Oakland Nature Preserve is close enough to drive over and enjoy an evening stroll, and tonight we saw a Gopher Tortoise in it’s hole, and only one small Alligator …
A Gopher Tortoise and a baby Alligator
Tree Swallows
We’ve had a LOT of tiny insects in the air the last few days – cooler weather seems to encourage them to fly up from Lake Apopka (I think they are midges / “blind mosquitos”); today flocks of Tree Swallows have arrived, flying every direction and catching all the insects – Hooray!
I tried to capture some photos and video, but it’s really hard with the birds changing direction so often; here’s my best attempts:
Luzia by Cirque Du Soleil
Today we attended the traveling show Luzia, currently about half an hour from us in Orlando. We’ve seen MANY Cirque Du Soleil shows over the years (Mystere, O (many times!), Ka, Dralion, Corteo, La Nouba, Quidam, Varekai, Delirium, Love, and the not so good Michael Jackson Immortal) but this was our first time for Luzia – and it was another great show! Spectacular costumes and acrobatic performances, and amazing use of waterfall effects …
Also nice was that photos were allowed (no flash, no video) so we have great memories of the show too:
Animal Kingdom in the evening
Disney Animal Kingdom has tried to expand it’s “after dark” experience, with the opening of Pandora land, extending safari rides into the evening, and the Rivers of Light show – we attended recently.
With our safari ride an hour before sunset there were already many animals missing – no elephants, for example, making for a strange long ride past empty land! But we did see giraffe, lions, and others:
With the sun going down, we headed to the Rivers Of Light show which we’d never seen; the first 15 minutes was incredibly slow and dull with slow moving “flowers” drifting on the water – but it turned out that was some sort of boredom-inducing pre-show, and the main event was more interesting. Unfortunately many of the water projections didn’t work very well – this show still needs development, I think!
Leaving the park, we walked through Pandora land, a very cool and quite alien experience with the strange plants glowing in the darkness, and layers of alien animal sounds …
Our lost friend, Hrach
Hrach was famous in New England for MINIs and Minis! Sadly he died some years ago though we all still have memories, and I have photos …
Minolta DSC
Hrach and his Mini
I recently received a message from someone that knew him, and in searching for response I stumbled on this video – a clip from a BBC documentary!
Tethered balloons
More than 10 years ago, we took a balloon ride over Florida, but tonight we watched from the ground while people took very short vertical rides at the Hamlin development, up to perhaps only 20ft! We got some good photos – especially the few times they flame-lit the whole balloon …
It was really busy there, with the cinema and Publix parking jammed full; we parked over the highway at Walmart and bravely crossed (at lights, with pedestrian crossing, luckily!)
Video, as well:
Another Day at Animal Kingdom
Today I met MINI friends for (late!) breakfast at Boma, then headed with Margaret to Disney Animal Kingdom where we took a safari ride and later watched the Finding Nemo show … a video today rather than photos :
