Florida January 2014 Part 3 - From Disney to Daytona

Wednesday morning, and we walked round to Arndt’s house for breakfast. This caused a little consternation with Mary Anne, who thought it a little odd that anyone would want to walk when there is a perfectly good car available. But we just wanted to stroll around the neighbourhood for a while, and get a feel for the area. In the 10 minute walk to Arndt’s house the only other pedestrians we met were walking their dogs. It seems no one else walks anywhere.

Another Norwegian / American breakfast followed, full of laughter as Arndt loudly explained the different foods we were offered. I think the food was more familiar to Lief and Birtha, as fellow Scandinavians, but we enjoyed it all, and particularly the Company.  It had become apparent by now that Arndt was profoundly deaf, which is why he tended to shout, and to disregard almost everything we said to him.

Today, with the other DGEs, we were off to the Blue Springs State Park, to the North East of Orlando, as guests of District 6980. Arndt was our driver today.  Blue Springs is a wonderful place to see manatees, those extraordinary marine mammals that are also rather unflatteringly  known as sea cows. They are about the size of large seals and their tails are essentially big flippers. Known to be very gentle creatures, manatees tolerate close human contact. In fact there is an area at Blue Springs where you can swim with them, although the swimming area was closed today.

A word about the weather.  We arrived in Florida last Saturday in 80ᵒ temperatures, although further North , New York State was in the grip of a deep freeze. As the week progressed, the freezing weather started to spread south. Florida became cooler day by day, until today, when the temperature had plummeted to 40ᵒ an extraordinary contrast in just a few days. By the weekend, temperatures would be back up to 80ᵒ, but today it was very cold. This wouldn’t be a problem, but we had brought no warm clothing at all!  Our belief was that we would enjoy warm weather in both Florida and San Diego, but we, and many of our fellow visitors, were wrong. Vivian had a lightweight fleece jacket and I had a light pullover with a suit jacket.  So we were rather ill-prepared for the boat trip we were about to embark on.

                                                                                Laughing despite the freezing weather

Blue Springs is an area of outstanding natural beauty, with waterways, mangrove swamps and a hot natural spring, which makes it such a popular winter refuge for manatees. Wildlife abounded, and  I will write more about this later. Our visit was to comprise a 2 hour boat trip along the waterways  of Blue Springs, some free time when we could walk to the spring itself, (where we were told we could expect to see around 70 manatees), followed by a picnic lunch provided by our hosts.  The boat turned out to be open sided, with little or no protection from the cold weather. However our hosts had planned for inclement weather, and warm blankets were handed out to everyone on the boat. These, with a good supply of hot drinks throughout our voyage, kept our spirits up and enabled the trip to be enjoyed by all. The captain of the vessel kept up a stream of interesting information and stories about the Park, and its wildlife, which I was absolutely thrilled to see at such close quarters.

                                                                          The DGE is grateful for the blanket

After disembarking, we went along to the spring, where we immediately saw manatees swimming around, and the further we walked, the more we saw. The water was obviously nice and warm around the spring, and attracted manatees from far and wide. A terrific experience.

                                       Spanish Moss covers certain types of tree. It seems to be a benign parasite

                                                             Birtha, Leif, DGE, me and Arndt

                                                                                             Mother manatee with baby

We weren’t expecting much from the picnic, in wiew of the cold weather, but to our surprise, our hosts had brought camping stoves with them and we had all sorts of delicious hot food to eat, as much as even I could manage.  Although we were under-dressed for the conditions, and eating out of doors on a freezing cold day, we actually thoroughly enjoyed that picnic, and were very complimentary to our hosts, who went to a lot of trouble to make this a good day out for us.

