John & Anne Wiley

2013/04/11

270 Later

Filed under: Flying,Happiness,Has Photos,Inner World,Islander Adventure,Nature,People,Random,Relationships — John @ 05:49

We’ve accumulated 270 pix since my last post, and we’re tired. So maybe I’ll share a bunch of pix with few words and then possibly have some rain time tomorrow to share more pix and words on all our adventures since Dizzyney.

1617 Titus Takeoff

1617 Titus Takeoff

Our glorious time with Lee & George ended when we took off from Titusville and looked up the Florida coastline that is almost continuous beach homes, condos and hotels forming a line between ocean and wetlands into the dim distance. Many beautiful views (and of course pix) later the blue of this Marineland Dolphin Adventure at Palm Coast stood out. Great for humans wanting to expand their experience, but I do wonder how dolphins feel about swapping entire oceans of freedom for the adventures they have in those pools.

1641 Dolphin Pools

1641 Dolphin Pools

Minutes later we arrived at St. Augustine. Again. For another fascinating visit with Roy & Lettie Lou. That night after a delicious dinner at Harry’s with Roy, we walked this part of town.

1644 St Augustine

1644 St Augustine

The fort across the highway got me wondering what the soldiers protecting it would have thought about Tripp. What an advantage would go to an attacking army, if they had Tripp back when that fort was the state of the art in defensive battlements.

1646 Fort Laid Bare

1646 Fort Laid Bare

This morning we enjoyed catching up on news and then a tour of Jacksonville culminating in lunch on the river.

0448 River Lunch

0448 River Lunch

Then another takeoff to the North, and more countless coastal condos into infinity.

1663 Condo Line

1663 Condo Line

The shapes and colors where water meets land are endlessly fascinating from the air. Maybe this is why seagulls ceaselessly soar the winds.

1693 Elements

1693 Elements

At dusk a quick aerial tour of Hartwell before landing at Franklin. I don’t see the local store we went to at 11pm in our borrowed truck, to buy a cable we left in Tripp so we could download our pix from the cameras to share with you. Yes, it was a Walmart.

1733 Hartwell Dusk

1733 Hartwell Dusk

The little shops and many churches looked so inviting from the air, and we’re excited to explore tomorrow. We’ll also drive out to expand on the pleasure we found in Jack and Marilyn’s company at dinner.

I was thinking yesterday that even though we’ve seen some cloudy days, this trip lives in my memory as a stream of blue skies and smiles. So many beautiful places and people, we are filled to overflowing. 🙂

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! 🙂

2013/04/07

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. 🙂

« Previous Page — Next Page »

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.