A short long weekend.

[kv0925]

It was a 3-day weekend, but it felt shorter because we stayed busy--the weather was glorious, mostly sunny with highs in the 60s. Seasonable, for a change, and we did not waste the chance to be out and about in it!

Saturday I saw that a B-17 I wanted to spend some time with was going to be at the Ocala airport, which is about an hour away from home. So I suggested we go up there, and check out some new parks in the area as well.



So we started out in Inverness, at a city park called Whispering Pines. Nothing spectacular about the place, but the playground had the biggest rope-climbing tower thing we've seen, and the girls enjoyed that quite a bit.




Hallie doesn't seem to share my fear of heights.


But it didn't stop me from getting up there too!








From there we went a little afield to Rainbow Springs State Park, which is one I've wanted to go check out for years. And we were impressed! I didn't realize it, but like several other Florida state parks this one used to be a private tourist attraction--in this case, it closed down in the mid-1970s, and the state reopened it as a park about 20 years later.


And like all the springs, the water is always 72F or so, which was warmer than the air this weekend. The girls would have loved to dive right in, but we didn't bring bathing suits. We told them we'll come back on a warmer day!


A map of the park in its privately-owned heyday. It had boats with underwater windows, a steam riverboat, a little zoo, rides, the works! It's neat to see what's left of places like this, and we're glad they still exist in some form--but there's always that wish that we could have visited when they were really going strong.


The state did keep the (man-made) waterfalls operating, which is nice.




A rare shot of the girls all cooperating with the photographer!


Amy's a ham.


Waterfalls are rare around here, so man-made is better than nothing!



From the park we headed to the Ocala airport, where I expected just the B-17 and a Ford Trimotor airliner to be greeting a handful of tuned-in aviation buffs. Instead we found a packed parking lot and a whole planes-and-cars show going on, called Wings Over Ocala. It was a good and bad thing, as I'll explain.


It was great to see all the old cars (like this Hudson), which I also dig. There was a good variety, from early Fords to souped-up roadsters oozing character to classics from the 40s and up, plus some new sports cars.


But the main attractions for me are the planes. This is the EAA's 1928 Ford Trimotor, very cool.


Radial engines are just sweet.


The crowd made it tough to get good angles without including lots of random people, unfortunately.


But Hallie and I were able to get into the Trimotor without much trouble. She's the only one who seems interested in this sort of thing.


I love the decor, curtains and wall sconce lights. It's like a flying train car, which I guess was exactly the idea at the time.


The B-17 (G model) is the EAA's bird, "Aluminum Overcast." This makes the 3rd Flying Fortress I've met in person, and would have been the second I got to climb around in. But there was quite a line of people awaiting their turn for that, and it didn't seem worth paying the admission and waiting in line just to have to rush through it. So we decided to maybe catch it on its Orlando stop this weekend, which I think is not part of a show like this was, so shouldn't be as crowded. Or so I hope!


Hallie checking out a Florida Forestry Service helicopter.


And an SNJ-5, the Navy's version of the AT-6 Texan flight trainer.

Sunday we thought we'd go to the Ikea store, but it didn't open until 11 so first we went to a park we like in that part of town. It contains a children's farm, and we like to visit the animals, including a few friendly cats.




There's a little kids' activity trail through the woods, with some musical instruments...


...things to climb on...


...and a place to build with big wooden blocks.


They had fun making stacks as tall as themselves.


And knocking them down again, of course.


Gopher tortoise.


Hermione on the playground, and then it was lunchtime!

The point of going to Ikea was to get another little desk chair for the girls. Amy, always wanting to be just like her older sisters, has been wanting a computer of her own. So we cleared a spot for her to join her sisters in their little computer room, and after lunch we went to Office Depot to get a laptop PC for Hallie (we offered it to Hermione first, of course, but she hates change and declined). That way Amy could have Hallie's old computer and everyone is happy. While at Office Depot we found a task chair Heather liked on sale, so we got that too (which meant we blew off the Ikea trip) and she gave her old one to Amy instead. The final result:


Everyone's happy! Hallie ends up with a smaller screen than she had before, but she doesn't seem to mind. We went with a laptop because 3 desktops in this little room would probably turn it into an oven in the summer, not to mention the electricity bill from the PCs themselves. Eventually we'll probably switch the other 2 out with laptops as well.

Monday was MLK Day, which I get off from work. It's a strange day to get off, really, since it's not a holiday for everyone, and it comes so close on the heels of Christmas and New Year's. But oh well.

We'd been planning an excursion to EPCOT, since we hadn't been there for a while and the weather was still lovely. But Heather decided she'd rather stay home for some quiet and productive time, so I took the girls.


First stop: The Seas, to ride the Nemo ride and check out the aquariums.




I liked the effect of the dolphin in the window.


Cuttlefish are oddly adorable.


We had some time to waste between FastPasses, so we detoured to the famous laminar jumping fountains near the Imagination pavilion. We've never really made it a point to go here since it's a little tucked away, but I don't know why--the girls had a blast, and ended up getting a bit soaked.






And I had fun with long-ish exposures.










This circle is one of the spots where I've taken photos over the years--I'll end up with a neat collection of shots of the girls growing bigger here. :)


I was rocking the new 24mm f/2.8 pancake lens again, which I am digging. Not ideal for close-up portraits, though.


And that was the weekend! Now back to work. Hope everyone is having a good week so far!