meinen Reisen MY TRAVELS mijn reizen mes voyages meus cursos mis viajes minhas viagens mo taisteal mine rejser mina resor i miei viaggi

We spent the next three days in Orlando.

We went to the Flower and Garden Festival and Disney Springs. We ate at the new Geyser Grill at the Wilderness Lodge. It was the best. I had the buffalo burger. The chairs were amazing.

We also went to breakfast at Keke’s breakfast cafe, the Crayola Experience, rode a bike around the boardwalk, and went to Animal Kingdom. Dad and Andrea really liked the Crayola store. They bought like 110+ crayons and picked out all the colors. We made it around the boardwalk 3 or 4 times. It was fun. I have never rented the four-person bike before. At Animal Kingdom, we went on the safari, ate at Flame Tree BBQ, rode Dinosaur, and watched the new Rivers of Light. Half way through the show, the Rivers of Light was cancelled due to technical difficulties. The highlight was playing games in the dino area. We learned, a little too late, to pick games where you play against little kids, so you win the prizes. It sounds heartless. It probably is, so we didn’t play too long. And by we… I kinda mean ME. Andrea and I both won a little dinosaur. I don’t know where the picture of the prizes is though.

I had a long lens on my camera for the safari, so the pictures are pretty up close.

We also went to French Quarter and had beignets. We rode the boat to Disney Springs and ate at Earl of Sandwich. Afterwards, we also went to Hollywood Studios. Later, we got bibimbap to go from the best Korean restaurant near my house and then, we went to Beauty and the Beast.

I took my family to Sanford early on Monday. You can see why I get tired and have trouble updating the site consistently. I am sorry.

On Tuesday, we hosted the Consul General of the UAE in New York. Carol and I spent a week or two planning the meeting. It worked out pretty well even when they changed times as they got a late meeting with the Governor.

I got a phone call around 7:30 a.m. this morning. It was an Asian American Chamber member saying that they had an extra ticket for the Mardi Gras parade tonight.

She probably called me as she knew I wouldn’t have plans. Ha. I made it to Universal around 3:00 p.m. I received free parking and a free park to park ticket. I don’t know which was worse driving to Universal or walking around Islands of Adventure. Everything is so busy. For me, going to Universal once a year is perfect. In Islands of Adventure, I rode the Harry Potter ride with the kuka robotic arm. I skipped the train between the two parks, because it was too long of a wait. I walked out and went to Southwest Moe’s for dinner. Then, I went to Universal and rode Gringotts Wizarding Bank. I was able to use the single rider line for both Harry Potter rides. I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know the story, but the simulation and ride experience is pretty neat. Universal, on a whole, will never measure up to Disney, but it was fun for a few hours (Universal’s website is the tip of the iceberg quality-wise).

I ran into the Asian Chamber of Commerce members in Diagon Alley. We walked over to Barney’s, the spot we were to meet for the float. We waited for about an hour and headed to our float. It was a lot of fun. I got to be on the top of the float, so I was able to throw to the back of the crowds.

Today, we woke up rather early and drove to Boone Hall Plantation. At one point in time, there were about 230+ slaves and the plantation was as large as 5,000 acres. Today, the plantation is about 700 acres. We learned about the life of a slave, went inside the home, took a carriage ride around the plantation, and learned a little bit about the Gullah people. Between hurricanes and the boll weevil, the owners of the land have had many ups and downs. The land has produce indigo, cotton, and pecans over the years. The Gullah are the descendants of enslaved Africans who lived in the Lowcountry regions of Georgia and South Carolina, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. We heard from one in a skit. You can press play on some of the videos to hear her singing. They make the baskets you sometimes see.

Afterwards, we went to the Boone Hall grocery store. Then, we drove back into Charleston and went on a carriage tour of downtown Charleston. Between the American Revolution and of course, the Civil War, there is a lot of history in the area. We walked up to the Fort Sumter National Park entrance, but we took a different boat around the harbor. We actually didn’t go to the island. We took a 1.5 hour boat tour. I believe the highlight of that tour had to be seeing the dolphins. If you look towards the end of the pictures, you can see decent pictures of the dolphins.

Today, we went to America’s only tea plantation. We took a neat, video tour. We learned the difference between Black, Oolong, and Green tea – oxidation times (50 minutes, 15 minutes, and none respectively). It was interesting to see how much time it takes to make tea. For every 5 pounds of tea harvested, one pound of drinkable tea is made.

Afterwards, we went to Folly Beach. It is somewhat cold here – around 50 degrees. We ate lunch at a crab shack. I had some combination of a crab cake with a fried green tomato.

