Enjoying Disneyworld and All the Decorations

We just love the Grand Floridian Hotel in all its Victorian splendor. Note the band playing on the balcony. Mickey and Minnie were dancing on the other side of the tree and posing with guests. In the far left corner was a giant gingerbread house - you can see the windows brightly lit up.

The rooms in this hotel rent for around $400 a night - but anyone is allowed in to enjoy the ambiance - eat - shop - etc. We stayed at Fort Wilderness for $96 a night - and had as much fun as anyone. You can watch the Disneyworld fireworks from this hotel at 9 PM.

The Famous Tampa Bay Hotel - Now The University of Tampa

Henry Plant owned the railroad that went down the west coast of Florida. Even in the 1800s - his trains could get tourists from New York City to Tampa in 24 hours. The travelers could leave in a winter snow storm and wake up to orange juice in Florida.

The Tampa Bay Hotel was a complex in downtown Tampa where the trains would pull right into the hotel. People could sit out the winter in tropical luxury. The hotel did not have a long run of success and it fell into disrepair. then th eUniversity of Tampa acquired it and restored it to its original spendor. Today - students stay in the old hotel room.

During the holidays - the first floor is decorated in a Victorian motif. We spent yesterday enjoy the place with our friends Carl and Marylou. They live just north of town in Zephyrhills. They have spent their winters here for the last 13 years. Their daughter Christa has her family nearby.

We will drive our camper home to Tallahassee today or make another tourist stop somewhere before we get home.

Fascism - it could never happen again - and never in America.

Everhart 9 In Tallahassee For Holidays

Here comes Santa Claus

Lulus favorite time of the year is the Christmas Holidays. She loves to decorate - bake - and cook for the family.

This year the train yard will be a little bigger. The Christmas tree will seem a little bright - and hopefully we will have nice weather for travel and playing outside.

We wish all of our friends the very best times for Christmas.

England - Almost Like Being "Bumped" On A Train

Virgin Trains refunded our train fare for being late

In November we spent 3 weeks in England. We stayed Dwight our buddy Joan in London - but Lulu had a presentation in Glasgow -for a few days. We decided to take a ride with Virgin Trains. Our circle trip was London - Glasgow - Blackpool - London.

The trains are great in Europe. They are clean - modern - and almost always on time. On the last leg - from Prescott to London Paddington Station - our train was almost an hour late. It was no big deal to us - because we were not on a tight time schedule.

All trains in Europe have dining cars. You can have some dinner and drinks. Also - a service cart comes through the aisles to sell food and beverage.

With about a half hour to go - someone came on the sound system and said - that since our train was one hour late - we would all be getting our money refund for that day's leg. It was like getting bumped - but better.

Today - back home in the USA - a check arrive for 90 pounds from The Royal Bank of Scotland. That is about $120. It is a nice surprise right before Christmas.

Enjoying A Week in Washington and Virginia With the Kids

(All pictures are taken with an iPhone 7. They are untouched - what you see is what you get.)

The African American Museum is covered with lattice.
We toured 2 of the 6 floors.

The Memorial Flame at the Holocaust Museum -
ashes from the ovens of the concentration camps
in the box of granite.

We are enjoying a week with the kids up north. First - we flew to Richmond to see our grand daughter in a play. Then we drove to Washington to spend time with our son and grandson. He asked us to help while his wife was on a trip. 

Tomorrow - we will fly home from Washington to Tallahassee - where we will prepare for the visit of all of the Everhart 9 from December 26 to 31. 

No matter how many times we have been in Washington - there are so many things to see and do. Most of the museums are free. On weekends in the winter - there are no groups of tourists. You get to see a lot more displays. 

Sunday - we went to the Washington Zoo. It is a nice one mile walk from Keith's home. Monday - we visited the African American Museum. It is new and usually crowded but on a Monday morning - we had it to ourselves. Tuesday - we walked the two miles to the Holocaust Museum. It is now 25 years old - we have visited it before - but usually it is crowded. This time it reminded me of an empty mausoleum. There are four floors but again - we had to get home to make supper for the little one - so we only skimmed 2 floors. 

We have one more day left - before we return home to Tallahassee - early Thursday morning. Starting in January there will be a non-stop flight from Washington to Tallahassee. But we will have to be content with Washington to Atlanta to Tallahassee. We have been upgraded to bigger seats. 

When the Nazis came.....the Holocaust Museum

Lions and Tigers at the Zoo

Watching the Animals in 53 degree weather

Lots of indoor displays

Daniel Webster - Massachusetts Ave 

Daniel Websters Statue as we passed by several times. He is considered one of the great 5 Senators. He was elected from New Hampshire to the House - and from Massachusetts as a Senator. He was also Secretary of State for 3 presidents. He was a strong advocated of liberty and union. 

Chuck Berry's Cadillac - African American Museum

Robert Johnson - father of rock and roll.

Jesse Owens - 4 time Olympic Champion
in Hitler's 1936 games

FaceTime with Mommy. 

Train yards around the
National Christmas Tree

More trains.

Keith has two private off street parking spots on his property. They are 20 feet long. Our camper is 19 feet long. This summer - we plan to drive our camper on a grand tour of - Richmond - Washington - Tamaqua - Knoebel's Grove. We are looking forward to having our own "little cozy condo" in Washington DC.