Travelogue

We're home from our adventure to the Sunshine State. I'm struggling to think of a better way to introduce this post, so I guess I'll just dive into the day-by-day action. Feel free to read it all, or just look at the pictures. This is mostly for my own record.

Thursday we woke up early and made our way to the airport. Jonathan's brother was kind enough to drive us there so we didn't have to pay for parking. When we walked through the doors into the airport it really sank in that we were actually doing this and I felt a few butterflies start to flutter. We made it through security fairly fast so we had quite awhile to wait before we could board. We finally boarded our flight and the plane was a little older looking than I would have liked to see. We had turbulence most of the flight, but there were only a few times I felt like we were going to spiral downward :) Maggie was a little angel on the plane. She was entertained the whole time and never really got fussy. No more than one minute after we landed, Maggie fell asleep in my arms. Our plane arrived early and there wasn't a gate available for us so we sat on the tarmac for about fifteen minutes. Maggie stayed asleep through all of the hussle and bussle of the airport and woke up right before we got to the car.

Jonathan has two brothers working on a huge ranch near Orlando, so the purpose of this trip was to visit them and their families. His brother Michael picked us up from the airport and then dropped us off at his other brother Dale's house. We ate a yummy supper at Dale's house and then drove to the rodeo grounds where the youth of the ranch were having drill team practice (formation riding). I'm not going to lie. I was really envious of those kids. I would have loved to be a part of something like that growing up.

Friday morning Jonathan went and helped pick oranges while I got ready for the day. I wish I would have gotten a picture. I've picked oranges before, but Jonathan never has. Then we had a nice breaskfast that was topped off with freshly squeezed Florida orange juice. Michael and Dale were in the middle of an embryo transfer project with the cows and Jonathan was able to tag along for part of it. When he got back we hopped in the car with our sisters-in-law the two youngest kids and we headed off on our next adventure.

Meet "Killer". He was affectionately named by the missionaries on the ranch. Supposedly Killer has an albino alligator friend, but we never saw him. Killer lives on the side of the road by a culvert just down the road from Michael's house. So on our way to the beach we stopped and took his picture.

I was pretty sure Maggie would love the beach. Boy was I wrong. She hated everything about it. I'm pretty sure it was because of the sound of the waves crashing in. Anyway, my plans for some nice family fun at the beach were thwarted.


Actually, I think the only thing Maggie enjoyed about our trip to the beach was the playground at the parking lot of Melbourne Beach.

We ate at Cracker Barrel after we left the beach and then did some grocery shopping at Wal-mart. We all got together at Dale and Dawns that evening for another yummy supper. After I put Maggie to bed we played the Wii and relaxed until we went to bed.

The only major tourist destination we went to while we were there was the beach. No SeaWorld or Busch Gardens or Disney World for us. But we got to see Florida in a way that most people don't, and that's what I loved about our trip. On Saturday we were able to go on an airboat ride along a tiny creek that flowed into the St Johns River. It felt really weird knowing we were in a boat gliding over the water, but then looking down at the water to realize it was only a few inches deep and straight sand. I kept feeling like we were going to get stuck and then I had to remind myself that was why we were in an airboat.
It was also weird to go through areas like this. I kept thinking we were going to get tangled up.
The cold spell that Florida had about three weeks ago really did a number on the fish. The banks were lined with dead fish and the sky was full of buzzards, not to mention those on the banks gorging on the dead fish. The stench of the dead fish wasn't pleasant, but it was interesting to see the affects of the cold spell. The picture with all the arrows is pointing to dead fish. I'm sure I missed a few, but it gives you the idea. This bank didn't even have that many fish on it compared to some of the others.

It was really hard to get a good picture of the alligators we saw on the airboat ride. I'd always spot them too late to get a picture. They had always scurried into the water before the camera was focused. This one was pretty big...that's his tail and hind leg you can see.
This is the best picture of a gator I got.

Here's our nice driver, Michael, on the airboat.
The rest of Saturday we took it easy. We all got together at Michael and Johnna's for a yummy homemade pizza supper. After most everyone was in bed we played a game call Backseat Drawing. Which is basically Pictionary except for the person drawing doesn't know what they are drawing, they are going off of the instructions given to them. There is a picture from Saturday night that I'd like to share, but I was asked not to and I am an obedient person :)

Sunday was their regional conference which was broadcast from Salt Lake City. The first speaker started out by saying, "We are speaking to you today from Salt Lake City, which is currently 72 degrees...until you go outside." I thought it was pretty funny. The rest of the conference was good, even though I missed a lot of it because Maggie was being naughty.

The rest of Sunday included naps and some down time. After the kids went to bed we played Ticket to Ride which is another fun game.

Monday morning Jonathan went out to help with the cows again. He helped sort some bulls and he put heat detection aids on roughly 200 head of cows. I got us ready to leave while he was out in the rain trying to get stickers to stick to wet cows :) Hopefully they stay on.

Our plane ride home was pretty uneventful. Maggie didn't do as well on this flight, but I did get her to fall asleep toward to end of the flight--sans Benadryl again. I guess if I let her get tired enough she will fall asleep in my arms. I just haven't ever let her get that tired before. The one thing that entertained her the longest was her box of crayons. She didn't color, but she pulled them out one by one and put them back in the box upside down. She did this for about 40 minutes.

Jonathan's brother Don came to pick us up from the airport. Our plane was about 40 minutes early and Don got stopped in traffic because of a major accident. So we had some time to observe people at the airport. There were a lot of people walking around with nice coats that said "Russia" on the back of them. I'm pretty sure it was at least one of Russia's Olympic teams. I concluded that they flew into Salt Lake to practice for the Olympics.

Well that marks the end of this incredibly long travelogue. I hope I didn't put you to sleep.