I’m back!

Hello!

We had an exciting (ish) end to our holiday, what with Irene heading close. In the end the hurricane bypassed Charleston, so our final day was rainy, windy (very very windy) and some roads were flooded, but we were fine. We did see a couple of news teams out and about filming and interviewing people.

Yesterday we had a final wander around town (and cue much excitement when we found a bagel slicer for sale in a shop!!! They always have them in the hotels when they have bagels for breakfast, and Andy’s parents even spent half their holiday last summer looking for one for me! so anyway that got crammed into our suitcase!), watched dolphins and pelicans on the water, bought some lunch to eat later and then a long drive to Atlanta. I think it was over 300 miles, anyway it was a long drive.

In the end we ate lunch super late (3.30pm ish) as we had to find a rest stop, so I didn’t fancy much dinner and ended up with a yoghurt and some fruit salad. Our flight was still going (but we saw yet more news teams interviewing people as flights to Washington and Philli were cancelled) but when we got on the plane the captain announced that there may be some turbulence as we were going to fly over the hurricane. What now? I have never done this before, but we actually took sleeping tablets (well, sleeping aids like the hayfever medication that makes you drowsy) and I think that helped as I dozed on and off for most of the flight. Normally by the time I get home I fall asleep as soon as I sit down, and although I feel really tired, I am going OK. Anyway, at one point in the flight they announced that they were going to suspend the services (drinks and food) and then the captain shouted at all the crew to get to their seats. It was a bumpy flight.

But home now.

And facing the mountain of unpacking to do.

Ahem.

We went to Wholefoods in Orlando and stocked up, (PB and co was on offer so I had to try the White chocolate wonderful)- later on we went to a Walmart to look for something for Andy’s brother, and it was even cheaper in there, so I got another flavour (Bee’s Knees). I also found coconut essence hooray! Which I kept in my hand luggage along with the boxed cereal bars! Can you guess which flavour I like? We did eat clif bars as our snacks most days (shared one as they are huge!) and I also tried the peppermint luna bars which are amazing!!!! But that Disney bag is full of clif bars as we bought more than we needed for our trip, what a shame. Ahem. Also I love Ghirardelli chocolates (and the free samples they always give out) and so bought a mixed bag from the shop- at the till the lady said to me “if you spend $5 more you get loads more chocolate” (can’t remember how much) but I did resist, although partly from fear of the luggage allowance!

I also got some hand made key lime sugar scrub (I much prefer sugar to salt scrubs) from a shop in Key West (it smells so tangy and amazing), a thing that means I can make a cup of tea using leaf tea, and also a key thing to go on my garage key. We collect magnets for our holidays too, but I have not unpacked them yet. They go on our fridge, so maybe I will take a photo of that one day.

I also stocked up in Gap (jeans, cardi’s), Old Navy (a couple of tops and a running jacket) and Skechers (many shoes). Plus a Discovery Cove turquoise hoody which I could not resist! But no pics of them.

Right, well I am in need of a cup of tea now, normal blogging, running etc should resume within the next few days! I am planning on doing a couple of holiday posts (once we sort the photos) and include some of the places we ate, as we managed to stay away from the chains and I think eat pretty healthily for the most part (this meant that our ice cream was justified haha!).

OK I really am going now!

Bye for now.

EDIT- well guess what- Andy just rang his parents for a catch up and told them excitedly that we got a bagel slicer, and guess what they had bought (they were in the rockies) for my Christmas present? Yup, a bagel slicer. Oops!

Southern Style

Hey guys

We have been having a fab few days in the south- we drive up to Savannah which is a really pretty town set out with squares, tree lined streets with spanish moss hanging from huge oak trees, and beautiful houses. Although I think I mentioned that in my last post? I forget. Anyway, we had a lovely couple of days there- we did the proper touristy thing and did a trolley tour, which was excellent- 90 minutes narrated by the driver, no hops ons or anything. Then once we knew where everything was we walked back to it. It was by the river so in the evenings we walked alongside the river and it was fab. It being the south I was expecting to struggle to find veggie food, but there were a few healthy cafes which were open in the evening (I had a lovely tofu burrito one day) and also a burger cafe where you could sub veggie burgers for any burger on the menu, so I had one with guacamole (plus sweet potato fries mmmmm). We also found a relly gorgeous new-ish cafe which did amazing proper fresh smoothies (I find that in a lot of places in the USA a smoothie gets poured out of a clear plastic box with a stirrer, and is basically sugary squash) and also warm pretzels! How have we never tried a soft pretzel before???? We had one with cinnamon and it was amazing.

