Beaches and things

I can’t quite pin down the year, but it would have been 1975-ish that my parents decided to buy a casita in Florida, on the Gulf Coast, so they could spend the winters away from the cold of PEI. I remember thinking, “omg (except I doubt if omg was as ubiquitous as it is now), that is such a cliché”. They were younger than I am now, and spent 16 or 17 years trekking back and forth down I-95, eventually leaving a car in FL and flying back and forth, to spend 6 months in the sun.

miles of Atlantic beach between Ormond and Flager

and the water isn't cold

I quickly got over my snobbery about Florida and made my own annual pilgrimage to visit them for a week for Spring Break (the caps are deliberate because, believe me, it wasn't spring in PEI in March and the break was beyond needed). It’s now 35 years since my first trip here and while Orlando is ridiculously different than the country town it used to be, much is still the same in Florida: nice climate, palm trees, ocean on all sides, good shopping, easy life-style, and tropical vegetation. I know why they liked it here. So do I.You know I love the desert, but I feel antsy if we are just parked in an apartment in the Phoenix area. Not so in Sedona because we hike every day, but in Phoenix/Scottsdale I wonder why we are there. I’m a bit that way here in wherever we are (Orlando, Buena Vista, Celebration?) but at the beach it doesn’t occur to me to be antsy. I can easily spend a day or a month at the beach, just hanging out, but it has to be salt water. Lake, river, and pool are only okay. We’ve made 2 excursions to the coast, east and west, not to spend any time but as we were doing other things; if we ever come back to Florida I don’t want to stay here in the middle.Yesterday we went to St Augustine, 2 hours from here, and along the way we drove through real jungle and typical east coast 'lowlands' to get to the barrier islands. It was a lot of driving but such an interesting place to see. And then we spent a couple of hours at the golf Hall of Fame which is maybe why Jim was keen to make go to St. A, but if so he didn't mention it. The golf place is also very interesting with a lot of personal memorabilia. It was another good day.

 pedestrian mall in St Augustine, the oldest continually inhabited  town in the US: 1565

in St Augustine, this used to be the biggest hotel in the world

the golf Hall of Fame - it was interesting even for this non-golfer

Btw, Florida is still a cliché, full of retired and overweight people, until you look beyond  the obvious. Did I mention it’s going to be 82F today?

A Nod to Florida Theme Parks

You can’t come to this part of Florida without going to a theme park or two. Well, I’m sure you can, but you wouldn't come to this part of Florida unless you intended to go to a couple of parks. That’s what this area is: theme parks, one big carnival; and lots of people. The big parks are enormous and have several sub-parks within them, hoping to keep your dollars with their operation instead of someone else’s. It’s big money! For a visitor the most economical, and I use the term loosely, deal is to commit to one park and buy a multi-day pass because the entry is less expensive for each extra day. A single day entry runs $80-$90 per person with add-ons if you want and express ticket or fast-pass (it’s a license to cut the queue) and $10-$20 for parking. It’s no wonder it’s a “once in a lifetime trip” for families. The parks take a lot of stamina too, for standing in lines, walking miles, figuring out how things work. We were amazed and curious to see families with very young children, wondering how they were coping. 

Adventure Islands: Dr. Seuss land! 

AI: Marvel Comics super heroes section

every park has a ridiculous roller coaster

The Harry Potter section is very popular

We’ve been to two parks so far: Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios, and Epcot at Disney. For me the best rides were Spiderman at Islands of Adventure, and the Green Line at Mission Space at Epcot. We didn’t do either park justice in the few hours we were there; especially Epcot which should be 2 parks really, the future side and the international pavilion side. It’s been Thanksgiving week, and the crowds certainly attest to the attraction of the parks as a holiday destination. One staff person said that the only busier time is New Year. Despite the throngs, the workers were cheerful and helpful, the parks were clean, there were lots of restrooms, and people were having a good time; including us. These very few pictures barely represent the places as they truly are amazing.

entrance to Epcot

the Epcot icon, Spaceship Earth

BC was well represented in the Canada pavilion

parked strollers!

