In my last post, I alluded to the fact that after having had enough of the snow, we took a trip to Florida. Here is the post about that trip.
We left on February 20 immediately following our Cub Scout Pack's Blue & Gold Banquet, where I officially took over as Cubmaster. The previous Cubmaster's youngest son crossed over to Boy Scouts. (Thanks for all of your hard work over the years, Lisa!)
Since it was late afternoon when we left Virginia, we could only drive so far before we had to stop for the night. I should also add that we had agreed to take a friend from church down to Florida with us, so that she could visit her sister, and my mother-in-law also accompanied us. That made 6 of us traveling in our 7-passenger van. We drove as far as South Carolina and stopped for the night. The next day we finished our trip. We met up with our friend's sister, who lives in a neighboring town, and then arrived at the house we were renting in Davenport. We bought a few groceries and settled in that day.
On February 22 the main activity was visiting Downtown Disney. While we did check out some of the other stores and bought ice cream, the real focus of the trip was the Lego store. The boys also fit in some swimming in the heated pool at our rental house and some bike riding around the neighborhood.
While most people who visit the Orlando area do so to visit “the Mouse,” we specifically chose not to do that this time. We purchased park hopper passes to Universal Studios (http://www.universalorlando.com/Theme_Parks/Universal_Studios_Orlando/Attractions/attractions.aspx) and Islands of Adventure (http://www.universalorlando.com/Amusement_Parks/Islands_of_Adventure/Attractions/attractions.aspx). On February 23 we went to Islands of Adventure. We rode Spiderman, Dueling Dragons, Poseidon's Fury, The Cat in the Hat, and the Popeye ride. While the temperatures in Florida were warmer than Virginia, it was a little cool by Florida standards. Hence when we rode the Popeye ride and got drenched, we shivered for a while afterward. Overall, we had a great time there, but the Harry Potter themed area wasn't open yet, although we could see it under construction, and some of our favorite rides from a previous trip weren't open. Later that evening we went to the movies. Two of us saw “Avatar,” and the other two saw “The Blind Side.”
On February 24 we started out at Universal Studios. It was a little chilly that day, so the park was not crowded at all. We visited every section of the park and rode nearly every attraction. The major exception was the Jaws ride. After getting soaked the previous day, we had no desire to repeat the experience. The ride attendant said that we would get wet, and we could never locate where the ride disembarked to determine how wet they were getting, so we skipped it. We rode the Simpsons ride and Men in Black repeatedly. The Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, with its ability to choose your own music, was also popular with all in our group except our 9-year old son. After lunch at Finnegan's Bar & Grill, we chose to spend the afternoon back at Islands of Adventure where we rode all of our favorite rides again.
The next day, February 25, we drove out to Lakeland to look at the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings at Florida Southern College (https://www.flsouthern.edu/fllwctr/). On the way we drove by the high school where a friend is an assistant principal. Oddly enough, she was outside overseeing dismissal, so we stopped and had a brief chat. Very serendipitous. We were able to walk all around and inside the buildings. As a bonus, even though we thought that the Waterdome wasn't working, we did get to see it in operation. We've been to Chicago and seen the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio and the Robie House, but it was something else to see an entire college campus designed by him.
We spent February 26 packing and watching the Winter Olympics and then left for home on February 27. We decided to drive all the way without staying overnight and arrived home very late that night.
“. . . out of the ground, and into the light, a child of the sun.” - Frank Lloyd Wright
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