Road Trip Pics and Blog

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We are very excited to see places we have never been and to visit places we saw growing up once again.
7thson, I'm knocked out by the scope of your journey! Sounds like y'all are taking a well deserved trip. I sure wish I had that kind of energy!

Wishing you a great time, and will look forward to the photos.

~Doc



50 cats total so I was told, all descendants of their original cat.
Wow, a lot more since we were there. Yes, they’re all descended from EH’s cat. Something distinctive about their paws, IIRC.

Never seen a movie made from EH’s books, but my fave book of his is The Sun Also Rises.

Did an awesome airboat tour
What is an air boat?
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At Universal today.

Throwing random pics up, will add descriptions later. Great day so far. Short wait on rides.




Part of the waiting area for The Fast and furious ride. Was a pretty cool simulation Bus ride.



Damain in Springfield deciding on where to go for lunch, we decided on Krusty Burgers.



You can ask Dev if they were any good .




On the way out of the F&F ride.






Butterbeer 'stach.




View from 16th floor in the hotel room
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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton





Visiting Ollivanders in Diagon Alley.




Damian in front of Minion merchandise.




This was on the Tiger and the alligator cages in animal park in the Everglades - probably good advice.
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You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
At Universal today.

I loved Universal when I was there a few years ago. My favorite ride was the Spiderman ride.
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7thson, I'm knocked out by the scope of your journey! Sounds like y'all are taking a well deserved trip. I sure wish I had that kind of energy!

Wishing you a great time, and will look forward to the photos.

~Doc
Thanks, it really is a big undertaking and one that was fairly sudden for us, as far as the decision goes. We went back and forth many times on whether we should do it or not. Things kind of fell all into place for us with finances, time, Damian's schooling, etc... We figured we would probably not have a chance like this again with factors like health, age, retirement, our son's age and more. So we just went for it. I have spent much of my life traveling and I am grateful to have seen so many things already, but rarely through my travels have I been able to enjoy things without either being rushed or it being work related. So we are taking our time and just enjoying everything the best we can. I feel really fortunate and I am happy to have my best friend along with me (my wife ).


As far as energy goes, I am limited, but that is why we are taking our time. we have it planned where neither one of us drives for more than 3 hours a day, with a few rare exceptions.

We are just finishing up our Florida leg of the trip and heading home for a few days to get our dogs and they are coming with us for the next leg heading north.

We are a little over budget because Universal is just so much and we wanted a few souvenirs,but we will be camping and staying at a few family locations coming up so we can make up for it.






What is an air boat?

I always called them fan boats but down here everyone called them air boats. They are made for marshy areas and swampland, but also rivers and such. I actually worked (never drove) on one for a few months doing survey work in Indiana after they had an oil spill on a river up that way. It was pretty cool at that time to ride on one, but never got to have fun on it.

The tour we did in the Everglades was amazing. The Captain was cool and we talked him into going pretty fast and doing some spins. ($20 tip helped).








Yikes, is that real? Tell me that it’s not cruel to muzzle its mouth like that.
Lol, its a hair tie and they only did it because our son wouldnt hold it otherwise. It was on for like 1 min. She whispered to me that it could break it easily if it wanted to.



Lol, its a hair tie and they only did it because our son wouldnt hold it otherwise. It was on for like 1 min. She whispered to me that it could break it easily if it wanted to.
Got it. Thanks!



We are heading out in the morning for the next portion of our trip. We are taking our two Saint Bernards with us this time around.

Current plans are:
Leaving Pensacola on morning of the 11th.

Staying 3 nights in Falls Creek Falls Tennessee camping out.

Then off to see The Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, N.C. Also visiting some of Dev's friends in that area.

After that on to Virginia to stay at her Grandparents vacation home there and we will be there a week or so and during that time will hit D.C.

Then to New York to visit her family and send our son to YouTube Production Camp - he is really excited about that part. Its a week long so while he is doing that the wife and I are going up to Maine and hitting the west most point in the US and then going to Niagara Falls with a few stops in between.

When we are done there it is back to NY to pick up our son and stay a few more days.

After that we head to Indianapolis by way of Pittsburgh where I hope to get some local Steeler stuff and maybe do lunch with Yoda if timing works out.

From there we are heading to Coldwater MI. to the Capri Drive-in Theater (it was voted into the top 10 drive-ins in the U.S.) I cannot remember the last time I saw a first run movie at a drive in.

In Indy we are doing the largest children's museum. in the world.

From there we will head home and hit Nashville for a night and see what is happening there.

We should be back home sometime in late July to stay a few days then we head up to Minnesota and then out West.

I will post pics and stuff as I can - we are all really excited. Hopefully the doggies will do okay that long away from home.



At our camp site, actually get a signal out here. Saw fireflies at dusk, first time I have seen them in many years, was really cool. Was tough getting a fire started cause everything is damp, but we got it finally.



“Then off to see The Biltmore Mansion in Asheville, N.C.”

IIRC, that is where @Yoda’s wife hails from. He may also have told us their 1st date was at the Biltmore, but I may be imagining this.



You remember right on her being from Asheville, though I've yet to visit the Biltmore. That's an interesting thought, though: a first date there! I'll have to tell her about that. Maybe we'll have a date there yet, next time we go back to visit.



What a crazy and fun day. Definitely will be posting more when I can but we hiked 7 mountainous miles to the top and the bottom of Falls creek Falls waterfall.
Very tough for this overweight 52 year old, but we all did it including the dogs.






Sry for sideways pics again, will fix at some point.