Coming Home…

reposted from the i.seekissimmee.com website...

While many people who come to the Kissimmee area are visitors – there are some of us who can call Kissimmee “home” – and I am fortunate enough to be one of those people. This past week has been an opportunity for me, as a local, and for my family, who are essentially experiencing things for the first time, to explore some of the lesser known treasures that you can find in the Central Florida area. One of the best parts about Kissimmee is the fact that you can pretty much go anywhere on a tankful, explore for the day, and still make it home in time for supper.

We’ve had a wonderful time visiting local haunts and haunting locals – swimming like fish, and swimming with the fishes! There have been attractions I’ve never heard of and old favorites too. I’ve never realized how much fun and how exhausting it could be until I’ve had the chance to truly go exploring in my home town. Thanks to many of our local attraction business partners, we were able to coordinate some “behind the scenes” tours and get the real lo-down on our city charms. I have to say that the most surprising place for me to visit was by far, the Marineland Dolphin Adventure. I like to consider myself to be a lifetime learner – and it was here that I was able to not only have a lot of fun with the kids and the dolphins, but I also learned a lot about an old time amusement. I never knew that this place existed in the early 30’s – and just had a great time learning about the changes and advancements Marineland had been through over the years.

Exploring my own city and doing day trips is just more encouragement for me to take some time off and go digging around town instead of staying home and catching up on the laundry! The chance to see the look of excitement and wonder on our children’s faces as we went from one place to another… priceless. Here’s hoping to another vacation and having the opportunity to share it with everyone again in the future! If I’ve tuned anyone in to exploring some of our hidden gems, or to take a stay-cation anywhere – then I’ve done my job! I challenge you, tourist or local, to take a trip on a tankful or to visit one of our lesser known venues… and surprise yourself [or your family] next vacation! And I thank you for coming along with myself [and my family] as we traveled from our own backyard to St. Augustine and home!

Going Seaside for a Bit – Lunch and Waves

reposted from the i.seekissimmee.com website...

Before heading out of St. Augustine, we figured we desperately needed to take in some rays and waves. But of course, after a day of sightseeing and mini-golf – it was time for some food! We moseyed down A1A in search of a scrumptious lunch. We found this cute little restaurant called Coquina Beach Club, just a stones’ throw from the St. Augustine shore. With a nice selection of seafood and a can-you-say-yummmm Brown Sugar Rum Bread Pudding, there was little to complain about. A children’s menu would’ve made it a bit more family friendly, but all in all, we enjoyed our meal.We had a nice sampling of their daily special and apparently got there just in time for the arrival of the local Flip Flop Til You Drop participants! What a bunch of fun people and all for a good cause. 

With a combination of full bellies and good company, we finally headed over to the beach to soak up some sun! Right now there are sections of the beach that are closed off while the City of St. Augustine continues to build a new Splash Pad area for everyone – but if you’re willing to drive a little further down, you can find a nice expanse of soft sand and beautiful sand dunes. We took turns collecting shells and playing in the waves until we finally decided to head back to Kissimmee. As for visiting the Nation’s Oldest City, we certainly had a great time doing new things! And with it just being about an hour and a half to two hours drive away – it makes a great gas-tank vacation!

St. Augustine’s Red Sightseeing Trains

reposted from the i.seekissimmee.com website...

Today was our final day in St. Augustine and we thought we’d do the whole sightseeing thing in the morning! We went back over to Ripley’s to catch a ride on the Red Train Tours [parking is free with paid train tour – which is a big bonus in both price and the ability to FIND a place to park!] and take a tour around the town. The nice thing about the sightseeing trains is that they pretty much run all day long, and you can hop off and explore and just catch the next train! If you stay on the train the whole way through, you’ll probably be sitting for about an hour – so it’s nice to just hop off and wander a bit.

There are so many interesting sites to see while on the route, so there’s pretty much anything that catches your fancy. You can stop at the Fountain of Youth or tour the Whetstone Chocolate Factory… or even better – have samples and take home a bottle for yourself from the San Sebastian Winery. The tour guides are locals and as you drive along they like to share interesting facts and local stories about each location. It gives the whole tour a little bit of historical charm.

Our final hop off was at Bayfront Mini Golf. Here you can play a round of putt putt for only $1 [with paid Sightseeing Train ticket] in between stops on the Red Train tour. It’s also a great stop to catch a ride on the boat tours (or a pirate ship), freshen up (hooray for nice clean restrooms!) or just have an ice cream bar at the Mini Golf  stop! We caught our train back to Ripley’s after a pit stop by the fort and went off in search of lunch.

Same Building – Different Freaky: Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Reposted from the i.seekissimmee.com website...

