Clearwater Take Away

Clearwater Beach Jetty 

Along with Nana and Grandpa we headed to Clearwater main beach which was surprisingly quiet even if it was a Monday.

The beach is well maintained with what must be nice imported sand no doubt.

Main disappointment was that you had to pay to walk the full length of the pier so we didn't.

The foreshore is nicely laid out not too tacky.

Gulf Coast

Sand Key Beach, Clearwater

It was arranged for all parts of the visiting family members to meet on 

Sand Key beach for a family picnic.

All should have known better as there was a bit of sun burn around at the end of the day.

The day was quite windy and the sea a bit choppy.

 Grandpa supervises beach construction.

 Beach shelter finally up!!

View to Clearwater main beach.

Clearwater Fl

Family Reunion

We set of early on the Saturday morning heading to Clearwater for a family meet and greet

 hoping to arrive at a reasonable time for lunch. 

The drive took longer than intended due to an over long toilet stop and the 

unexpected traffic trying to get thru Tampa.

Any how a very pleasant afternoon was spent at the Roberts household lots of 

baby cuddles and hugs all round.

We headed of at tea time to find our motel only a few wrong turns but we found it.

Just a few more.

More Disney Pics

More Photos

Six Visits to Disney

Six Visits to Disney in 10 Days.

We have set ourselves a big task with six visits in 10 days to various Disney theme parks and mum not being so mobile as we had hoped.

I have decided to show some of our better photos as I cant remember what happened on which day as it as all become a bit of a blurr. Needless to say the kids are exhausted and we all need some easy time.

We spent two days each in the Magic Kingdom and EPCOT and a day each in Hollywood Studios and the Animal Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom was the best but could have been even better if the weather had been a bit better ie no rain and the crowds smaller.

EPCOT was the surprise as crowds were small ride cues very short.

Hollywood studios disappointed because of the park layout fairly large crowds narrow walk ways bad maps. The only saving grace were the few  major rides such as the Rock and Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and the finale water show and fireworks.

The Animal Kingdom exceeded expectations but the kids loved the sticker collecting.

Mum's favorite even after 30 yrs

Honey I shrunk the Kids Playground.

Blue Springs State Park Fl

Blue Springs.

We all head off reasonably early again heading towards Kissimmee via the town of Deland which surprisingly has quite a nice old fashioned town centre. We get to the state park entry fee $6/ car on the out skirts of town.

The spring makes its self into a tributary of the near by river but has the unusual effect of being very clear and at 72'F about 22'c a few hundred metres down stream there is a temperature barrier between the waters and the water changes very quickly to a cold black coffee colour.

The area is often a refuge for the Manatee but it is a bit early in the year.

The clear area of water offers swimming and snorkeling and a lazy river experience if you walk up stream for about 10 mins.  There a plenty of fish and the water was warm enough for me to snorkel so it wasn't as cold as every body was making out.

After we take a short stroll down stream to the main river junction and don't sit around too long because of the mosquitoes. On our return walk we spot two gators which were only a couple of hundred metres away from where we were swimming.

Kennedy Space Centre

Kennedy Space Centre

A not so early start as we have an appointment at 10 am for a back crack and then a 1 1/2hr drive south via the Home Depot  Hardware for a back support. Then we finally arrive at the space centre.

Luckily it appears not to be too busy.

The set up has change over the last thirty odd years there are a few cafe and other exhibits but the bulk of the 50's and 60's rockets remain.

The bus tour out around the various launch pads was disappointing as I am sure previously we got a view inside the main assembly building. However the main stop was for the Saturn V rocket exhibition. Thirty something years ago this was out side with the other rockets.

This is now impressively exhibited inside after a re enactment of an Apollo mission launch.

We start to get a bit pressed for time and we head back to the main area at which point it is chucking it down.

The coach driver recommend we see the Atlantis exhibition rather than the I Max movies.

The Atlantis exhibit is contained in its own building again with an impressive reveal after a short build up with the history of it's inception almost at the end of the Apollo program.

There are plenty of interactive stuff for the kids to play with including an escape chute and a simulation of a shuttle take off.