Sunday morning we were up and on the road fairly early heading for Tampa. This time in addition to Beth, NaNa and I we were joined by Beth's sister and tsunami watch expert Debbie. Our destination for the day was Busch Gardens which would finish up our Tampa City Pass. Before heading out thanks to Beth's expert planning we altered our gameplan a little bit so that I would be able to see my sister Jan in Clermont and brothers Gerald and Cecil in Bartow. To get it all in we turned it into an overnight adventure that not only included Busch Gardens but then a drive to Orlando and a night at the Gaylord Palms.
Once again NaNa was an incredible trooper and I think had a great day (at least that's what she's telling us). We were at Busch Gardens from around 10:00 AM until well after dark so we could fully enjoy all the Christmas Decorations. We hadn't been to Busch Gardens in a number of years. I'm not exactly sure how long it's been, but the brewery closed in 1995 and it was still there the last time we were there.
The brewery building was huge and it's completely gone now so the park has expanded quite a bit. The gardens and animals were very nice and they've put in roller coasters that will twist and turn you every which way you could imagine if you chose to get on them, which we unanimously decided to skip. There were a number of Christmas shows and it was refreshing that the shows featured real Christmas carols and didn't try to hide behind some goofy "Holiday" theme. Good for them! As I mentioned this was the last of our City Pass Adventures. In looking into this deal a little more I learned that they are offered in about 10 cities around the country. I haven't studied the details closely for all locations but I was really pleased with it for Tampa and would recommend you look into if it's offered in a city you are going to be visiting or live near. http://www.citypass.com The Gaylord hotels go all out for Christmas and we had enjoyed going to the Gaylord Texan several times. While the Florida hotel is much smaller (because as you know everything is bigger in Texas) it was nicely decorated. Thanks to a room upgrade from a very friendly front desk clerk we had a balcony overlooking the massive indoor atrium. In addition to roaming the gardens Beth and Debbie enjoyed going through the ICE Exhibit although with it being 9 degrees inside they were in and out pretty quickly. It was so great seeing Jan, Gerald and Cecil. We're a blended family but we've never acted that way. Speaking for my brothers and sister, we're very blessed to have each other!  |
| Hard to keep that NaNa under control |
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| One of the many hyperactive kangaroos at Busch Gardens |
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| Busch Gardens-Me, Beth, Tsunami Watcher Debbie & NaNa |
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| Busch Gardens Christmas Village |
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| Gaylord Palms-Orlando |
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| Beth introducing NaNa to her new friend |
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| Gaylord Palms-There must be mistletoe up there somewhere! |
