The Empty Nesters Magical Mystery Tour *1/28* Link to New Girl's TR p141

[khertz]

Seeing the bald eagles must have been so cool! I have only ever seen them in bird shows, never a little family like that. How lucky that you were able to see the babies before they left the nest.

What a beautiful afternoon!

 

[KatMark]

Honeymoon Island State Park looks lovely. You know we've read about it, heard about it but just never gotten there. We are definitely going to have to get that on the bucket ist for a future trip.

The trail you took looks quite lovely and what a treasure at the end with the Eagle land Eaglets.

The views from the deck are gorgeous, both at the trail and from where you were staying.

I love your "fish" photos...I think they are great.

 

[MEK]

The Eagles beat the Cowboys, so...yes. Yes, I did.

I know!!!!! How great was that. I was watching at my brother's house and everyone was going crazy! It was a great game!

I'm a little worried about the pictures we're going to see now...

Get your mind out of the gutter!

The lesson, of course, is to always ignore all posted warnings.

Yes - because THAT would be smart!

Did he have a button from the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor?

No, but he totally needed one because he was the perfect - THAT guy!

I think the eagle pictures are awesome! So cool!

Honestly, that was such a highlight for our trip. At least for me. I just loved seeing mother nature do her thing. Really amazing! Sort of the sleeper hit for the trip!

Love the pictures. Honeymoon beach looks lovely. I really need to visit the west coast of Florida soon.

Thanks! It was a lovely state park. The gulf coast is really interesting. It's very different from the Atlantic coast. I am glad that we visited and hope to return at some point.

I just subbed to your PTR and your plans look wonderful! :good vibes

What a great update Mary Ellen! How neat that you guys chose to be in the right place at the right time to see the eagles in their nest. One year, there was an eagles' nest in the woods/pasture behind our house and it was hte neatest thing to see an eagle soar right over our house.

Seriously, it really was such a great time to visit that beach. I had NO idea about the Eaglets until we arrived that day. Loved it.

How cool to have a nest so close to your house. They are such majestic birds. It's really amazing to see them in their natural habitat.

Shell beach was, indeed a shell beach, wasn't it? Very cool.

It really was NOT your regular sunbathing beach, that's for sure. But I did manage to pick up a few nice shells. Usually I take way too many. I definitely restrained myself.

What a lovely place to spend a day! Lots of great pictures and lots of great memories.

It was a very fun and laid back day. I'm glad we got to explore a little bit more of Florida. That is totally my goal every time we visit!

 

[MEK]

Seeing the bald eagles must have been so cool! I have only ever seen them in bird shows, never a little family like that. How lucky that you were able to see the babies before they left the nest.

It was totally perfect timing. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. It was so cool to learn that eagles circle back to that same habitat every year to build their nest and raise their eaglets!

What a beautiful afternoon!

It was truly a lovely afternoon. It was a great way to relax before we head back to WDW!

Honeymoon Island State Park looks lovely. You know we've read about it, heard about it but just never gotten there. We are definitely going to have to get that on the bucket ist for a future trip.

It was a lovely state park. I'd really like to go back and visit Caladesi. It is supposed to be beautiful.

The trail you took looks quite lovely and what a treasure at the end with the Eagle land Eaglets.

As I said to Mark, it was totally the sleeper hit of the trip. I never expected to see such an amazing sight that day. Seeing those eaglets through the scope was definitely memorable!

The views from the deck are gorgeous, both at the trail and from where you were staying.

Our little carriage house deck was lovely and it was nice to get a chance to sit out there during the day. Definitely very secluded and very relaxing.

I love your "fish" photos...I think they are great.

Thanks!

 

[Leshaface]

What a nice private path that led to the lake! I'd think you're a 'temporary resident' so all is well

I"m sure 'that guy' had to talk to someone as it sounds like his wife doesn't talk!

That eagles nest is so cool!

How amazing is that shell beach! I would have taken jars home to display

The fish eye lens gives a really cool perspective. I like it!

 

[MEK]

What a nice private path that led to the lake! I'd think you're a 'temporary resident' so all is well

I like that theory! I am quite good at being a temporary resident!

I"m sure 'that guy' had to talk to someone as it sounds like his wife doesn't talk!