Starting backward

My preference when we are travelling is to explore flora, fauna, geography, and history. Being in the center of Florida there is much of that to see and do but mostly we are surrounded by theme parks and a LOT of people on Thanksgiving holidays. I actually don’t know if where we are staying has a name. We aren’t in Orlando, nor Kissimmee, (pronounced Kissimmee by the very few locals, not Kissimmee) rather in a limbo area of resorts and theme parks. Our resort, Marriott Cypress Harbor, is just about perfect; about 2 seconds from SeaWorld, and 5 from Disney.

We have a big and very nice apartment, in a central location, and it’s very quiet. I don’t know how many acres the property covers, many for sure, and there are lovely pools, ponds, and gardens as well as lots of space between the modest sized buildings. There is another Marriott nearby that must be 30 stories high, not my style.

We’ve been to a couple of tourist attractions (I’ll get back to them in another post) and enjoyed them well enough but yesterday we had a brief stint as Swamp People on the edge of Lake Kissimmee, which I know you are now pronouncing correctly. Lake Kissimmee is the 3rd largest body of water in Florida and is at the top of the Everglade water system. What is unique is that it is surrounded by cattle ranches and a nature preserve so there are no houses, high rises, resorts, shops, etc. I found Kissimmee Swamp Tours on the internet and loved their attitude: if you are looking for speed and thrills, don’t call us. Finding the place was an adventure in itself, and it is run by honest-to-goodness locals with real Florida accents, (I hope you can hear that I am writing this with a Florida twang) with a real passion for “old Florida”. 

bathroom art

the boat. seriously

We learned a lot from CW, our captain/guide, including that there are 1.5 million gators in Florida (who counted them?) and that about 70,000 eggs are removed from Lake Kissimmee every year to control the population. (The eggs are sent to farms and gators are raised for leather and meat.) CW was as interested in the birds, maybe more, which I loved because he was showing us there is more to Florida wetlands than alligators, although he did say that any body of water bigger than a bathtub has at least one gator in it. And he hates that Florida has a pest control spray policy.

Btw, if you get a chance to go on an airboat sometime, they are pretty amazing. Nothing protrudes below the boat, so they literally skim across the top of the water and even on dry-ish land. They’re smooth, fast, and fun. Also noisy so we had industrial strength headsets on so we could hear ourselves ask and answer questions.

they always look like they are smiling

apparently vicious predators

Bubba and Bubbette

 

It was a sunny day, in the low 70’sF (the only thing I’m bilingual in is temperature), but windy. On the water, whipping along in the boat, there was a pretty good wind chill. Camo seems to be the style choice in that part of the state so Jim & Barb were decked out in camo jackets, with broken zippers (don’t know if that’s a requirement), and I had a blanket for my bare legs. We had a great time and then stopped in St. Cloud at the Catfish Place, 10% off if you mention my name, for a deep-fried heart-attack-inducing lunch of turtle, gator, shrimp, scallops, and catfish. Yum; except for the catfish, which, of course, I didn’t try. Oh yeah, the in-house hash browns? Fabulous.
For more photos check my Facebook album.

  

Getting ready for winter

It’s not such a big task here, especially now that we live in a strata townhouse. Our outdoor work consists of tidying away the patio furniture but that’s only because I don’t like the graveyard look of shrouded chairs. The garden can be weeded and trimmed, or not, as it won’t be a big job in the spring. And besides there are lots of things still blooming. 

 People in colder climates batten down the hatches for the coming months. Our friend Alan dropped in for dinner last week, from PEI and his 12 acre property which requires considerably more work to “get ready for winter”, including clearing beds and stacking the winter wood supply. Having spent one heating season in this house we have embarked on a few changes to improve the energy use and the comfort. This time last year I got into quite a discussion with BC Hydro when it appeared that this house which has a shared wall and is 2/3 the size of our last one was going to cost almost as much to heat. Yes, we are exposed to the wind, but really? So we had an energy audit done and started by tripling the attic insulation which was at a paltry 15R. In the kitchen we had a greenhouse style window over the sink. I liked the extra dimension it gave the room, but it was the stupidest energy design you could imagine. I had to get a ladder to open and close the window in summer because I couldn't reach the handle, and any sounds or breezes from outside were in the room with us. So that went at the end of August in favour of a regular sliding window that actually keeps the weather outside.

