Veni, Vidi…Vacation!

Monday morning we left Jacksonville at about 7:30am and ventured down to Orlando.

Florida is so flat, I really wasn’t expecting that. While there isn’t a whole lot to see on the way down, I still thought it was beautiful. Everything is lush and green with the rains they have been having. The palm trees are gorgeous and I didn’t realize there was such a variety among the species. Tall, short, medium; with all kinds of different configuration of palm fronds. The trees are so skinny and tall. I bet I could wrap two hands around the trunk. Mr. Nascar said its probably because they were burned down in a wild fire at one point and they’ve just now had an opportunity to grow again. The brush grows up between the trees and makes it look jungle-esque. The Spanish Moss that grows hangs off of everything and gives it the unique appearance of being bearded. It’s magnificent, I’m going to have a hard time leaving on Saturday morning.

The roads are so straight. I bet we travelled 50+ miles on the interstate and never went around a curve. That is something I’ve never experienced before. Mr. Nascar and I were speculating that by their very nature of being flat and straight the roads are probably pretty dangerous, especially at nighttime. I can see where tired drivers heading home could easily fall asleep behind the wheel because there isn’t a whole lot to force you to focus on. You just hit cruise control and away you go.

Orlando is about 60 miles inland from the coast so it’s significantly warmer. We arrived at our hotel around 9:40am and luckily we were able to check in to an empty room. We dropped off our luggage, and went down to wait for the shuttle to take us to Sea World.

I had never been to Sea World before, but Mr. Nascar went about 10 years ago with a previous girlfriend and loved it. He felt that this park would be the one that all three of us would enjoy the most, and boy was he right. We got a park map as soon as we arrived and set out planning our day around the shows that Sea World offers. We saw Shamu-Believe, Clyde & Seymour take Pirate Island, Blue Horizons – Dolphin show, and something with cats, dogs, and even a pig preforming. We rode one ride, and walked all over the blessed place looking at the animals and even sometimes interacting with them. We fed the sting rays, petted the dolphins, and almost got to feed the sea lions and seals as well but we just missed it. I’m going to post a few more pictures and let the pictures tell you all a thousand words. Suffice it to say, as exhausted as we were, we had a terrific time. Mr. Nascar chose well!