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Friday, February 26, 2010

Back to Panama City Beach Command

Our tour of central Florida is finished for this year. No, not of Florida, just the central part. Had a busy five days traveling and the weather was favourable. Not perfect, but sunny and reasonably warm. It turned back to cold again on our departure day. As usual there are lots of stories, some good, some otherwise. There will be more pictures and slide shows coming soon. I have hundreds of pictures to go through to find those that will illustrate the venture in short format. Those will reach production in the coming days as time permits.

The blog was not published last week, and the first section explains why. These topics will serve as an outline of some of the things to come in days ahead in stories and pictures.

Internet Withdrawal

For the first three days we stayed at a posh vacation resort. It had security controlled access, a suite that included kitchen, living room and a balcony overlooking a swimming pool. But no internet! Let me revise that a little. It had internet, you could get to four advertising sites that were related to the resort’s interests. And you could purchase internet access for $7.99 + tax per 24 hrs.

To do that, you had to go online, give your name, address and a bunch of other personal information along with a credit card number from which the purchase would ‘automatically’ be deducted. I didn’t like the fact that you had little control so I declined. Had they offered PayPal I might have given in after the second day.

Considering that most low end to high end accommodation places give free wireless internet these days I think this is a rip off. Internet access is a must for nearly everyone these days, not just us computer geeks.

Webster Flea Market

The Webster flea market is one of the largest, and it was a bonus that we arrived before 7 a.m. No question, it is large, with hundreds of vendors of anything imaginable spread out over a large territory that required lots of walking. By the time 10 a.m. rolled around, at least two people occupied the same space at any given time and it was hard to see anything. I didn’t buy much, but it was an experience to be sure.

Traffic was backed up for miles when it was time for us to leave. Again, thank goodness for GPS. Just go the wrong way where there is no traffic and let the GPS recalculate your journey back home.

Disney

Free tickets to Disney were included with our resort stay. Disney is of course the place where everyone heads, especially with kids. Getting there wasn’t half the fun and there is bound to be a story about our misadventures of trying to find Disney land’s main gate.

Side note: I do know where the service entrance is.

NASA Space Center

NASA’s space center is huge. Only by visiting there can you get a feel for how large this project really is, and what has been accomplished over past years. The area alone is massive, and the fact that it is one of the best wild life preserves often goes unnoticed. Here was where I observed my first alligators along with birds living in a natural environment, just because no one bothers them and they are allowed to live as they should.

Madeira Beach

Another resort area that seems like fantasy land, where I got to observe lots of pelicans and a boardwalk that is a real attraction. This is also the area where “you get what you pay for” turned out not to be exactly what you are looking for.

So you can see a few stories developing for future sharing. Along with some picture stories that will add to the fantasy enjoyment. Some factual, some entertaining, some you will have to figure out the meaning.

Our trips will continue throughout the northern area of Florida. But for now, central Florida will provide some interesting takes.

-=One Day At A Time=-