InvictaMoto's Family Travels

Up reasonably early. Quick breakfast and finish packing. The TomTom has chosen a run up I95 and then left on the 528 to the airport. Claire prefers the alternative route using the Florida Turnpike toll road. So TomTom fixed to take this route.  The odd thing is that the freeway is 4 lanes and the toll road is two. Still arrived in good time. Take car back. Cost $441 for 14 days rental. Gulp. Not bad to be fair. Works out at about £24 a day. Had lunch at a Perkins.  Just had to have pumpkin pie.  But restraint needed and had one piece between two of us. We had checked in, bags checked and through security in less than an hour.  I beeped on the scanner and they said I had something metallic around my belly.  God knows what. Sat about until the earlier flight left and then went to the gate to read and wait. Popped into the Disney Store and took a pic of Claire and Snow White. Careful positioning to miss out little girl that wouldn't bugger ...

Last full day in Florida. The consensus about my foot was gout. First suggested by my brother, Neill,  on a facebook post. Suggestions that Turmeric might fix it had me at a CVS looking at the many options. By the time that happened the pain had already started to go down.  But five a day with food is a little tough. But all that was yesterday's news.... Today we had a run across to Coconut Grove and Butterfly World. A seven mile journey that took 25 minutes. It seems wherever we go plan on an average of 20mph and leave accordingly. The site has a large aviary area filled with er, butterflies.  Plus an area with small birds. You can spend hours in the butterfly house. Some of them are as big as your hand. Claire had a surprise when a finch landed on her head. We'll worth the ticket price and not too hot in October.

Local do nothing day. Had a run to a shopping mall as Claire was looking for a Yankee Candle shop. The toe problem was decided on gout. Bought CVS Turmeric. And that's it. Reading and doing nothing.

Today my aching foot seemed a little better. The swelling gone down a little. So as I was walking wounded we decided to go to a wildlife rescue centre in Davie FL that we last went to when we were staying in nearby Weston. TomTom said 39 minutes and 23 miles. He was probably right but it seemed much much longer. Traffic and traffic lights. The park has some areas that were hit by the hurricanes and so parts are closed. The rest rooms by the aviary had the roof stoved in by falling bits of tree. Luckily none of the animals and birds were hurt. http://www.flamingogardens.org Of course there are flamingos. There are what seems like hundreds of Florida White Ibis. Everywhere you go. There they are. The highlight for us was the new home of the Florida River Otters. They are all there because they have been injured in some way. They breed and the young are then released into the wild. They are so quick getting a photo is difficult. The run back to La Costa via Pu...

Into double figures now. Day 10. Always the countdown to going home. It must be my age but I am finding a mere 220 mile drive to be tiring. It should be easy. The car is automatic.  Just sit and use two pedals.  It has cruise control to take even that job away from the driver. But. It's the sheer volume of traffic.  The rules of the road that seem to be few and far between.  Overtaking on both sides. Lane discipline that even in India or Vietnam would be sniffed at. Disregard for red lights at junctions... it all adds up to needing 360° vision. Today we had a lie in. The studio has stunning views and it was sunny all day.  A leisurely shower and coffee and then out to brunch.   We both like Perkins or Denny's.  No Perkins around here so Denny's  it was. Light lunch of egg and bacon with a pile of hash browns and a couple of pancakes. Nice. Then to Publix for "stuff". Bagels for breakfast. Pre-prepared salad for dinner. Yum. ...

The drive down avoiding toll roads was partially successful.  It was a long slow drag along 192 to Melbourne where we joined I95. Orlando and the outskirts seem to extend  for miles and miles.  After two hours we had covered 70 miles. Our first stop was for a coffee and a Dunkin Donut near Sebastian FL. It's a little over half way to Pompano Beach. I came off  I95 again near Delray Beach so we could get gas and get some lunch. In the end we got a roast beef sub and coffee drink from Publix.  Gas. I guessed $30 and that filled the tank. We arrived at La Costa Beach Club just about 4pm to check in. Parking looks to be at a premium here. Despite the kerfuffle of the last few days before we flew out, we seem to have lucked out as we have a sea view. Okay. It's floor seven. But there is a lift. We can sit on the balcony and enjoy the view. Anniversary Dinner was next door at the Sea Grill. Lovely food. Live music and $82 bill. We eat less expensively for the r...

The idea was to get up early and get to Old Town to the phone shop about 10am. Well. It was about 11am when we arrived. Most businesses were just opening. The guy in the shop plugged the S6 into a charger and it started to charge. Then stopped. We went for a walk around and for a drink. Some 30 minutes passed and we went back. The technician said that the problem was as I had surmised from Google that it was the charging port. They charged it using a wireless charger and it was working okay. So Claire bought one. Luckily the S6 can be charged that way. My S5 needs the wire. So back to the apartment to get it charged. Time for read of the news on the tablets. Lunch was at Perkins.  We needed to use the 20% discount card we had.  Very nice meal. Turned out to be main course and dessert on one plate. The weather had been better than forecast. Until.... about 4pm. Thunder booming about then heavy rain. I tried to capture it on the tablet as my phone was charging. Unfortunatel...

