Christmas in Florida

[fbhjr]

Christmas morning my wife and I woke up to discover our hotel room was a corner room and we had windows on two sides. We both thought that really cool. But, surprising!



One side was towards some swamp. I found that more interesting than the other side towards some buildings.


Swamps are interesting. Especially when you’re dry and away from the mosquitoes.


We went to breakfast at the hotel that has a nice big tree.

The top looked more like some sort of jellyfish than an angel. But, to each their own.


It was pretty busy, so we waited a bit. While cold for down there (60F/15C) it was pretty warm for us.


After breakfast I had what I thought was a good idea.
"Let’s go over to Seaworld. We have 2 hours to kill. We can go there, buy tickets good until the end of 2015, see some things and get to our cousins with plenty of time."

Apparently lots of people had this plan. 10 minutes to drive there. 25 to wait to get into the parking lot.
Then, walking.

20 more minutes to buy tickets. 20 more to wait in line to get in…

At least there were bears to entertain us. Why bears are for Seaworld or Christmas was in no way clear to me.


They had some pink flamingos and some regular ones.


I did bring my thermal camera to try and see what was really warm blooded.


Of course my wife’s #1 thing to do in Florida is feed rays.


They had baby rays too.


She wanted to feed the big stingray, but the little cow nose rays kept sweeping in and getting the food.


Finally I distracted the cow nose ray and my wife got to feed the big ray.

Not that the cow nose ray didn’t catch on quick I didn’t have food and try to correct the situation.


Now in thermal vision.


I also tried to get thermal images of the dolphins.

But, we did not have food and the dolphins knew it. So, they didn’t bother getting very close to us.



Until I went to Seaworld I did not realize that all those other bathroom signs have naked people. (OK, the women wear capes, but maybe nothing else…)


This sign made me thing they were renting gifts to people. Given how people often return presents after Christmas it seemed a good idea.


I was sad the hat selection was boring. No squid hats. No dragon hats. No fish hats.
It was always something I looked forward to at Seaworld. Now, only boring hats. Sad.


The photos may give you the impression we were there a while. But, honestly it was about 20 minutes after we got in the gate before we decided to set off to my cousin’s.
Then, we had to find the rental car…


But, we did and got to my cousin’s only a couple of minutes past noon.


I couldn’t remember if an inverted skull and crossbones meant good pirates or bad…


The fish figured quite a bit in the day’s activities. They had presents for everyone and played a great round of hide and seek with people.


Thomas is said not to like cats. But, the cats don’t seem to know this.


There is a rumor that maybe the cat thinks he has some tuna fish. Why they would suspect this is unknown.


The train was also a topic of conversation being a mix of Christmas, Wizard of Oz and Wookie culture.


My cousins in IR.


There was much discussion of Thomas’ presents. Robotic pet patters were highly question, but the contents of the box not examined.
I’m told he was quite happy that all of us fell for this joke.

But, I’m not sure it was more strange than the voice changing megaphone for his mother that really was that…


His father had a present with a box, in a box, in a box, etc. I lost count of how many there were. At the end was some old guy’s pocket change. As his father collects pocket change from certain old guys this was a good present.


The goose was ready about 4. This was also a topic of discussion. But, 4 had been promised so the promise was enforced.


It was a very nice dinner. As last year there was a confusion over potatoes, but it was resolved.


It was well after dark when we left.


Florida seems to be the only place I can get my point and shoot camera to take photos of the stars.


It even works near our hotel.


The view from the room is very nice.


Again, no problems getting to sleep.
It was a very nice Christmas!

Comments

[circumspectly.livejournal.com]

Haha..."present rental" is a stroke of genius, I'm thinkin'...you're right.

Did *anyone* bring potatoes, this year? Would be funny if it went opposite, and nobody brought them...but I suppose that would be a bit much to expect.

I'm glad y'all had a nice time...it looks like it was fun!

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

My wife and I brought sweet potatoes that were cooked and part of the meal.

Other potatoes were there, but cooking them was forgotten until quite late.
A few were made, but only my cousin's dad ate one. The rest of us were eating desert by then.

[circumspectly.livejournal.com]

Ha. Awesome.

:)

[endlessblush.livejournal.com]

I'm really happy that you had a nice time ... and you had time to visit a tourist attraction as well. Amazing.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

We were in Seaworld less than an hour. Not much of a visit...

[endlessblush.livejournal.com]

That you got there at all is pretty amazing given your time constraints

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

Woo to star photos and ALL THE IR PHOTOS!
If i had a photo like the ir one of your wife and the ray it would instantly become my cover photo on FB or Tumblr. Wow.

Aw...

[idic-writer.livejournal.com]

You take great pics! You know, we discovered feeding the rays at the Phoenix zoo, too--so cool!!

[manue7a.livejournal.com]

That really is a great hotel room.

I'm glad I'm back at the laptop and able to see your entries!

[merilune.livejournal.com]

Today I learned that pink flamingos are not the regular ones! Love it. Flamingos are so cool.

That ray is so cute!

I have heard that cats are attracted to people that don't like them. My uncle hates cats but he does have a pet one (for his children) and the cat loves to sit on him!

It looks like you had a really awesome time. Goose! I have never eaten goose before. Is it like turkey?

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

I'm told that the flamingos get pink if they eat a lot of shrimp.
But, I could not tell you if that is really true or not.

Goose is not really that much like turkey. It is all dark meat, but darker than most turkey dark meat. Sort of like duck, but not quite as much oil as that.

[cissa.livejournal.com]

Goose is all dark meat, and darker than turkey dark meat. The meat itself is pretty lean, but geese have a LOT of fat- one of the tricks with cooking it is to render the fat without wrecking it OR the oven, since goose fat will store for at least a year in the fridge in glass, and is fabulous for cooking potatoes. The past couple of years, we've gone with a braise-then-roast approach- better rendering, better fat, and NO oven trashing!

[chaquir.livejournal.com]

those views in your room are really neat! You sure had the best room out of the place I bet!


Nice pics Frank. Thank you for sharing

[meathiel]

Feeding rays looks fun!

I've never seen dressed up bathroom signs! ;-)

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

sounds like a full day. Awesome pictures of the stars. Actually do you mind me snagging the pic of Orion, it is pretty and I have a soft spot for the old dude.

[fbhjr.livejournal.com]

By all means, use the photo if you so desire!

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

Orion! *glee* He's one of my favorites.