It was mid-afternoon when we left Blue Springs, and Arndt asked if we would like to go to Daytona Speedway circuit, and Daytona beach, which were not very far away.  After a nanosecond of consideration, we answered unanimously ‘YES’, and off we went. First stop was the amazing Daytona race circuit, home to the NASCAR racing competition. There was no racing on the day of our visit, but cars were practising. We were allowed in to wander around the circuit, and watch these cars speeding around the track, which was a huge oval shape. There was so much building within and around the circuit that I couldn’t see the far end from where we were standing, but I had a great view of the vehicles hurtling round the track as they practised.

                                                                                        I wonder where this is?

I’ve always thought that one of the problems with watching motorsport on TV is that you don’t really get a feel for how fast the cars are actually going. I can now confirm that the experience is very different when you are trackside.  The cars just whizz past, satisfactorily noisy and smelling of oil and exhaust fumes.  I tried eight times to photograph one of them as they sped past, but the problem with digital cameras is a one or two second delay between the time you press the shutter, and the picture actually getting taken.  Because of this all bar one of my pictures showed an empty track.

                                                                                    What happened to the car?

Having been thrilled by being on the terraces surrounding the track, we went into the shop, where I wanted a souvenir. I bought rather a nice shirt with ‘Daytona Speedway’ emblazoned subtly across the breast pocket.

The excitement didn’t end there, as our next stop was at the famous Daytona beach, where Arndt actually drove his car on to the beach. He was determined to get his feet wet in the Atlantic, so I joined him, shoes and socks off, with a paddle in the chilly waters (The outside temperature was still decidedly cold). Vivian came out in her chair, although our Danish friends were happy to staty in the relative warmth of the car. We drove up and down the beach for a while, taking in the atmosphere, before heading for home.

                                                                                                   Almost there

                                             Arndt and the DGE get their feet wet on Daytona Beach

                                                                                                 View of the beach

I have mentioned earlier that Arndt is a noisy and ebullient character, and there was a good example of this as we left Daytona. We were stopped at traffic lights when Arndt suddenly shouted at the top of his voice ‘AHHHHH!’ What on earth is the matter, we thought. ‘AHHHHH!’ he exclaimed again,  ‘VIVIAN!’  The DGE looked at him in alarm. ‘What is it?’ she said.

‘I have a real treat for you!’ He exclaimed.  ‘What is it?’ she asked, still alarmed.

‘KRISPY KREME DONUTS!’ was his response. He had just seen one of his favourite shops and wanted to treat us to his favourite snack. ‘You have never had Donuts like these’ he said proudly, as he pulled over and parked outside the Krispy Kreme Donut shop.  He took  our orders  from a comprehensive range of flavours and went into the shop, emerging soon with a rather large bag of doughnuts under his arm. They were sweet, sticky and full of cream, but quite palatable for all that. ‘You’ve never had Donuts like these , have you?’ asked Arndt. ‘Never’ we responded truthfully, although we didn’t have the heart to let on that Krispy Kreme Donuts are quite commonly available in the UK.  Vivian also added  ‘Don’t EVER frighten me like that again!’

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The rest of the journey home was uneventful, where we had little time to rest before going out in the evening with Larry, Mary Anne, Arndt and his wife Mary(who we hadn’t met up to this point), and of course Lief and Birtha. The venue was to be a buffet-style Chinese Restaurant, which they particularly like coming to. ‘They have shrimps done in 10 different ways’ said Larry. I couldn’t wait to try them. Shrimps (which I would call prawns) are commonplace in Florida, and always found on menus. The Chinese Restaurant was very good, with a huge selection of different dishes, many of which were quite unfamiliar to us.  I tried a couple of versions  of shrimp dishes (and several others) although we had eaten rather well already that day, so perhaps didn’t do justice to the excellent dishes available. Anyway, it was a very good evening with lots of bonhomie, and it was nice to meet Mary, who seems to take a back seat where Arndt’s Rotary work is concerned, and doesn’t get involved too much.