Then we drove up to Charleston for the last stop on our holiday. We have been away so long but suddenly it seems like it has flown by. The town is bigger here, but still very pretty, in fact crammed with beautiful buildings. Today we went to a couple of plantation houses- one was a bit like a national trust house and gardens, so we paid to just go in the gardens and spent a few hours following the self guided walks. At one point I saw a beautiful red bird, so I walked off the path to get a closer look. Big mistake. I looked up and saw a massive cobweb hanging between the trees with a massive spider there. Andy was impressed that I did not scream, but after that I was very jumpy. We saw so much wildlife including turtles, pretty birds and butterflies (they all get a  🙂  ) and also a snake (I was not expecting snakes), a crab, a massive grasshopper and some kind of newt lizard thing. The second house we went to was preserved in it’s original state (as close to that as they could) and so we did the tour of the house. There was not furniture in it, and it was so interesting. Apparently during the civil war they think the doctor who lived there at the time put out smallpox flags so the building was the only one to survive.

Anyway, after that we went for some dinner (we found a place on the internet that a- Man versus food had been to, and b- did a veggie sandwich, as here it seems to be a lot of seafood which Andy does not like, or BBQ- last night we went to a BBQ place and I had a salad without the chicken or blue cheese, so not with much!!). Anyway, I was excited because all the way on the drive here on the roadside were big signs for “Fresh peaches” (I know what they are), “Candied pecans” (I can work that out) and “Boiled Peanuts” (eh???). While we were waiting for our dinner, we were given some boiled peanuts. They were monkey nuts (you know, peanuts in the shell) boiled, so when Andy tried to split one open it spurted hot water all over him. Anyway, when we tried them, Andy liked them, but I am not sure. They had the texture of cooked kidney beans, and I think I like nuts when they are crunchy! But anyway, it was good to have that mystery solved.

Then we went to a baseball game, and now we are watching the weather channel as hurricane Irene is heading this way. Hopefully it will avoid us, but it seems we might be in for some heavy wind and rain tomorrow.

Right, this was (again) only meant to be quick and I have rambled on for ages!

Night (or morning) 🙂

Disney and St Augustine

Hello all

We have had no internet for about a week now which feels very strange! But also good to be away from that.

We had 5 days in Disney which were great (very busy though). As we stayed in a Disney hotel they do these “magic hours” which means the parks are open earlier or later for hotel guests- one day we had the option to stay until 2am! I am not one for rollercoasters, which is why I love Disney so much- so many fun rides- Soarin’ is my fave, where you sit in a sort of chairlift, and get lifted up in front of a big TV screen and the film shows all parts of California (also you get the smells of things like the orange groves or pine trees as you “soar” over them”)- so gentle but also amazing. We also managed to get caught in some spectacular heavy rain storms (and we took a poncho with us, only to leave it in the suitcase and then the car- we only had it with us one day when we needed it!).

Then we drove to St Augustine, which is further up the east coast of Florida, and spent a lovely couple of days there. We stayed right in the centre by the old town so we could walk everywhere. The town has a lot of history, and a caste/ fort which we walked around. Plus loads of veggie (and even vegan) dining options. Plus gourmet popsicles (ice lollys). Look at the website and guess how long it took me to choose! Hint- I am terrible at decisions!

Right, well we are in Savannah now, so off for a little walk around the town (and I got very excited when I saw that there is a Paula Dean shop here! I do not think I would ever cook anything she makes- she made oatmeal and added butter and cream to it, so I think maybe it is the novelty of it!)- so catch you guys later.

🙂

Swimming with dolphins!

Hello!

Thanks for all the comments on my last post. This is another quick one (no photos yet I am afraid) to say how I have been getting on.

Today was our trip to Discovery Cove (which Andy meant to surprise me with at Christmas, but then as our flight got cancelled etc etc it was no longer a surprise). I had no idea what to expect but it was amazing! Here is a (hopefully) quick run-down. And please excuse any typos because I can only see half of what I type.

