Orlando mini-vacation

This past weekend we made a road trip down to Orlando to catch up with my sister and her family on their vacation. It also happened to be Field Day, so I put the HF rig back into Connie’s car so we could play some radio over the weekend.

We drove down Friday and got to Orlando early enough to spend some time browsing around Skycraft Parts and Surplus, a big junk store filled with all manner of awesome stuff for DIY type people.

Part museum, part junk shop, lots of neat stuff. There were bins of electronic components, aisles of nuts, bolts, washers of all sizes, electronic equipment, some tools, wire, rope. Just like being in a candy store.

Don’t forget to look up. Lots of stuff hanging from the ceiling in this place, some for sale, some just on display.

That evening we had dinner at Thani Thai which turned out to be quite excellent. Very tasty food, nicely decorated inside.

Saturday morning, we stopped at the Mary Queen of the Universe basilica for a visit and to check out their gift shop. Big church, very nice inside.

As you’re walking toward the church from the parking lot, there’s a pretty neat statue of Saint Michael

Off to the side of the church is a peaceful little rosary garden.

After the church, we still had a little bit of time to kill before meeting my sister. We found this neat little used book shop called The Book Worm on the way and explored it a bit.

They have a “Things found in books” bulletin board with some interesting items.

If you’re looking for the politics section, it’s in the bathroom.

Then it was off to meet my sister and her family at the Orlando Science Center. This turned out to be a pretty awesome place, and we ended up spending pretty much the entire afternoon here. There are 4 levels to explore, tons of interactive exhibits to play with and lots of things for kids (big and small) to learn about. Mummies of the World is their current headline exhibit and is pretty cool. Very expansive exhibit with actual mummified bodies and parts. You’ll learn about how mummies are created both naturally and by people and get to see them up close and personal. No pictures allowed though.

The rest of OSC is a lot of fun to explore. Dinosaurs, weather, reptiles, several halls filled with hands on interactive exhibits to play with. It’s definitely a place worth visiting and spending the day at.

Had a great time in Orlando, and was glad we were able to meet up with my sister and family.

RAWR