Indie Grace Wanderer: Florida - Days 10 & 11 and Days 14,16-19

Ok, lest you get very confused I will explain the days I'm covering in this in post.

Day 10 was our third day at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. They had an online special where you could get three days for the price of two. We started at Diagon Alley, explored Universal Studios one last time, took the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmeade, explored Islands of Adventure one last time and headed home. I have a few pictures from this day but not many since we had already been here for two days.

On Day 11, we stayed home, slept, watched movies and got caught up on our rest in anticipation of our two huge days at Disney. I will cover our time at Epcot (Day 12) and Magic Kingdom (Day 13) in future posts.

Day 14 consisted of packing our stuff, cleaning up the condo and driving to Sarasota to pick up Mom. We spent most of the rest of the day at home, eating snacks and playing cards.

Day 16, we went to Fort DeSoto beach. I didn't take any pictures. I just walked the beach looking for shells and sat in a lounge chair reading while listening to the waves. On Day 17, we went to the flea market before taking JP to the airport. Day 18 was Christmas. No pictures. We were planning on going to the beach but since it was only 72 degrees, Mom and Dad thought it was too cold!!! We stayed home and relaxed.

This brings us to Day 19 which is today. We had a slow morning before making our way to Myakka River State Park. Dad and I were here earlier this month but today we took the tram tour. It was very interesting. We drove through "old Florida" and saw a lot of prairie-land and marshes. Our tour guide was excellent. He had us imagine we were early settlers and taught us what to look for when choosing a place to build and graze our cattle. I learned how to tell when an area was considered to be a flood-plain and saw baby alligators as well as grown gators. We saw herons, osprey, egrets, a spoonbill, and vultures, of course. They are everywhere. We picnicked within view of a LARGE, LONG gator, took a couple of pictures and called it a day.