2020-Feb 1-4 Orlando

 

Well, if that wasn't a trip to remember----but not for good reasons!!!  It started out great!  The drive to Orlando was great.  Even Layla was super for the such a long ride.  Next couple days were great, too.  Then came the middle of the night calls and Ken ending up in the hospital back in Marietta.  

 

 2-1-20 on to Orlando with Angie, Josh, and Layla

 

2-2-20  Animal Kingdom!!!!

 

2-3-20 Disney Springs and Port Orleans:  

 

2-4-20  Emergency flight back home!!!!!!

 

2020-feb. Orange Lake Resort West Village 2 bedroom golf villa

 

 

Next day came the diagnosis that Ken has Glioblastoma!  We were told he had 12-18 months to live if he has brain surgery, then SOC (standard of care: 6 weeks of radiation and chemo).   After the kids heard the diagnosis, they cut their trip short and headed back home, too.  Thus the start of some very hard times---not just from cancer, but we were also about to be hit with the Covid pandemic!hard times---not just from cancer, but we were also about to be hit with the Covid pandemic! 

2017 Feb. 4-11 Orlando trip:

What do you do in Orlando if you don't go to the theme parks????

Feb. 4---the drive down to Orlando from Atlanta, by way of Silver Springs State Park in Florida.
             

Orange Lake Resort --- Where we stayed while on vacation:
         

Feb. 5 --- finding the birds:
              

Feb. 6 --- hanging around the resort:
 

Feb. 7th ---   Harry P Leu Gardens:

            and  Part 2, on to Disney Springs:


Feb. 8th --- to Merritt Island and the Cape Canaveral Sea Shore:


Feb. 9th --- the ever popular Lakefront Park!


Feb. 10th --- Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens

             and (part 2) Apopka Lake wildlife area:


Feb. 11th --- back to Atlanta by way of Providence Canyon State Park in Georgia:


Would I have liked to have gone to some of the theme parks---yes, but Ken isn't a fan.  So it's nice to know we can still go to Orlando and have a great time!
         

2013 Feb. trip to Florida (Sea World)

The 5th week of the year rolled around again, so it was time for another trip to Florida.  My Dad bought that week at Orange Lake in Orlando for all of us to enjoy.  My sister Carolyn and her boyfriend Chester were going, so I decided it would be fun to join them for a couple days.  So I conned Angie into going with me for 3 nights.  Instead of staying at Orange Lake, though, Angie and I stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek right by Disney.  I flew into Ft. Lauderdale and spent the first couple nights there at Angie's, then she and I made the 3 1/2 hour ride to Orlando.

One of those first days in Coral Springs, they took me to the nearby park they like to go to for viewing alligators.  It was a nice day and we did see lots of iquanas and a few alligators. 

A gator coming to say, "Hi!"

 Josh helping a fisherman with his catch.

2012 -April trip to Orlando with a Disney fanatic

Yes, I'm a fan of Disney, but I wouldn't call myself a Disney fanatic.  But a good friend of mine is.  Even living in St. Louis she and her family have managed to have season passes many years.  To them, the 15 hour drive from St. Louis to Orlando is nothing.  I'm more the fly there, stay in a timeshare off property, spend 1 or 2 days at Disney, explore other areas, and enjoy the sunshine and pool type of person.   But I was fascinated at the idea of seeing Disney through her eyes.   So we decided on 5 nights in April (I have wanted to see the Flower Festival at Epcot) and I booked us the time in a 2 bedroom unit at Wyndham Bonnett Creek, we got fairly inexpensive flights on Southwest airlines, I booked a car, and off we went. 

Bonnett Creek is, or is practically, on Disney property, right across from Downtown Disney.   We managed to stay there before they started instituting a mandatory daily fee to cover things like their shuttle (which we didn't use).  (next time we went they had eliminated the daily fee.  I guess they realized charging that wasn't a good idea) But the property was very nice.  This time we were in building T2.
My room--- the master bedroom

 I don't know how they got this sheet on the bed, but needless to say, it wouldn't stay on.  I even called housekeeping and had another sheet brought to me.  It was the same.  No way is this a king sized sheet!  Other than that, the unit was very nice.  I ended up just using the flat sheet as a bottom sheet.

