Kooza Atlanta

Over Valentines weekend of 09, we headed down to Atlanta to see Kooza under the big top. Ever since I saw my first Cirque Du Soleil production on public television when I was younger, I've wanted to go actually see a show, so I was very excited to find that they were relatively near by.

This is one show where it is definitely worth it to arrive early. Before the show starts, there are actors in the aisles, in the seats, on the stage. So many clowns to entertain that it hardly feels like you are waiting for the show to start at all.

When the show finally does start, it remains a frequently funny, always interesting and some times artistically sweet production throughout. The entire show as a whole is rapid fire perfectly done entertainment. Some of the best acts are the incredibly quick juggler, and surprisingly fast contortionists. Equally impressive were the balancing chair and unicycle acts. Perhaps my favorite was a chance to watch a truly gifted pickpocket at work, on of all things an airline pilot.

The various characters, from the king and his clowns to the Innocent and his dog, provide the theatrical touch that makes a cirque production so much more than just a circus. Currently playing in New York, with additional dates across the US this year, this is a show not to be missed.

Williamsburg: History in Action II

Our second day at Williamsburg found us at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum. After we had spent the first part of the day taking in some of the sites and shops we had missed the day before. We visited the blacksmith, the gun shop, and the Milliner's shop among others. We were at the museum to take a guided tour through the pottery collections and learn about the different styles and other interesting facts about the collections. While we were waiting, we had some very good chili from the restaurant there, and Jake took in the Lock, Stock and Barrel exhibit of colonial era guns.

When it came time for the tour, our guide started in the small Identifying Ceramics: The Who, What and Ware exhibit, using the displays there to explain the different methods and styles. Then, we were taken throughout the museums collections where we were shown many interesting pottery pieces which exemplified the different styles. After the tour was done, we explored some of the other areas of the museum, historic flags, furniture, and portions of the former Public Hospital for Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds, which occupies the building above the basement museum. We also made a stop in for some crafts: making Christmas ornaments form old Christmas cards. I love to have Christmas ornaments as souvenirs, and we wound up making two very attractive ones to go on our tree for hopefully years to come.

Then we headed for dinner among the Merchant Square's shops. We chose Season's from the options, and after we were seated were delighted to find that Friday nights were Prime Rib night. for $15 per person, we both enjoyed a fantastic steak with two sides and a salad.

After diner we took a much needed promenade down to the capitol building to wait for the soldiers to gather for the torch lit fife and drum march to the palace greens. Once the soldiers had struck up their drums, they began marching up the street. Some tourists ran along beside them, but Jake and I fell in step behind. It is amazing the quick and easy pace a march can set. It was an impressive display, despite the loose mob of tourists surrounding it, and I couldn't help but try to match my step to the soldier in front of me.

florida panhandle

Our first introduction to the Florida Panhandle was Pensacola, where our route south deposited us. We didn't find much of interest here, and wound up swimming at Henderson Beach State Park in Destin on our first day in the area. The red, dangerous current flag was flying, and the waves were good. We wore ourselves out boogie boarding. I'm glad we got a chance to use them again. the last time we used them was several years ago at the outer banks. The sand on the beaches around Destin is pure white and is so fine it actually squeaks when you scuff your feet. There was little trace of sea life. No shells or crabs, just some sea weed and birds.

We had lunch at the Destin Diner. The food was good home style stuff. Jake has country fried steak, I had Italian meatloaf with marinara, and we both had hash browns and fries for sides. Service was awful, despite the fact that there was almost no one there, but you can hardly hold one bad server against a place. We had dinner at a place called Bobos or Bozos, or something like that. It wasn't in Destin, but further east. They had a children's dance contest including the cha cha slide and the chicken dance and a kids limbo competition. Then the fellow orchestrating all this sang some memorial day appropriate songs. It was pretty fun actually. the food was good, we had a chicken sandwich and a burger though, because the prices here are outrageous. I wasn't too surprised that beef and even chicken ran high at about $18 for the cheapest steak, $16 for chicken, but I thought, gee, maybe that the seafood would be cheap?? no... it costs as much as steak.... that's why we had sandwiches. They were only about $8 each.

