Our first stop for this trip to Orlando was Bryan's Spanish Cove with Ken & Gina. After taking a 10:30 p.m. flight out of Sacramento on Friday, May 4th, we arrived at our place around 2:00 in the afternoon dead tired. Those "red eye" flights may save a lot of money, but they sure take their toll on the body; especially on me because I have a hard time sleeping sitting up.
Feeling more rested, on Sunday we headed out on Hwy. 192 for the Florida coast at Melbourne and Cocoa Beach. We found Charlie's Catfish Shack on the way and had a great fried catfish lunch.
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| Our unit was 211 up the stairs. |
Ken and Gina arrived on Monday the 7th and faced the same sleep adjustments we did.
After finally feeling rested, we headed for Universal Studios on Tuesday. What a fun place to be! We had a great time, but did not quite keep up with K & G. They stayed longer and saw more. We will just have to go back!
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| This ride was way too fun!! |
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| Entrance to Harry Potter's Magical World |
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| Display from Jurrasic Park |
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| Ken found a great stand with Butter Beer just inside the gate. |
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| We really did ride this coaster! |
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Bill is feeling much younger than these artifacts are supposed to be!
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On Wednesday we decided to take a breakfrom the theme parks and headed for the coast again. We found a great place to have lunch in Cocoa Beach. Yummy!
Thursday it was off to Epicot. What a beautiful place! The grounds were covered with flowers. We had some really great rides and learned a lot. Planet Earth was especially amazing. California Soaring, as always, was one of our favorites and we loved walking around the various ethnic villages. Another place we would like to spend more time.
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| Which direction first? |
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| Gina in the Butterfly Garden |
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| Old English Village |
Friday, the 11th, we kicked back while K & G finished up at the theme parks. It was a great rainy day to catch up on some reading. On Saturday, we took K & G to the airport at 4:15 a.m. and then returned to our condo to kick back some more and pack for our cruise adventure tomorrow.
THE BAHAMAS
We picked up the Carnival transport bus for Cape Canaveral on Sunday at 10:00, arived at the port around 11:00, and got checked right in. Up to the Lido for a buffet lunch and then on to our cabin.
What a shock!! The Carnival Sensation is one of the old ships and you could certainly tell it by the look of our cabin. While the balcony was what we were accustomed to, the bed took up most of the space in the cabin, and while we did have a TV, we had to lie on the bed to watch it. Needless to say, we didn't spend a great deal of time in the cabin.
Our first port on Monday was Freeport. We caught a taxi/van that took us to Lacaya. This is where all of the tourist shops are located as well as a casino. We spent a few minutes walking around and then decided to try to get into the center of town in Freeport. We found a local bus that would take us into town for $1 so headed that way. There really isn't much there, but we did find a local vendors market across from the bus station and had fun talking with some of the locals. We sampled some Conch friters and bought a couple of Conch shells to bring home.
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| Local produce in Freeport The vendor would not let me take his picture. |
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| Bill after making a great deal on the conch shells. At least he thinks he did? |
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| Can't wait to try the conch fritters! |
We were back on the ship by 3:30 and were on our way to Nassau by 5:00 p.m.
Nassau was another world compared to Freeport! What a bustling port! Our ship was one of 5 in port. That means at least 10,000 people from all over the world were let loose at one time. The streets were crowded and noisy and we loved every minute of it. After walking around the city for awhile and enjoying a latte while we people watched, we caught a taxi out to Atlantis. What a place!
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| One of Nassau's main streets |
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| Caught Bill by surprise |
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| We even bought a couple of shirts! Great service with a smile! |
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| Nice place to have a latte and people watch. |
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| And here is Atlantis from our balcony. |
Well, that's about all for this trip. We have some short trips planned in July, but the next BIG one won't be until September when we head for Cambodia and Vietnam.
