I seldom like as much a photo that I take as I liked this one. It shows the castle in Magic Kingdom, when we were on our way out, coming from Tomorrowland. On Saturday, we spent there about six hours (most of them in Fantasyland and Toontown, where Santi got his proverbial Mickey Mouse photo) and we had a blast.
Highly recommendable, the new (new for us, at least) interactive ride in Tomorrowland where you team up with Buzz Lightyear, to kill bad aliens with a laser beam you aim at them and you gain points in the process (I got over 75 thousand! won’t say how much Andre got)
The following day, I was feeling sick with a cold, but what can I say… it was fun and I don’t regret it. In case you are wondering, I am still standing by my cheap vitamin C theory.
So, a few months after Orlando getting named the angriest city, we land on Wired’s list of Top Ten Tech Towns. Granted that the criteria by which we earned that spot may not be the most technical, we’re still there.
Here’s what earned The City Beautiful its spot in Wired’s list: -Largest Number of Circuit City stores per capita (I honestly prefer Best Buy). -Second city in the survey with the most comic book stores per capita. -City with the largest number of Craigslist postings per capita.
How’s that? You thought Boston or San Francisco would be it (and they are), but you never would have guessed Orlando was one of the geek meccas.
A couple of nights ago, I was outside, waiting for Andreina to be done with a class she was attending and the shuttle launch was supposed to take place any minute… so I stepped outside of the car, staring at the eastern night, with a level of expectation that is hard to describe. I was expecting the bright light that would make the night look like day, with a little lump on my throat, produced by the fear of an unintended fireworks show in the middle of the night (I can recall the explosion of the Challenger very vividly -saw it on TV as the launch was broadcasted). And then… there was nothing. It got cancelled.
Tonight, the shuttle went up in the air, and though I’d read about the final decision to launch it at 8:47 EST… I totally forgot about it, and never went out to see it up in the air. I jumped into Flickr and found some amazing pictures, this being one of them. I guess it will have to be another time.
We finally decided to visit Leu Gardens today. It was a fairly non-expensive way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday, while we enjoyed the views and calm that the setting around Lake Rowena (in the border with Winter Park) had to offer.
The highlights (at least at this time of the year) were definitely the Wyckoff Overlook (where you are expressely told NOT to feed the aligator -singular, no “s”, since there seems to be only one in the area!) and above all, the Rose Garden. There were tons of flowers with roses ranging from the strongest red you can imagine, to the most unexpected shades of orange, yellow, salmon and white.
Something away from the crowds, for a nice time, totally worth checking out in Orlando.
After over three years living in the areas, we finally had a chance to visit the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford today. We spent a good four hours in there and, except for the fact that the camera ran out of battery, we definitely got our money’s worth out of the visit. The highlights were: -The animal feeding grounds: not only Santiago enjoyed it, Andreina also had a blast feeding goats, sheep and the cow they had. At the bottom of the post, you can see a video of Santi feeding one of the goats. It was a funny sight. Also, we captured a video of him feeding these special pellets you get at the zoo to the cow, which happily extended its very long tongue to grab them. -The puma (“el tigrito”), shown in the picture above: They actually had quite a few felines in there: no lion or tiger, but just about all the other ones you can imaging or hope to see close. -The elephants: They had two beautiful female Asian Elephants and have two shows on weekends during which they show the animals performing a number of great tricks, including keeping balance on just two feet (first two opposite feet and then two feet on the same side). Unfortunately, I had no camera left at that point. -The snake exhibit: The indoor exhibit was packed with a group of Cub Scouts who were paying a visit to the park, which made for a pretty loud contemplation of these quiet reptiles. Also under the same roof was a little exhibit of the famous Puerto Rican coqui (including a button that that the kids could press to hear its sound).
For admissions details and more information, visit the zoo web page. It’s over 50 miles away from the Disney area, so plan for a long drive to and from if you come from that area: for us it was about 30+ minutes driving from the Oviedo area to Sanford.
I just arrived from the French Kicks concert at The Social, here in downtown Orlando. First of all, it was my first concert in this venue and I loved it: it is definitely my kind of venue, one that reminded me of “The Fly” in Caracas and one that I plan on coming back to soon.
I arrived just as The Little Ones were wrapping up their set. What I heard was good, but I honestly didn’t hear enough to make a fair judgement.
After setting up and a bit of a break, French Kicks hit the stage and it was all power spewing from it, all through their performance. Nick Stumpf, the lead singer (who also played keyboard on and off) stood tall as a tower, twisting his legs like a pretzel, perhaps to bring himself down to the level of the mic which was stretched as far as it could go.
The lead guitarist, Josh Wise, pulled sounds from his instrument that were worthy of The Edge and the drummer, Aaron Thurston, played like there was no tomorrow. The bass player, the younger brother of the lead singer, rounded things up alongside a new band member, Kush, who plays keyboards, rhythm guitars and percussion.
They oozed SO much energy on stage. They reminded me of a blend between The Arcade Fire, Starsailor and early U2. Every song was incredible! What made their sound so special were particularly the harmonies Stumpf and Wise put together, along with the impeccable and loaded drum playing.
I read a comment in another blog that felt they didn’t sound as good live as they do in studio. I liked their studio work a lot, but honestly these guys are way better live than in any of their albums. I will have to disagree with the blogger who said otherwise.
Here is a video from the track “So Far We Are”, from their new album:
Indeed September IS Lovebug season back here in Orlando. These creatures, besides being pretty harmless, are particularly abundant and also annoying because they seem to be more concentrated in their “love-making” activities, as they fly attached to their mate -see picture- more than anything else.
During this time of the year, they are almost like a little plague. You run into them everywhere, and they can get particularly nasty on windshields, hoods and radiator grills due to the sheer number of them flying around. If you leave their marks on your car after they crash into it, there’s a chance the paint in your car may be damaged.
According to Wikipedia it is rumored that: … love bugs are actually man-made, the result of a University of Florida genetics experiment gone wrong. :S
You heard that Mickey? We’re angry here in Orlando. I don’t know what about, but we’re really upset.
There’s almost no traffic, compared to most cities I’ve lived in (except if you go to the area of the parks and International Drive on a weekend), but still it’s supposed to be one of the places with the most road rage incidents.
There’s Mickey Mouse and plenty of attractions to keep you happy, yet people apparently have more high blood pressure per capita than in any other city.
We went to Oviedo Aquatics this morning, trying to avoid getting caught up by the rain in the beach. We were super-impressed with the quality of the services, the cleanliness of the facilities and how much fun we had for so little money! Santiago had a blast and so did we, considering the place is perfectly set up for kids to enjoy themselves. Highly recommendable!
