Sunny Florida!

So here we are in Florida enjoying some really exceptional weather. It was so lovely in fact that about an hour after we got to the Busch Gardens amusement park, they actually closed all the major rides. We were in the queue for a loop-the-loop roller coaster that Tom had INSISTED we do, when the shutdown was announced. He was very frustrated and we were too. Really, honestly we were. Especially after the large lunch we had just had. Ahem. Anyway, everyone donned rather fetching yellow outfits (see above) and ran for the exits. Philippa thought she felt a splash of rain. Perish the thought! Not in Florida surely. I assured her it was merely some vigorous humidity...running down the road in waves. Suffice to say the extraordinary, um, sunny weather continued ALL DAY to the point where we were obliged to return to the motel and muck about. We made a den for Tom between the beds while PT and I read, and made popcorn from a vending machine. Actually, its been rather fun and we have just come back from a smashing seafood restaurant where they gave Tom a "Shirley Temple" consisting of Seven Up with a plastic shark full of Grenadine which he tipped in to make it cherry flavoured. We had thought Grenadine was some kind of booze. Maybe it is...? Actually Philippa always says that if she and I have the least bit of wine, Tom gets drunk, and yet again as he giggled his way through the meal, the point was proven. That or the Grenadine. As I write Tom is still giggling from his bed across the room. And waving occasionally.

The trip down on the train was great. Clearly though we hadn't got the full message about checking in for the auto train. Our tickets said SUVs at 2 and normal cars by 3. Actually, that mean by three as an absolute, last ditch we-can-still-just-about-get-you-on kind of time. We were there at twenty to and they said they had almost given up on us. It was quite nice to breeze in with no queue though and they were only just starting the free wine and nibbles as we got on so, it was ideal. What wasn't ideal was that somehow I contrived to leave our daypack at home, containing such minor items as cameras, waterproofs and binoculars. When I told the man who was going to load the car on the train that I could be back by 3.30 he looked at me as if I had just said "please could you burn my ticket as I won't be needing it", so we didn't interrupt the loading process. We are doing without and with a combination of Philippa's Blackberry, the Busch Gardens pack-a-macs and our "keen" eyesight we will muddle throught. Actually, as we approached our motel this morning there was, and I kid you not, a Bald Eagle by the road about twenty feet away with the remains of a rabbit in its talons (sorry Helen). It picked it up and flew lazily off in front of us. Who needs binoculars!