent. Both days were very hot so we had to constantly work to stay hydrated. Water was extremely expensive. To buy a single bottle of water it cost $5.
Also just walking around throughout the Galaxies Edge area you often see two Storm Troopers. They typically go up to little children and say funny things to them such as “You are being inspected, please show us your ID”. It was so funny watching the expressions on kids faces.
Day 1:
The first day was when we had both workshops scheduled. We had Savi’s Workshop at 9:45am and the Droid Depot workshop at 4pm. These were our main goal for the day. We also used this day to buy gifts for anyone we were getting them for.
In Savi’s workshop we went into a cave and got to build our own custom lightsaber. We got to choose the kyber crystal for the color as well. We both felt that this was probably the most fun of our entire time at Galaxies Edge.
We had lunch today at a restaurant called Docking Bay 7. The food was good although, as expected, it was quite expensive.
We did get to go in and spend some time, and money, in Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. This is where I bought the Darth Sideous legacy lightsaber, some extra kyber crystals and a couple holocrons, one sith and one Jedi.
Later in the day was the Droid Depot workshop and it was more like a normal workshop where we selected what kind of droid we wanted to build. Then we selected custom pieces. Once we had all that done we went to a station and they helped us assemble our droid and put in the personality chip to get it working.
The last thing we did this first day was to go get some of the Blue and Green milk. It’s just one of those things you have to do. It wasn’t actually milk but was more like a Slurpee. They were really good but we both liked the Blue Milk the best.
Day 2:
The second day we spend riding all the rides we wanted to. We concentrated only on the Star Wars rides. Today we ate lunch at Ronto Roasters. Their food was basically wraps and were really quite tasty. It was really neat as they had a podracer engine with a droid working it. He would say something such as “Turn, turn, turn, it’s what I love to do all day”. It was quite funny.
We started off with a ride called “Star Tours – The Adventures Continue“. This was quite fun as it felt as though we were flying through space on a big spaceship.
Next we did the “Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run” which is the ship that Hans Solo flew in the movies. This was also a simulator but was quite fun. They selected people in groups. Debby and I got to be the pilots. We basically guided the ship through the story. There were 2 engineers with us as well as 2 gunners. The wait in line was about an hour. Disney has restructured all their passes to skip lines and you can basically only get 1 per day. Unfortunately we didn’t know that and used it on the first ride which we didn’t even need. So we had to stand in line for the remaining two rides.
The final ride for the day was the “Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance“. This took us through the empire. We got to see Imperial troops and AT-AT’s. It also then went through a section where we were involved in a battle with lasers shooting and things flying around. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately the line for this ride was about 2 hours. It was grueling. By the time we got to the ride we were so exhausted of just standing that we were constantly looking for small places to sit just to give our legs and feet a short break.
Overall the rides were all quite fun but the huge crowds and long lines almost made it feel as though it was not worth it.
The next 2 days were spent at Universal Studios. We concentrated primarily on the Harry Potter and Jurassic Park parts of the park but also went through a show called Poseidon’s Fury that was about the Greek god, Poseidon.
Day 1:
Today we went to the main Universal Studios area to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley theme park. We looked around a bit and then got in line for the Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts ride. Fortunately we had the Universal Express Pass which allowed us to get in a much shorter line. While waiting in line we got to see the Gringotts bank with animated bankers as well as a small skit. The ride was amazing and felt so real.
After the ride we went back out and saw a long line for Ollivanders which is the famous wand shop. We didn’t want to wait in that line so we walked around and looked at some of the shops and structures in Diagon Alley. We got to see the famous Knight Bus.
While on this side of the park we decided to go ride the Men in Black – Alien Attack ride. That ride was so fun. We basically rode along and had a laser gun for each person. When aliens would pop out we had to shoot them with the laser, similar to the scene in the original movie where Will Smith shot the little girl with his laser. Curt expected to do very well at this but was really embarrassed when Debby more than doubled his score. It was very entertaining standing in line for this ride as we got to go through the MIB Headquarters and see all the various weapons and aliens in it.