No, she really didn't. I didn't even realize they were married at first. I guess he does need to talk enough for both of them.

That eagles nest is so cool!

It was REALLY cool! Definitely a highlight on this trip!

How amazing is that shell beach! I would have taken jars home to display

I already have jars of shells so I forced myself to only pick a few to take home. Boy was THAT hard.

The fish eye lens gives a really cool perspective. I like it!

It does, but I just wish the clarity was better. Plus its sort of a pain to put it on and take it off. But its fun every once and awhile.

 

[jenseib]

Caught back up!

Loving all the pictures. That facny residence area is gorgeous...well worth sneaking past the signs.

Honeymoon island looks so pretty too and what a neat experience to see the eaglettes. Don't you just love it when you get lucky enough to do or see something you didn't expect.

I have heard of shell beach before. That looks like a lot of shells. I bet it would be fun to go hunt for a few there.

 

[MEK]

Caught back up!

Loving all the pictures. That facny residence area is gorgeous...well worth sneaking past the signs.

That development was so upscale and stunning! Must be nice is all I can say!

Honeymoon island looks so pretty too and what a neat experience to see the eaglettes. Don't you just love it when you get lucky enough to do or see something you didn't expect.

Yes I do. Seeing those eaglets in their nest was so amazing. I loved it!

I have heard of shell beach before. That looks like a lot of shells. I bet it would be fun to go hunt for a few there.

You have no idea how much I wanted to fill a big bag with shells. I just love shells. But I have way too many at home and not enough to do with the ones I already have.

 

[MEK]

Back to the Bubble

In my last update Denny and I had spent the day at Honeymoon State Park. We decided to return to the carriage house for happy hour on the deck. I have a few more pictures from that afternoon that I took after I took off the fish eye attachment.

I could see right into the neighbor’s back yard with my long lens. That pool looked tempting.



The house was well concealed



I found an American flag



which always deserves a second picture!



Unfortunately, happy hour got cut a little short when some annoying bugs started biting the crap out of us. We went indoors to discuss our dinner plans and jointly agreed that we might as well go back to Tarpon Springs for dinner.

I decided to wear a dress, since I had packed several and hadn’t worn any yet.
A serious selfie



I took this picture with my phone on the way to dinner



As we were driving into Tarpon Springs there was a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, I was in no position to get a photographic view of it, so this is what you get!



Tarpon was a little slow. Perhaps that's normal for a Monday night.





Our plan was just to walk down the main street and eat wherever we felt like it. But on the way to our undecided dinner destination we saw this sign.




I think you know me well enough to know I wasn't heading there for the olives, but rather the FREE wine tasting.

Let’s go check out the Tarpon Springs Sponge Exchange, shall we?



This was very pretty



Here are the wines on the tasting



Remember, we had already HAD happy hour. so I don’t remember what they tasted like. Of course, they always saved the best and most expensive taste for last and that was the bottle I bought.

Once again, I spent money at the FREE wine tasting.

Hehe.

Well, that’s how I felt as we walked out. Just a tad tipsy.

Then out of nowhere this woman appeared (almost in a creepy way) and asked where we were having dinner. She shoved this advertisement at us claiming that Mama’s (one of the many Greek restaurants) was offering free Saganaki and happy hour priced drinks.

I asked Denny if he wanted to try it and he said “sure”. Of course, you never know with Denny because sometimes he just doesn’t want to be rude.

That quickly the woman said, “I’ll walk you there”.

Wow - nothing like hustling for dinner.

So we followed her to Mama’s.

We walked through this alley



and past the front entrance to Mama’s



to the back entrance.

Seriously, we were in that restaurant and seated in about 3 minutes flat.

OK then!

It was seriously casual in there. See what I mean…



$3 Margaritas, 2 for 1 drafts and 2 for 1 sangrias



I pretty sure I had a couple sangrias while Denny had a couple drafts.

Mama’s wasn’t actually located on the main street, but more like a side street. Here is a view out the window from where we sat.



We started with calamari, which was just OK



That was followed by the Saganaki.

Here it comes.

Wait for it….

(OK, these pictures stink. It looks like the Mama’s sign is on fire)



A little scary, huh?







