Happy 4th Anniversary To Us- in Orlando!

We woke up at 4:00 AM in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Why that early?
 Lyndie chauffeured us to the airport to catch our 5:55 AM check-in and boarding on Southwest Airlines to Midway Airport in Chicago.
Then on to Orlando, Florida, for a week.

Yes!  I am sixty something, something and have never stepped foot in sunny Florida.

I put Florida on my bucket list after I got here.  

Can I cross it off or does that count?

Early morning sunrise from the sky.

We flew through many clouds the closer we got to our destination.

I was reminded of the Peanuts cartoon by Charles Schultz...

Lucy Van Pelt: Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. 

 I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by.  

If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud's formations.  

What do you see, Linus?

Linus Van Pelt: Well, those clouds up there look to me

 like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean.

[points up]

Linus Van Pelt:  That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Ekins,

 the famous painter and sculptor.  And that group of clouds over there...

[points]

Linus Van Pelt: ... gives me the impression of the Stoning of Stephen. 

 I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side.

Lucy Van Pelt:  Uh huh.  That's very good.  What do you see in the clouds,

 Charlie Brown?

Charlie Brown: Well... I was going to say a duckie and a horsie, but I changed my mind.

I was looking for Mickey Mouse.

Doug says he sees puppies.

The pilot did show us Disney World and Epcot Center from the sky.  

He said Epcot looked like a big Golf ball.

I think I got it in my photo.

There is a golf ball in there somewhere.

Our first meal was seafood at Joe's Crab Shack.
The food was really good.  

We tried their BBQ Dry Rub Shrimp. Spicy, yes!
 It was the best shrimp I have tasted.  

And as part of the appetizer, we ordered Crispy Loaded Crab Fries.  

You do have to get crab at Joe's!

Here is a recipe I found on Pinterest from Everyday Southwest.

BBQ Spice Rub

BBQ Dry Spice Rub

This is the complete recipe for Grilled Shrimp Taco with BBQ Spice rub from Everyday Southwest.

These look similar to those we had at Joe's.

We thought we were going to miss the rain today.
I text messages back home when we arrived

that it was sunny and a balmy 86 degrees here.

Well, we just finished our lunch and walked outside to an ominous looking sky.

And by the time we drove our car back across the street to our resort,

 it was raining.  

The shower only lasted about 15 minutes, and it was sunny again.

Westgate Blue Tree Resort.

Nestled on 23 tropically landscaped acres, this resort lies just 3 miles from 

Walt Disney World,

5 miles from Sea World Orlando,

and 7 miles from Universal Orlando.

This is the pool area outside our room.

This resort has four pools, all heated but one.

And hot tubs to go with the pools.

A little Florida flora.

And more sunshine.

Today Florida is one big sauna...pretty humid.

Our view from the patio.

A beautiful end to the beginning of a new adventure!

Tomorrow is Venice Beach to look for shark's teeth 

and get some sun and sand and surf!

According to Trip Advisor, Venice, Florida, is the shark tooth capital of the world

 and is known for its spectacular shoreline.