Leaving The Real Florida

We took my sister to Orlando today so that she could start her conference.  We spent some time exploring a little bit of Orlando and doing some touristy things while we waited for her to finish up her first day.  It was fun to see the sights.  Orlando is only about 30 miles from the park, but it feels like another planet.
We spent most of our time looking at man-made structures and places, but there were a few natural items mixed in... well, living things anyway.  Most of the plants that we saw were exotic and even the little Anole lizards were the larger, Cuban Anoles instead of the native, Green Anoles.  The exotic plants aren't a problem because they are contained.  Exotics only become a problem when they are invasive and are allowed to spread and compete with native plants.  They were pretty to look at, that's for sure.



When the first day of the conference was over, we spent a little more time visiting and walked around the area.  We got to see a beautiful sunset and then drove home again in view of a beautiful moon covered in clouds.  I will be back to work again tomorrow and back to the regularly scheduled events.


Thought of the Day  #57
Moving from Branford, FL to Apopka, FL was a bit of a shock.  We went from having one small grocery store 6 miles away and regular shopping 30 miles away to having our choice of several Publix stores and anything else we need within a 5 mile radius.  We have been adjusting to "city-life" and re-learning the value of convenience while still missing the quiet, slower paced life that we left behind.  A short visit to Orlando made us appreciate our park oasis so much more.  Apopka felt like Branford once we got home today.