A Howler Homecoming

We spent last week (Saturday to Saturday) in Florida with our oldest grandchild, Penny. Back when we were the grandparents of only three grandchildren, and we had no idea that three more were to come, we promised each of them that, when they turned ten, we would take them on a trip -- half of which would be historically educational and half of which would be fun. Penny's unwavering choice since then has been Disney World and, when she discovered the Harry Potter books, Harry Potter World. We tacked on Saint Augustine for the historically educational purpose. Further, as her birthday is in July, and there ain't no way I am ever going to Florida in the summer, we moved up the trip to age almost 9-1/2 and made it the first week of December while things are decorated for Christmas, but the Christmas crowds are not there yet.

Other than our singular beach day in Saint Augustine, when the sky was overcast, the temperature was about 68, and the breeze was blowing a bit briskly, we had beautiful weather all week. 

Penny and Grandpa Wading in the Atlantic Ocean

In Saint Augustine, we took an Old Town Trolley around the USA's oldest city to get the lay of the land. Among other things, we saw the City Gate, which, at one point, was the only entrance into the city. According to our tour guide, this historic entrance was once scheduled for demolition. But then -- drumroll please -- the DAR got involved, with the ladies staging a protest while dressed in mourning attire and serving tea to those who would entertain their pleas to save the City Gate. It worked! Historic preservation prevailed!

Saint Augustine City Gate

Among other places, we also visited an alligator farm just outside the city with lots and lots of those extremely non-charming "ambush predators." They were very real, and, thus, very alive.

Ambush Predators Lying in Wait

"Greetings, Dinner!"

We visited some shrines and the Fountain of Youth. Newsflash: the Fountain of Youth doesn't work.

We're Still Old

We also met TSO's niece Aphia and her partner, Michael, for dinner one night. That was a nice little treat.

On Tuesday, we moved on from Saint Augustine to Orlando where we checked into an "official" Walt Disney World Hotel, which was outside the park but close by. We were on the 22d floor and facing the parks. This gave us a bird's eye view from our balcony of the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot every night. The hotel had a lazy river pool, a baby pool, and a large pool. Penny loved it!! It was a nice experience.

I wish I could say the same for Disney World itself, but I can't. The only good thing about those parks is the joy they brought to Penny. Other than that, the experience was horrendous. I took Christina there twice in the 90s -- once when she was four and again when she was eight. It was the perfect experience. Everything was great. Now? OMG. Horrible. Perhaps I'll write another post detailing why and how much I hate that place, but, for now, I'll just keep things positive. 

Harry Potter World was very good, although Universal has arranged things such that, if you want to experience all of HPW, you must buy a ticket to two of its theme parks, as Hogsmeade is in one and Diagon Alley in the other. Not nice. The rides were top notch, however; and, our little Harry Potter expert felt right at home. By the way, Butter Beer is super yummy!!!

Hogsmeade

Hogwarts Express

Diagon Alley

As for me and my health, the trip proved too ambitious. I've had a cough since October 4th, which has taken me to a local urgent care three times now. (It took me two months to find a primary care physician here in Massachusetts, and I don't have an appointment until Friday, December 16th. TSO's first appointment is next July!!!!) Anyway, the warm, sunshiny Florida air seemed to do more harm than good, and I wound up at another urgent care somewhere in Orlando at 1 o'clock in the morning between Thursday and Friday. No flu. No Covid. Lots of prescriptions, however, causing the 24-hour CVS pharmacist to ask, "Do you have pneumonia?" Ugh. Now that I'm back at the beach house, I have added earaches and a sore throat to the mix. 

We returned to our beach house on Saturday to weather conditions reminiscent of those on October 1st, the day we moved in, except, this time, there was no hurricane. However, there was heavy rain, an angry bay with ocean size waves, brisk winds, and, yes, the Howlers had returned. It's now Monday morning, and everything remains the same. Call this autumn or meteorological winter or what have you, it is nasty. 

The Howlers are interesting. When we first moved in, I thought they were objecting to our presence. Yet, we never heard from them again until we returned from Florida. I thought, oh, how nice, they are welcoming us home. However, I noticed a new phenomenon, which made me think, oh, no, maybe they are not welcoming us, maybe they are objecting to us again, but this time bringing in the big guns, as  there is another phenomenon accompanying all the weather-related Sturm und Drang, which either did not occur previously, or we simply did not notice. Birds. Big ugly seagulls. Bobbing up and down, mid-air, outside our front deck doors and windows like marionettes suspended and controlled by a great puppeteer in the sky. Jim says they're riding the vortex of air that is in that area. They are soooooooooooo creepy. They look like they are staring at me as they bob, and I feel like a dead carcass being eyed by some ravenous vultures or other flying scavenger. Do they know something I don't know?

The skies are supposed to clear late this afternoon and are predicted to remain sunny through Thursday, at which point another storm is due to hit and stay a couple of days. I'll try to take and post a picture of a creep seagull if its ilk returns.