Plimouth Plantation

I had a rare Saturday off this past weekend, and Hubby said I was in charge of planning something for us to do. I had been wanting to visit Plimoth Plantation for a while, so this seemed a good opportunity. Plimouth Plantation is a recreation of a pilgrim settlement from 1620. There are re-enacters that stay in character as they answer questions about the way of life in pilgrim times. The entire settlement consists of about a dozen "houses" - which were the sorriest little hovels I've ever seen in my life. The settlers at Plimouth Plantation didn't have much.....only whatever they brought over with them on the Mayflower. They were still very dependent on England for a lot of the things they could not produce in America. Some of the settlers had to go back and forth to England for supplies twice a year or so....each journey taking up to six months.

Inside the house, which was maybe 10x10, was a bed, a table, maybe a dresser brought over from England. The most astounding thing to me was that the fire was simply in the corner of the room with no boundaries, no fireplace or anything, and the children slept on the floor at night.

There were only a couple of cows that were brought over from England for the whole community to use. Everything was shared.

Women would make bread 12-15 loaves at a time for their family (which means that by the time the bread was done, they were eating bread that had been around for almost two weeks).

They had to build a fire in this bread oven, keep it going for about two hours so the stones got really hot, then clean out all the fire and ashes and put the bread pans in and seal the door for the bread to bake.

They made some kind of coating for the inside of the walls, to keep the cold air out. They kneaded the clay with their feet right inside the house and then put it up on the walls with straw.

After going through the Pilgrim settlement, we went down the road to the re-creation of the Indian houses. The Indians had two houses, one for summer and one for winter. The winter house was large and airtight. The whole big extended family, three generations, stayed together in the winter house. There was really only place for them to sleep, as they spent most of their daylight time out of doors.

All the re-enacters at the Indian settlement are real Indians who were very informative about the way their ancestors lived.

In the summer, the Indians lived in smaller summer houses. Each family of mom, dad and children had their own house.

After leaving Plimouth Plantation, we went over to see the famous Plimouth Rock.

Yes, that's it. You can see it through the opening at the bottom of the monument. It's quite unimpressive.

And finally, we went over to see the Mayflower. This is a replica of the original Mayflower, or how they believe it was based on ships made at that time.

I was quite impressed with the courage and fortitude these Pilgrims must have had to come over from their own country, travel in the hold of what was nothing more than a cargo ship, and start a new life in a land where there was nothing.

Tag and Karen's Un-Spooky Halloween Show

Hubby and I put on a show at the library Thursday night for Halloween. I can't believe I actually did it! Hubby is the one who used to do library shows with his friend. I'm the one who is not used to performing in front of people.....especially in my own home town....AND on local television! Hubby had three original Halloween stories and four original Halloween songs. I performed three stories from my old preschool-teaching days. We had about a dozen kids...almost all boys! They were all responsive and fun. We kept the program moving pretty quickly and tried to keep the kids active and involved. We got thanks and praise from the parents when we left......so I guess we did okay! The local access TV station taped us, and the guy already gave us a copy of the DVD. We were kind of afraid to watch it last night. Who wants to see all their mistakes? But it wasn't bad! The few little mistakes we made weren't obvious to the audience, and our singing was actually pretty good. We had a good time, so did the kids and their parents, and the library lady already said we'd be welcomed back next year. Hurray!

Aquatica and Discovery Cove

Our last day in Florida was spent at Aquatica and Discovery Cove. We went to Aquatica in the morning. This is a large water park located right across the street from Seaworld. They gave us a tour of the place before it opened and then let us go and have fun! They have two side-by-side wave pools...one slow, the other faster.....and both have beautiful white sand beaches.

We went on the lazy river and also on the "Raging River". The raging river was a blast!

This was probably the only slide I didn't go on. It looked a little too straight-downhill to me!

The children's area was unbelievable. There were more adults in the area than children.

I managed to go on almost every slide at Aquatica. I love water slides and could have stayed there all day. But it was time to go on to Discovery Cove.

Discovery Cove is not an amusement park - it is an all-inclusive day resort. The food, drink, towels, snorkels, sun-screen and fun are all included. I didn't take too many pictures.....I put my camera away in the locker they provided.

There were two cold-water pools - one for the manta rays and one for the coral reef. In the manta pool, you could just stand there and the beautiful mantas came up close enough for you to pat. In the coral reef, you could use the snorkel and mask they provide and swim around looking at the beautiful coral and the brightly colored fish.

They had a warm-water lagoon:

There was lots of places to get food and drink.

But their claim to fame is their "Swim with the Dolphins". This was a fabulous, once-in-a-lifetime experience for me.

First the trainer showed us how to make the dolphin do all kinds of tricks. Our dolphin's name was CJ. He was very friendly.

He let us pat him ..... and even kiss him.

And finally, we each got a chance to ride him from the deep water back to shore.

That concluded my time down in Florida. It was a whirlwind experience I'll never forget.

I noticed the beautiful green landscape as we left Florida:

And the colorful foliage of New England when we landed.

Seaworld

We started off our day visiting the Marriott Renaissance Hotel in Orlando. They gave us a nice buffet - although not as nice as the one at our hotel. The highlight of this breakfast was Krispy Kreme donuts made into french toast. Decadent! We got over to Seaworld and the first thing we saw was their new "Manta" roller coaster. It's a big, huge, scary-ass coaster that I was too scared to go on! They take you and strap you in tight, then lean you forward so you are face-down! Then they swing you around and around and upside down - supposedly mimicking the movements of a manta ray.

