Orlando Road Trip

Thanks to Josh's hard work, he was chosen to give a speech and present his research at the American Academy of Optometry in Orlando, FL. Since his hard work also earned him some traveling money, Eli and I decided to tag along. We drove out there instead of flying because we've been wanting to see the various states around us. Our nine day road trip yielded a lot of new experiences and a great family vacation.

Day 1 (Saturday, November 7th)
We drove from Houston to New Orleans, where we stayed the first night in a hotel downtown by the Superdome. We got there about 6 PM, so most of what we saw of downtown and the French Quarters was at night. We accidentally left our camera in the hotel when we toured the Riverwalk and the French Quarters, so there are no pictures. Sorry! It's basically what you see in the movies, so just imagine that. We could barely squeeze down Bourbon Street, and it wasn't even Mardi Gras! I definitely don't want to be there that time of year. We did get to hear some pretty nice jazz music, though. We even saw a bride and groom with their wedding party dancing down the street, which was pretty interesting.

Day 2 (Sunday, November 8th)
We went to church in a branch there in New Orleans, and then we took a little walk in a nature preserve just outside the city. There we saw more proof of Louisiana being America's Wetlands. It was definitely swampy, but it was peaceful and pretty as well. We then drove the rest of the day to Tallahassee, where we stayed our second night.

Day 3 (Monday, November 9th)
In the morning we toured the Florida state capitol building and got a great view of the city from the 22nd floor. It was a nice place. It had the same kind of feel as many state capitals have. Salt Lake is a little different, but I know Austin sort of has the same kind of atmosphere and Josh says Olympia, WA does also. It's hard to describe, but you can see a little from the pictures. After leaving Tallahassee, we drove to Ormond Beach, which is just a few miles from Daytona Beach, and stayed the night there.

Day 4 (Tuesday, November 10th)
Since our hotel was right on the beach, we woke up and played on the beach for a while. Eli enjoyed digging in the sand and collecting seashells, though he wasn't too thrilled about getting in the water. I don't really blame him since it was a little chilly this time of year (though still quite warm to what I was expecting). However, because it isn't as popular this time of year, we didn't have the crowds, which was really nice.

After the beach, we went to Blue Springs State park, which is about half an hour north of Orlando. We were told it is one of the best places to view manatees. Unfortunately, we were just a few weeks too early to view large numbers of them. Apparently, they like the waters of the St. Johns River, which is usually pretty warm. However, in December and January, the river cools down enough that they have to move to warmer water or else they'll die. Blue Springs is warm enough for them to survive. The day we went, the ranger said they hadn't been seeing any because the St. Johns River wasn't cool enough to force them out. We were a little disappointed and didn't expect to see any. However, we got lucky and spotted one. We also got to see how beautiful the place is. We saw an alligator and turtles and lots of birds. One was a majestic bald eagle that was perched on the top of a tree near the St. Johns River for most of the time that we were there. We even got to see a squirrel wrestle with a snake, which was definitely interesting as it fell from the tree near us. Eli especially enjoyed chasing the squirrels. Josh was so taken with the water that he decided to join the manatee and go a for swim (don't worry; it was legal :-) ), but Eli and I felt it was just a little bit too cold for us--that, and the fact that I'm not overly fond of swimming in water where there are creatures that can bite me (i.e. alligators).

That big thing in the middle is a manatee.

Though it landed near me, I'm glad it didn't land on me.

Eli got a kick out of Josh jumping in the water. You can see he wanted to try it himself.

That night we finally made it to our destination of Orlando, where we stayed the next three days.

Day 5 (Wednesday, November 11th)
Josh had to work on getting his presentation finalized, so Eli and I went for a swim--or at least we tried. I was willing to take a swim with Eli, but he was not willing (and secretly, I was grateful). Orlando had a little bit of a cold spell while we were there thanks to winds from Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Ida. Eli made it down to the second step of the swimming pool and decided he would go no further. Though it was warmer than our pool here in Houston is right now, it was definitely not warm enough.

That night we went to Downtown Disney. Though we decided not to go to Disney World because Eli is still too young to enjoy it, we thought it would be fun to see some of the Disney shops. Josh and Eli especially enjoyed the Lego shop.

The big dragon behind us is made of legos.

Day 6 (Thursday, November 12th)
Josh gave his presentation that day and said it went well. That day was cold, and Eli was pretty tired, so we mostly rested. We went out for some Dominican/Puerto Rican food that night. Josh had the buffet, so he got a pretty good taste of what I ate on my mission. I was even able to still name most of the dishes (believe me, I have forgotten many things) and practice my Dominican Spanish with the waitress. I say Dominican Spanish because she actually understood jugo de china (instead of naranja) and arroz y habichuelas (instead of frijoles).

Day 7 (Friday, November 13th)
Josh had to go to his conference in the morning, so Eli and I went to Celebration, FL. It's a Disney incorporated town that's very small and quaint. We enjoyed our walk that morning, and that afternoon we went citrus picking (with Josh this time). There were so many different kinds of oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit to pick, and what we've eaten has been pretty juicy. That was a lot of fun for all of us. Even Eli seemed to enjoy helping us put the fruit in the bags.

This is in Celebration. Eli loved the fountains!

After we finished picking, we went to Lake Louisa State Park and took a small hike around a beautiful lake.

Day 8 (Saturday, November 14th)
We ended our time in Orlando by traveling the quicker route up to Tallahassee since we didn't have as many days to get home as we had going. We did take a slight detour down to the Northwest coast of Florida. We went through Panama City Beach and Destin, among others. The sun set there a little earlier than we expected, so we only got to see it in the dark. We took a brief walk on the beach and loved the sand. It was looser than the firmly packed sand of Daytona. I was a little hesitant to take the detour because I figured we would see the same gulf and beach that we see in Galveston. Quite the contrary. We wish we had seen it during the day. We picked up a couple of brochures, and supposedly it has beautiful blue and green water (part of it is called the emerald coast). We were amazed by how many beachfront hotels there were. I guess we must be out of it, but we had never heard about that part of Florida. Now we have something we are looking forward to going back to that's not too far away (a day's drive). After driving along the coast, we drove up to Pensacola and spent the night.

Day 9 (Sunday, November 15th)
We got up and drove to Daphne, Alabama, which is right outside Mobile, Alabama. We went to church there, and then we drove the rest of the way home to Houston.

All in all, it was a fun trip, and we will have lots of memories for years to come!