The end result. I don’t even want to know the nutritional value in this!!!!!



Our dinners also came with a Greek salad, which had a little too much dressing for my taste. Notice the big hunk of feta.



Continued In the Next Post

 

[MEK]

I ordered the spanikopita AGAIN!



By this point I was already full from the calamari, saganaki, and salad, but I managed to eat most of my green beans and a bit of my spanikopita. I had them box the rest up to take home. Spoiler alert: My leftovers actually followed me back to Disney the next day, because I wasn’t about to leave spanikopita behind! I LOVE that stuff!

Denny got the fish. I would have thought he had learned his lesson with the whole fish he had at Narcoossee’s several years ago (if you are new to my TR’s then I’m sure you have no idea what I’m talking about)



This fish was prepared really well and was easy for him to eat and he didn’t have to deal with many bones. I probably tasted it, but honestly, I was so full I can’t even remember.

Some patrons in another part of the restaurant.



When we left the restaurant we no longer had an escort to take us back to the main street. But we managed.

As tempting as the Saw Grass Tiki Bar was, we passed.



We walked past the main entrance of Mama’s again



And their very effective advertisement



This alley way brought us back to the main street



Denny was feeling no pain



We decided to do a little shopping in the local stores



There was quite a variety of goods to pick from





Of course, I had to thumb through the $5 rack. Needless to say, I found nothing.



I don’t know if you can see the price on this, but I think its $19. Remember when they used to sell these in the store in Morocco (which is now Spice Road Table). Quite the bargain here in Tarpon Springs.



And if you want, you can even buy just the bottom half!



It was really hard to pass on the Tarpon Springs seahorse beach bag.





Definitely not unique to Tarpon



We went in Sponge Diver Supply and picked up a Tee for Nick (which he actually DOES wear so that was a success)





Hellas looked busy again!



This blurry picture is the last one of the evening.



We drove back to the carriage house and finished packing. Our plan was to get up and on the road early for our trip back to WDW.

I guess this is a good time to take a break, but I’m not going to leave you guys hanging. I promised we’d get back to the bubble and “dog gone it” we ARE! Can I get a boolah??????

OK, then.........

We were out the door bright and early. I’m pretty sure we were on the road by 7:15 am. I made FP+ reservations for this say and our first one was from 10-11am. Baring any unforeseen disaster including excessive traffic and bio breaks, we should be pulling into the AK parking lot in approximately 2 hours.

I guess I wasn’t in the picture mood. Maybe the commuter traffic spoiled it, but I did not take my first picture, and it was a crappy one at that,
until we were exactly 34 miles from Orlando.



Has anyone ever heard of Showcase of Citrus?

Did you notice admission is FREEEEEEEEE! (Captain Oblivious)

And they have a world famous Slushy? I guess the fact that its “all natural” probably means they don’t have an adult version?

Caitlin and Dawn - can you go check it out for us and report back?



I was getting excited now! We were going back to the bubble. We only had about 32 hours left before we had to go home, but in that 32 hours we were planning 3 parks, 1 DIS meet, and a new Epcot resort for Denny.

Can you feel the excitement mounting?

Does this help? (Wait - Is that sign cracked?)



How about this?



Continued In Next Post

 

[MEK]

Or this?





I KNOW this does!



Wait! Are we in the wrong lane to go under the Disney arches????

What?

Yup



It appears that I did the best job with this one. It almost looks like we ARE going under the arches.



We passed Hollywood Studios



As we were heading to the Animal Kingdom



I have no pictures of our AK arrival until I got out the camera and took this picture of….foliage. Hey - its something!



The infamous AK lamps



The magnificent tree of life





We must have had some time before our 10am FP because instead of heading here first



We ended up here











OMG LOOK! Just for Cynthia & Pat!



For the record - Denny always thinks I’m crazy when I stop and take random pictures of doggie pit stops.

By now I’m sure you all know we are heading to Dinosaur.










It didn’t take long to get to and through the pre show



Soon we were loading into one of these little beauties!




Continued In Next Post

 

[MEK]

It’s so dark in here, but I tried to get a few pictures just to see if any would turn out.



There - that’s better. An empty time rover!



