Author Archives: gregwhite
More Reminiscing . . .
May 31, 2009
Breakfast Buffet & A Lot of Gators . . .
Today we headed out about 9:30 am to have the breakfast buffet at Whistle Junction where we had lunch with Carol and Joe on Friday.
Then it was off to Jungle Adventures Nature Park, about 15 west of Titusville, on the way to Orlando.
Although we haven’t been here since 1997, we looked forward to going back.
Jungle Adventures Nature Park
A Sweet Mouthful !!
They have a lot of animals here – Florida panthers, deer, coatamundis, lemurs, bears, spiders, lizards, scorpions, turtles, tortoises, and of course, hundreds of alligators, crocodiles, and caymans.
Is It Dinner Time Yet?
Just a Big Putty Tat!
The trainer said he had raised this panther since he was about 3 weeks old. The cat came up and started rubbing his head all over the trainer, marking him as his property.
Duckweed-covered Gator
Feeding Time
Feeding Time Too
They sell you hotdogs to feed the baby gators. I just want to be sure they can tell the difference between the hot dogs and fingers.
Jan makes a new friend.
It’s hard to say who’s scaring who here.
Jan wouldn’t hold this one!
A Real Handful!
We headed back to the coach about 2:30 pm after a great time.
A complete change of subject here. Jan and I are big Ice Road Truckers fan. That’s the show on the History Channel that depicts the truck drivers driving supplies into northern Canada mining camps and oil exploration sites on ice roads that only exist in the winter time.
During the rest of the year, the road isn’t there. It’s open water!
Anyway, on tonight’s 3rd season premiere episode, we were surprised to see that instead of running in Canada this year, they’re running the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks, AK to Prudhoe Bay.
We’ve been on this road. Or at least part of it. We took a tour that takes you from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle, a trip of almost 200 miles. But this is not your average 200 mile trip.
Because of the bad roads and the hilly, curvy terrain, it takes about 16 hours roundtrip. You leave at 6:30 am and return around 10:30 pm.
You stop for lunch going up and dinner coming back at the same place, the Yukon River Camp at the Yukon River Crossing.
Yukon River Crossing
Surprising the food was very, very good. They bring a chef up from the Lower 48 every year to work the season.
The Dalton Highway was built to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the pipeline parallels the highway for a good part of the way.
They have a marker at the Arctic Circle to get your picture taken.
The Arctic Circle
This is Jan and I with our granddaughter Piper when she came up to visit us in Fairbanks last July.
At least when we did this trip it was in the summer, and not in January.
Anyway, the show is bring back a lot of great memories.
Thought For The Day:
Sometimes, the amount of self-control it takes to not say what’s on my mind is so immense, I need a nap afterwards.
Leprechauns. Who Knew? . . .
Jan and I headed out a little before 1pm, with our first stop at the Home Depot for a new wall toggle switch for our water heater. I wanted one that lights up when it’s on, but when I checked Amazon I didn’t see one I liked, at a price I liked. So I checked Home Depot and found one for $4.65. Website said it was on Aisle 8, Bin 10.
It actually was in Bin 8, right next door. But close enough.
Then it was on up to Twin Peaks for lunch. I told Jan that today being St. Patrick’s Day, I wouldn’t be surprised if the servers were all dressed as leprechauns.
What I didn’t realize is how skimpily dressed the leprechauns would be. Which is why there are no photos.
Sylvia, our regular waitress, wasn’t working today, so we had a new one, Victoria. Now if it had been Sylvia, I would have asked for a photo, but felt funny asking for one from someone we didn’t know at all.
This was another of those days when Jan says the place should be called ‘Twin Cheeks’.
But I did get photos of our food, especially since we both got something different this time.
After starting out with cup of their Tomato Basil, Jan got the Avocado Smash Burger and side of Sautéed Green Beans.
I got a bowl of the Green Chile Chicken, as well as a couple of sides, the Sautéed Broccoli and the Sautéed Green Beans.
The Green Beans are really good, with diced tomatoes, onions, corn, and bacon mixed in.
Just as we were finishing up, who should walk in and sit down at the table right next to us, Sylvia and another young lady.
I didn’t recognize her at first, since she was in civilian clothes, her hair was up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a visor cap.
It says something about the place when the servers come back on their day off.
Leaving TP, we drove over to get my haircut. Except there was a sign on the door saying they were closed for Spring Break and wouldn’t reopen until the 23rd. So it will have to wait until next week, I guess.
Getting home around 3:15, I got my new switch installed and checked out.
Looks good.
Thought For The Day:
Sometimes the 2nd Choice is the best.
Amazon was originally called ‘Cadabra’ (as in Abracadabra) but people kept calling it ‘Cadaver’. So Jeff Bezos changed it to Amazon.
Starbucks was originally called ‘Pequod’s’ after the whaling ship in ‘Moby Dick, or The Whale’ (which is the actual full name of the novel). But one of the founding partners thought it made it sound like they were selling ‘pee’. So they changed it to Starbucks, the trusty first mate on the Pequod.
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