Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

A few pictures of early morning of the lake here at TTN park in Clermont, FL. Perfectly lovely and one spot I love visit each morning when out for our stroll 1st thing. Although these trees are in their winter dress, it is so pretty and early like that there are so many birds out skimming the water; swallows, warblers, vultures, egrets and even a resident red tailed hawk. Just love this spot. Would love to see a frog on the lily pads but have seen the warblers perched on them drinking... perfectly lovely!

Our latest adventure was over to Disney's Hollywood Studio for the day! Really for 1/2 a day and evening. I had a ball... it was so funny walking thru the gates you could "feel" like you went back in time in old Hollywood! Wow! I am so impressed with the "quality' in which Disney puts things together. They had an Indiana Jones stunt type show which was very good and another stunt type show using real cars and motorcycles and it was really something! If you like burning rubber and fast action this is something you would really enjoy. I loved the old time movie ride where I was able to see the old movie stars when they really worked and learned their lines (without monitors to read from) - ha! Low tech but good acting. ah well. Just a fun fun time. At dusk they lit all the lights (over a million) on the streets of the park and it was IMPRESSIVE! So much fun - cold as the dickens that night but that was just the wind chill and we all survived just fine.

Florida has some wonderful state parks and this is one of my most favorite places in the whole country! I love this park; especially on a picture perfect day as this was when we visited! They told us at the gate they had counted 134 manatees 3 hours prior to our arrival. We did not see that many but one of our 1st sightings was of this cow with her two youngsters! This park has made a few changes since we were there last time. They now allow you to tour the inside of the Thursby house on the grounds and they have a gift shop. Besides having a ranger film showing/educational program! To top off the day we actually saw Wally gator here - looked like dad over on other bank sunning himself too. Our walk out to where the springs meet the St John's river (300 miles long) we saw a lot of water birds and our resident hawk preening himself! Just love these big oak trees with the hanging moss and all the folks out enjoying the day as well. Well worth the visit!

This was a 1st visit for us to the Disney Animal Kingdom. Wow! Loved it! A smaller park then Magic Kingdom but wonderful. There was the "Tree of Life"; a wonderful show based on the Lion King; a wild safari ride where we saw many wild animals including the cheetah, elephants , giraffes and hippos (just to name a few). They have the ride up Mt. Everest. Don't know how I was ever talked into that one but I did survive to tell about it so guess that is good. ha! Scared me to death and now I can honestly say been there done that and don't need to go again. ha! The Disney characters were all out and about and topped day off with character parade. Due to winter time the park closed early so not too tiring and still able to see and enjoy it very, very much!

Nothing quite like the "Happiest Place On Earth". Our friends Carol and Sonny from down here in Fl. were so thoughtful and kind to take us off to Disney magic Kingdom for a day. Wow! This place is so big and completely decorated for the holidays. Disney never short cuts - all 1st class and so fun. Loved our outing! Wonderful to spend day with good friends who know all the ins and outs of this place too.

We made it! After 4 months of traveling from Washington State; we are here in Florida. One of our stops on the way towards Orlando was at Manatee State Park on the Suwannee River. We stayed there once before a number of years ago now. Just as wonderful as before although we did not see any manatees. We did see dozens and dozens of vultures settling down for the night; an armadillo scurring around in the fallen leaves and a number of deer! Not to mention all the pretty little birds like cardinals and flickers. They do have a resident alligator but think he was underwater due to cold weather. Orlando TTN is now home for the next 3 weeks and it's nice to be here. Brown - everything is brown. Guess they have had a terrible drought down here and not the usual rain so althoug hit was raining as we were on our way down it was ok since they needed it so badly.

There are only 3 of these restaurants in the country but golly gee.... what a blast! We all loved this place. The food is excellent! Just be sure to go hungry and carry cash/check (no credit cards). The meals are huge and excellent. Had tried to visit this place in MO back in '03 but had a 2 hour wait; this time we went earlier in the day and went right in... wonderful, wonderful!

While in Alabama we took a day trip to Mobile Bay to see the USS Alabama battleship. Included on the grounds was a submarine and aircraft museum. Great time except for the cold... we had terrible cold wind that day but because the ship is open and a floating museum we spent much of the time inside (out of the cold wind). The sub was fun to walk thru (very tight quarters) and so interesting. Love the planes including a B-52 and stealth bomber. They even had tanks out on the grounds. Could have been better on a warmer day but enjoyed it very much as it was.......

Beautiful Alabama was next on the route and we found it just as pretty as before. Spring time is beautiful here but fall is not too bad either. They have a very nice welcome center. Although we drove around Mobile we did catch a glimpse of the city. Our destination was Rainbow Plantation SKP Park (Escapees). Lovely park so clean and neat and quite full of snow birders... This is where the cold weather really hit! Down into the 20's at night and the wind chill made the our outings sparse. Could hardly stand it... burr... The northern part of the state even had snow! Yikes...glad we weren't up there.

Love the Mississippi coastal route. They were probably hit hardest by "Katrina" but they have cleared the lots and yes, so many places are now gone. Some wonderful guy came along and reshaped some of the broken trees into birds or dolphins etc and really adds to drive... The coast is just lovely. Although thousands of birds and sea life have been killed in oil spill this year we did see a few sea birds. A lot of workers on beach looking for any oil. This is one of my personal favorite places so hate to see anything happen to it.

Leaving New Orleans we headed east on Hwy 10 and our 1st stop on beautiful coast of Mississippi was at the Visitor Center. From here we took a little detour and enjoyed free ride on their bus out to the NASA John Stennis Space Center. All engines for the shuttle and rockets are tested here. This is our 2nd visit and we loved it just as much the 2nd time around. We were informed the museum is going to be moved to a new location they are currently in process of building right at the Vis Ctr and the bus ride/tour will no longer be free once it is up and running. They are going to make it more like Houston (hands on for children) and charge $. Too bad since this is now historical and educational... ah well.. guess our country needs our $ more..

The Garden district is one of my favorite spots in New Orleans... all these old homes built so close to each other with the large oaks so old and crowded they are ruining the sidewalks! Small price to pay I'd guess. Imagine these home endure the hurricanes as they are so close together and although they do not have the land the plantations do; they are still fun to see. We did notice while here any damage done to the French Quarter, the Garden district or those beautiful homes out by Lake Ponchantrain seem to have been fixed/repaired. Had to really look for any signs from Katrina. Did see a few spots where they are working diligently on the levees (imagine that is part of the stimulas although we don't really know)!

We like to visit the National Parks and Historical monuments our country has to offer and last time we were in LA we stopped by this same battlefield and were amazed at how the ranger brought the telling of the "Battle of New Orleans" to life although the field itself was as calm as on this trip. The ranger who was so skilled in story telling was no longer there and has been replaced by a film. Still good but not nearly the impact as from that ranger years ago with a knack for bringing us into the war itself! Enjoyed visiting the grounds and reviewing the history behind the War of 1812; and the battle that won Andrew Jackson so much fame.

Our visit to the diverse town of New Orleans began with a free ferry ride from Algiers to the "Riverwalk" in NO. From there we walked thru the French Quarter to Bourbon Street. Another day (after threats of tornados died away; although 11 touched down in gulf area) we drove over this time to "do" the French Quarter again. Due to cold wind and rain there wasn't much going on but John was able to try out this town's famous food. In between we did make it down to the Jean Lefitte National Wildlife refuge for a fun walk thru the swamp - not much water there anymore. Did finally find a mama gator with her two little babies each about a foot long. ha!