Flittin' through Florida

On January 8 we arrived in Gainesville, Florida at the home of Arnold and Joy, friends we met in Botswana. Tuesday evening we gathered around the television and watched the Florida Gators defeat the Ohio Buckeyes. Yes, even I watched the game. You see....Gainesville is the home of Florida State University, home of the Gators. Neither Arnold or Joy expected the Gators to do well. In fact, they were pretty sure they'd lose although they hoped for the best. Well for any of you who watched the game or read the paper or listened to sports on TV, you know that the Gators whupped the Buckeyes. We were watching the game til about midnight.

Tuesday Arnold and Joy took us south to Silver Springs--an adventure theme park. It is winter, though it isn't all that cold, so attendance was quite low. It was like having the place to yourself. We enjoyed walking around the park, taking the boat rides and just takin' it easy. Silver Springs is where Sea Hunt was filmed many years ago. Also some Tarzan movies were filmed there.

Aaron and I left Gainesville this morning heading to the south with Cypress Garden as our destination. We had originally planned to go to Busch Gardens but the entry fee is $85 PER PERSON!! Cypress Garden was less than half that amount. Again there was low numbers there--I'd say around 200 people--so it was definitely a stressless day. All right, I know that "stressless" isn't a real word, but it works for me.

One thing we noticed at both parks was the number of senior citizens working. Today we talked to a fellow who said that he works there because it gets him out of the house and gives him some exercise. They pay minimum wage so jobs wouldn't be a big draw to very many people. For the Seniors it supplements their incomes.

Tonight we are staying in Winter Haven, Florida.