Cabin fever abated. We had a trip to the Florida Mall. It's not that we don't have these in UK so underwhelming would be an understatement. Claire bought some candles from Yankee Candle. Much cheaper than at home.  I looked in the Skeechers shop. What? Prices the same as at home. We come to the US malls as things are way cheaper. Even with the exchange rate down to around $1.30 to £1 this is not right. We had a coffee and then decided to head home. Traffic. The plan was to get back and then come out again for bike night at Old Town Kissimmee. In the end it was gone 6pm when we got there so we parked up. Old Town was more lively than previous visit. Claire's phone had stopped charging earlier in the week. The same chargers that charge mine are not having any effect. We both have Samsung's products and use the same charger. There's a repair shop and the guy says that they can check it out. So tomorrow morning is mapped out. Thursday night is bike n...

A week gone already. This time next week we'll be heading to the airport to fly back home. Today so far has been a washout. The 70% chance of rain has been more like 99% and it has rained hard on a few occasions. Just the kind of weather that the Kindle and roofs were invented for. So we have been reading and have had the leftover Chinese from last night for lunch. It's 2.45pm and I am becoming cabin fevered. Looking to the east it looks brighter. Is that blue sky..... Florida - the Sunshine State it is not.

Today was a local day. We usually have a few R&R days built in to holidays.  Days to sit about and do nothing. So today it was. A late breakfast and as it was actually sunny... Yes folks.  The Sunshine State is failing to live up to that name. We decided to see if we could find any "old" places. We did find Broadway in Kissimmee as we were on our way to look at the lake called Tohopekaliga. The lake itself was a bit like a swamp and we saw some wading birds picking into the mass of reed and debris washed up close to the edge. You could see it rise and fall as the wind moved the water. We had a short walk and then parked up to have a coffee. We chose Diane's Tea Shop on Broadway.  A mix of tea shop and antiques/junk shop.  Very nice. The chocolate cake came with an offer of a "to go" box. When it arrived I could see why. When it came to leaving there was still half a cake let to go in the box. The car pinged an alarm to say that it needed...

Today we had advanced purchase tickets for the Space Center at Cape Canaveral. We were away from Silver Lake bright and early. First problem was of my own making. Seeing what I thought was the left turn lane free I 2went into it and then realised I was in the oncoming traffic lane. Doh! I pushed into the front of the column of traffic. Lots of apologetic waving ensued. The Texas plates might have made them think I was just some dumbass. Once on Irlo Bronson we headed to I4. As usual despite it being another grey day the exits to Disneyland were heavy. We were all set for a non toll run to Kennedy. Mistake . The route was I4 then SR50 all the way to Titusville. It's only about 50 miles but it took ages. Not much traffic but loads of traffic lights. Orlando seems to extend for miles and miles. There is a brief bit of country before Titusville appears. Then follow the signs. Parking was easy. Not too far from the entrance. Part of the parking was flooded... We che...

Up early although today was a rest day. One where we stay local usually. First stop Old Town Kissimmee. Not quite the old town we had expected. Given Florida's history where the indigenous communities were moved away and white Americans moved in, we had expected something genuinely old. Nope. It was a bit deserted and a few places only were open. We had a wander  around and took some pictures. On a theme night it will be humming. Thursday is bike night and Friday car night. We'll be back. Next stop Starbucks located inside Target store. We had a coffee and a walk around. I bought some boot laces again for my walking boots at home. And most importantly some coffee filter papers. And less importantly a dog jumper for Reggie. Where next? Lunch? Or maybe the Harley shop just off the Irlo Bronson Highway, aka US192. As usual the staff great you and ask where you are from. Whether this is HD or something that US dealerships do.  I can't say we were made to feel all that wel...

Second full day in Orlando. Up around 8am and set about breakfast. Healthy fruit and Greek yogurt followed by less healthy peanut butter on bagels. We were in no hurry to get out. It has rained again overnight but had almost dried out. Today's run was up to a Hooters in Sanford where there was a car meeting. The TomTom had been annoying when we arrived as it took us on toll roads despite the planning on Tyre being set to "no tolls". It did it again today. So we can expect a bill from National at some stage. Once at Hooters we had a coffee, then some shrimp. Then it seemed rude not to have some cheesecake. Not having been to a Hooters before but having read about them I was surprised that there was none of the reported rudity. The food was okay too. We started off around the cars and then it began to rain.  A few of the owners decided to go home. It didn't rain too long though. Photos on Flickr. A few here too. We packed up too. Taking the roadworks affected I4 b...