 Coni's room.  Her daughter happened to be managing a restaurant in Tampa at the time so she got some time off and joined us for most of the time.  So they shared the 2nd bedroom.

 Our diningroom and kitchen.

 View towards the check in building and great heated lazy river from our deck in building T2.

 from the lanai doors --- couch on right, 2nd bedroom behind couch; master bedroom to the left; front door with blue bag on door knob; 2nd bathroom and laundry to the right of front door (looking at door)---that bathroom was also attached to the 2nd bedroom making it a suite, too. 

2010 Orlando with David and Jane

 When Dad died, I asked my brother and sister if they wanted to share Orange Lake with me, and share the maintenance fees.  They both said yes.  So at first it was sort of random as to who went and when noone went I banked the week into RCI and usually Carolyn ended up using the RCI week.  Eventually we decided to rotate weeks between the 3 of us.  That worked pretty well, until David decided he didn't want it anymore.  So Carolyn and I started splitting the weeks.  But---this year, David, Jane, and I ended up going to the resort---pre-rotation mode.

 Jan. 29 and 30---drive and arrival day

Since David and Jane were living in S. Illinois at this time, I drove to their place and the 3 of us rode to Florida together.  It was a long drive, but David did most of the driving so I got to enjoy the scenery.  And the sunset from the rode.

By the time we got checked in, it was late.  Settled in, got some groceries and some dinner and called it a day.

 

Epcot: Jan. 31 

We decided to do a couple Disney parks.  First one---Epcot.  Always a good time, although it is getting really expensive!

not sure what this was?

waiting for one of the rides

Love the way they add your photo to pictures on the Epcot ride.

David and Jane got eatten by a shark!

It was a fun day.
 

 

P Lew Gardens: Feb. 1

I love going to the reciprocal gardens of MOBOT.  They really enjoy gardens, too, so I suggested we go to P Lew Gardens.

I think they got a kick out of it, too.

beautiful grounds to an old plantation style house.

Feb. 1 Pirate dinner theatre

Had to get back to go to the dinner theatre we booked---a Pirate show.  It was cute.

 

Holyland Experience: Feb. 2 

David and Jane are probably the most "religious" of our family, so I thought they would get a kick out of the Holyland Experience.  They had even been to Israel back in 2006 along with Dad. 

I think they enjoyed it, and we were treated to another beautiful sunset.

Back by the resort, we made a stop into the new target.  David showing off his bowling abilities.  If only bowling balls were this big I'd probably be able to get a couple strikes.

 

 Fan boat ride in the Everglades: Feb. 3

Another thing they wanted to do---go for an airboat ride in the Everglades.  I'm game!

I was surprised the Everglades came all the way up to Kissimmee

Back at the resort---the proof of our maintenance fees being used for improvements.

Holywood studios: Feb. 4

For our 2nd Disney Resort, we went to Holywood studios.  I've only been here a couple of times, so it was a fun change of pace.

I do love the tower of terror hotel ride!

David showing off his new hat

Enjoyed the plays, too

and the 3 D shows

as well as the scenery

It was a fun trip.  I don't often go on trips with David and Jane.  They make great travel buddies.  Hopefully we'll do more trips together. 

2009 May--vacation to the Sunshine State

This was an impromptu trip to Orlando for Ken and myself.  We had banked our week at Orange Lake into RCI a couple years ago and they points were about to expire.  Ken suggested, why not just go back to Orange Lake.  Sounded good to me!


May 17, 2009: Day 1

May 18, 2009

May 19: Iron Chef of OLCC!

May 20: Blue skies!!!

May 21, 2009:

May 22, 2009: Bok Tower

May 23, 2009:

Not much sunshine to be seen this week!  But we still had an amazingly great time!  At least I didn't come home with a sunburn!

