"Florida Sightseeing" 807Wheaton's Profile

Early November 2011 was a great time to visit Florida. We went swimming with the manatees at Crystal River, went birding on Sanibel Island and spent four days in the Keys. We snorkeled John Pennekamp Park at Key Largo while we were there. The weather was perfect - warm, sunny and dry.

We started 2011 by flying out of winter to San Jose, Costa Rica for a 10 day Caravan Tour. It is one of the best things we have ever done. We left on January 13th and our plane was the second to leave for San Jose after the tremendous ice storm in Atlanta.

In November 2010, we flew into Beijing to spend 10 days in China. After six days we took the night train to Xi'an. Like a cruise ship we went to sleep and woke up in a different place. Nice. We had the "soft beds" which meant there were four people in our tiny room. The train has boiling water to make coffee or tea. If you bring a snack you can fix your own breakfast. While we were in Xian we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors, rode bikes around the city wall and visited the Musllim Quarters. After a one night stay at The Bell Tower Hotel we got back on the night train and we arrived in Beijing about 7:30 AM - ready for another day.

We used Holland America's Westerdam in February 2010 as our cruise ship through the Western Caribbean and into Mexico this winter. We visited Grand Cayman, Grand Turk and Cozumel. These islands are different from the islands in the Eastern Caribbean - they are flat compared to the mountains on St. Thomas, and Haiti. Nevertheless we enjoyed the warm weather and change of scenery. I can't wait to go snorkeling again! It was a wonderful experience. But the best part was last........after our cruise we stayed 30 miles from Cape Canaveral on Sunday night and saw the launch of the Endeavor before dawn at 4:14. It was the last launch in the dark for the space program. Now that was exciting because I was never able to get dates to work for a visit there during the window for a launch. However, the Sunday morning launch was scrubbed and it happened Monday instead. God winked.

Our 10 day trip through Imperial Europe in October 2009 was full of surprises - can we say "Flexible"?? Yes, we can! The trip to Eagle's Nest was cancelled because of the abundance of snow. We had rain, wind and cold everyday - and eventually we encountered snow in the Austrian Alps when we visited Salzburg.

My goal is to see all 50 states - I've got two to go - Oklahoma and Kansas. My favorite part of a trip is planning it. I love to research an area on VT and tripadvisor and create an itinerary. Picking out the flights, the rental car and the places to stay with a pool and hot tub is great fun. Of course, hunting for that elusive best barbecue is always on my husband's mind as we travel this tremendous country the U.S.A. Several of our road trips have been generated by my genealogy interest. Trips to Europe have mostly been on tours or cruises - either one is fine with me!
The softer the better.

We enjoyed our Royal Caribbean Cruise on The Independence of the Seas in January 2009. We drove to Ft. Lauderdale from Augusta,
stopping for a night in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. We had an easy morning drive to the Park 'n Cruise parking area at Port Everglades. We paid $92 for eight nights. They had plenty of parking spaces and had a shuttle waiting for us right after we parked. We were shuttled to the pier where our luggage was collected and we went into the area that processed our papers. We were eating lunch in the Windjammer Cafe before 1 o'clock. This was the first time we have driven to the port vs flying. Much, much better - low stress - no airline anxiety. Wonderful. We visited four islands; Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Martin and Labadee Island off Haiti. We had 3 days at sea to relax and enjoy the sun and fun. This was truly a VACATION - not a TRIP. Loved it.

The Infinity pool at the J.W. Marriott

We enjoyed 2 nights at the J.W. Marriott in Guanacaste. This is the life!

Time to enjoy the evening lights

Every evening the sunset was spectacular!

Beautiful beach on St. John

We saw some of the world's most beautiful beaches on a tour of the Virgin Islands National Park.

Lone mahogony tree at the plantation

From Philipsburg, we were bussed to a 32 station sequence of zip lines, rope swings and "bridges" suspended from platforms mounted in the trees in the forest on St. Maarten at the Loterie Tree Farm. What a blast! Originally a mahogany farm, now the farm only has this single mahogany tree.

Warm water - beautiful beach!

The stop at Labadee was our day for a picnic and beach adventure. Royal Caribbean has 3 picnic areas here. They served traditional picnic fare:
hotdogs, hamburgs, potato salad, beans, ribs, grilled chicken, slaw, fruit plates, desserts, lemonade, rolls, and various cold salads. The water was very warm and very calm on this side of the island. They also provide a small tram/shuttle that we enjoyed to tour the island.

Adult Hot Tub Area near the Solarium

The adult pool area has two hot tubs that have a bump out over the water - it is so cool to be sitting in the hot bubbling water and watch other huge ships come into port or to be out in the ocean, just enjoying a soak. Very unique. Right next to these hot tubs is the "Solarium" which is an especially nice area to sit and read and enjoy the scenery.

Home Sweet Home

We truly feel we have the best of both worlds living here in Augusta, Georgia. We are 150 miles from Charlotte and Atlanta airports, 250 miles to Myrtle Beach, 150 miles to Hilton Head or Edisto and about 130 miles to Savannah. Within 5 hours we can be in Florida and the mountains are about a two and a half hour drive. Interstate I 20 is about 3 miles from our home, always beckoning us to hop on for another adventure.