Oh and by the way, we found a lovely nest of carpenter ants in the bottom of the window box. Thousands. Someday I’ll tell you about my childhood trauma with those beasts.

carpenter ants scurrying away but already coated with ant powder

In the centre of this house there is a big skylight, fabulous. It’s 13 feet long, 4 feet wide and the box goes up about 10 feet. Across the room from the skylight is the open stairwell that goes down 8 feet. You know where I’m going with this; that’s a 27 foot wind tunnel and we figure too much of our heat is ending at the top of the skylight box. So this week we are experimenting with a clear ceiling to block the rise of heat. We’ve installed a framework that we think looks reasonably decorative and have ordered light weight double cell greenhouse panels that will rest on top. We could have put a fan in the box to drive the heat down but of course if the power goes out, which it never does, the fan wouldn't work. The panels can be removed for summer air circulation or we may hate the look and try something different.

empty framework

panels in place and we think it looks okay

And finally we’ve ordered 2 sets of glass bifold doors, (due November 6) to install between the dining room and living room, hinged so they fold completely out of the way. We want the openness when we want it, but the ability to separate the two rooms, from a heat perspective, should be an improvement. We hope it will mean that the TV room won’t have any drafts from the rest of the house making it easier to heat. It will definitely mean that someone can watch TV and the other someone can enjoy the fireplace in the living room IN PEACE. Not naming names.

So we’ll see. A pox on BC Hydro!

I know you are fascinated by the minutiae of our lives! 

Another side to wine

You must know that we like wine. The evidence would be the various posts on wineries: here, in the Okanagan, Napa, and anywhere else; and the many photos of me with a wine glass in my hand.

Thanksgiving Day 2012

We belong to the Wine Club at the Muse winery about 30 minutes from home and enjoy going to the vineyard for lunch in the summer and other events including really hilarious musical farce theatre in the summer (Suddenly Sasquatch this year). Muse has 3 small vineyards on Saanich Peninsula and buys grapes from the Okanagan for the rest of its production. This year we decided to help with the grape harvest being amazed that volunteers/friends/family are the pickers (clippers actually). We were assigned to the home vineyard; the one we sit beside in the summer, on the patio, sipping a crisp Ortega.

summer on the patio at Muse

It’s a pretty easy job to harvest grapes, only the clusters are lower on the vine than is actually comfortable unless you are very short. Peter (owner) follows old-world practices so keeps the lowest grapes because they benefit from reflected heat from the ground. Other vineyards will focus on higher grapes for different reasons, maybe more sun, maybe easier harvesting. 

Muse owner Peter Ellman

Secateurs in hand and rubber-booted we got underway at about 9:00 AM on the first cloudy day in living memory. Because of the angle, both stooped and twisted or on one knee, I quickly decided this would be a one-time-only event and was thankful to have an appointment with my chiropractor later in the day. After a while Jim and I started to work on both sides of one row, together, and got into the rhythm.

The grapes we picked went right into the de-stemmer/crusher for a little instant gratification! Later, having stripped the vineyard, had a great lunch with lots of wine, and an enjoyable reunion with an old SMUS colleague, we heard ourselves saying to others that we’d see them next year. I can’t honestly say it was fun, but it was satisfying. Plus, the owners are upbeat and cheerful and we like them well enough to help out.  Now we have a different sense of belonging to Muse and a new appreciation for the wine process. 

Thanks to regular yoga and walking Rithet's Bog my aches were very minor indeed.   

