Disney World and Epcot!

So, after a nice morning at the beach on St. Joseph Peninsula we headed towards

Winter Garden, near Orlando, to visit my cousins, Michelle and Kyle, and to meet Michelle's husband Sean.

On the way, we checked out downtown Winter Garden, which has a great little Heritage Museum... 

and a Railroad Museum!

Before Walt Disney came to town the big industry was citrus, until several major freezes wiped out the groves.  These are all the different labels for the dozens of different orange growers that were once in the area.

While at the Heritage Museum, Angie felt compelled to crawl under the receptionist's desk...

Once Angie was done under the desk, we headed over to Michelle and Sean's.  Sean grilled up some delicious steaks for dinner before heading off to work the night shift at Disney.  We hung out catching up with Michelle and Kyle.

Next morning we got an early start and Sean used his Disney magic and got us all into the park for free!

Kyle, Michelle, myself, and Angie enjoying a little monorail ride!  I think this was the last time we sat down, unless we were on a ride, the rest of the day...

We're in!  The Man and his Mouse greet us...

"Frontier " Donald made us feel right at home.

Jungle boat ride with giant fake python!

Pirates of the Caribbean!

Fun with guns!

Mickey's PhilharMagic in 3D!

Mickey and Minnie's parade with the whole gang!

Tea Cups!

More Tea Cups!!

The Haunted House!

The Hall of Presidents!

Whoa, wha?  Yep, no trip to Disney World would be complete without a visit to the Hall of Presidents (we were surprised at how many educational rides/exhibits are in Disney World.  Walt was big on education, especially in science and history).  This was especially cool because Sean is an electrician on the crew that maintains the full size animatronic presidents!

Oh, and I should mention he had just gotten off work at 7AM and then turned around and went back to the park with us, no sleep!  MVP!

There're 44 robotic figures for all 44 presidents and they all have movements and a few talk!

Everyone gets their game faces on to help Buzz Lightyear battle Zurg... we won.

Space Mountain!

Acres of strollers!

Nope, Disney World is not just for adults.

Since we were guided by Disney veterans, we had plenty of time to head over to Epcot.  Not only does Sean work at Disney but Michelle had also interned there in college so we were in good hands!  They knew ALL the best things to do and the best ways to do them.

Around the world by soda!

Viva Mexico and their tasty margaritas!

Beers in Deutschland!

Limoncello in Italia!

Another beer in England!

Canada is right next door so we walked over to hear the band

"Off Kilter"!

Using their pixie dust magic powers again, Sean and Michelle got us some special tickets that let us skip to the front of the line for "Soarin".  I can't really begin to describe Soarin.  Google it and you'll find some youtube videos but what they can't convey is the crazy apparatus you're strapped in that makes you feel like you're flying!

It was awesome!

And the perfect end to our day.

Night night big weird Epcot globe thing...

The Gang:

Me, Michelle, Sean, Angie, and Kyle

Thanks y'all for an awesome visit!!!

St. Joseph Peninsula and Manatee Springs, Florida

We left after the cave tour at Florida Caverns and headed back towards the coast.

Florida has lots of State Parks with beaches and camping but I'm glad we ended up at

St. Joseph Peninsula State Park.

It was a bit more out of the way and that paid off because the beach was all but deserted.

We got a campsite for the night and walked to the beach before we even unloaded the car.  We were rewarded with the beautiful sugary sand that Florida is so famous for.  Oh, fun fact: that white, soft, fluffy sand is almost pure quartz and is a result of years and years of erosion from the Appalachian Mountains!  

First person we encountered was Jack, a volunteer at the state park, who was doing some fishing.  He and his wife come down from Michigan every winter and volunteer for two months.  In exchange for 20 hours work per week they get to camp for free.  Not a bad deal.

After talking for a few minutes he got a strike on his line which looked like a whopper... 

Turned out to be this sting ray!  Which he released back into the surf.

Hungry from all the excitement and with the sun going down we set up camp and had dinner.

Nothing exciting, just canned soup.

