KEEPING TRACK OF ERWIN & GAIL: Here goes nothing 3

Feb. 20^th 2017Well, here we are again. We spent almost a week at Summer Bay Resort in Orlando and in that time we took the opportunity to take an air boat tour of the Everglade, where we saw so much wildlife it was hard to imagine. We saw snakes and all kinds of birds and yes a number of alligators, all living in harmony in the swamp. Andy, our air boat guide and operator, who you will meet in the following pictures, knew exactly where to find different animals and birds and was able to drive the boat right up to each of them. You remember in the last blog I told you we have had a little company along with us and her name is Applejack and that Applejack is a small stuffed toy that belongs to our youngest Granddaughter Abby and that you will find that Applejack is an accomplished photo bomber. Applejack has lived up to that reputation and has been able to bomb almost all the photos we take. So much so that we have renamed this segment of the blog “Applejack Goes to”In this case it’s “Applejack Goes To The Swamp”

Getting ready to go. (are you sure these gators don't like the taste of pony)

Nesting sandhill crane

Look it's a gator. (this one is about 7 ' long)

Applejack's brand new best friend Andy

From there we went up to see Orlando from the top. The Coke Cola Orlando Eye is a thing that kinda looks like a Farris wheel but is really, really big. It moves real slow and never stops, you just hop on as the air conditioned capsule goes by. It then takes you up 400 feet (that’s what they call them down here), back up in the good ole North we would say 122 meters but it wouldn’t sound nearly as impressive. Anyways, it takes you up so high you can see for miles and miles and even more kilometers.
We call this part “Applejack Goes To The Top”

The Coke Cola Orlando Eye

Don't let go Grandpa

Look how far I can see

The next day we went to a Disneyworld theme park called Epcot. Now I have to tell you this. There are two particular members of our family who have taken almost all of the other members of the family to Disneyworld or Disneyland so, after waiting for what seemed to be a lifetime for our turn (now I’m really not trying to make anyone or two feel guilty for the neglect, I mean oversite) we decided to do it on our own. We caught a shuttle from the resort and arrived at the park about 11:00 AM and knowing that the bus wasn’t coming back till almost 10:00 PM we set out to see a world we will only see once. It really was a great day. We did things we couldn’t have imagined doing before; we saw things we couldn’t even imagine existed, and we went places we could have only hoped to go, like Mars. On the training flight, Gail was the commander, I was the engineer and our pilot and caption was a little girl and her mother. Applejack had to take her place in the compartment in front of Gail where all your belongings have to be stowed. We watched the amazing closing fireworks on the lagoon and then made our way, on what was left of our completely worn out feet, to the parking lot which I’m sure was somehow miraculously moved much further from the park than it was when we arrived. The following day we didn’t leave the resort. We just sat around the pool and in the pool, trying to regain some resemblance to what we used to call feet.
Now “Applejack goes to Disneyworld”

Space Ship Earth (an interesting ride)

Ya! Birds at Disney too

Where else you going to find Mickey

Fireworks to end an awesome day

On the last day of our stay in Orlando we went to Gatorland. Gatorland is the oldest theme park in Florida, and has an uncountable number of gators living there. From gators just hatched and only 5-6 inches, opps, 127-152 Millimeters and weighing only ounces (Grams) to Gators 14 feet long (4.26m) weighing in at 1100 pounds (500 Kilograms) and every inch and milometer between. Once again we walked and walked then rode a train (the Gatorland Express). We watched Gator wrestlers, wrestling alligators, I mean, what else is one going to do with a gator. We saw snakes and turtles and birds galore. We even saw Big Foot, that’s right Big foot and now we know why they can’t find him in the west anymore. He’s in Florida! The next day we left for Palm Beach for a week-end cruise, so stay tuned for “Applejack Goes to The Bahamas”

God bless you all, please keep praying for us as we pray for you.
But now “Applejack Goes Gator Hunting”