Where we've been

In a nutshell, and still too many pictures, this is what Brent and I did last week. First we flew to Orlando on Saturday, March 6. Sean and a couple of members from his Branch at Pensacola had come to Orlando the same day to spend a day enjoying Universal Studios Amusement Park.

We met up the next morning (Sunday) for church at a building across the road from the Orlando Temple.

And Sunday was a beautiful day - great weather, great company. Just not long enough.

Sean and his friends had to get back on the road for the seven (plus) hour trip back to Pensacola.

I didn't realize how large a state Florida is.

I included this picture simply to prove that the sun sets in the south in Florida.

The entire time we were there, I was totally convinced the sun was setting in the south.

(You can see some of the Universal rides in silhouette in this snapshot - 

by the way, Universal was definitely west of our hotel.)

Monday morning Brent and I went to Disney World.

We were only going to spend one day there so we picked Epcot Center.

It was another beautiful day - perfect weather for visiting the park.

The flowers were out, and look, no jacket!

The Fairy Garden Festival (or something like that) was going on.

Tuesday, we went to the Blue Spring State Park.

Blue Spring is a natural warm spring (72 degrees year round) that provides shelter for the manatees during the winter months.  While there, we took a boat ride up the St. Johns River.

The guy with the white beard was the captain on the boat.  Brent enjoyed joking with him.

I was hoping to see one of these in the wild.  We ended up seeing several, actually.  Florida is home to several million alligators.  I was just grateful we had a very sturdy boat between us and him.

I thought the Spanish Moss was all dead, and then I found out that's the color of Spanish Moss.  Because it isn't really a moss and it grows without soil.  And it is gray.

Wednesday we flew to the Grand Bahama Island, where we stayed at a resort near Freeport for a Board of Directors Meeting Brent had to attend.
Thursday we got to do a boat cruise of the Bahamas.  This is the boat we went out on.

The boat went into a little inlet area where these two dolphins put on a show for us.

And on the boat, this terrific limbo guy showed off his skills using a young child who was on the trip.

(Yes, he did make it all the way under.)

This is the reason why we got to see the dolphins and the limbo guy.

We were supposed to have been snorkeling where all those waves are.

Those are gray skies, too, though the photo makes it feel like blue.

We did stop for an hour or two at a private beach where we waded in the water and had a barbecue lunch.

In spite of the wind and the waves, it was actually surprisingly warm.  Just a little rough for swimming.

Viewed from the boat, this is the hotel we were staying in.  I thought it looked like a big cruise ship.

In spite of the very overcast gray skies,

the water remained the beautiful blue/green the Bahamas are famous for.

The winds that were heavy on Thursday, stepped it up a notch on Friday.

The surf was angry and crashed against the shore.

And in the afternoon it started raining.  As in deluge.

Aha!  Brent said, as he took a picture of me.  I got one up on him, however.

It's his picture that gets posted out here for the world to see.

Saturday morning, the 13th, we left in beautiful blue skies and bright sunshine, to return home.  I loved the airport terminal they have on the Grand Bahama island.  It just seemed exotic to me.  

We arrived at the airport around 5:30 am.  22 hours later we pulled into our driveway.  I think I would have been happy to spend one more day in the Bahamas enjoying sunshine for a change, but instead we spent the day in four different airports (Bahama, Miami, Orlando, and Chicago), having flights delayed, canceled, scrambling to try to figure out other ways to get home, and deciding this is definitely what causes jet lag.  

We were grateful to finally be on home turf.  But we made some brief new friends in all the long lines and frustrating experiences.  And learned that everywhere one goes, there are genuinely lovely people.

My favorite part of the week was just simply being with Brent.  It's always wonderful to put aside all the cares of the working world, and responsibilities of home and family, to take some time to make sweet memories together.  I am ready to go again.

(If you want to see additional pictures, I am in the process of posting these and others on Facebook.)