There was nothing else in this section of the park that we were really interested in so we went and boarded the Hogwarts Express train at King’s Cross Station to the Hogsmeade Station. We sat in a small passenger room where various Harry Potter scenes were displayed in the exterior windows. In addition there were shadows in the room doors that appeared as though people were moving around outside the door. There was a shadow spider crawling up the door and one of the human shadows grabbed it and ate it. Ewwww!
Once we arrived at Hogsmeade Station we made our way to the Mystic Fountain. It was talking to a couple of young girls. It asked them to tell a joke, which one of them did and the fountain laughed and squirted a large bunch of water out to soak them.
Then we went to the Harry Potter area on Islands of Adventure called Hogsmeade. The buildings all had fake snow on them. The line for Ollivanders was much shorter here so we went to this one. They did a small performance where a wand got to choose its owner with one young child. Then we moved into the gift shop where we were able to buy wands and other various gifts. They had a huge assortments of wands. There were also 3 animated brooms. This is where we bought wands and a Gryffindor water bottle.
Next we went on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. This was probably the best ride of all that we went on the entire trip. It felt just like we were flying on a broomstick behind Harry Potter. While waiting in line, we went through the Hogwarts School where there were a lot of talking paintings. It was sort of a roller coaster but didn’t really have any large drops and it was all in the dark with various scenes taking us through the adventure.
Finally we stopped at the Triwizard Spirit Rally. This was a fantastic dance show put on a small stage. It played out as the guys school versus the girls school. The girls did a sort of ballet style dance and the guys did a Russian style dance.
This finally ended the day and we went back to the room for some much needed dinner and relaxation.
Day 2:
The next day we went directly to Islands of Adventure. The plan was to ride the Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure however the Express Pass could not be used for this ride. We got there at the very opening and it already had a 2 hour wait. It was hot and we decided it wasn’t worth the wait so we skipped that ride and moved on.
At this point we had completed all the Harry Potter adventures we were interested in so we moved to the Jurassic Park section of the park.
We started off looking through the Jurassic Park Discovery Center. This was primarily designed for children and had many interactive displays but it was still interesting even for us older children.
Next we went to the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride. On this ride we rode in a boat that took us through an area that looked like Jurassic Park. There were many animated dinosaurs. At the end it went down a large drop into water and soaked all of us in the boat.
At this point we went to lunch and found it really interesting that all through the Jurassic Park section they looked like fossilized leaves and other various things imprinted into the cement.
After lunch we went to a production called Poseidon’s Fury. We followed an archeological guide as he took us through the Temple of Poseidon. There were many special effects as we went through the temple and saw Poseidon battle the evil Lord Darkennon. While going through the temple we got to go through a tunnel of water where the water was spinning so fast around us that it made a tunnel to walk through.
At this point it was very hot and we were really tired and decided to call it a day. As we were leaving the park we saw some interesting statues and even got to see Bubba Gump Shrimp company, the one started by Tom Hanks in the movie Forrest Gump.
The next 2 days we spent at SeaWorld. There was so much to do here that we concentrated primarily on the shows and animals and very little on rides. In fact we only rode 2 rides.
Day 1:
The first day here was fantastic. The sky was overcast so it wasn’t nearly as hot. It was pretty muggy but still very comfortable. And later in the day when the sun did appear there were plenty of shady spots where we could sit and rest.
Shark Encounter
First stop was the Shark Encounter. Outside they had a couple pools with various sharks and rays.
Then we went inside and got to go through the glass tunnel and see various fish and sharks.
Infinity Falls Ride:
As soon as they opened the rides we quickly went to the Infinity Falls ride to try to get in as short a line as possible. Well it worked. With the Express Line pass we were on a boat within minutes. The ride was a blast. We basically rode on a round boat that goes through a bunch of rapids. Then at the end it goes down a big drop and soaks everyone inside the boat. We only had a mother and her 2 children in the boat with us so we had plenty of space.
Waiting Around:
At this point it was getting near the time to do our Killer Whale (Orca) Up-Close Tour so we headed to the meeting point and sat and waited for the tour to begin. There were some egrets begging for food and the waiting area was really nice.
Killer Whale Up-Close Tour:
This is where the Killer Whale Up-Close Tour began. We had quite a long walk but they took us into the areas behind the scenes where they work with the orca’s. They showed us how the feed and medicate them when there is something wrong. They showed us how they train them and gave us all kinds of information on what they eat, how much, how much they weigh, and a lot more.
