John & Anne Wiley

2013/04/11

Where?

Filed under: Happiness,Islander Adventure,People,Random — John @ 02:48

Well, we didn’t get online for a while so I wanted to let anyone know who’s curious: we’re in Hartwell Lake, GA. Tripp’s tucked in for a couple of nights at Franklin County Airport (18A). I’ll download pix from our cameras and make a proper post later. But I can tell you now that we’re having a grand time visiting friends and family. It’s interesting to work our way North, even though we’ve only gone one state up from FL. It’s remarkable how different each state and province in North America is from its neighbors, yet also how much we all have in common. Starting with truly wonderful people!

later…

2013/04/09

Dizzyney

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,People,Random — John @ 04:30

First off, here’s another pic from yesterday’s fun at Disney World (DW) with Lee (George met us for dinner and concert, then we watched fireworks).

0294 Topiary

0294 Topiary

Because we were planning to hike miles around the park, I didn’t bring anything but my phone. So aside from the two I posted last nite from my phone, tonite’s pix are from Anne’s camera and I couldn’t share the colorful pix like this she got of the flower show. Many great topiary works like this, and glorious blooms of all sorts everywhere we looked. Also many painters including this one in front of a little cottage Lee would like to live in.

0297 Dream Cottage

0297 Dream Cottage

Wouldn’t she just love waking every morning in her magic kingdom and wandering the grounds! Last night’s amazing room turned out to be haunted. We got this pic of the hotel in the morning light after too little sleep, and I’ve added a red box to show how big our room was.

0359 Sec. State Suite

0359 Sec. State Suite

Yes, it has five double doors onto three different balconies and takes up all but one room on this side of that floor. I’ve seen many houses with less space, probably including our modest home. But we laughed uproariously this moring about how it was “haunted” because someone using our bathroom woke me at 7am. It turned out to be Anne and the place was so big I didn’t know it was she. Then at 8am the phone rang and each of the gals thought the other had called them. It turned out the desk had called, but they took so long to answer the desk had hung up leaving them talking to each other from opposite ends of the monster room. Such a funny morning! 😀

This morning we swam in the hotel pool and rode the water slide, then walked the park some more hauling our four bags. After a rest we happily loaded the stuff into Lee’s car and drove to an African-themed hotel where we saw giraffes and a zebra, had lunch, and I got to drum with a real expert.

0379 Erny & J Drumming

0379 Erny & J Drumming

Such a fun and sweet guy he is! I loved every second of it, and the gals said we sounded great so maybe I did ok. Then on the drive back home we took a short detour to get in Tripp and fly back over DW. Here’s a pic of the small area where we stayed in that big world.

6214 Small World

6214 Small World

Last time we were here, Lee & George took us on a brief tour of DW at night and we tried to understand why she’s so totally addicted to it. Yesterday and today we got a proper introduction, and now we “get” what a great place it is to endlessly explore. If you ever contemplate going there, plan on at least a few days and let me hook you up with Lee. She saved us many hours and dollars by sharing her remarkable expertise on what to do and see. Thank you, playful Lee, for a magical time! 🙂

2013/04/08

Magic Kingdom

Filed under: Random — John @ 04:17

So, sweet Lee has a Disney addiction. She brought us to DisWorld, and knows every inch of it. She even has a time share here. Well, she treated us to a night in a small room here for tonite planning to give us the bedroom & sleep on a pullout sofabed.

After check-in to the comfy room we enjoyed a day doing her fav attractions. We came back to find they’d given us a free upgrade to a $2k room. It’s supposedly second only to the Presidential suite, but I’m calling it the Secretary of Agriculture suite.

3 bedrooms (each w/private balcony over the Boardwalk), 7 doors, and more amenities than you can imagine. Here are a pic from one bathroom thru to the amazing view, and from one bedroom thru the living room with two more bedrooms beyond the far wall. Not to mention full kitchen and laundry room!

I might post more with laptop tomorrow, but for now we’re enjoying the Magic.