Luckily, they built an aquarium exhibit right under the ride, specifically for people like me. I spent the time gazing upward at the mantas floating around over our heads.

We went and saw the Dolphin show, which was outstanding! Besides the dolphins, they had people do acrobatics in the air and diving off a high dive.

Then we went to the Shark Encounter. This was an aquarium tunnel that you went into and stood on the conveyer belt. The tunnel brought you through the aquarium where you could see the sharks from every angle.

It was time for our "special treat". Our guide Kate had said it was a surprise that involved something black and white. I was sure hoping it was penguins, and it was! We each got to pat the penguin and see them up close and personal.

This little guy wanted to be my friend. He was fascinated by my camera strap that was dangling above him. As I wiggled it, his little head wiggled back and forth. I wanted to put him in my backpack and take him home!

Of course we went to the Shamu show. We got to see a newborn whale with her mommy before the show began.

Finally, at night we went to a luau. It was amazing! The dancers were perfectly synchronized and very, very energetic!

This guy was hilarious. He asked us to take pictures of him and posed for us.

After this exciting and exhausting day, there wasn't much discussion about going to the pool at the hotel. We were all so pooped we went to our rooms and crashed.

Busch Gardens

After an unbelievable buffet breakfast at our hotel, we ventured out to our first destination, Busch Gardens. This park is "Busch Gardens Africa", so there were plenty of African animals there, including a beautiful Gorilla and her baby. One of the more exciting parts of our day was a ride on the back of a truck onto the "Serengeti Safari". We saw some giraffes up close and personal! This one's name is "Binti" and she just loved the lettuce we brought for her to eat.

We saw Elk, Rhinos, Zebras, Ostriches and a lovely two-week old baby rhino who ran across the plain with the gawkiness of a toddler while his weary mom chased after him.

Inside the park were some gorgeous white Bengal Tigers, as well as regular tigers and lions.

We were told this rhino is the "stud" of the pack......isn't he handsome?

There were all kinds of shows and attractions in the park as well. This big creature and I had matching outfits.

This crazy ride is called SheikRa. I didn't go on it (I'm not crazy) but a few who did came back white-faced. They start you going over the first plunge but stop and leave you hanging there for about 5 seconds.

I did go on the Congo River Rapids ride. I knew I'd get wet, and when the ride was almost finished I was just somewhat wet.....until the final soaking that was so strong it spun the raft around - the better to soak everyone!

In addition to our free entry to the park, we were given food vouchers for our lunch, and $20 worth of "Busch dollars" to spend anyway we wanted in the park.

We finished off the day with a presentation of all the Seaworld Parks, along with a delicious buffet supper, topped off with chocolate cake for dessert.

We did go back to the hotel and swim in the gorgeous pool.......something we would not have the strength for in the ensuing nights!

Back from my Fam

Back from my Fam trip to Florida and I am just exhausted! They sure do keep you hopping! Yes, it was a "working" trip.....with lots of fun and enjoyment mixed in. The idea of a Fam is to get you familiar with a certain area or certain places so you can bring that knowledge back to your customers. They sure did bring us on tours everywhere to make sure we became familiar with everything. I am breaking down my posts into several days, since we saw and did so much, and I took over 500 pictures, which are quite difficult to upload all in one shot! When we arrived on Wednesday, we went to the hotel that was hosting us; The Orlando World Marriott Resort. And it was gorgeous! When we checked in, they gave us a "goodie bag" filled with all kinds of things, including some stuffed Shamu whales and some little Elmo dolls. Perfect for the grandbabies. The Lobby: Being a resort, it had all the amenities.....an 18 hole golf course and a huge and gorgeous pool area: (this was the view from the balcony in my room on the 21st floor)

The pool even had a water slide:

My traveling companion Tasha and I on our tour of the hotel. We toured 5 different Marriott hotels, two of which were side by side!

After checking in, I had a little time so I headed straight for the pool. The water was bathtub warm. We re-grouped and our escorts took us to an art museum for a reception, then out to eat at a restaurant called Circa.

After coming back, we headed back to the pool. We swam the first couple of nights, but after that, we were too exhausted at night and headed straight to bed!

Florida Bound

Tomorrow I leave for my Fam trip to Florida. For someone who now works in the travel industry, and who travels a lot with Hubby, I haven't really been very far. I live in Southern New Hampshire. I've been as far north as Montreal and I've been as far west as Cincinnati. Both of these were driving trips. I've driven as far south as Washington, DC. The only airplane flight I've taken is to Myrtle Beach, and I was 42 years old when I took it. This will be my first time to Florida. The last plane trip I took was after 9/11, but I still don't remember all the rules and regulations for packing my suitcase, and checking through security. I've had to ask the ladies at work what's okay for me to pack, what can go in my carry-on and what has to be in my checked bag. It's a little embarrassing. Also, I bought a large suitcase, and I've already gotten comments from a couple of people about how big it is, considering I'm only going for four days. I think they may be right. I guess I'll find out when I start packing later on. All these details aside, I'm wildly excited about going. It's going to be a "working" trip. We'll be touring four different Marriott hotel sites, as well as Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica. But there are plans for a Luau (wow..had to look that one up....how do you find out how to spell something when you don't know how to spell it?), a Serengeti Tour, and some free time at each park. I intend to suck up every drop of fun while I'm "working".