One very interesting fact is that they are maternal. They have one female leader of the pod who makes all the major decisions. The other orca’s will look to her first before doing almost any behavior. If she gives the approval then they will do it. I bet human women wish it worked this way for them huh? Too bad it doesn’t. The world might be in better shape.
Lunch:
Once we finished with the orca tour it was about time for lunch. So we went looking for food. After we got the food we sat in that spot where we waited for the tour to eat lunch. While eating lunch we had a little beggar egret come up to Curt begging for some food. Even though Curt knows it’s naughty he felt really bad for the poor starving bird and gave him a couple chips.
Flamingo Cove:
After lunch we had some time to kill before our next tour, which was the Dolphin Up-Close Tour. So we went walking around looking at what we could. We went by the Dolphin Nursery and the Flamingo Cove.
While walking around, we passed by some fun “tall dancers”.
Dolphin Up-Close Tour:
Next it was time for the Dolphin Up-Close Tour. This was quite fascinating. We got a few pictures at the start but they wouldn’t allow us to take pictures or videos while doing the tour as the dolphins have a habit of grabbing phones and making play toys out of them.
Like orca’s, dolphins are maternal. They are extremely playful and intelligent. They are mammals so breathe air like we do. They have a blow hole in the top of their head that they can open and close at will. So they will surface, take in a breath of air and then close the blow hole to dive for up to 30 minutes.
Journey to Atlantis Ride:
Since we had finished both our up-close tours for the day we decided to go ride the only other ride we were interested in, the Journey to Atlantis. This was another boat ride where we floated through a beautiful display that looked like the lost city of Atlantis. At the end of the display we went down a big drop that soaked everyone in the boat. Then we went back up a big ramp and did a smaller drop that had a high speed curve and then splashed us again. It was so much fun although Debby was not pleased that I “got her on another rollercoaster”.
Unfortunately they wouldn’t allow us to have our phones out so we couldn’t get any video or pictures while actually on the ride.
Under Water Dolphins:
We really wanted to see the Dolphin show at the end of the day so we had some more time to kill. So we walked around and looked at some more of the animal exhibits. We went to the dolphin underwater display where we could see the dolphins swimming around under the water.
Dolphin Adventures:
Finally we got to the Dolphin Adventures show. This was a show where we got to see all the various fun and exciting dolphin tricks and behaviors. They came and took a little girl that was sitting behind us up and she was able to participate in the show. When they asked her questions she had some of the most funny answers. Like “Where are you from?” and the answer was “My house”.
We had reserved seats that we paid extra for. We were quite excited to sit and watch the show in the reserved seats until we saw where they were. We said screw it and sat in normal seats right next to the pool in the splash zone. It was so much better. See the reserved seats at the top of the picture with the blue banners?
Then the dolphin show started and was so much fun. At one point some snowy egrets tried to join the show.
This concluded the first day. It was an extremely busy and fun day. According to my watch we took over 15,000 steps. That helped with the 5 ice cream bars we ate for dinner that night while we watched another beautiful sunset.
Day 2:
This day we only had a single up-close tour so decided to spend the rest of the day watching the remaining shows and the other animal exhibits that we missed the day before. So today was the seal show, the orca show and the beluga whale up-close encounter.
Manatee Rehabilitation Area:
We had some time to kill before the beluga up-close tour we had scheduled. So we decided to walk around and look at some of the exhibits we hadn’t seen yet. We started off with the Manatee Rehabilitation Area. Such fascinating and huge animals.
Alligators:
There was also an exhibit of alligators that we walked by.
Jewel of the Sea Aquarium:
Next we went to the Jewel of the Sea Aquarium. It is a beautiful aquarium with various fish, jelly fish and glass bottom floor to see fish swimming below.
Pacific Point Preserve:
Next stop was the Pacific Point Preserve where they had all sorts of wildlife that inhabits the Pacific Ocean. This included seals, sea lions and various birds.
Lunch:
It was now lunch time so we started looking for something to eat. We passed by two places we really wanted to try out but unfortunately both were closed. So we had to settle for something a little less crazy. One was Road Kill Hot Dogs stand and the other was Crawling Cravings. Curt especially wanted to try the Grasshopper Tacos.