(sent from my phone)

2013/04/07

Sweet Times

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Islander Adventure,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 04:36

We had such a sweet time with Bob & Georgia, and it was sad to leave them. On the way to Tripp we stopped at Costco and bought him a new toy named Sammy, and I helped him set it up at the cute restaurant where we had lunch.

0259 J, B, & Sammy

0259 J, B, & Sammy

Then they sat in an old timey swing chair to watch us take off. Guess what’s in that box Bob is clutching tightly.

0265 Georgia, Bob, Sammy

0265 Georgia, Bob, Sammy

We crossed the beach very soon after takeoff, and enjoyed the clearer air than our earlier flights because the smoke had all been blown away by the storm that we landed in after the Keys.

1580 Clearer Coast

1580 Clearer Coast

We saw the miles of cookie cutter condos, interspersed with some really grand mansions like this.

1588 Grand Manse

1588 Grand Manse

Many of them seemed to be boarded up, as if these enormous dwellings are but occasional “beach houses” used by the gazillionaires. We saw relatively small crowds on the beaches, but guessed that somewhere down there was a couple named Joe T. & Janet.

1601 Congrats Joe T. & Janet

1601 Congrats Joe T. & Janet

That’s the banner at the left edge, and maybe if you look at the largest version it’s possible to read (backwards) what it’s saying to the happy couple. Not long after, we landed in Titusville to have more sweet time. This visit is with Lee and George, our wonderful step-sister & brother. They took us for a delicious dinner where I got this fun pic of the Gals on the Bouy Deck being admired by us Boys.

 

0275 Gals & Bouys

0275 Gals & Bouys

Tomorrow morning, Lee is taking us on an inside tour of Disney World and we’re little kids again in anticipation. 🙂

2013/04/06

Both Sides

Filed under: Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random — John @ 04:07

We’ve seen Miami and Vizcaya from both sides now. After a fun time with Bob & Georgia over coffee and bagels we took a rainy trainy day from Boca to and around Miami.

0188 EnTrance

0188 EnTrance

First stop after three different trains was the short walk over to an enchanted entrance to the Vizcaya attraction (that last manse I snapped from the air yesterday). Anne took nearly all the pix on her little camera today, so it’s especially fun for me to see what caught her eye.

13-55-03_73 Beauty

13-55-03_73 Beauty

As you can see, I snapped this one using my cellphone since we were traveling light. This other side of the mansion is quite different from what we saw flying past, yet similar in what it says about the man who had it built and only lived in it a few years. The whole story is on the links (two words in the text about it) from yesterday’s article if you’re interested.

0194 Barge

0194 Barge

That barge we saw out front yesterday is a popular photo spot. I wonder how many people arrived here by boat rather than from the grand entrance by road. The barge appears to have also been used as a theater in the round, but I haven’t read anything about that.

0200 Nancy's Realm

0200 Nancy’s Realm

We imagined our dear friend Nancy in this kitchen with a full staff bustling about, creating a memorable menu and glad to have that high-power fan in the ceiling during typical Miami muggy heat.

0211 Servant Stair

0211 Servant Stair

The “home” has a zillion bedrooms and an elevator with also several grand staircases as you’d imagine, but we were fascinated by this cantilevered stairway for the servants.

14-03-38_572 Grounds

14-03-38_572 Grounds

Vizcaya is a very popular Miami attraction, and many visitors say the gardens and grounds are their favorite part. Lots of nice touches, combining natural and human elements.

0240 Train Tour

0240 Train Tour

We’d hoped to walk a lot and explore several other popular destinations, but the rain found us riding the various trains for an impromptu city tour instead. Fascinating architecture everywhere, with a distinctive quality quite different from other big cities.

0184 City Scape

0184 City Scape

That glass building was our favorite, with the lights and colors of the sky compressed into reflections of the city in a giant lens.

We were repeatedly struck by how friendly and helpful the people of Miami are. So many times total strangers went far out of their way to offer directions, suggestions and friendly conversation. Hope we’ll be back on a sunny (but not hot) day sometime soon. 🙂

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