More about Windsor

We spent the last few days of this trip in another under-appreciated city, Windsor, Ontario, 

with dislocated (did I mean relocated?) friends Sally & Alan. Windsor has had a hard time of it in recent years especially since the 2008 crash and car manufacturing meltdown. But it is recovering and there are signs of prosperity and even in the blackest of days it was putting on a brave face. Like Saint John, it’s a working town with iconic attachments such as Windsor Salt, Hiram Walker’s Distillery,

and the big 3 car companies. And believe me those car companies are BIG. The plants take up acres and acres of space. S&A managed to organize a private tour of Chrysler’s Windsor Assembly (no photos allowed) for us and it was impressive. We whizzed around for an hour in a “jitney” inside the 40 acre plant which opened in 1928 (modern and spotless). It’s in the middle of town mind you but the property is 123 acres. They assemble 1400-ish vans a day including the new Volkswagen Routan. Our guide, Luke, says a new built plant would be less than half as big because the production style and robots takes up less space. Those robots are fun to watch! Three or four may work together and it’s like watching a ballet, or the Musical Ride the way they interact. Luke also said “in two years this plant has turned around like I would have never thought possible”, referring to the positive worker attitude and team feeling.

It was Doors Open weekend in Windsor so we visited Walkerville Brewery home of the 64 ounce refillable Growler which Brian managed to get through single handedly and Willistead Manor  home of one of the Walker sons.

On Saturday S&A took us to the Renaissance Festival in Holly, Michigan, about an hour away from Windsor, across the border. We had no idea what to expect other than Emily said lots of people dress in period costumes. We were stunned. It’s a HUGE carnival/faire. The costumes covered a lot of eras, but never mind, people were into it. Food was pasties and turkey legs, rides were manually operated, games of chance were archery and knife throwing, competitions were jousting and fencing. And there were thousands of people!!! The whole thing is crazy and I would go again in a minute. 

a loud and funny barker

Green-man in a pot

jouster

bemused!

man-powered swing/ride

2 of several wizards

And proving that Windsor takes like to dress-up, they are getting ready for Halloween

We also sat on the deck and drank Ontario wine!

That's a lot of water!

Since we were going to be in southern Ontario I decreed that it was time to revisit Niagara Falls. I know it isn't the biggest, tallest, or most powerful cataract in the world, but it is one of them, it’s ours, and it is very accessible. Jim got a deal at The Oakes, which bragged about Falls views. (Our room needed some updating but the location more than made up for it) Ever the skeptic I figured that meant we would have to stand on a chair and peer out a corner of the window to see anything, sort of like “ocean glimpses” in Victoria real estate ads.  Our trusty GPS took us directly to the hotel after its usual 20 minute search for satellites when we change locations (you can almost hear it thinking, “where the heck are we now, I thought she liked Saint John”). As we pulled into the parking lot I could see the mist; it really is a Falls view location, one of about 3 that are built directly above Horseshoe Falls!

the view from our room

We got checked in and then I literally dragged Jim out and down to the river walkway and, really, it is spectacular. Really, really. So worth the trip. Of course there are lots of tourists, it’s a tourist magnet, but everyone is in the same frame of mesmerized mind.

it is right there - not in the distance

Horseshoe Falls

evening light

constant rainbow

Happy camper!

To complement the natural draw there are decent restaurants and family theme activities and, yes, the ubiquitous casino. We opted to “do” the Maid of the Mist excursion to the base of Horseshoe Falls, got thoroughly wet, and loved it!

The blue capes were uncontrollable in the wind!

 Our plan was to go to a couple of wineries before leaving the Niagara area, but we wandered into Niagara-on-the-Lake instead, I’d never been, and we ran out of time for tasting. Without the natural phenomenon of the Falls, NotL has built another tourist mecca with a cute town centre and a relatively famous theatre festival. There were at least as many tourists but they were more into shopping than nature.

Niagara on the Lake

We need to come back to the Niagara area for a few days, some year, because there is much to see and do relating to Canadian history, like the Brock monument, and a few wineries to sample.