Twotravel.bc: Orlando and St Augustine

We checked into Marriott Cypress Harbour for a week. It was sure great that Deb got to spend a few more days with us. We walked each morning and watched a couple of movies (The Help and Facing the Giants). We worshiped on Sunday at Central Parkway Baptist Church. On Monday we went to Ghirardelli at Downtown Disney. We did stay up on New Year’s Eve. We took Deb to the Tampa airport on January 1 for her to fly home.

Bob and I watched a movie each evening. We have had these but just never watched them – Over the Hedge, Music and Lyrics, Wagons East. I also finished reading Playboy of the Western World and am working on Keats.

On Sunday, January 6 we moved to the Sheraton Vistana Resort. It was a nice unit but certainly not well equipped in the kitchen area even though the kitchen itself was great. Monday we spent the day at Epcot.

We were able to see some of the characters.

We did every ride and show that we wanted except for the Test Trak. It had a 2 hour wait. At the American Adventure we listened to a couple of songs by this group. They mentioned that there were different State songs and they hoped we enjoyed the one they sang. It was "Back Home Again in Indiana" which I thought was really cool.

We even stayed for Illuminations.

Our main reason for being in Orlando this time was to volunteer for the 2013 Disney Health & Fitness Expo for the benefit of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. On our first day we worked at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as volunteers for the Kids Races. We checked in, received a shirt and a lunch. Our shift was from 1:30 -7:30 pm. We worked out at the field setting up the snacks and then helping to match kids with parents after the race via numbers on the kid’s bib and the parent’s matching paper strip. Mickey Mouse even made an appearance. The kids ran races of 100 yards, 200 yards, 400 yards, the Mickey Mile and the diaper dash. It was fun but definitely very hot.

Our second volunteer shift began the next day at 4 am and we had to check in at the volunteer tent in the Epcot parking area. Here we received a red jacket, snack & water. We worked at the starting line, checking folks for bibs as they entered the waiting area for the Family 5K Fun Run. There were over 10,000 runners. We also helped at the finished line to keep the runners from stopping and bunching up.

Saturday was our third shift and again we had to check in at 4 am which meant getting up at 2 am. This time we parked at the far end of Downtown Disney and checked in at the tent. We received a light blue jacket, snack &water and then headed to our bus so that we could be taken to our work station. We were at a water stop for the Half Marathon at mile marker 12.3. We learned to set up the tables, fill the table with cups and the cups with some water and make three total layers. Then we handed out water to the runners as they came by. There were over 27,000 runners for this race. When finished we were bused back to Downtown Disney for checkout and after which we went back and took a nap or at least I did.

Dan & Vicki Alley - who got us started volunteering.

Volunteers from Taylor University

Three layers high

Sunday was our fourth shift and the full marathon. We didn’t need to check-in until 4:30 am because we were working a water stop at mile 19.6 so we got an extra 1/2 hour of sleep. This time we received a yellow jacket and then boarded our bus for transport to the working area. Again we set up and handed out water. This was a longer day and we finished about noon. We had an awesome time. We worked on the Alley Family Team today and were very busy. We sure did sleep well Sunday night!

Checking in

Bob & Coleen, Diane & Steve Oldham

Our last time at Downtown Disney for now.

Monday we drove to St Augustine to visit our friends, Rhonda and Lanie Creech. Unfortunately we missed Lanie as he had to be back in Indiana for the week but we visited with Rhonda and also Donna & Chris Losch. Walks on the beach, morning sunrises and reading were the order of business. The girls even put a couple of puzzles together.

We went into St. Augustine and walked around through some of the shops and along the edge of the fort.

On Wednesday Bob and I went to the St Augustine Lighthouse on Anastasia Island.

Then we went to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument which is a fort build by the Spanish from 1672 – 1695. Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for the fortified harbor and city of La Habana, Cuba in 1763 but it was returned to Spain at the close of the American Revolution in 1783. We found it a very interesting and unusual fort.

We made a stop at Ft Matanza but didn’t tour it because we missed the boat by 15 minutes and the film was not being shown because of remodeling. We plan to see it another time.

It was a quick few days and Thursday found us traveling north toward Indiana. We stopped near Macon, Georgia at the Ocmulgee National Monument. There were earthlodges and pottery that has been found.