USA: Florida – Sea World, Disney World and the Keys 2003

Florida is the southeasternmost U.S. state, with the Atlantic on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. It has hundreds of miles of beaches. The city of Miami is known for its Latin-American cultural influences and notable arts scene, as well as its nightlife, especially in upscale South Beach. Orlando is famed for theme parks, including Walt Disney World.

🙂 Disney World!

🙁 Disney World! Sea World! Discovery Cove! (Wish I had known then what I know now…)

An adventure was about to unfold … not only for our three children but for us too as willing participants in making our children’s dreams reality! As we were waiting to board our Delta flights there was a request seeking volunteers to enable 5 business men to take priority on the flight. We volunteered and were bumped up a class with lounge access to compensate for the 2 hour wait for the next flight. At that point I noticed the louse crawling through Charlotte’s white silken strands of hair and leapt into action to get to Boots and apply the remedial lotion. Phew.

First stop after arrival at Tampa was Discovery Cove – we have always been avid lovers of all things wild and wonderful so this was a particularly exciting experience that we had booked with high anticipation. NOTE: THIS WAS 2003. WHAT WE KNOW NOW MEANS THAT WE WOULD NOT HAVE SUPPORTED THESE ACTIVITIES IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM including petting of a sloth. 🙁 But it was back then and we did what we did and loved every minute thinking that we were supporting conservation, so please do not hate us for recording these memories. We do know better today and wish we could turn the clock back in recognition of the suffering of these amazing wild animals who should have been in their natural environment..

Disney World was next on the To Do List – SO exiting! We met all the major characters and got them to sign the Children’s autograph books! A dream come true… Magical.

Of course we all have to dress like Sleeping Beauty and Snow White …

Sea World was the next obligatory visit. Again we stress that this was 2003: WE DID NOT KNOW THEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW AND REGRET OUR PARTICIPATION HUGELY.

We had lunch with Shamu the Orca … 🙁

We also enjoyed time on the beach

We decided to take a small raod trip and headed to the Keys for two nights – amazing sunsets and lots of fun….

We headed back and enjoyed an excellent outing on the Everglades. Exhilarating to see the alligators so close. Unfortunately three months after arriving home Charlotte was complaining about ear ache…the doctor couldn’t fid anything wrong so Paul used his head torch to take a look at her ear and we extracted one of the ear plugs which had grown into her ear canal – Honestly – how could he have missed something so obvious!! But her relief was palpable!

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