Beluga Whales Up-Close Tour:
It was finally time for the Beluga Whales Up-Close Tour we had scheduled. They took us behind the scenes to see how the beluga whales were trained, fed and medicated. We got to touch and feed them. This was the highlight of the entire vacation. But dang that water was cold.
While it was entertaining to think we were getting the whale to perform, it’s pretty obvious here that the whale was performing for the trainer and not us. All our fingers are pointing different directions. We would have had that poor whale so confused.
Here we were getting the while to do some interesting sounds.
This was really fun. We all pretended we were casting a fishing line and reeling it in. The whale started swimming toward us while making a noise that sounded like a fishing reel being reeled in.
Of course petting a beluga whale is something most people will never have the opportunity to do. It was so cool. Their skin is a little rubbery and very squishy.
Here we put a fish down in the water and waved it for the whale to see. She would then come up and use suction to suck the fish right out of our hand. And yes that water is really cold.
And our big performance.
Here she spun a circle while shooting water out of her mouth pretending to be a sprinkler.
Of course feeding her was so cool.
Waving final goodbye.
Wild Arctic:
After the beluga up-close tour we walked around and enjoyed the Wild Arctic area. It was a re-created Arctic Research Station built around two sailing ships which are trapped in the ice. The story surrounding the ships are taken from the 1845 expedition of Captain John Franklin and his ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
Sea Lion & Otter Spotlight:
Next we went to the Sea Lion & Otter Spotlight show. It was a hoot. The otters were so cute. They kept running in and out of the vending machine.
Orca Encounter:
Once the seals show was over we had to hightail it across the park to the orca area to see the Orca Encounter show. This was such a fantastic show and we were sitting dead center right in the splash zone. They are such amazing animals. It was definitely a great way to end the day.
This was our final day in Florida. Time to pack up and head west tomorrow morning for New Orleans.
Today we headed out with our destination of New Orleans, Louisiana. The plan was to stay for 2 nights and one day. That day we were going to go on a fan boat ride through the swamps of New Orleans. Unfortunately it didn’t turn out quite the way we planned.
We thought it was quite interesting that Louisiana calls counties “Parish” rather than county. It appears that they are named parishes due to them being based on a church system from the states French and Spanish founders who were all Catholic men. When the state was admitted to the union in 1816 the term parish was kept on the map and has remained that way since.
Day 1:
Were going to stay at La Quinta hotel but when we got there that plan changed. The first clue was when Curt went in to check us in, they had to buzz him in to get in the front door. We should have left at that point. But then we went to the room and it reeked so badly of cigarette smoke. There were burn marks all over the bathtub and sink. The toilet was falling off the wall. Some of the kickboards were falling off. And there was what appeared to be a gang of guys standing around at the end of the hallway. So we found another hotel and immediately checked out and left. The hotel we went to is considered a 4-star hotel. We thought it was going to be really nice. Well they did have valet service but the actual room wasn’t all that nice. It was nice enough to stay there but did not seem like a 4-star quality room to us. We have seen 2-star and 3-star rooms that were much nicer. The hotel was called Omni Riverfront Hotel.
After we checked in to the hotel we went to get dinner. Debby really wanted to go to Pat O’Brien’s as that is where her parents had gone many years prior for their anniversary. So we walked up Bourbon Street and had dinner at Pat O’Brien’s. The food was really good but for some reason they sat us in the bar rather than the normal restaurant. We did still get to enjoy it for the most part. Curt had alligator bites (like chicken nuggets but alligator) which was quite interesting. It tasted like chicken but had a different, more rubbery texture. Debby had red beans and rice. After eating we walked through the rest of Pat O’Brien’s to see the rest of it and to go to the gift shop so Debby could buy one of the famous Hurricane glasses.
After dinner we walked back down Bourbon Street and really took it in. We were completely surprised at how many people were still out after 8pm on a Sunday night.
