BAD BEES!

I was in Lake Mary, FL when I came across this hand written sign on the side of the road that read BAD BEES.

There was an arrow pointing across the street to a small wooded area, and although I think the sign may have been a warning, I was intrigued. I took a look around where the arrow was pointing and saw no bees. It was kind of disappointing that I didn't get to see these Bad Bees for myself.

I bet there is a good story that goes with this sign...

Miniature Train @ the Central Florida Zoo

The Central Florida Zoo in Sanford, FL has a miniature train that loops around the wooded area surrounding the parking lot. It's a cramped ride for adults, but I always enjoy taking the ride around anyway. Here are some pictures from my last visit to the zoo in 2006:

Christmas in Celebration, FL

I happened to pay a visit to Celebration, FL when I decided to eat at the Market Street Cafe. In December, Disney's planned community has some interesting stuff downtown. This includes snow machines that pump out fake snow every hour and nice Christmas decorations all over town. These are pictures taken in Celebration from that evening:










This is a video of some of the fake snow in Downtown Celebration, followed by a house with Christmas lights synchronized with Christmas music and music from Epcot's Illuminations show.

Backyard Turtle

I was outside the other day in my yard, and this turtle wandered by. I got my camera and took these pictures:





It was a little hard to tell since I'm not a turtle expert and his shell was covered in algae, but I am going to assume that this was a Florida Redbelly Cooter. Luckily, this turtle didn't end up in any swimming pools, and I didn't see it squished on any nearby roads, so hopefully it got to wherever it was going.

Speaking of turtles and other reptiles, check out this website. I probably spent at least an hour reading about many of Florida's reptiles that I've never come across.

Longwood Christmas Parade 2008

Every year, Santa Claus come around on a fire truck through Longwood, FL. In the past, it has always been Santa on the truck, and not much else. This year it seems that Longwood has expanded their Santa procession into a mini parade, with fire trucks, police cars, some candy throwing floats, and Santa. It was nowhere on the scale of the Orlando Christmas Parade, but this was kind of better. The parade comes to your house...

Insects #2

Dragonfly:


This spider built a new web every night for over a month between two citrus trees in my yard. I was never able to identify why type of spider it was, but here it is eating a roach:


This beetle was running around the parking lot at the Congo River Miniature Golf Course on International Drive in Orlando. It was huge, and had large claw-like front legs (hidden under the wood). Thanks to the comments on this post, I have been informed that this is a type of water bug commonly known as a Toe Biter. I'm glad my toes were covered...


More Florida Insects here.

Mcdonald's Christmas Parade 2008

I went to see the Christmas Parade in Orlando on December 14, 2008. Formerly, this was the Orlando Christmas Parade, but it seemed a corporate sponsor bought the parade with the official name being the Mcdonald's Christmas Parade. The parade circled around Lake Eola and was nice and long.

It started out with the police.




Then Ronald Mcdonald's float.



There were several of these antique cars advertising Cabot Cheese. Cheese is tasty, but it doesn't go with antique cars in my opinion.


These horses were behind a float carrying a bubble machine. The bubbles seemed to be making the horses very nervous.


Johnny Martino from the Godfather movies. He was handing out autographed postcards of himself.


This float was driven all the way to Orlando from a high school in Palm Beach.


Juggler...


A pony pulling a person that seemed to big to be pulled by ponies.


The Geico Gecko...


Followed by the Tijuana Flats Iguana.


Apparently people are scared of clowns. There was a group of clowns in the parade, besides from Ronald Mcdonald. This clown in particular actually left the parade route to chase down somebody with coulrophobia across a little park at the intersection of Magnola and Palmetto. It was great.


The Orlando Fire Department.


This is Sir Gus the Kissing Camel. He travels around with the Shriners to events like this. The Shriners stick a carrot in a volunteer's mouth, and Gus reaches down and takes the carrot, thus kissing the volunteer in the process. I was kissed by Sir Gus once in Downtown Longwood.


And finally, Santa Claus at the end of the parade. Unfortunately, there was no Krampus traveling along with Santa. There should be a few of them in every Christmas parade!