Sea world Orlando

[pastorp]

Well the family went to sea world yesterday. I stayed home since I'm allergic to crowded Yankee pits, and I've already seen enough wild Killer whales in Alaska. But the kids sure enjoyed it. Shamu splashed the grandson, & he was quite indignant. I asked him how it felt and he said wet & cold.  all in all a great time was had by all .......

[spruce]

Glad to hear the kids had fun.
 
"Yankee pits" - that made me laugh!  Never heard that term before.  Up here in Yankeeland we call them tourist traps.

[Conan The Librarian]

Pastorp:
 
If you're in Tampa, try the Florida Aquarium. It's fabulous. Truly world class. It's not a show place like sea world, it's aquariums mostly representing fish of the Gulf. Lots of underwater displays, and super well designed. I'd say take some allergy meds and go there anyway. You may want to go by yourself because it's so engrossing you won't want to be burdened with company. It is a good day trip from the Orlando area.
 
In Orlando, Discovery Cove is related to Seaworld. It's an interactive zoo where you can swim with the dolphins and have a picture taken. It's really cool. This is a women and girls place in my opinion. Very safe. Very well supervised. Very structured. Don't bother going. If you're allergic to yankee magnets, this place would probably kill you.  It's expensive for a full day of activities, but my wife and daughter went and they really liked it. It was a good thing to do once.

[pastorp]

Thanks for the info Conan. I was born and raised in st. Petersburg but have a long history in Sumter & Citrus counties in Florida. Inverness is mostly all northern retires with quite a few Yankees mixed in. I do know the difference.

The old south has long ago retreated to a few secluded areas of Florida but is really mostly gone. The cattle ranch I'm retired on is one of those hide outs and owned by a old Florida family but the next generation to inherent it will be Yankee blood that married in, hopefully I'll be dead & gone before then.

Orlando is about 60 miles as is Tampa. So just over a hour to either place. I still know the back roads and you can get there from here without even a red light or toll booth if you know how. Course when I grew up here there was no interstate roads or toll booths. Actually Florida was open range back then. Not a fence anywhere. No trespassing signs either. Those all came after the War when the Yankee carpetbaggers moved in.

[Conan The Librarian]

Pastorp:
 
There's still quite a bit of Old Florida left, but it's mostly rural on the panhandle (aka God's Country). I've got the cross to bear of being a damyankee by virtue of having lived up north for over 20 years, but thankfully have enough southern sense to have earned a bit of confidence. Biggest mistake of my life was that I didn't settle there right away as a young man.

[Old Syko]

Funny thing how so many southerners talk about the damn Yankees.  I've spent a lot of time in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida and never been accused of bein a Yankee by anyone I got to know just a little.  When I go to Colorado I'm always told how southern I seem and sound.  Then again I ain't from the northeast either. Nobody hates crowds and tourist traps worse than me. 


On the subject of Sea World, they rank right up there with Disney World and all the other theme parks.  What a scam!  We used to love going to the beach but can't even do that anymore without a crowd.  Shoot, I don't even go to gun shows any more because of the crowds.  If I go to the store for any length of time I have a stiff neck on the way home from trying to keep an eye on all the idiots. 

[pastorp]

There are a lot of good people from all over even the northern states but there mostly rural folks. The Yankees are the ones, usually from the big cities, that want to come down here and enjoy our weather but complain about everything because its not done like they did it back home. 

Just come on down and fit in and you'll do fine. Mind your own business and let me mind mine and don't try to get laws passed that take away our rights. After all if you don't like things here you can always go home.... We won't mind. 

When I retired and moved back home last October, I still had Alaska plates on my truck. Everywhere I went people would ask me if I was from Alaska. I would say no I was born just a few miles from here, but I've been gone a few years. I just came home.

[Conan The Librarian]

I think you nailed it Pastorp. I see them too. They get excluded from stuff very quickly. There's a set of questions I'm frequently asked by people that don't recognize me or hear the non-southern accent. Do you live near x? Stuff like that. It's a way of finding out whether you are a damyankee or are fitting in. As for Tampa, I had not been there in over 20 years, but had occasion to be there last winter. That's when I saw the aquarium. I used to go to Tampa a lot long ago. I don't recognize it anymore. I was amazed at how many overpasses and such are there now. What amazed me even more is that they actually helped me get to the roads I wanted without confusing me much at all. It was pretty intimidating at first glance, I thought I'd be making infinite detours, but it was pretty logical. 
 
Old Syko: I used to travel to Orlando a lot for work. Never went to any of "the attractions". I always bee-lined it for Titusville to fish for sea trout and redfish on the flats. It was great during the summer with the long days. Get off work around 5. Haul A$$ to the hotel and get into shorts. Travel rod already rigged in the rental car. In the water by 5:45. Fished until dark, around 8:30-ish or a bit later. First time I caught a sea trout I had no idea of what it was, but I distinctly remember that it reminded me for all the world of a brown trout. I'm sure the sea trout got names based on "trout" as a generic name for fish of a certain size or shape, and not for actual trout, but I still see them that way.

[Oldshooter]

some down here call em spotted sea trout. We just call specs.