Next morning, since you can't oversleep in a tent, we headed down for a quick swim and a walk on the beach before breaking down camp and heading on towards...

Manatee Springs!

Ugh!  No, this isn't the springs and no, we didn't swim in this, although scuba divers do go into these sink holes to cave dive!

Ahhhh, this is the springs.  Unfortunately, no manatees were around.  A manatee is a mammal kind of similar to a seal or sea lion, if you've never heard of them.  They swim up the Sewanee River into the spring during the winter because the spring water is about 72 degrees.

Sun was going down so we headed back to camp and made a pretty decent taco dinner with canned chicken.  Of course a fresh avocado and tomato made all the difference,and the wine didn't hurt either.

Next morning while looking for manatees we learned about Squirreliosis...

In addition to squirrels, the other thing that Manatee Springs has is lots of vultures!  There must have been a hundred of them roosting in the trees and along the paths.  

Very creepy, no idea what attracts them to the area....*shudder*

There's a path from the spring down a creek to where the water joins the Sewanee River.

Alas, still no sight of the elusive manatees...

Next stop: Disney World!

Fountain of Youth, Sinkholes, and Caves...

After spending the night in Pensacola we continued east...

First stop: Ponce de Leon Springs

This is what Ponce de Leon believed to be the "Fountain of Youth".  Unfortunately it was a bit chilly for a swim but we did dip our toes in so they should last a long time.

Next: Falling Waters State Park

Florida is riddled with sink holes due to its Karst topography.  That's a fancy word for limestone, basically.  Florida was sea bed and is made up of shells and other marine life compressed into limestone.  Rain water picks up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and eats it way thru the limestone.

This is a large sinkhole made larger by a waterfall plunging into it.  This is also the tallest waterfall in the state at 73 feet high.

After seeing the sinkholes and having a picnic at Falling Waters SP we headed on to

Florida Caverns State Park.

We're travelling in Angie's Mazda, "LeProtege," rather than LeTigre since we'll be returning to Austin in March to take care of some things (ie: taxes) and get Kipper.  That means camping in a tent!  Something we don't have much experience with.  This was the first night.  Looks cozy, right?  It was pretty good but we do miss LeTigre's bed... (Angie misses the bed a lot, she doesn't sleep well on the ground.)  Oh, and thanks to my brother David and his wife Pam, for lending us all their camping supplies!!

The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) did a lot of work in Florida Caverns SP during Roosevelt's New Deal plan, including building the visitor's center.

Remember those sinkholes?  The cave at Florida Caverns was discovered in one.

In we go!  When the cave was discovered it was just a crawl space for the most part.  The CCC crews went into the narrow passages and, with the help of scientists, mapped the cave with gas lanterns!  Then, without disturbing the cave formations and without any explosives, they dug the floor down by hand so that visitors could walk thru the cave!

They dubbed themselves "the Gopher Gang".

They also ran all the electric for lighting so that it doesn't have to be explored by flashlight.  Here Angie poses with a large flowstone and some columns.  They were dry at the time (not flowing) but there're some little pools at the bottom.  Activity in the cave varies with rainfall.

Another flowstone.  Our Ranger tour guide informed us that it's estimated that the formations grow an inch per hundred years!  You can also see in this photo how the floor has been excavated down a few feet by the CCC, it was originally at the same height as the foundation of the flowstone formation.  All of the work was done by hand!

A cave resident taking a snooze.  This bat is about as big as your thumb!

Look close, what do you see?  Yep, shells.  The ceiling was comprised of shells and other stuff you'd find on the ocean floor.  There was even a shark's tooth protruding from the ceiling in another room!  The CCC "Gopher Gang" were careful not to disturb the ceiling and only excavated downward.

The "Gopher Gang" had clever names for the different rooms in the cave.  This was called "the Christmas Room" because of a formation that looks like a Christmas tree towards the back of this photo.  It was taken one step further with the colored lights.  Stalagtites and Draperies hang overhead.

Our guide shines her flashlight on a drapery to illustrate how much they look like bacon.

Mmmmm bacon...

After that all we could think about was food so it was time to leave.

Next stop: the beach!