2008 Orlando---last trip with Dad

 This was a bittersweet trip.  Sweet that I got to see Dad again, but bitter because he was not well.  This time Carolyn decided to join us, too.  Originally when Dad bought into this timeshare, he hoped that all us kids and grandkids would vacation with him, too.  Turned out to just be me and when Angie was off school, she joined us a couple times.  But that's ok, Dad was a great travel companion and we had a lot of great trips.  Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.

 

 Orange Lake North Village---3 bedroom unit

Since Carolyn was joining us, I also booked us a 3 bedroom unit in the North Village of Orange Lake Resort for the first week.  Then Carolyn was going to be going home and Dad and I would stay another week in his unit.  Since I'm writing this in 2023, some of my memories are fuzzy.  I do remember seeing Dad at the airport and immediately being shocked at how sick he looked (he was fighting prostate cancer and the initial harmone treatments were no longer working).  But I don't know why I don't remember Carolyn arriving with him.  Maybe I'm remembering him showing up on a different trip?

Anyway---we did get to the resort and checked into our unit.  I liked that the units were only 2 stories high.  We asked and got a lower level because of Dad's health. 

As with most travel days, we mainly just settled in and enjoyed our first sunset.

View of our building from the golf course---no, we are not golfers.

 I found the inside of the unit to be a little too "festive" for my taste, but it was roomy and clean, so I won't complain.

Carolyn messing around in the kitchen

nice screened in patio

 

Holyland:

After recuping for a couple days, Dad wanted to go to Holyland Experience.  Since he's been diagnoses with cancer, he's turned to religion again.  But we've both grown to like this "amusement" park.  No rides, just a lot of history.  

and cute plays

neat displays

an incredible model of Jerusalem back in the day

Nice seeing the little smile on Dad.

I tried to access Dad's pictures later and the camera didn't work and the photos were corrupt.  Strange how things quit working right after he died (his watch, clock, camera!).

characters in costume

The Garden Tomb

He is Risen

pretty scenic place

 More  exhibits

someone giving a talk about old times in Jerusalem

more of the model

love the flowers in it

I was pleasantly surprised how well Dad did with our excursion here.  Most of the time at the resort he's been hanging out in his room resting.

Carolyn's first time here.

Dad's Orange Lake West Village 2 bedroom unit:

The day finally came for us to transfer to the West village golf villa.  I love the 1 story villas with parking right in front of them.  Seems so residential.  

They had just remodeled the unit.  I like this scheme a lot more then the North villages.  This was back when Orange was the "in" color.

Dad coming out of his room for a few minutes to check his emails.  You could just tell he was in pain.

more of the remodel

Dad checking out the remodel

Quite a change from when he bought into the place years ago----very good change

Dad's room

We were only there a couple days.  The first night, Dad fell in the bathroom and I helped him back to bed.  Fortunately I'm strong for an old lady and was able to lift him.  

Next day Carolyn left for home.  As I recall, she took a shuttle.

That night Dad fell 2 more times.  At that point, I decided it was time to get him home to Oregon---some 4000 miles away.  So I called and changed his flight for the next day and changed my flight to go with him, instead of going back to St. Louis.  When I told Dad I did that, he wasn't too happy, but didn't argue.  The flight home was long.  He asked a few times---are we almost there?  From PDX it was another 1.5 hours to his house.  There I settled in for a couple weeks.  He even went for his last chemo treatment while I was there.  The treatments were no longer working.  Also had an infusion.  It was hard seeing him so sick, yet he never complained.  David didn't even "know" he was so sick.  He thought Dad was getting better.  Carolyn refused to come by because it "reminded her of Tom being sick".  So I started flying out there from St . Louis every couple weeks for a couple weeks.  I was on one of my scheduled trips there when David picked me up from the airport to warn me about Dad being so sick.  He finally got it!  That was the beginning of April---just 3 months after our Orlando trip.  On April 8th, Dad died.