The vortex capacitor - complete with Implosive Bolts. You don’t say?



A chemist’s dream





Soon we were on our way to the Crustaceous period.

There is perhaps one of my all time favorite Dinosaur red neck ride photos



Just classic - scared kids, concerned mom, amused dad and US!

Oh, would you like a close up?



That about says it all!

And with that, I am going to take a break.

Up Next - There IS a reason you are required to stand back before the gates close.

 

[dizneeat]

What a great evening!

I had to when I read that you were approached and were led right to the restaurant. Happens so often to us .... unfortunately we do not always follow.

Food looked quite nice, even though I am not so sure about the green beans in sauce. Did they come out of a can? They definitely look like they did.

And being up and on the road that early. You guys rock. We never can make it out the door early.

Love all your AK pics. You take such awesome photos.

Can't wait for more.

 

[MEK]

What a great evening!

It really was fun for being rather impromptu!

I had to when I read that you were approached and were led right to the restaurant. Happens so often to us .... unfortunately we do not always follow.

I really wasn't sure whether to follow or not, but it was part of the adventure so I went for it!

Food looked quite nice, even though I am not so sure about the green beans in sauce. Did they come out of a can? They definitely look like they did.

I think they were fresh. I actually really like green beans in tomato sauce. My italian grandmother used to prepare them that way all the time (with lots of garlic) so they are almost like a comfort food for me!

And being up and on the road that early. You guys rock. We never can make it out the door early.

We really did want to get back to Disney and make a whole day out of it. I'm glad we got there that early. I was afraid if we tried to do anything else in the Tampa Bay region we wouldn't get there until much later in the afternoon, so it worked out great!

Love all your AK pics. You take such awesome photos.

Thanks!

Can't wait for more.

I think I took 400 photos on this day, so there will be plenty more!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Tarpon Springs looks like an interesting place. The sponge industry makes it rather unique. I bet a lot of people didn't even know that natural sponges come from a live animal. I remember when I was younger that we had some natural sponges. Their texture is different from the more common cellulose sponge.

You and Denny were very adventurous that night, following that stranger to some unknown destination. I'm glad it turned out alright.

 

[rndmr2]

Yay! You are back in the Bubble!

Your dinner at the Greek place loked pretty good, that Saganaki looked yummy, I just love just about any kind of cheese and melty cheese is the best.

Awesome ride pic!

 

[amazingact21]

Nice final night in tampa. I couldn't help but laugh at the creepy lady who lured you into Mama's. I guess that's how you drum up business.


That's a fantastic Dinosaur ride photo. I love it. Wish I could have seen the other guests' faces when they looked at and saw the stark difference between them and you two.

 

[natebenma]

Loved this update!!!

You have totally convinced me to check out this area of Florida. The Honeymoon Beach area was beautiful and I loved your description and pictures from your return to Tarpon Springs.

I would love the shops and restaurants there! All I could picture as you were talking about that woman was the Gypsy from the book/movie "Thinner" (Stephen King/Richard Bachman)

I adored everything about Mama's restaurant. The drink specials (how/what was the Greek Sangria), free flaming cheese and Greek food. Opa!!!

Why did you end up in a lane not under the arches? But I think the photos came out great anyway. It is hard to get in the whole view, Mickey Minnie and the arch in a single shot as you are going underneath.

Nice start at AK- we often start our day there at Dino.

 

[Pinkocto]

Oh my goodness, your Dinosaur picture is fabulous!!!!

Weird creepy lady guiding you down a deserted alley? They need to get better advertising

Was that a real shark Denny was touching?

I liked those wooden frogs at one of the shops, those were cute.

Hooray for going back to WDW! You guys did so much on this vacation, what fun!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Annoying bugs cutting happy hour short! I would cry. Nothing should cut happy hour short.

Free wine? Um, yes please.

Hustling for dinner? Sounds like Italy. They try to hustle you in if you even just walk by.

Wow, that's a lot planned for 32 hours left in your trip!

Totally random, but every time I see the word foliage, it makes me think about the Simpson's episode where Marge keeps saying FOILage, and Lisa keeps correcting her over and over. Okay, random aside complete.

Nice Dinosaur pic!