We were up early on the Thursday  morning as Arndt, with the Danes on board already, was taking us to DisneyWorld!  Our first stop was to be for breakfast at the Rotary Club of Buena Vista.  They meet at the Hilton Hotel in Buena Vista, which makes them the only Rotary Club to hold its meetings within DisneyWorld. This entitles their members to wear a variation to the normal Rotary lapel pin, theirs having a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. As a visiting Rotarian I was presented with one of these unique pins, which I will wear with pride. Getting dressed in a hurry that morning, I decided to wear my new Daytona Speedway shirt.

                                                            Buena Vista Rotary Club's unique lapel pin

All the visiting DGEs and Consorts were invited to this meeting, and we were royally looked after, with a superb breakfast buffet, and much friendship from the local Rotarians, who were genuinely interested to meet us. As has become customary, they expected to hear from each visiting DGE with a mini speech about the area we come from.  They also do something else which I have not seen before at a Rotary meeting, but which is, I think, typically American. They have a ‘Happy dollar’ interlude, where anyone who is feeling particularly happy that morning stands up, says why he or she is feeling happy, and puts a dollar in the charity pot.  There were lots of things I was happy about that morning, including just being in Florida, being among such smiley friendly people, having a super breakfast, being in Disneyworld, but by the time I thought I might just stand up and say something, the happy dollar interlude had finished, and the moment had passed.

One amusing incident (in retrospect) occurred at the meeting that morning.  After the formal part of the meeting was over, we stood around chatting, and I got into conversation with rather an attractive young lady, who turned out to be from Brazil, and was considering joining Rotary. So I told her all the reasons why she would never regret joining Rotary, particularly the Buena Vista club. We chatted for quite a few minutes, and I was congratulating myself  that at my ripe age I could still engage young ladies in scintillating conversation. At that point she said to me ‘So, what exactly do you do at Daytona Speedway?’

‘Oh’ I replied, I have nothing to do with Daytona Speedway, I just visited the place for the first time yesterday, and bought a shirt.’

That was the last thing I said to her, as she immediately wandered off to find someone else to talk to. It was amusing, if a tad disappointing, to learn that she was only interested in the shirt I was wearing, and whether it may open any doors for her.

                                                    The DGE meets Goofy at Buena Vista. Goofy is the one on the left

After the meeting finished, our respective drivers took us all to Epcot, where we were to spend the rest of the day. The arrangement was that Larry and Mary Anne, who were at a funeral that day, would pick the four of us up at 5 p.m. from a pre-agreed spot in the car park.  The ticket office was a surprise, as for the first time we had to pay for ourselves. At Kennedy, and at Blue Springs, our hosts had paid for us, probably with a group discount. However this time we were on our own. It was $90 each to get in.  Not unduly worried I looked for signs indicating concessionary prices. There were none. I asked at the kiosk if there was a discount for disabled visitors, or their carers, or senior citizens. Surely we would qualify on one of these counts. But no, the answer came back, ‘As far as we are concerned, every visitor is a kid, so everyone pays the same price. ‘  I’m glad we didn’t have to pay adult prices, they would have been astronomical.

So, $180 lighter in the wallet, we headed off into Epcot Theme Park, which is the one with the giant golf ball shaped pavilion near the entrance. The theme of the park is science and discovery, and it is more educational than the others. This means there are fewer rides, which I suppose our hosts thought would be more appealing to Rotarians of a certain age. There was indeed much of interest to see, with only a few rather  gentle rides. The highlight for the DGE and me was Soarin’ , a ride which did no more than lift you a few feet off the floor, whilst a huge screen showed film of flying over mountains, through canyons, and across water. The idea was to imagine we were in a microlight aircraft or similar, and it really was thrilling. As we swooped low over the sea, it seemed as if my feet were dangling in the water, and I was surprised they were not soaking wet when the ride finished. We would both have happily gone on it again, were it not for a 40 minute queue.

                                                                                     The iconic symbol of Epcot

The main part of Epcot seems to be large lake, which is surrounded by  replica towns and streets from around the world, e.g. great Britain, France, Mexico etc. 

