Central Florida

The "boil" pool at Blue Spring State Park

Way back when explorers were first getting to know Florida, they sent a party up the St. Johns river to find the source.  When they got to the area near present day Orange City, they followed the short tributary and found that it dead-ended in a blue pool that had occasional "boils" surfacing.  They had found the warm spring that feeds this little creek.  But the manatees had found it eons ago.  Manatees don't do well in cold water (below about 60F is deleterious to their health), so in winter they swim a couple of hundred miles up the river to this warm sanctuary.  The Blue Spring State Park provides a board walk along this stretch and we must have seen well over 100 individuals (which you can see if you look carefully in the photo below which Kathy took).

Manatees hanging out in the "hot tub"

As it happened, we also saw a Bald Eagle up close and personal when it swooped in just a few feet away (twelve perhaps) to harass a Cooper's Hawk, which later perched less than ten feet from us.  There was lots of other wildlife including alligators, anhingas, black vultures, white ibises, etc. etc.

We really had a very enjoyable morning there.  It felt really good to get out into the fresh air after all that bridge.  But it didn't stop Kim and I from going straight back in to the two-session open pairs at 1pm.  We did fairly well, although we definitely could easily have done better if tiredness hadn't intervened again.

The timeshare condo which we had this time at Cypress Point was really nice.  There was a very nice pool with large jacuzzi which was only a stone's throw from our door.  The apartment itself was palatial and included its own jacuzzi.  There were about five TVs altogether, none of which ever got switched on.  Furthermore, we also got lucky with the car from Alamo.  Not only are there no lines now (because they have an automated check-in kiosk) but they are also on-airport.  When we got to the compact row, we could choose any car, including one of several minivans.  That turned out to be a great boon as we several times had quite a few in the car with us.  And all for less than $20 per day :)  Alamo gets kudos from us!

Chef Remy

Our favorite place to eat was Tommy Bahamas' which we visited three times.  It was a 15-20 minute drive so wasn't the most convenient for the tournament but was well worth it.  They do a $33 prix-fixe menu which has smaller portions than the regular a la carte menu: perfect for people who have to go back to the tournament and think!  I had a great Dark and Stormy on the one evening we weren't going back to play bridge.  We also ate at Roy's which was actually even better than Tommy's and Bahama Breeze which I liked more than my fellows.

Our day at Epcot was very enjoyable.  No lines, lots of fun, and two pretty good meals (Chefs de France and the brand new La Hacienda de San Angel).  The former was enhanced by a visit from Chef Remy (Ratatouille) - see photo above.  The firework show at the end of the day was really terrific - I think they've improved it quite a bit in recent years.  At right is a picture of two happy Disney-goers at the start of the day.  Note the magic sunbeam which was a good sign.