Catch up day

Today we have to return one of the cars, I needed to get my nails redone, and we all had to have our hair cuts, except Mike, and he had to buy a new shaver so off we went.

The nail bar and the hairdressers were inside Wallmark, and the system was as you arrived at hairdressers, you put your name down, and they called you when ready, it was very efficient, in fact I didn’t get my name down in the hairdressers. They have three staff all cutting away, it was very friendly and busy. The nail bar was a tiny place, run by Chinese, I think they had seven staff, they had three massage chairs, with people having pedicures, three having manicures, and people waiting. It was such a friendly place, I really enjoyed it.

We left the Mall, and came back home, where we did nothing, it has been a really lovely restful day. Geoff, Jan and Mike popped out to go to Dunkin Donuts, as Jan had never been there, they returned with 12 donuts, of various varieties. We will never lose weight.
We swam in the pool, ate our donuts, and then played our normal sequence.

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Meandering around the Keys

We did our exercises before breakfast, then headed out for a drive.

We went towards St. Petersburg, then headed onto the keys, there was a road we found, that had water both sides, with the vast bridge called Sunshine Skyway Bridge, <'br />
20151130-142620.jpg we had to pay a toll to go across, but it was worth it, we then followed this road to Tierre Verde, which was basically a reservation area, where you could enjoy the beaches, and also launch your boat, really liked this area, when they wanted to charge us 5$ to go in the park, we told the guy we were lost, and he kindly showed us where we were, so he let us turn around and didn’t charge us, we had seen everything anyway.
We headed for a place called Treasure Island, we could have paid for parking but decided we only wanted to look, not stay, so Geoff parked, whilst I went for a walk on the beach. The sand is lovely and soft and white, and because the beaches are so vast, not overcrowded, unlike Spain!

20151130-143652.jpg. The birds were not worried that I was there, they just carried on, further down the beach a guy was fishing, and this heron had befriended him

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We worked our way along to the top of the key, most of the places looked the same, we tried parking in one spot, and a guy with a tow truck was just about to tow a car away, cos it’s owner was not in the shop they were supposed to be in, not sure how they knew, but we didn’t want to risk it.
The inland sea is very pretty area too

20151130-144137.jpg, I think if I lived here, it would have to be a house with a boat at the bottom of garden, they really looked very picturesque.
To get off the Key we had to go across a small bridge, and guess what we had to wait for the boats to go by

20151130-144405.jpg, they have a lot of these lifting bridges, we then had to go back over the big one again

20151130-144547.jpg.
Mike cooked dinner, and we then played crib and sequence, I won at crib, but Jan and I lost badly in the sequence, which isn’t bad considering we have beaten them at everything so far this holiday. Well done boys, so glad you are improving at last.

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Venice and Siesta Keys

We caught up with the washing and ironing, after taking a dip in the pool, the heater is now working, and it was very good, we did our exercises, had breakfast, then left about 11am.

Another challenge to keep off the motorway again, we had a slow drive down, I was determined to find the beach, we were in and out of some estates, I then put Tom tom on, and she took us to Beach Road. By this time we were getting hungry, we

20151128-200418.jpg found the beach, and paddled, it was quite chilly, but a lovely sandy beach.
We were still hungry so decided to go for lunch, we found this French place called Croissant & Co, was even run by a French family, it was lovely. I had a quiche Lorraine, and Geoff had a baguette, with a pot of English tea, with a China cup, the service and food was great.

20151128-201357.jpg would recommend anyone to go there.

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We walked around the quaint village, with tiny shops, then travelled onto Siesta Key, we found a parking place, and walked on the beach, this one was packed, as the sand was so soft, apparently the best beach around here.

20151128-201625.jpg. As it is Thanksgiving week end, everyone was on holiday, think they have all come to the beach.

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Lovely day, and then headed for home, went for another swim in the pool, and later Geoff cooked dinner, and we relaxed for the rest of the day.

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Gaterland

We checked out of the Hotel after breakfast, and headed south to Gaterland.

We arrived about 10.30am in time to see the first show, which was called “close encounters” the guys who were doing it, we’re very funny, he picked some boxes out and left them in the audience, after a few initial facts, they came into the audience to get people to participate. One of the ladies went down, and had to keep her hands open and eyes shut, and he was about to put a tarantula in her hand when she screamed, and ran away, I don’t blame her. These two tarantula’s were quite big, not something I want to hold.
After several holding experiences, like cuddling a Boa restrictor, and a couple of smaller snakes, we moved on to wait for the wrestling with the alligators.

