More... FLORIDA!!

 Miami Beach!

We left Crystal River and headed further south into Florida, through Tampa and into Naples, on the East Coast. Here we went to the Corkscrew Sanctuary. This is a 3 mile boardwalk style stroll through the swamp lands and prairie's of Southern Florida. Home to Alligators, frogs, bird life, plant life, snakes, insects, butterflies, puma and bear.

Our walk was quite pleasant for the first 2 miles until we heard a deep rhythmic growling off in the distance....OK sounds like a bear, but surely not this far down south, just because the brochure said we may see them in the area. Must be wrong and pushed on. As we got closer on the board walk, viewing beautiful birds and plant life, the noise got louder, deeper and we became more cautious. Has to be a bear we said eating it's prey. It was frightening! I felt so sick and scared. We contemplated walking back along the boardwalk so as the noise did not get closer. We hadn't laid eyes on another soul all morning from that point on. Great.....the bear is eating every person that walks up the last mile. It was the loudest deepest growl sound my ears had ever heard. So much so that I pulled out my mobile phone and was ready to dial 911 for when the bear took David first. The kids and I walked in tow behind him.

We rounded the corner to where the sound was at it's peak and there in the swamp was the biggest alligator and out of it's mouth came that deathly growling sound we had all been so scared of! No one told ME that Alligators make a noise - especially like a bear!

 I flopped to the park bench, (on the safety of our boardwalk) in relief and watched his deathly eye's dip beneath the lilly pads of the swamp.

As my heart rate returned to normal and I put my phone away, a small black snake slithered across my feet! I jumped up on the bench as quick as lightening and was ready to get the hell out of there! The swamps were no place for 'the princess'....the kids and David thought it was now hilarious!

Next day David and the kids wanted to go to the Everglades on our way across to Miami, and ride on an air boat through the swamp in search of Alligators. Yeah right....think I'm gonna' set foot on an Alligator swamp after yesterday......? Well guess what.....I did!

We ended up sighting 3 or 4 more Alligators and met some fairly funny 'swamp people'. At the conclusion of the ride we went to their quaint little Diner and ate 'Gator tail' and 'Frogs legs' - Not too bad actually!

Drove the rest of the way to our next place for the week - Fort Lauderdale (just north of Miami beach).

The beach is the first picture above - the white sand, the clear warm water and the beautiful people. This place is incredible!

Our accommodation had an oven!! Our accommodation had a real full size refrigerator!! Our accommodation had real metal cutlery!! Our accommodation had a couch!! Oh how you miss the simple things in life, when you are travelling.

We went straight to the grocery store to buy food to be able to have home cooked meals every night for the entire week!

At our hotel the 'Driftwood Beach Club' we met the most beautiful people. All guests checked in on around the same day and we were all staying for the week. The resort pool was central to all rooms and the beach was just across the street. Guests from Chicago, Florida itself, England, Italy, and all up the East Coast of America gather here for the same week each year as part of their time share. They welcomed us very quickly as part of their extended family and were very interested to hear of our travels. We were made to feel so welcome and like part of their big family, of which we truly appreciated.

Pictured above is a 'mock wedding' that we held one afternoon at the resort and the lovely couple asked if Jackson and Makalea could be included as their 'ring bearer' and 'flower girl'. Bathing suits and board shorts were acceptable attire of course!

It was a very funny day/night of which we will treasure; along with the entire week of enjoyable and interesting conversations, meals and drinks, with such amazing people in our memories and hearts forever. Looking forward to catching up and/or keeping in touch with you all.

On one of the days, Team Connor took the trip down through Key Largo to Key West (the furthest point of the USA - only 90 miles from Cuba) - take a look at the map and see where it lies off the coast of Florida. We hired a white Mustang convertible for the day, top down and drove for 4 hours to get there across bridges that go for miles across the ocean to link the islands together. Makalea loved that convertible so much, cruising along the Miami and Florida Beaches with the top down, I don't think the smile came off her face the entire day. 

A very cool day out!!

Happy Father's Day Dad's (in Australia)!

Good night all!

Love - Team Connor USA.  XOXOXOX

GEORGIA, ALABAMA and a little of FLORIDA

You can't leave the state of Tennessee without a trip to the Lynchburg - Jack Daniel's Distillery! A free tour that leads you through the history of the small township of 5,740 residence and the worldly distributed whiskey that is produced solely from Lynchburg. They hold an inventory of 3 years supply of Jack Daniels here in their cellars. Australia being their 3rd largest importer! Ironically the town lies in what is called a "Dry County." This means that the governing body of this jurisdiction prohibits the sale of alcohol from the premises.

Crossing over the border into Sweet home Alabama (State # 31). Very pretty country side from the minimal amount we saw before we headed to our motel for the night. VERY strong southern accents!

Over the border, crossing our last time zone for the trip (Eastern Time Zone), into Georgia (state # 32).
Headed straight for the big city of Atlanta. Home to the 1996 Olympics and 5 MILLION people! This city is so big the highways are 14 lanes wide (7 lanes going each direction)! Headed to the Coca - Cola Museum! Very cool! Atlanta is the home of coke.

