Blog

Once in a Life-Time Gift? Fighter Pilot Adventure

For those looking for that once in a life time adventure to mark a major milestone, such as, a 50th birthday, consider flying a fighter jet.  Our Kissimmee vacation rental condo is located just over 1 hour away from Tampa where you can enjoy your adventure.

Do you say autumn colour, fall colors, fall foilage, or something else and when is the best time to go?

With our British heritage but the influence of our neighbours to the south you will see both autumn/fall, colour and color being used fairly interchangably.

As for the best time to go it depends if you are looking for a specific tree/bush species or the overall effect.  Being nature it is next to impossible to pick out exact dates well in advance.  It depends on temperature, rainfalls, water levels, wind and other factors.  Generally between mid-September to mid-October you are likely to see some colour, often mainly yellow.  If you wish to play the odds then the last week of September to first week of October is likely your best bet but we truly don’t know and certainly don’t make any guarantees.

Some 3rd party advice on fall colors in the Canmore/Banff area

Difference between a Larch and a Tamarack – same genus, different species.

 

Misery Bay Nature Reserve & beach

Do NOT let the name fool you… Misery Bay is a wonderful 1005 hectare provincial park and is located about an hour drive from our cottage and is a great way to spend a with the friends and family.   There are hiking trails, beaches, a board walk and more. 

This is the Misery Bay Visitor & Interpretive Centre, it’s only open from May 24 weekend to September long weekend.  Washrooms are located inside.   Trail maps (below)are located in boxes all year long.

The first time we visited this park we hiked the Forest Trail which takes you to the most amazing large rare rock called alvar.  

 A few years later my mom, aunt & me spent a girls weekend up at our cottage.  I remembered the amazing rock “beach” so I tried to take them there (……but I am not good at reading maps! and I am directionally challenged!), so we took the Lakeshore Trail to the wolf den trail…and to my surprise we ended up at this WONDERFUL beach! 

While we were hanging out at this beach we watched a pair of bald eagles soaring above the beach.

And on our way out of the trail we spotted a couple of Snowshoe Hares… this is a rather blurry photo of the smaller of the two we spotted.  There are a few of these rabbits on our property and in the winter they turn white!  Often spotted by the fire wood shed.

 Misery Bay is a wonderful place to take a picnic and hang out for the day – REMEBER TO PACK IN & PACK OUT your trash because there is no garbage collection on the beach.

Boggy Creek Airboat Ride

If you like adventure and nature you will LOVE air boat rides!!!  These boats get up to 50 miles an hour! 
There are many outfits around that provide airboat rides but we chose Boggy Creek because it’s fairly close to our Vacation Rental home in Kissimmee (they are located on East Lake Tohopekaliga and it’s a about 30-40 minute drive) and they have a high standard for safety.  

There are several tours available – check out thier website for details  www.bcairboats.com

We took the basic  30 min tour for about $26 but there are plenty of coupons  – check brouchure stands at hotels/restaurants and even our club house at Windsor Palms).

  Just on the 30 minute tour we spotted many birds including this Greater Egret.  If you are an avid birder they have private tours which will allow you to get up close to several species. 

 I am sure with the private tour you can request that they look for specific birds and stop
for you to take photos – our tour stopped but since we weren’t the only people on board
it wasn’t right to make them wait for us to get the perfect shot! 

OR we would have been able to post the picture of the pair of Bald Eagles we saw pearched
in these trees…  but I am not going to bore you with blurry photos!

 

 It’s a fairly noisy ride but they provide these SUPER cool looking protective ear gear
don’t worry about looking like a dork ’cause everyone else is doing it!

Our Captain/Tour Guide pulled over to show us a gator that was hanging out on the shoreline… which just
confirms (in my mind) that you should NOT go swimming in lakes in Florida!  

It was a worth while trip to Lake Tohopekaliga!  and NEXT time we are signing up for the night
tour – I AM SURE they see lots of gators on that tour!

 

The Richard Petty Ride-a-long Experience at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando

This is no ordinary Disney ride boys & girls!  These are REAL 600hp NASCAR automobiles.  I only did a ride along, but there are 4 different programs available & with a little training you can even drive the car yourself! 

Here’s me and my driver Dave, he drove wonderfully fast!  About 140mph! … that’s about 225 km/hr

And here’s the car!  I don’t know why I am posing like Vanna White, this is not Wheel of Fortune!  I think I actually went to hug the car but it was REALLY hot….

Here’s a VIDEO of me racing around the track http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay8B_D9_OvQ

Here’s a VIDEO of me getting out of the car Dukes of Hazard style http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSxoyxkeun8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

AND on December 24th the in car video that the nice folks at Richard Petty taped for me showed up in my mail box – Merry Christmas to me!!!!!  ENJOY! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clUjvokg08Q

 

 I was supposed to do the Richard Petty Rookie Experience which includes class room lessons & 8 laps of solo driving in an authentic NASCAR around the speedway!… I LOVE cars & speed, so this was my dream come true!  So?…why didn’t I do it?  When we arrived at the Walt Disney World Speedway the track was wet…I haven’t driven standard in many years….I knew I would go faster and get a better experience if I got a pro to drive… and THAT’S my reason for not doing the Rookie Driving Experience and I am sticking to it!  PLEASE do not ask me again!

Despite my disappointment in myself (for not doing the rookie experience as planned), it was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone who likes NASCAR or even just driving fast!

Next Page »