Orlando, Ho! (Part IV)

On the day we got kicked off the cruise ship, we scheduled a later flight so we could fit in an airboat tour. We ended up in a rare Florida cold front. When we boarded the ship in Orlando, it was 48 degrees and windy. We froze out on the ship deck. On the day we came back to port, it was 46 degrees and windy. 

After we disembarked, we had to wait a half hour outside in the cold for our shuttle to Hertz to get our rental van. Then when we got there, we had to stand out in the cold for another half hour waiting for the van. We were not impressed at all with Hertz (first and likely last time ever using them) (the van was in pretty rough condition, too. It was beat up, smelled like antifreeze, and made really weird sounds) (the only reason we used Hertz was because they were the only company with a van available). 

After we got our van, we drove to Walmart and attempted to buy some warm clothes. There are not warm clothes in Florida. We had to buy Hot Hands and hunting gloves. Then we got a few extra clothing items so we could layer. Now, I know Florida doesn’t have snow, but you’d think you could at least buy a jacket in January! Not so. 

After our Walmart stop, we headed to our airboat tour. It was still 48 degrees outside, but the sun at least came out. 

The airboat tour was really cool, and I’m so glad we did it, but by golly! It was cold. 

So very cold.

I had a t-shirt, three sweatshirts, and two pairs of pants on. Plus Hot Hands in my pockets (which miraculously worked really well - I’ve never had a set of Hot Hands actually get hot, but those bad boys followed through), and I still froze. I could feel the wind through all of those layers, and it kind of blew my mind. 

Aside from being cold, the airboat tour was amazing. 

The headphones were nice because our tour guide could speak into her mic, and we could hear it. The airboats are really loud, so it was nice to have the headphones to drown out some of the noise. 

There were birds everywhere! Bald eagles, roseate spoonbills, great blue herons, and ibises galore! I wish I could have gotten more photos, but taking photos on a speeding airboat doesn’t work out so well between the rapid airflow that will rip your phone right out of your hands and the motion blur.

We were able to see an alligator in the wild:

Then after the ride, we all got to hold an alligator:

Have I told you how cold it was? 

Because it was dang cold.

I was taken aback by the fact that the alligator felt cold. For some reason I expected it to be warm. I understand that it’s an ectothermic animal, but I guess I’d never thought about whether an alligator would feel warm or cold when I held it, and when it’s cold outside, alligators are going to feel cold.

After the airboat ride we ate lunch at Saucy, which is KFC’s mock up of Raising Cane’s (I’m not sure why KFC feels the need to mimic another restaurant, but what do I know about the chicken tender industry?)

They just opened a few weeks ago, and this is their first location. They have 11 sauces, and none of them really impressed me. The food was fine but nothing to get overly excited about. It really is just a copy cat of Raising Cane’s… where the food is also fine but nothing to get overly excited about. 

From there we headed to the airport and made our journey home. 

And then it was over.

And we were sad. 

And now I need to get another vacation on the calendar pronto because I remembered that I really love vacation.