Day 2:
The next morning Debby was not feeling well so we canceled the boat ride through the swamps and just spent the day in the room. Curt went down to get breakfast as they had a Continental breakfast. Surprisingly they charged for the Continental breakfast and it wasn’t cheap. It cost $60 for 2 people to eat that breakfast. We were completely shocked. Every hotel we have ever stayed at provided Continental breakfast for free. We just couldn’t believe it cost $30 per plate for this mediocre breakfast. So our recommendation is if you stay in New Orleans, don’t stay at Omni hotels. There are others such as Hilton right across the street that are almost certainly much nicer.
Next stop is the town of San Antonio, Texas. This is the home of the famous Alamo and the Riverwalk.
While in San Antonio we stayed in the Hyatt Place San Antonio/Riverwalk. It was a beautiful hotel and we had a room looking down to the Riverwalk.
Day 1:
The day we arrived in San Antonio we decided to go find a place to eat dinner on the Riverwalk. So we walked up into town and found a really good Mexican restaurant to eat at. It was called Iron Cactus and was fantastic. The food was excellent and we had a seat looking out to the Riverwalk. We highly recommend trying this restaurant out if you ever go.
There was a bit of a wait so we were waiting just out front watching the boats and other activity on the Riverwalk. While waiting a beggar came up asking for money. Debby told him no. He did not like that answer and started hounding her and telling her she is not better than him. At that point I had enough of him disrespecting my wife so I told him he better back down now and stop talking to my wife like that. At that point he yelled at me and started telling me how even though he just got out of prison he is just as good as me. I thought it was going to turn ugly and I was going to have to stand up and put this guy in his place but I just stopped talking and after a bit he walked away. This was really the only incident we experienced with beggars over our entire vacation.
Right up the stairs from the restaurant they had carriage rides where they would take people around town. They were all lit up. It was beautiful.
While walking back to our hotel we saw some other very interesting buildings and a beautiful view of the Riverwalk.
Day 2:
Today we planned a full day of seeing the Alamo and then riding the boats on the Riverwalk.
We started out at the Alamo. We had a tour scheduled so looked around a bit until the tour began. Then we did the full tour and then were allowed to walk around the Alamo more after the tour and take pictures and read the various signs. The story of the Alamo and the 13 day stand against a huge Mexican army is quite fascinating. It’s worth looking it up and reading through it if you are so inclined.
Note: Curt took a LOT of pictures, basically of every sign and exhibit. He wanted to be able to read through them at his leisure and we didn’t have a month to stand around the Alamo while he read all the signs. You can just skip to the end if you do not want to see all that but feel free to read them if you wish.
This is a statue of Davy Crockett. Most people have heard of him but I don’t know if most people know he died here at the Alamo. He had written a book that is quite fascinating. Curt bought it and is reading it.
After the Alamo we stopped and grabbed some ice cream from Häagen-Dazs. Then we went back to the room and took a little nap. We saw some really interesting water features on the way back.
After almost 2 weeks of fast rood and various exotic and restaurant foods, Debby just wanted plain old American food. So we went to dinner at Cracker Barrel. While heading to dinner we had to drive on a street named Caesar E. Chavez. We got a kick out of the way the GPS pronounced it, “Say-zar-e Shaw-vez”.
After dinner we came back to the hotel and walked downtown to where all the action on the Riverwalk was to ride the boats. On our way we saw this bunch of birds that made us feel as though we were in the movie “The Birds”.
Each boat had different color lights. I was really hoping for a blue one but it wasn’t in the cards. We got a yellow boat. It was so fun and fascinating. The guide driving the boat gave us a lot of interesting facts about the Riverwalk. Here are a few of them.
Over 100 years ago there was a large flood that caused the water to go up to more than 9′ over the bridges
Water in most of the river is only 3′-5′ deep but there is one small section where it is 15′ which is the deepest part of the river
It is illegal to swim in the river and also quite dangerous as the ecoli bacteria level is very high.
There are hundreds of cell phones at the bottom of the river.
It is primarily a natural river with just some manmade structures around it.
At this point the boat operator/guide told us these 5 bells represent 5 Taco Bells in San Antonio – then she laughed and said no, they actually represent the original 5 missions.
This is the oldest tavern on the Riverwalk named The Esquire Tavern which opened in 1933.
This was our boat.
After this we walked back to our room and took a few final pictures of a small damn that was right up a little from our hotel.
At this point we went to the room and packed up for the long drive to Lubbock tomorrow.
The Traveling Maker 