                                                                                                France

We had lunch at a restaurant in the Japan sector, and went on a boat ride in Norway. It was all rather well done. It was not our intention to spend time in the British sector, but we met up with Lief and Birta, our Danish friends, who were keen on having fish and chips from the authentic fish and chip shop, and a pint of English beer at the very authentic London pub, which really did sell English beer.  So there we were, thousands of miles from home, sitting among thatched cottages and cobbled streets and eating fish and chips outside an English pub.  I found myself telling people I met that, yes, this is just what England is like, and they should cross the pond and try it out for real.

Although temperatures had improved, we actually had some rain during our time at Epcot, and once again we were quite unprepared for anything but fine weather. However help was at hand in the form of a Disneyworld plastic cape, at $10 dollars apiece, which will be a lasting souvenir of our trip. Larry and Mary Anne were on hand  at the allotted place and time to drive us home.

The following day, Friday, was our last day in Florida, and as it was a free day, Larry asked me if I would like to join him on a walk in a wilderness area nearby. I jumped at the chance to get out into the countryside, although the DGE would have to be excluded.  It was agreed that Larry and I and the two Danes would go for a trek for a couple of hours, then come home and join Mary Anne and Vivian for lunch.

So off we went, into the wide yonder, parked the car at the Little-Big Econ State Forest, which is protected from development, and where different trails go off in various directions. Larry was keen to show his bushcraft and his undoubted knowledge of local wildlife (more about that in another blog), as we set off in high spirits. We located a river with a canoeist moored up, enjoying several days in the wilderness on his own.  In response to a question from me, he confirmed that there were no alligators nearby.  We followed the river for a while, as Larry pointed out some of the outstanding wildlife in the area. After about an hour and a half of walking, ever deeper into the wilds of Florida, Larry said we could retrace our steps back to the car, or follow a marked trail which would probably be quicker overall, as all such trails were circular and would start and end at the car park.

                                                           We decided to follow the white loop trail (big mistake)

We all agreed to follow the trail, so off we went. An hour later (now 2.5 hours into our trip,) we were questioning whether this really was a circular route. There was some discussion between Larry and Lief on the subject of finding your way by the position of the sun.  Apparently they both hunt for sport, so both have some legitimate claim to bushcraft skills. They both agreed that if you look towards the sun then you are facing south, however they had conflicting views whether to head east or west from that position.  Eventually we decided to carry on following the existing trail, but after a further half an hour we still had not come across anywhere we recognised.

Larry managed to call Mary Anne on his cell phone to cancel lunch, as we were clearly not going to be back on time. We now decided to retrace our steps and set off the way we had come, only walking quicker this time. Eventually we came to a junction of paths which we recognised, but  none of us could remember which direction we had come from.  Help came unexpectedly, in the form of a female jogger who emerged coming towards us.  Larry had to admit in front of us (probably not easy for him) that he was lost, and could she direct us back to the car park.  She indicated the way she had just come, and off we went, eventually arriving back at the car mid afternoon, about 5 hours after we started walking. We were hot and tired (the weather was warming up again), but happy to be on our way back to civilisation. There was a board in the car park, with a map showing where the various trails went. The one we had been following was not circular at all, but went on for miles ever deeper into the wilderness. What a good job we turned back.

As we had missed lunch at home, we stopped on the way back at a creek on a large lake, and had a beer and something to eat, whilst admiring the scenery and wildlife surrounding us. When we finally got home, the DGE was less than impressed with having been left in the house all day, with nothing but football on the TV, and Mary Anne busy most of the time.  I had assumed that she and Mary Anne would have been having a nice day together, but this doesn’t sem to have been the case.

That evening we were taken to another Reception for the visiting DGEs where once again they  had to do a mini presentation about their own District and country.  This reception seemed less well organised as everything else we had been to that week, but our hosts were as charming as ever and anxious to know whether we had enjoyed our week.  We had.

                                                                Arndt, Mary, Birtha and Lief

                                                                             The DGE with Larry and Mary Anne