We arrived just after 8am for “check in”. Here we were given ID tags and a map, and told the time of our dolphin swim. Then we went to have breakfast (all food and drink are included in the day)- a massive choice for meat eaters, but not much veggie stuff, but anyway. Then we changed into our swim stuff and picked up our wet-suit vest things. You also get given special suncream to wear which is safe to use with the animals. There was lots to see and do- we went in the lazy river first (which I much preferred to Disney lazy rivers as you could actually swim in them instead of lying in those rubber ring things). At one point it went through an aviary and we could see loads of pretty birds by the water. Then we got some goggles (Andy used the snorkle but I had breathing through the tube like that) and went into the lagoon pool. This was cold (at first) and salty, and filled with beautiful tropical fish and also massive sting rays! At first I was a little freaked out by the fish swimming right by me, but once I realised they would not touch you I was fine. We must have spent over an hour in that place alone. Then we went for a little walk (Andy took some photos) and we went into the aviary to see the birds. I was most excited to see a kookaburra.

Then it was time for the dolphin encounter. We had to have a little talk first, the we waded into the dolphin lagoon with a trainer, and it was just amazing. We all got to do the hand signals to encourage the dolphin to wave, spin, splash etc. The dolphin had a baby who was about 2 years old, which kept swimming near and copying what his mum was doing which was also so sweet. We got to feed the dolphin fish, and stroke her (and they also made us kiss her for a photo op, which I thought was a little weird but anyway). Then we swum out to the deep part and had a dolphin tow back to shore! Exciting! While other people were having their turns the trainers were talking to us and showing us hand signals and things. Then a lot of dolphins came from all around the cove and leapt up in the air all together, and swum around together a bit. It lasted about 45 mins I think, but it went by so quickly! I was excited about it, but also a little apprehensive as I had no idea what to expect. I also thought it might end up being a bit of a queue- touch the dolphin one after another, but it was nothing like that at all. We were always told to move out of their way, and it really was us going into their space- if they didn’t want to do something they would swim away, stuff like that.

Anyway, after that it was time for lunch (I think it was gone 2pm by then). The veggie option was pasta with tomato sauce, but again loads of meat choices. There were also pots of roasted veggies, different salads (lucky I checked as they had bacon bits on them!), fries, fruit, and all sorts of cakes. I had some roasted veggies (with the pasta), fruit and Andy and I shared some carrot cake- we did not want to have too much as we wanted to swim some more in the afternoon. While we ate lunch a steel pan band started playing which was great.

We decided to buy a CD of our photos- we never normally buy those photos at all, and it was really expensive, but we figured that we could print one out, or put them on our calendar and stuff. (But our netbook does not have a CD drive, otherwise I would be loading them up right now!). So something for you all to look forward to 😉

We sat in the shade for a bit, before one last long swim in the ray lagoon. Then I went for a shower (and in the showers there were massive pump bottles of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion, plus hairdryers and stacks of towels to use), and then it was time to come back. It shuts at 5pm, although we were there a little after that.

Anyway, it was a brilliant day- busy but relaxed. The park was lovely as it was not very crowded and really everything you needed was there.

So there you go for the little update 🙂 We are off to Disney tomorrow for a few days.

Would you like to swim with dolphins? Or have you done something like that?

A quick hello

Hello 🙂

Just a quick update here on how things are going (I have taken some photos but right now the camera is charging so no pics just yet). After our long flight to Miami (and sitting on the tarmac in Miami during a massive rain/thunderstorm because it was raining too hard for the people to get the ramps out or something) and then the longest immigration queues ever (with staff who were very friendly and chatty and not at all in a hurry even though the queues got longer and longer) and then a long drive, we made it to Key West.

We had a lovely few days there, relaxing and wandering around the town.  On our drive back up to Miami we stopped off at a turtle hospital which was really lovely and interesting, but also really sad because of all the turtles injured by human actions. Seriously- check out the website as there is a turtle (Sara) with an awful injury- loads of people are adding to the rewards as they hope to find out who did it. Good news is that we saw the turtle and she is loads better already.

Miami has been fun too- more wandering, and spotting film locations for Burn Notice (anyone else a fan?) and Dexter (well, first few episodes anyway).

Right, that is enough of an update- hope everyone is having a lovely summer (and staying away from those awful riots in the UK)- catch you later dudes.