Orlando Memories

A few more images and we're off this topic.

Fun Florida pun! (Click on the image to read the small print on the sign.) Yes, we went to Dunkin' Donuts. Wouldn't have if I had read this first. (Thanks to Jon Tevlin.)



Fun Florida billboard! How easy is it exactly?



The Kennedy Space Center (45 miles outside Orlando) is cool. (Thanks to Andy Svenson for suggesting we go there.) Did you know the shuttle program has very few missions remaining before it ends? I didn't.



We went inside the space shuttle Explorer.



We went under it.



The Space Center's all-natural, genuinely green security system. This little fellow was right outside our bus. We also saw wild boar and eagles' nests.



Launch Pad 39A, where the Space Shuttle Discovery waits for 5:02 p.m. EDT on May 31.



We visited the 'rents in Vero Beach. Hi Dad, hi Gini! Stupidly rode there in a convertible with the top down. Can I spell S-U-N-B-U-R-N? Apparently not.

Jazz in Orlando

There is no jazz in Orlando, or if there is, I can't find it. The city has a House of Blues, and Disney's Pleasure Island has some oldies and disco and DJ clubs, but no jazz. My hopes were lifted briefly by something called "CityJazz" at Universal Studios, but the description reads "Jam to high energy funk, R&B, soul, rock and more at Orlando's premiere nightclub. Listen to live music and see rare instruments and personal belongings of jazz legends." So...you can't hear the music, but you can see the artifacts?

CityJazz image from Orlando Florida Guide Web site.

P.S. CityJazz is not mentioned on the current Universal CityWalk Web page, so it's probably gone, as if anyone cares. Here's an old (2005?) description from the Orlando Florida Guide (typos are theirs):

The only true form of American Music, Jazz, is celebrated at CityJazz at Universal Studiso CityWalk. Home to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame, the venue was designed with the assistance of The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. The sound system and acoustics are designed for crystal clear music reproduction, and the cuisine is equally superior. Specialties include caviar, sushi and escargot. Guest can also choose for a collection of over sixty vintage wines, or choose a drink from the rolling martini cart.

Whatever happened to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame? To CityJazz? I'm curious. I'll contact DownBeat magazine and ask, then post any response.

P.P.S. The Other Orlando Web site has plenty to say about CityJazz. Snippets: "Jazz club without jazz...Combines the intimate ambiance of true jazz club with the great sightlines of a conventional theater...an aura of ultra-cool sophistication...easily the handsomest performance space in all of CityWalk....has also been designed to serve as a state-of-the-art recording facility, just in case a big-name act is looking to do a live album. The great irony is that CityJazz...offers no jazz.... The only way to hear jazz in this club is to book it for a private event. Then they'll dig up a jazz combo."

Fireworks, big room, baby ducks in danger

Saw fireworks last night somewhere off in the distance, not Disney World but still sparkly. The New York Times reported recently that an explosion destroyed 20 fireworks warehouses in China three months ago. I wonder how many places across the United States have fireworks displays every night? According to the Times, we should expect shortages.

The link to the Times article looks, in part, like this: worldbusiness/17kaboom.html.

George Plimpton wrote a book about fireworks in the 1980s.

Below, two views of the room where I gave my presentation. Eeeeeeee! Freaking big! In fact quite a few people showed up and it went well.





Scene: The hotel bar later in the day.



In the early evening, we walked to the small lake on the hotel grounds. Saw this sign:



Then saw these:

Orlando

Views from our hotel room: a corner suite on the 7th floor of the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. It's huuuuuuuge.

All this green, with flashes of red flowers, is lovely after our long Minnesota winter. That's Disney World in the distance; the round ball at the right is Epcot. We're told we can see three different Disney fireworks displays at night.



When you want a great hotel room, it matters whom you know. Or to whom you're related.



Thanks, little sister.