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Friday 17 May 2013

Vacation Highlights

Since the main purpose of my vacation is largely Rest and Recreation I have very little to report but here goes.

We spent most of our time at the poolside but we did venture out to a neighbouring city for a change of scene. The city we chose was St Cloud which is largely residential with a bustling main street and a lakeshore boulevard which is nice to walk around.


On our lakeshore walk we came across a small alligator (2 foot long) swimming along a drainage ditch. We paused to watch while a local girl out walking her dog spoke to us and asked if we'd like to see a bigger one. Yes please we said and she pointed out the location of a "huge alligator, at least 6 foot long, sunning itself on the bank, and it won't be frightened of you".

Being a fearless soul I thrust my wife in the general direction of the "huge" alligator and followed her at a short distance. After walking for nearly 15 minutes finding nothing much we retraced our steps and spotted another 'small' alligator at the waters edge. It was about 4 foot long and obviously cautious in its own right as it swam off. I wonder if that was the 'huge' alligator of the dog walker fame?

 

I know that some people are prone to exageration but if I was told that the local snails were also "huge" I would have to believe them. We found an empty shell.


We stopped off in a small park just off the bustling main street as it appeared to have some military connected memorials.


There is more information at this link:

http://www.scv.org/

Scattered around the park were a number of memorials, a truck, a helicopter and a couple of guns.


This truck, known as the Deuce and a Half came into service in 1951 and as far as I can tell is still in service although this particular model won't be going far.


The chopper is a Bell AH-1 Cobra of Vietnam fame.


I was quite pleased with myself as I declared to my wife that these guns looked awfully like British 6 pounders and I was surprised to see an acknowledgment beside them that their development was indeed from a British design.

We are away up North to Chicago tomorrow so we may be out of touch blogwise for a few days.

6 comments:

  1. Nice weather ! unlike the old U.K. ! - snow in May !

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  2. I didn't know you painted your toenails Jim! ;-)

    I don't think I'd gone looking for the alligator (I don't like the look of the snails either!). You're a better man than I am Gunga Din :-)

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    Replies
    1. Yup, I basecoat, topcoat, ink wash and gloss varnish my nails every week :)

      The alligator 'search' was a lot less dangerous than you perceive. There were good lines of sight and withdrawal routes in several directions and I can run faster than the wife!!!

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    2. If they don't get you with the first lunge and three strides, they usually give up.

      Although that might be crocs...

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    3. Yes, my wife has the same attack strategy!

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