3 floors of Coke history and memorabilia. Top floor - taste testing!! Coke products from around the world - the old 'Tab', 'Mello Yello' & 'Root Beer'.  Awesome - Thailand, Asia, North America, China etc. In April of 1985, Coca Cola announced that they were going to change the original recipe altering the world famous taste. It was met with a firestorm of complaints & objections from callers to the head office, letters and protesters in the street, that the 'new coke', which they did launch, was only on Grocery store shelves for 79 days before it was never to be produced again.

The Atlanta skyline was nothing short of impressive, however we did wonder where all these 5 million people were. Atlanta has an underground! Yes...not enough room on top of the earth, so lets go underground. Shops, restaurants, cafes, tunnels and subways - all below the street surface.

A 6 hour drive the next day saw us finally cross the long awaited state #33 of FLORIDA! We love it already. Compare it to Cairns back home in Australia so far. Weather is a little humid but pleasant. Have travelled down the west coast of the state so far. Scenery is very flat (all at sea level). Everything is very tropical, palm tree's, great looking beaches and rivers etc. Stayed the night at Crystal river, before we head on down to Naples. Atmosphere is VERY relaxed and the people are very welcoming so far. Looking forward to our stay here.

The entire East Coast of America (except for Florida) from the Carolina's upwards, at this very moment are preparing for the onset of Hurricane Irene. It touched down this morning in North Carolina as a Category 1, but does expect to strengthen as it moves north towards New York City by Sunday. We haven't really felt much more than a little wind here today. 12 states have been declared in a state of emergency of which some low lying places have already had area's of mandatory evacuation. We wish them all the best of luck for the weekend ahead.

That's about it from us. More on our Florida adventures soon, as we are here for two weeks - stay tuned, they'll be good!

Love Team Connor USA.
XOXOXOXOXOXO

Memphis and Nashville - TENNESSEE.

Took two days of driving to get out of the state of Texas, scenery became a little nicer towards the north east. Crossed over the border into Louisiana (state #27). On to our hotel for the night in Benton. Just outside of Little Rock in Arkansas (state #28). Touched into the state of Mississippi (#29) and up into Memphis, Tennessee (state #30) - home of the King of Rock and Roll - Elvis Presley!

Had lunch in the world famous 'pedestrian only' Beale Street. A carnival like atmosphere where BBQ and burger joints are in every second shop. I wanted to eat at what I thought looked like a great BBQ place - called BB Kings! Till David told me that BB King was 'only' one of the greatest jazz musicians of his time - and not a BBQ joint!

Went to Graceland! Very impressive. Were not allowed to take much photography inside the mansion unfortunately. Elvis bought the mansion back in 1957 for a total of $100,000 as a 22 year old. After his divorce to Priscilla in 1973, he redecorated it with wall to wall shag pile carpets and vinyl, and 70's furniture (in fact the kitchen looked quite similar to mine at home in Ballarat)! Then on August 16th, 1977 Elvis died of heart failure in his upstairs bathroom. Priscilla made the decision in 1982, to open up Graceland for the public to tour through and remember his contribution to music for years to come.
We arrived there the day after the anniversary of Elvis' death. There we many tributes and wreaths still on his grave sight out by his pool. Many of his cars were on display, loads of gold and platinum records and most amazing was his wardrobe of costumes! Kenny thought it was terrific - just hangin' out in the King's house!

Off to Nashville, approx 4 hours away. Not only is Nashville the capital city of Tennessee, it is also the Country Music capital of the world - also know to the locals as Nash Vegas! Very cool place. Population of over 590,000 people!
Has a downtown strip similar to Memphis where live music is playing on every street corner and out of every bar and restaurant in town. We strolled down the street enjoying all that Nashville had to offer. Margarita's, Brisket, Ribs and yes.....line dancing! The 'Wildhorse Saloon' was offering free lessons, so off we went! Film crews were driving down the street making music clips, budding young singers and musicians busked on every corner. At least people here know where Australia is, thanks to the great Keith Urban (who is just idolised in Nashville)!
Cowgirl boots are the most worn fashion item here in Tennessee, so thought we'd fit in with the crowd - denim shorts, boots and off we go! David tried hard to find a Cowboy hat too, but to no avail. Instead we just went and saddled up our horses and went on a trail ride early one morning. An hour ride in the beautiful surrounds of Mt. Juliet saw Team Connor take to the trails of the bush. Jackson and Makalea did really well except Jackson's horse wouldn't let anyone else's pass his, so he had to be in the lead.

Saturday night we'd bought tickets to a show called 'The Grand Ole Opray'. For those who don't know what this is, it is a live produced country music concert that goes straight onto the airwaves of radio for millions of listeners to enjoy from the comfort of their homes. It has been running for approx 70 - 80 years and is a lavish tribute to classic Nashville country music. The auditorium seated 4,400 people. To my surprise there was something for everyone! From very old country singers to the ever popular modern day artists... Dad - you would've absolutely loved it!!
Everyone from Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Garth Brooks and Keith Urban have all performed on that stage at some point in their career. Had the pleasure to see and hear "Little Jimmy Dickens", the ripe old age of 90 and still going strong!

Leaving Tennessee tomorrow on our way through Georgia and into Florida.....baby!

Start warming the weather up down there for us in Oz.
Love to y'all.....

Team Connor USA.  XOXOXOXO