We drove back to Charleston and walked around again. We saw Rainbow Row, a colorful row of houses. We walked through City Market again and went in the Savannah Bee Company.

Then, we drove out to Isle of Palms.

Tomorrow, we will learn the history of Charleston as we have the combo tour of Boone Hall Plantation, a Charleston carriage ride, and a boat tour.

Today, we drove to Hilton Head, South Carolina. We didn’t know where to go on the island. We drove around looking for the Disney resort which we really never did find. We drove on Sea Pines Road and saw the main lighthouse. We ate The Crazy Crab. I ordered the shrimp and grits. It was really good. We found The Salty Dog later which is a famous restaurant. It had about the same food.

Afterwards, we drove to Charleston. It is cold and rainy. We walked through the Charleston City Market and through the streets of Charleston. We are eating a lot of food. We had the best BBQ I have had in a long time tonight.

Last night, I picked up Dad and Andrea from the Sanford Airport around 11 p.m.

Today, we woke up pretty early (considering we lost an hour due to Daylight Savings Time) and headed to Savannah. We drove through Daytona Beach and saw the bikes participating in Bike Week 2017.

We made it to Savannah around 1 p.m. We went to City Market and saw many cookies and candy stores. We walked along River Street where every store, it seemed, had free samples of warm pralines. We walked down Bull Street and walked through many squares. The streets, squares, and trees really make Savannah unique. I saw like 16 squares and there are probably plenty more.

There are many nice corner restaurants. I picked up a spiced lavender mocha from a takeout window. We walked by the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Lowe – founded of the American Girl’s Scouts.

We made it to Forsyth Park which the major park in Savannah. We went to Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. We saw the Savannah College Art and Design and ate at Leopold’s Ice Cream. We bought three children’s sizes of ice cream: lemon, thin mints, and butter pecan. Someone said that Leopold’s is like the 5th best ice cream in the world…. Not quite sure about that, but it was ok.

Afterwards, we walked to Lady & Sons which is Paula Deen’s restaurant. When in Savannah, you probably should have a Southern food buffet. Don’t judge me on the picture of the food. The fried chicken was really good. I liked the sweet potatoes and the cabbage too.

Savannah is really into St. Patrick’s Day. We even saw some Irish celebrations today. Most of the foundations are already spitting out green water. I heard it was in the top 5 places to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

I haven’t been up to much lately. I went to the Flower and Garden Festival again last weekend. I ate at a few of the kiosks.

I went to a Community Market – Farmer’s Market type thing last Monday night with Maryann, who works with me. We ate tamales from a food truck. It was about 2 or 3 miles from my place. I went to the same area to meet with a delegation of 23 each delegate representing a different country. They were in here to learn about agriculture policy in the U.S. They visited Sacramento, D.C., Kansas City, St. Louis, and Orlando. I am on the advisory board for that diplomacy group which welcomes them, so I went to a welcome reception. I met a guy from Ireland, so it was fun to talk about Ireland and Europe.

It is 9:00 p.m. on Saturday. Dad and Andrea are coming in for the week at 11:00 p.m. Stay tuned for updates. I will try to update regularly this week.

I have been trying to create this character for a while. It is a slow process as I am working with the U.S. Government.

This is what I have created so far…. (many thanks to Jonathan for helping).

There are a few new videos on there.

Home

The Princess races are this weekend at Disney. Because I went home last weekend, I missed packet pick-up. The only other packet pick-up was on Thursday night. I drove down to Wide World of Sports and picked up my credentials. Then, I went to Epcot and was there for about 10 minutes before thinking that I really should be home sleeping. Bev lives near Disney, so I stayed at her apartment. She actually works until 1:30 a.m., so she was coming home when I was leaving. I had to be at Epcot by 3 a.m. on Friday morning. I was stationed at the finish line. I was hoping to be done within an hour and a half of the start time, but the Princess 5k is not timed…. so some people took 2+ hours. I still made it to work around 9:30 a.m.

On Friday, I met Robert at Hawkers, which serves Asian street food in a hipster way. I haven’t seen him since maybe August or September. It is always nice to see him and hear about his life. After lunch, he came back to work and I gave a tour and I showed the videos I have been working on.

(So far this year, I have volunteered for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the NASCAR Foundation’s Children’s Programs, the Children Miracle Networks Hospitals, and I am now a mentor to a UCF business undergraduate student…… I need a life.) I do feel a little guilty as between Andrea and me, we have earned 15 Disney tickets, so “volunteer” is not the correct term. After these races, I am quitting until November though. It was 65 degrees and freezing yesterday at 4 a.m. 65 degrees is cold in Florida to anyone who has been here more than a week.