Florida (20 Sept 2011)

Here are some holiday snapshots of our family vacation in Florida. That's me behind that manatee. And that's the NASA GRAIL rocket on its way to the moon. Add some alligator spotting and you have three authentic experiences from the holiday. Every other experience was hugely artificial - but was thoroughly enjoyable all the same. That's Florida I guess!

So here is my review - loved the manatees, loved the rocket, loved Lake Tohopegaliga and the wildlife; we gave Disney a miss (except for Downtown Disney ... does that count?) .. but we had two days of being flung about at Universal Studios and a quite amazing day at Discovery Cove - frankly everything about this resort is pretty fantastic, especially the reef where I snorkelled happily for hours. All good stuff. I put on almost seven pounds of weight in ten days. If I was to live in Florida for a year I wouldn't fit through another door ever again. It was a great time - really good to be doing it with the family (Sue and Jon and Zoe and Ian). Back in Shropshire I miss the sunshine but I don't miss the freeways and the billboards and the endless supply of retail outlets.