I was lucky enough to accompany a friend going to a conference for young adults with Downs Syndrome in Kissimmee, Florida. Seeing all that Disney had to offer was a fun extra and we made lots of time for that. DisneyWorld's Enchanted Kingdom ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) The "castle" changes colors from red, orange, green, blue and purple ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Having never been to this part of the world I wanted to get out of the theme park areas of Disney World and see parts of the state and some of its natural beauty. just driving along ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) The temperatures and humidity made much of my photography a little blurry since I wasn't into taking care with focus...90+ with humidity as high was a bit of a strain on moving, and forget thinking to clearly. Surprisingly one of the best places for educating humble me was Gatorland. It is one of the oldest tourist attractions in Florida. turles and gators - yes good sized turtles and smaller sized (4-5 ft) gators ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Feeding time for the youngsters (4-5 ft length) ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) I got to see how native bird life uses man made attractions for easy living. The turkey vultures, and egrets were stealing food from the alligator areas. Where the jumping gators lived ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) big gators on island with local egrets enjoying the easy life also ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) One of a couple of huge ponds with islands where some of the biggest gators live ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Gator removed from area where he had been feeding on local pets ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Wow I can get really close ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Way too many vultures for me to stand under... ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Turkey vultures sunning ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Short history lessons were provided with humor during the "gator wrestling" as well as interesting facts about alligators. gator wrestling ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) This one character was standing on the sidewalk next to the place to buy hotdogs for feeding to the gators. He was not going to miss a hand out. a very big mooch ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) The nature walk was one of my favorites at Gartorland. The boardwalk had lots of interesting information about the native and introduced flora and fauna. The cypress knees were especially interesting. Taro, ferns and cypress grove ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) In the Florida swamps ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Information sign on Cypress knees ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) cypress knees ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) cypress knees and ferns ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) I made a road trip to see the Atlantic Ocean. Road Trip to see rural Florida ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) The Atlantic Ocean ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Extra special was stopping at a beach and seeing where a sea turtle had nested and its tracks to and from the ocean. Sea Turtle nesting site ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) Sea Turtle tracks to and from nesting site ( photo / image / picture from Jewell's Garden ) It was a wonderful memorable trip.
It does look like you had a great trip. Quite a climate change for you too. Are you the one with Tigger or Pooh?
That was for sure an enchanted vacation.I think Florida Temp is kinda like ours.I would love the trip to Kissimmee.I don't care for gators or vultures that much but it had to be very interesting to see.
Great photos, thanks for sharing your. Quite a different landscape than you are use to seeing. I enjoyed the swamp photos.
What great photographs Jewell. I would love to have been there with you at Gatorland. The scenery is wonderful and all those creatures must have been fascinating to see. I might even have been persuaded to take a trip to Disneyland!!
Those are good fotos that give a good idea of what you saw--lots of wildlife and flora. You must have really enjoyed yourself.
What a lovely show of photos. I'm quite green with envy, since Disney's parks have been on my wishlist for a very long time.
Toni, I'm the one next to Pooh (dripping sweat). Glendann I was surprised that the heat wasn't as stressful as when I'd been to Texas in the summer. In Florida it was the humidity, as soon as the humidity went up a notch I started dripping. Felt very strange. Texas heat usually takes me a day or two to adjust to(summer only). Texas heat is HOT in the summer! Am enjoying the 54F weather here at home with a moment or two at 60-70F before quickly cooling down. A cooler tempatures are fine with me. Gail it certainly was different from western Washington. Florida is all flat and swamps/ponds/lakes. (The water at Disney and the hotel smelled and tasted like swamp/dirty socks. We drank bottled water.) Here it is all Sound/water, and mountains (and our water tastes fine out of the tap and only has a hint of chlorine). There the temperatures didn't change much, 80-90's. Here we start the day in the 40s-50s and if we are lucky get a moment or two in the 70s (Florida's winter temps). It was fun being someplace so different. Didn't like the little biting ants though...really enjoyed seeing their common birds (so much different than ours) Droopy I hope you get to go to DisneyWorld sometime. Lots of rides and things to see. The organization of moving people through the parks has always amazed me and their ability to maintain/keep them clean. Someone told us Disney employs over 500,000 people and had to build up the swampland 13 stories for all the infastructure under the parks (Epcot, DisneyWorld, Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood, Downtown Disney). Netty, Sjoerd, and Eileen thanks, it was a pleasant trip. Everyone thank you for letting me share this little part of the trip. Silly me to enjoy Gatorland and a drive to the coast better than DisneyWorld.
Great to know you had a real wonderful trip. The Castle in Disney land, it really remind me of my visit to Tokyo Disneyland which I was tricked into riding the rollercoaster called "Blue Mountain" The photo right below it -just driving- looks excatly like a shot in the country side where I am Wish i can go on a vacation soon!!
KK I think all the Disneylands are laid out the same. I know the one in LA, California was pretty much the same as the one in Florida. The roller coaster ride they got me on was Space Mt. I was very careful after that. Hope you get to go on a vacation soon too. This was my first in 8 years. Guess I am pretty much a stay at home person. Happy where I'm planted.
Come to think of it the roller coaster ride is Space Mountain and not Blue Mountain well it was really a long time ago!!
Yes Jewell, Texas is HOT but we have had more rain than normal so the humity is terrible.Its just hot and steamy.
awesome pics jewel! looks like a wonderful trip! i've been to Disneyland in Anaheim long long time ago...you brought back some fun memories....pooh, tigger, the castle and all!
