Owl Stuff

 My grandmother collected owl items. The first is a bank, but it doesn't have a way to get the money out on the bottom like most do. The second is a cute set of salt and pepper shakers. The knick-knack from Tennessee is one that we bought her in 1983- we traveled through that state on the way home from Florida. We went to The Forbidden Caverns there. The owl spoon rest is from Grandma's trip to California in the late 1970s. About 20 years ago, I started getting into owls a bit and have some T-shirts and jewelry of them- I will be posting those next time.

December 23, 2015- Florida Vacations

I am watching a show on ID Network tonight. The setting for this is in Florida which made me think of our 2 trips there- 1976 and 1983. Disney World was fun; our favorite ride was The Pirates of the Caribbean.

   Some other cool things in Disney World were 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Enchanted Tiki Room, GE Carousel of Progress, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Country Bear Jamboree, the Monorail and the Main Street Electrical Parade.

   We never did go on Space Mountain; even Grandma next door did so when she was in Disneyland; she said that her wig nearly fell off.

   We also went to Sea World, Circus World, and a Hollywood Wax Museum in 1976. I did get sick and throw up in Sea World though, but I loved seeing the dolphins there. Dad got stung by a bee during the train ride in the Magic Kingdom. As always, those 2 bad things are much clearer in my memory. We stayed in the same motel both times.

   We liked EPCOT Center which I think had only been open for about a year when we went there in 1983. I hadn’t realized until then that the Magic Kingdom only opened in the early 70s so the park was still relatively young when we first went there.

   We enjoyed the Land, GM- World of Motion, Spaceship Earth, Universe of Energy and the countries in the World Showcase, esp. Italy, Germany and England. It rained a little that day; we have a nice picture of us with a rainbow in the background afterwards. We both got piñatas in Mexico.

  I’m remembering vividly something upsetting about that 2^nd vacation. Dad did spoil it at one point when he got mad at Mom for wanting to go back for some more souvenirs in the Magic Kingdom. I can’t remember if he got his way or not- probably. In fact, I’m almost sure that he did.

   That year we went to Silver Springs (Glass bottom boat ride) and the Gatorland Zoo before visiting our Aunt Pauline and family in Panama City. I’ve only ever seen her 3 times. I almost stepped on a crab on the beach. We have a jar of white sand from there.

   At the Jersey shore, I nearly stepped on a horseshoe crab. There was one of these in our yard when we were kids. Mom’s friend Helen J painted flowers and Happy Mother’s Day on its shell. Mike and I were so frightened by it. Dad took it to the river near our town.

 

1976

Sea World

Wax Museum- Doctor Zhivago

 

1983

Horseshoe crab

 

Note- last photo is from the internet

 

 

 

Florida 1983

After Disneyworld and EPCOT Center we went to a few other places in Florida. Gatorland Zoo was interesting. I wish that Dad had taken pictures there. We were on a glass bottom boat in Silver Springs and saw wildlife at that nice place. We visited Aunt Jo, Uncle Rich and cousins Randy, Richard and Jay in Panama City Beach. This is the first time my brother and I ever met them. Aunt Jo is my mom's older sister. The white sand beach was beautiful. I almost stepped on a crab there though.

We drove through Tennessee on the way home. We went to the Forbidden Caverns there. We also drove on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. I really liked that. We ate at a restraunt in the mountains. I'm glad that the photo of the deer came out - so cute.

We stayed at the same motel near Disneyworld that we had been at in 1976. They were turning it into a time share place and tried talking us into this. In the picture by the pool I am wearing the EPCOT t-shirt that I regretted getting rid of. Mom, Mark and I were disappointed that Dad didn't take us to the Kennedy Space Center during this trip but it was a pretty good vacation.