Our trip to Florida… we left on January 3rd, on JetBlue airlines. Excellent planes, have big and comfortable seats, and televisions on each seatback. The coolest tv channel was the airline‘s own, it was a map of the east coast USA showing where the plane was and how fast it was going and how high up you were. No meals are served, but they give out sodas and snacks. Best value if you’re flying a long distance. We had no stops on our flight. Perfect.

The entire week we were in Florida was sunny and in the high 70s, low 80s. Nights were cooler, but felt like a warm spring in comparison to the winter weather in Massachusetts when we left.

We drove 2 hours each day down to Orlando. Each morning was foggy and warm. We stayed in an area that had many, many horse ranches, so it was pretty cool to see ghostly looking shapes of horses through the fog at dawn. As we drove upon the highways, I noticed a lot of billboards for cow manure. Fertilizer must be a profitable business in Florida, I was thinking, if they can afford to advertise on billboards. I always thought of oranges as being a main product of Florida, but now I think cow crap along those same lines. Speaking of oranges, we made a little pit stop at a gas station, mainly because I really wanted a picture of this place. At every pump, a huge crate of oranges for sale. We bought some, of course, it was impossible not to buy some. They were huge oranges. It’s a good thing the cow crap selling guys don’t sell their product in this manner at gas stations, we’d have bought some of that, too.

Our first stop in Disney was the Magical Kingdom. The ride I liked best was Space Mountain, which not only lived up to the hype, but surpassed it (as did everything in Florida). Splash Mountain was great, too, and we got a great picture of KC and Kenny’s faces as they hit that sudden drop. However, the best part of that photo isn't their faces, it's this kid's face and this guy's hair.

You can’t help but appreciate the genius behind the man, Walt Disney, and his view of the world at its most wonderful, in its finest hours, on its best behavior, in its happiest moments. Looking around at the special attention to detail in every facet of this amazing place, I couldn’t help but think about how lucky this planet Earth was to have a man with such creativity bring all his dreams to reality and cement them in permanence for people to enjoy for decades, centuries, lifetimes to come.

The fireworks show at the end of the day was spectacular, but we did learn an important lesson: watch from the back of the castle, or the side, do not sit in front, as the fireworks are low and you miss some of them. Sitting in the front is nice to view Tinkerbell, though.

Our second stop in Orlando, after a full day at the Magic Kingdom, was Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This place was great… the best part was a show called “It’s Tough to be a Bug”. 3D glasses are given out at the entrance. It is an amazing show, full of lots and lots of unexpected surprises.

We got to see giraffes. And I got to talk to the giraffe keeper for an extended period of time, after I’d watched her video about the daily care of these beautiful animals. I learned from her that one of the giraffes is pregnant, and one of the other ones they suspect is pregnant and they are just awaiting results from the pregnancy test. I’m so glad we’ll be going back every year to Florida so I can watch these baby giraffes grow up. I wished I could get up closer to them, but I figure by going up there every year I can possibly arrange with the giraffe keeper a private tour of the giraffe stalls, before opening hours. She was a very nice chick.

Our last stop in Orlando, on the third day driving the two hours to and from this spectacular area of the USA, we hit MGM Studios. In all of the parks they had what is called ‘fast pass’, which is a brilliant idea and works well so that you never have to stand long in lines. We only had to use it twice at Magic Kingdom, once at Animal Kingdom, and once at MGM, mainly because the week we went is a very quiet time at the Disney parks, being the week after the holiday rush, when the park is so jam packed you wait in line for about an hour per ride. There were lots and lots of people there when we went, but it’s just not as crowded as it is during holidays and vacation weeks.

The best ride at MGM, in my opinion, was the Star Tours. I absolutely loved this ride, it felt exactly like it would feel to be zipping around in space. Perfectly timed, pure genius. I was in awe of the ride itself as much as I was in awe of the creative thinking that went into making this ride. I wanted to hug the people that thought it up… I could go on that ride every time we hit Orlando and never tire of it.

We played Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which was a lot of fun. The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was the kids and Kenny’s favorite. They also loved Tower of Terror, which we got a great picture from as we were dropped a few dozen feet unexpectedly. We also got a family picture done while strolling around various shops.

Days back at the in-law’s home were spent playing out in the yard, climbing trees, and relaxing. I got to meet an online friend of many years, coffeesucker, and her family. It’s always cool to meet people from online after knowing them for years. We had a great, fun time hearing stories from the wonderfully funny Di and Aunt Betty. Aunt Betty, the night before, had made a great batch of kale soup and showed us old photo albums at her place. We also got to meet, after all these years, Uncle Ronny, who took us the first day we were in Florida to a horse ranch he works at. With everybody living in different states, it’s taken over a decade to meet the other members of this family. Thankfully, everyone is now in Florida, so each trip will be a reunion.

I was the only native Floridian there… born in Titusville, Florida. Everyone else was born up north, for the most part. I could easily live in Florida, but I’d miss the snow we get up here in Cape Cod.

Our plans for next year’s trip to Florida: Epcot, Busch Gardens, and Typhoon Lagoon. And Sea World, if we have time. Most likely we will do a park at a day, hopefully getting to NASA, Blizzard Beach and Gator Land at some point throughout the next few years (Gator Land is highly recommended by my brother Ed. His kids still talk about that place, years after going there.) Gator Land has a very cool web cam: http://www.gatorland.com/webcam/

It was good to come home after being gone for a week, but we certainly wished we could stay another week… knowing we’ll be going back often made leaving a little easier.