John & Anne Wiley

2013/04/09

Dizzyney

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! 🙂

2013/04/07

Sweet Times

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

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. 🙂

2013/04/05

Keys to Happiness

Recent studies have definitively shown that happiness is independent of wealth, fame and even health. People are happiest when we love and are loved, and when we enjoy what we are doing. No surprise then, that we’re happy. 🙂

0148 Gumbo Limbo

0148 Gumbo Limbo

Yesterday we went with Bob and Georgia to a sweet little park named Gumbo Limbo after a tree featured there, and toured aquaria and conservation exhibits including sea turtle rehabilitation. They also feature a walkway through the mangrove forest with this tower providing a quiet view to the sea. That was a happy day.

1461 Plenty

1461 Plenty

Today they drove us to the Boca airport and we flew to Key West while they had a visit with the most precious great-grandsons you can imagine. We of course have hundreds of pix from the flight, and much of the Keys looks quite like the Bahamas. Similar land and water forms. But the mansions here are more grand. This one looks like plenty of home, and the sort of place that spells Happy for many people at first glance. I wonder if the people living here could possibly be happier than we.

1456 Spacious

1456 Spacious

Or this ample place. I hope they are at least as happy as we, who flew quietly past in our magic carpet that has made all of this continent our home.

1471 Marathon

1471 Marathon

This was literally a Marathon flight, because after flying over Key West we headed back up the Keys to land at Marathon. We went to the recommended Island Fish Co. restaurant for lunch while Tripp got some refreshing cool fuel and a rest.

1474 Silent Frenzy

1474 Silent Frenzy

Right from our table on the shaded deck we could throw rice and beans to the fish and initiate a silent frenzy. Those are fish along the bottom to the right corner and when they’d come up for the food some birds would swoop down only to see the fish instantly dart out of reach. Some even flashed their silver bellies at the birds as if to taunt them. Being so relaxed, at first I didn’t see the “L” in this name of a fishing charter company.

1488 Angler Management

1488 Angler Management

Back at the airport Anne rearranged some things in Tripp while I did a ten minute tour of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) chapter 1241 aviation museum. Avery proudly showed their prize plane, this 1930s twin very like the one I snapped when we waited for takeoff Tuesday.

1498 EAA Prize

1498 EAA Prize

Then we flew back for another night with Bob & Georgia, snapping out both windows the whole way. Another mansion on a grand estate stood out to me. It even seems to have its own grounded freighter to protect it from the storms. Are these people happy?

1549 Happiness?

1549 Happiness?

I can tell you that we’ve been very happy nearly every minute of this marvelous “Islander Adventure” and most of that is within and between us. Yet somehow it is augmented by scenes and contemplations as we drift by glimpses of other lives.

When we landed again it was minutes ahead of an approaching thunderstorm at Palm County (KLNA) where Tripp has a cozy but less expensive spot to rest. It’s right next to Lake Worth which was once home to some of my ancestors, so taking a taxi through downtown was a bit magical. Tomorrow we’ll take the train into Miami, which we passed not long before that landing this evening.

1555 Miami

1555 Miami

2013/04/03

Second Crossing

Coming home to our native soil has become an even more powerful experience in recent years. We do so love our country and all it stands for. At the same time, the draconian border experience seems to be getting ever more intense. Thankfully, most of the actual agents are reasonably friendly and helpful though they do seem to put on a scary face when they go over Tripp with their magic wand that “detects hundreds of illegal things.” But anticipating all that was pushed to the back of our minds as we climbed out of Freeport and looked back at our temporary island “home.”

1260 Leaving Lucaya

1260 Leaving Lucaya

I think the cruise ship we’d seen anchored off the beach this morning went to this oil port after dropping passengers in Lucaya, though the town didn’t seem overwhelmed with tourists as we’d expected if a cruise ship was in.

1266 Tight Turn

1266 Tight Turn

That’s definitely a cruise ship stirring up the coral sand by making tight turns at the dock. The air was less smoky, so we got a better look at some of the reefs on the southwest shore.

1269 Reef Puzzle

1269 Reef Puzzle

For some reason this pic reminds me of those zillion-piece jigsaw puzzles with subtle color and shape variations that make it challenging to assemble them and are always missing a few pieces. Happily, this one is complete. Nearby another reef has a very different look and I wonder what diving in these two areas is like.

1270 Another Shore

1270 Another Shore

We seem to have jumped through all the CBP and ATC hoops without serious misstep (tho I still have an illogical fear that an unmarked car will pull up and spill out a bunch of men in black). After landing in Ft. Lauderdale (KFXE) to take care of all that, we made an 11 mile beeline to meet sweet Georgia and Bob at Boca. He’s a former pilot par excellence, and it’s always fun to talk airplanes with him. Tomorrow I’ll show him this pic I got waiting in line for takeoff at KFXE, of what looks to me like a 1930s vintage classic.

1275 Air Heritage

1275 Air Heritage

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