Rainy Orlando

I had another work trip to Orlando...Sunny Orlando, right?  Na...  Rainy would be the best way to describe it.  It rained almost the entire time there.  I felt a little bad for all those that paid thousands and thousands of dollars to be there on vacation and had to endure DisneyWorld in the rain.  Oh well.

There were 1 1/2 days of sun, which I was able to get out and enjoy.  The rest of the time I was at a DisneyWorld hotel, Yacht Club, right next to Epcot.  It's a pretty fancy hotel.

Here is my booth I set up and would spend a lot of time at during the conference.  Carrying on Independent Study tradition, I had the most stuff to give away.

I was all setup before anyone was even there

This is how it looked outside most of the time

Lunch time!

The lunches are fancy......

Blackberry cheesecake - this is something like you'd get on a cruise

A break between storms outside the hotel

Disney just completed their gondola system  - Skyliner - to get around some of the parks and hotels.  It's free for anyone to ride, so I had some time to take it for a spin

The lake around the Epcot hotel resort area. The Yacht Club hotel is the big white one in the background

This is the hallway of the conference center part of the hotel.  It's huge

Another day's lunch - steak and chicken fajitas

Complete with baby bottles of hot sauce

Later that afternoon, I took a drive to a wildlife drive.  It was 11 miles on dirt roads through a huge swamp.  There were tons of birds and lots of alligators 

Since this was the first sunny day in a while, the alligators were out soaking up the warmth.  There were probably at least 30+ along the drive

This strange bird was everywhere too...It looks like it's getting ready to take off and fly, but it was perfectly still.....with it's wings out like that.....just soaking up the sun I guess.  

Another one on the side of the road. It didn't move

This is a nature walk to a Lake Apopka in the same area.  It's a 1 mile boardwalk over swamp.  I'm sure there were alligators in there.  

These weird trees were all over too....they had "whisps" hanging...and they blew in the wind...I bet it would be pretty scary in the dark

The lake was HUGE!  Couldn't even see the other side!  I had no idea it was this big.  I guess it's the 4th largest lake in the country!  It's fed mostly by natural springs

The next day, I cleaned up my booth, and had some extra time, so I headed out to the Tosohatchee Wildlife Area.  It's pretty remote, and it's 1000 acres of wetlands.  There is nobody around.  When you enter, you have to the guestbook, and when you leave, you have to mark in the guestbook that you did leave, so they can keep track and make sure nobody is lost.

There are few roads and lots of hikes, but as I found out, the hikes are not as well marked as you would think.  I only saw two other cars the entire time I was there.

This was the "main road" - Powerline Road - can you guess how it got it's name?  It was straight straight and straight for a  long long time.

This was going into one of the hiking spots.  There was a geocache in here somewhere, and the description said it was the prettiest area of the whole Reserve....so let's go find it!

The bridge crossed this little stream...I bet alligators were staring at me

Wow...this area was extremely lush, green and thick.  Good thing the trail is marked - it would be easy to get lost and turned around in here

Ummmm........the trail disappeared.  I headed off in the direction I thought it went, but the grass got thicker and brush got thicker....and I could hear sounds all over the place in the bushes.....I looked at the gps where the geocache was, as I was only about 1/4 mile away, but I was way off the map......For a second, I was going completely off course.  I did have to stop and take a look and try to remember the way I came.  I now knew it definitely would be easy to get lost and turned around in here.

Ok, no more hikes...Let's just stay in the car and drive

One lane wooden bridge...still under the powerlines

Since it had been raining for days and days, the roads were made of compacted sand, but there were puddles...large puddles everywhere.....  Only a few I worried I wouldn't make it through....but I had a small SUV type car, and it was perfect.  Jacob would have loved this ride!! 

One area had this little lake that formed when they excavated the sand to use for a nearby freeway....and over the years, the rainwater and springs formed this lake

Heading back out to the exit.....I think it's this way

I didn't see any alligators, but lots and lots of birds

These photos don't show half of how dirty the car really was..there was mud splats on the front window all over too.  No way I could return the car like this....I'd get in trouble and they would ask me if I went off-roading....Ummm.....NO????  So I had to go get a car wash