Day Five - Sea World

Sea World - Orlando Style

On Wednesday, we went to Seaworld. The day was bright, beautiful, and no rain. We wnt to seen the dolphin show. This picture is actually of the back pool, of a dolphin not in the current show. It swam around a bit, and then hopped out onto this ledge, where it "rested" for a few minutes before ppping back into the water.

Of course, the dolphins like to jump out of water and show off.



They also like to show the boss how good they really are.



We visited the penguin exhibit

Here is a video of them swimming

There are a couple of rides-the boys were not quite tall enough to ride on "Kracken". But Andrew got to sit in one of the seats

There was a beuatiful backdrop, where a professional was taking pictures. I took this one of Phillip and Kelly
And of course, the world of Shamu is amazing---Here the whale is dancing with the trainer



Here the whale is taking the trainer for a ride



And of course, the whales like to splash the audiance



Another excellant day. We were tired at the end of the day - again

Day Four-Animal Kingdom

A Different Kind of Disney

The day was cloudy, but it didn't really rain. The clouds did spit on us a time or two, but no real harm. First real ride was the African Safari. We saw a bunch of different animals, including a momma elephant and its baby,

Some Giraffes

American alligators (or crocodiles, I never know the difference)Some Rhinos

And some lions.

We saw the Hippos, but they were under water.

And some Gorillas. The male gorilla kinda acted like a giraffe, for those of you that went to the Hogle Zoo with us in April. (Big Smile)

Kelly and Gabriel had their faces painted.

Everyone except me rode down a ride that gets you wet. This is Gabriel's face After he rode that ride.

There was a parade, but it was kinda lame, as far as Disney parades go.

Overall, we had an excellant day!

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the delay in additional posts about the vacation. I downloaded the Service Pack 1 patch for Windows Vista, and after that, the computer could not recognize the Air Card. I will get the other days caught up, now that we are home. And then I will UN-INSTALL Windows Vista, and never install any updates ever again !!!!

Day Three - Rained out at the Magic Kingdom

The day started out great. The Magic Kingdom (Like DisneyLand in California) was decorated for Halloween already, with orange and black streamers and Micky - Mouse Pumpkins all over the place

We went on the Jungle Cruise. I had forgotten how corny the script is, as we travel through the various rivers and see the fake animals.

We then went on Splash Mountain. We were afraid that it might be too much for Andrew and Gabriel, but they did great. Gabe even has his hands up in the picture of us going down the 50 ft drop. The convinced the adults to do it again. This is the picture of Andrew and Gabriel after the 2nd time through.

Andrew wanted to say Hi to Goofy

We went on the flying Dumbos, and the flying carpets, and (Tuesday) went on the flying Dino's. They are all about the same, but the boys loved the rides.

When we were in Toon Town with the youngsters, Phillip, Kelly and Mike went over to Space Mountain. It was closed. We met up about the time the rains decended - about 4:30 or so. We got absolutely drenched. So we went back to the hotel. Phillip and Kelly and dinner resevations for an anniversary dinner, and we had dinner with Andrew and Gabriel. It was a good day, but the rain seemed to dampen things for a while.

Day 2 - Epcot

Okay - we had to find out about the bus system. There was a bike race in the park, so it took us almost an hour to get to Epcot. At the end of the day it was a 10 minute bus ride.

We went on a few rides and stuff. There is a lot to do and see. NEMO - We went on the nemo ride, and then saw some aquariums with fishes. We did see a few clown fishes, but they weren't very funny.

We were able to get "up close and personal" with Bruce, the Great White shark.

The world part of EPCOT has a lot of exhibits and shops from different places in the world. Both Canada and China have incredible 360 degree movie presentations. There are additional, less dramatic exhibits though from France, Arabia, Italy, Norway and other places.

However, the one for America was amazing, and should be seen by every US Citizen.

We went back to the hotel about 7:00PM very tired, but again, it was a good day!

Day one - travel

We flew into Orlando at about 4:30. It then took another 2 hours to get to the resort, the Port Orleans - Riverside.

We took a quick swim in the pool.
We ate at another resort - the Yaucht Club. We had not eaten much all day, so the steak tasted very good. But it was pretty expensive.


We saw some frogs sitting on the room sign.

It was a tiring day, but good.

Sentinals of the Desert

The Giant Saguaro Cactus

We moved to Tucson over 22 years ago. When we first moved some things were way amazing: Amazing sunrises and sunsets, monsoon season, dry washes, rattle snakes, 117 degree summers and the like. The Saguaro cactus was the most amazing of all. Now we have grown used to their regal watch over the desert, but they still have the power to move emotions.

The silhouette of the cactus at dusk is most amazing

They stand straight and tall, and seem to reach to heaven, praying for moisture to help them live in this arid climate.


Here is a young one, probably only about 15 - 20 years old.

A close up shows that though young, it does definetly know how to defend itself against birds, man or other creatures that would take its precious moisture.

When it freezes, the internal cells will freeze. The damage only becomes apparent after a few years.

It may take up to 10 years for a saguaro to die from freezing, depending on its age and the deepness of the freeze.

They start to grow their first arm, or appendage at about age 75. This one must have a few tales to tell.