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Today we headed for Cooperstown, NY, to see the Hall of Fame Parade.
With us, there were another 40.000 enthusiastic baseball fans who cheered when the drove by.
Great experience, lots of baseball fans, looking for pictures and signatures of past baseball players.
Having our breakfast first, to start a wonderful day!
On our way towards Cooperstown we drove through the City of Amsterdam. Well, city…. a small town!
When we saw Amsterdam we thought of all the Dutch we might see but unfortunately none of of that.
At the city hall we atleast were able to take some picture showing that we indeed were in Amsterdam.
While driving further we had to stop to do some groceries, so we stopped at Walmart. A megastore with two floors. In the middle there was an escalator and you were even able to take your cart with you! We have seen a lot of funny things while visiting The USA for the last 25 years but we had never seen something like this.
Finally the day arrived, Wednesday July 23rd, we are on our way to The USA for the next 5-6 months. Our destination is Boston, Ma.
We will be touring New England for about 10 days.
When we complete this trip we are heading to our final destination for the remainder of the year 2014: Florida!
What better place to explore than the town where it’s Christmas year-round? About 20 miles from Orlando a city called Christmas is located along Highway 50. A small, post office is on your right right after seeing the green “Christmas” sign that marks the entrance to the town. It is decorated for the holidays year round with a holiday wreath on the outside and a tree in the lobby. During summer it is a quiet place, but prior to the holidays, they line up for the post office to mail their holiday cards and letters with the unique postmark of “Christmas, FL.”.
The city has been named after Fort Christmas a 25-acre park that features a traditional Florida “Cracker” house, a school house and lunchroom, seven pioneer homes, a sugar cane mill and historical farming equipment. Visitors will uncover a wealth of historical information. The historical park also includes several picnic pavilions, a unique themed children’s playground, a baseball diamond, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts.
Also located in the area is Jungle Adventures Nature Park. The larger-than-life alligator marks the entrance to the park where a number of exotic animals call home. Besides the animal displays, the park advertises jungle adventure shows, a jungle cruise and more. They are open everyday of the year from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm rain or shine.
Besides the small X-mas gift shop, there really isn’t too much to do but it is always fun, especially in during the holiday season, to bring a visit to the city of Christmas.
In 1953 a building, that once was a tool shed, was converted into the post office after a fire destroyed the original Ochopee Post Office located in the Gaunt Company Store. The structure served as both the post office and the Trailways Bus Stop. Two local residents, Mr. Cail and Mr. Sidney Brown built shelves and cubby holes to hold the mail. Later that year, the Tamiami Trail was widened, the building was moved back on a wheel barrow to its current location.
The post office at Ochopee, Florida, the nation’s smallest, is a tiny place for its clerk. But it is said to be the coolest job in the world. There is a phone, a computer, an air conditioner, a fluorescent tube for light, and a pair of tiny sliding screen doors to keep out the 
giant horseflies. Everything that one needs is obviously within
reach. The job is quiet, as you might expect, although it is a regular stop on the south Florida tourist circuit. Tourists from all over the world stop by to get something postmarked, so there is a stack of Ochopee Post Office post cards on the counter, pre-stamped both domestic and international, for when the tour buses pull up.
Ochopee, which sits on the edge of the Everglades, and which reportedly has a population of 11, has been happy with it ever since.
Just minutes away from Universal Orlando, Wet ‘n Wild gives you more rides and more multi-person slides than any other Orlando waterpark. Share the excitement with family and friends while you experience park favorites. Race head-to-head on Aqua Drag Racer the tallest and fastest ride of its kind in Florida. Share a dance on Disco H2O. Have a blast in Blastaway Beach, Florida’s largest water play area.
Only opened for 6 more month’s because the doors will close on December 31st. So, don’t miss your last chance to share the fun, share the memories, Share the Rush! Wet ‘n Wild is permanently closing on December 31, 2016. Weather permitting, operating calendar subject to change without notice.
Get tickets here:
Wet ‘n Wild Water Park – SAVE BIG!
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Wet ‘N Wild Water Park – Save 25%!
Gatorland is a theme park and wildlife preserve in Florida, located along South Orange Blossom Trail south of Orlando.
Gatorland was opened 67 years ago in 1949 and has been privately owned, as the first major attraction in central Florida. Billed as the “Alligator Capital of the World,” Gatorland features thousands of alligators and crocodiles, a breeding marsh with boardwalk and observation tower, reptile shows, aviary, petting zoo, swamp walk, and educational programs. The park is known for buying and rescuing nuisance alligators from trappers that would otherwise be killed for their meat and skin. The Breeding Marsh area of the park was used in the 1984 movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
In the summer of 2011 a new attraction was added: a zip line that travels across a pool of alligators and past several of the existing attractions. The ride is 1,200 feet long and several stories high.
Gatorland opened Gator Spot at Fun Spot America Theme Parks’ Orlando park in 2015. The $1 million attraction allows Gatorland to extend their brand to the I-Drive tourist area, with visitors able to hold, take photos with, and feed alligators. The star of the attraction is a leucistic alligator named Bouya, a white gator with blue eyes.
Catch the shows with humans interacting with gators, including the classic Gator Jumparoo, where huge American alligators leap from the water to chomp chickens dangling from lines. Alligator wrestling and creepy critter shows educate their audiences with reptile trivia while performing amazing stunts. Take a relaxing train ride through the swamp, make some cuddly friends at the petting zoo or cool off from the Florida sun in the Gator Gully Splash Park, where you’re sure to get soaked.
Bok Tower Gardens is centrally located between Tampa and Orlando in Polk County, Florida. Bok Tower Gardens is a National Historic Landmark, contemplative garden, and bird sanctuary located north of Lake Wales, Florida, United States. It consists of a 250-acre garden, the 205-foot tall Singing Tower with its carillon bells, Pine Ridge Trail, Pinewood Estate, and a visitor center. The tower is built upon Iron Mountain, one of the highest points of Florida, estimated to be 295 feet above sea level.
The gardens were opened in 1921 when Edward W. Bok, a Dutch 
immigrant, and his his wife were spending the winter beside Florida’s Lake Wales Ridge and decided to create a bird sanctuary on its highest hill, 298 feet above sea level.
The first year was spent digging trenches and laying pipes for irrigation. The plan included the planting of 1,000 large live oaks, 10,000 azaleas, 100 sabal palms, 300 magnolias, and 500 gordonias, as well as hundreds of fruit shrubs such as blueberry and holly.
The Singing Tower is the centerpiece of the gardens and was built at the highest elevation of the site. The tower is 51 feet square at its base, changing form at 150 feet high to an octagon with 37 feet sides that include sculptures. The tower’s interior is not open to the public.
The Pine Ridge Nature Preserve and Trail is an ecosystem typified by an over-story of Longleaf Pine. The trail is located on one of the highest points in Florida and long ago the Ridge was a chain of islands. The plants and animals found on the Ridge are unique because they evolved on the chain of islands, which is why the most rare plants and animals can be found in this area.
8 acres of the Gardens include the Pinewood Estate, which features a twenty-room Mediterranean Revival mansion. This mansion was built as a winter residence. Its original name was “El Retiro”, and it has been restored to its 1930s appearance.