20151128-193643.jpg all the guys who compare the individual shows were full of wise cracks.
We meandered around the park looking at all the animals and birds

20151128-193920.jpg There were white alligators, which were very rare

20151128-194038.jpg, they also had one call Chester, apparently he would eat the local dogs, so they rescued him, but he didn’t mix with the other alligators, so Chester has his own pad.

20151128-194332.jpg the next show was feeding time, where they played games jumping up for their food etc.,

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We went on the train around the park, and then decided to leave and head for home. We were trying to get back to the house without using the motorway, which was fine, but the road signs are a bit confusing at times.
We stopped at Wendy’s for lunch 3pm, I was starving, I asked for a hot tea, but they said they didn’t have any, so we declined the meal, and went onto Lakeland, where we found a lovely restaurant called ‘Harry’s’ , it was happy hour so I had two glasses of wine, I was very pleased we could not get tea at Wendy’s the food was lovely.
Eventually we arrived back at house, I was shattered, so after a catchup with Mike and Jan, I had an early night, I was asleep within seconds.

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Epcot Centre

Up quite early, a quick breakfast, then on the road to Epcot, only a few miles, and we arrived before 9.30am, very easy to park, in the huge car parks. We caught the train to the main entrance, and quickly gained access to the park.20151126-222645.jpg we then queued and went into the spaceship earth, where we explored the history of communications, from Stone Age to computer age.20151126-222929.jpg we were asked questions, and this picture shows where we end up.
We then moved onto the next ride, which was mission space, the wait went from 40 minutes to 80 minutes, so we decided to skip this one, we went and had a cup of coffee, updated our cards to get priority on three rides, and went onto the Circle of Life, which was on conservation, based on Lion King, it was very good. We moved on to the Living with the Land, we managed to get priority on this one, so no queuing, I found this very interesting as it was on plants etc., we went to various other rides, which were good fun.
We moved onto the World traveler section, and took a pint in the Rose and Crown, Marian used to work here, so we wanted to see it.

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20151126-224411.jpg apparently it hasn’t changed a bit!
We moved on and went into a few more rides, then went to Italy, and Venice for a late lunch, which was very good, washed down with a bottle of Chianti.
We meandered through many other countries, we went on a water ride in Mexico, took a boat trip across the lake, and went back to the Missions Space where you experience NASA style training with a simulated space launch, it was very good, scary in places, but glad we went on it, probably best ride of the day.
Time is moving on now, we decided to have a coffee, and wait for the fireworks, which were amazing, well worth the wait.
Fantastic day, well worth the money, we made our way home absolutely shattered, but glad we came.

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Oh dear!

Well we were up early, 6.30am to qualify for cheap tickets we had to go to Holiday Inn resort, to hear a presentation! Think this should be fun!

We had breakfast, then we were off in a smart taxi, well we arrived ok, showed the passports, then we were registered, and a guy was allocated to us, he took us off in a buggy, to see these lovely apartments, here we go folks, timeshare. Actually No they said, this is a different system, this is a point system, well we listened to the guy, and it sounded just up our street, we could buy it over ten years, then pass it on to the kids, by which time they would be getting free holidays, all sounded good. We wanted Hotels, not resorts, but yes we could do that as well. Hey this is good. We can go anywhere in the world, for very little money, and after about four years we would get our money back, so far so good. Travel out of season, is better value for money, so we thought we could do this, in fact we signed up for it, even paid the deposit, we asked lots of questions, everything was great. Our normal holidays would be four days here, then move on, another four days somewhere, move again yes we can do that, for very little money. We enquires about a holiday in south of Spain, that worked out cheap, but then we asked how much would it cost to go to holiday inn Gunwharf, well that would cost us 25,000 points, well we were only getting 159,000, so do the maths, we could only stay in six plus nights in hotels, and all our points would be gone. The reason it works, you go to resorts, and they haven’t many of them, certainly not outside of USA. Having wasted a lot of time and effort on this, they realised we were not going to do this, so they gave us two more offers, which we declined, they then gave us our money back, and sent us home in a dilapidated bus! Oh well never mind, we got our cheap tickets for Epcot, and it was an experience.

We made a cuppa, relaxed in the room, and then we walked to Hooters

20151125-203149.jpg especially for Geoff, to cheer him up, he has my cold, sorry ‘man flue’
We had a lovely dinner and pudding, then we went back to the hotel.

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