Today was a day of fun and freaky as we escaped the heat and toured the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in St. Augustine! Here you can find all kinds of oddities that vary from cool to creepy and one in a million to one of a kind. There were ancient “artifact” pieces along the way and newer designs, such as a Tim Tebow pop art created from airsoft balls. We wandered from floor to floor to look at the unique displays and experiment with some of the more interactive areas of the Museum. There was even a miniaturized version of a ferris wheel in the center of the building! As we made our way back down to the bottom, we found ourselves in the FUN part of Ripley’s Museum. Lots of visual exhibits, tricks of the eye… there were giggles and laughs abound! We exited the museum via a vortex tunnel that had us clinging to the handrails in order to escape!

Trying to find a restaurant that will suit a large family can be a bit difficult… also trying to please every palette can be fun! We ended up going to a little beachside restaurant and having chicken and shrimp fritters! Nothing like eating seafood with the scent of the ocean drifting by in the breeze. After dinner, we headed back to Ripley’s to go for a ride on the their black trains and do a Ghost Train Adventure!

The kids were both excited and nervous… not quite sure if they wanted to go to haunted sites within St. Augustine or just sit on the train and take a ride. The Ghost Tours offered by Ripley’s are so neat, and now they are getting techno-spooky! Equipped with personal EMF readers, along with one iPod per group (yep, there’s an app for that)… we were ready to start reading fields and energy and see what we could find! The tour took us to the old Hugenot cemetery and down to the fort.

Words that pop up on the EMF meter!

Our tour guides told the stories that went with the locations, answered questions and helped add a little spookiness to the fun. We even managed to snap a few spooky pictures of our own! Laurel had an apparition of a wound on her arm that wasn’t there in real life! [cue the haunted house music] The train took us back to Ripley’s, which just so happens to be a haunted mansion as well! A few of our group were a bit uneasy about actually exploring the building, so we sat it out while the rest went on ahead. On a funny note, we kept getting text messages sent to us from inside the building about how much scarier it is at night than during the day! All in all, everyone had a good time – and we thank the good folks at Ripley’s for allowing us to visit them in all their creepy and odd fun! Not wanting to drive to St. Augustine? You can always check out the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum right here in Orlando!

Up Close & Personal: Marineland

reposted from the i.seekissimmee.com website...

Today we started our “2 Days Away Staycation” in beautiful St. Augustine. One more reason I love Kissimmee, is that it’s central to so many other places, and you can do a quick getaway for a day or two to nearly anywhere in Florida. We chose St. Augustine because we love it there. History geeks that we are – what holds greater appeal than the Nation’s Oldest City? To begin our stay, we headed over to Marineland Dolphin Adventure, which recently joined forces with the Georgia Aquarium. Apparently, this fixture has been here since the early 1930’s  – something this Floridian never even knew about! The good folks at Marineland Dolphin Adventure gave us a one-on-one up close and personal tour, and I have to say, I’ve never enjoyed myself more!

Our tour guide, Meredith, who also happens to be the Education liaison [think Summer Camps, School Groups, etc.] led us to the first tank. Here we were able to meet several playful bottlenose dolphins and also learn about them via the many informative signs posted nearby. She told us about Nelly, the world’s oldest [in captivity] dolphin – who at age 59, continues to break records every day. We were able to see her “baby” and in turn, their baby… so it was neat to see the generations! We continued on past the other tanks, stopping to look and observe the many dolphins there at Marineland, before heading down below for a true “Behind the Seas” tour.

Here we were able to see other marine life in their environments, learn about feedings, safety and health of the sea creatures. The kids were particularly fond of the turtles and crabs, while Kevin and I were fascinated by the quarantine tank! Lol. Then we were led into what they call the “Event Room” – a cozy room, with historical paraphernalia that dated back to Marineland’s opening, a comfy couch, and the coolest window ever… looking right into the dolphin tank! After taking a break in the cool air, we headed back up top to really get up close and personal.

Here we met Pebbles… a playful and friendly dolphin. The kids were ecstatic at being able to feed the dolphins, and since they had no idea about the touching aspect of the “touch and feed” program there – we were totally looking forward to their reactions when it came down to the fun part! As Pebbles rolled over onto her back, the kids and I leaned down to rub her belly. All we could hear were murmurs of “coooool” and “she’s so soft” and “this is so neat” – which merely confirmed that this was the right place to go! Then we learned some tricks, like how to signal for a wave, how to ask Pebbles to do flips, and oh yeah, how to make a dolphin splash you!

We finished our tour and took home our disc full of images… did we forget to mention that a photographer will take tons of photos from your experience that you get to take with you? As most of our girls are Girl Scouts, they were all trying to plan a trip back there with their Girl Scout troop next year. For me, I’m trying to figure out a way where we can go again – as I’d never had as much fun as I did at Marineland. For visitors and locals alike – this little hidden gem is definitely my diamond in the rough!