We had hoped to stay at the campground in the park, but as it was full, we contented ourselves to use their showers. This was pretty much the way it went for the next few days. Every campground was full, so we slept in the car every night, and just used the showers in the parks to keep clean.

When we woke up, we were a little tired from swimming, so we headed inland to Rocky Bayou State park, and explored 2 of the trails there, the Rocky Bayou trail, and the Puddin Lake trail

The first trail led amongst live oak and saw palmettos, and was covered with unnumbered scurrying lizards. There was also a smake, and a frog along the way as well. the Puddin lake trail was a good deal more interesting. It led along a marshy lake, and in the low branches of a tree we spotted an anole, a bright green lizard with a pink colored fan on his throat, which he would open as he bobbed up and down doing pushups. Just a short ways further we saw two large birds of prey in a massive stick nest at the very top of a dead tree, which reached well beyond the tops of the living trees around it. We both jumped to the conclusion of bald eagles, but binoculars revealed that this was a pair of osprey. After watching them for some time, we continued on the trail and saw a turtle crawling up from the small lake, covered in fresh mud, and also a few dear in the undergrowth just across the water. We spent the remainder of the day reading along the shore of the lake here, and then headed down towards panama city.

in panama city they have a nice little park, I believe it is called oaks on the shore. We went down to a beach there and saw many many hermit crabs and fiddler crabs, and Jake picked up a couple empty shells to bring home.

then we ate at the treasure ship, which is a full size replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship, the Golden Hind. Why yes, it was delighfully touristy, tacky, and yet... unrefined. the prices here were better by a couple dollars. I got the steak (fantastic) and Jake got the mahi mahi fried fish basket (pretty good) and we split half and half.

we realized when we returned to the car that Jake's empty shells weren't so empty, and we returned them to their beach. After that we drove way down to Port St. Joe and spent the night again in the car.

In the morning we headed to St. Joseph's Peninsula State Park. There were only gentle waves here, and the water was a murkier green. There were lots of shells here. We then headed to the inland side of the peninsula, and walked a trail along the shore. Here, the brown pelicans were diving like crazy. The water on the inside is beautiful. The sand bars in the water cause the shades of blue to shift with the depths and create a kaledescope of every cool shade. There are streaks of bright green and pools of dark blue. we also saw more fiddler crabs, and spent quite a lot of time watching them gesture and fight. we also saw a dried and dead horseshoe crab, but no live ones. We stopped for pizza at Hungry Howie's pizza and subs. This is apparently a Florida chain, as I've never seen them elsewhere. The pizza was about pizza hut quality/style. We also stopped for a Shrek Shake at McDonald's... they are good, and disgusting looking. We wound up driving back up to Panama City in search of better waves.

We found some waves at Saint Andrews SP. here they were crashing, and Jake finally persuaded tired me to boogie board some more. The waves were huge, but broke unpredictably. I did manage to ride a few almost all the way up the beach though. Mostly I just got knocked about a lot, but it was still great fun. At one point a little cruise ship turned in towards the beach, undoubtably giving dolphin tours as about 4 dolphins immediately appeared near it. Finally we headed back to the showers... only, there were no individual showers, just the exposed shower heads every beach has. Despite the fact that their website claims showers are available. So I did the only sensible thing. I washed and conditioned my hair in the sand showers available. About this time a pirate ship rounded the corner and appeared in front of the beach, and about this time we headed for home. We stopped before leaving the park to check out some wild alligators in a pond, with an island of brushy trees in the middle. the trees were weighed down with Great White and Great Blue herons. a few possibly green herons,and snowy egrets. Great Blue Herons are definitely the most aggressive of the bunch. All these birds were nesting. The alligators barely moved.

We stopped for some quick dinner at Whataburger, another small chain. The food was ok. We made it into southern Alabama by night, and finished the drive home in the morning. we made a brief stop in Decatur for some BBQ. and to stretch our legs at a park there. Once home, we did the final thing that was "included" in our vacation: we saw Pirates 3. very good. But if you didn't like the second one, you probably won't like this one. it's full of action and special effects, and borders on the ridiculous. I think there will be a sequel. I'm not sure if it was a happy ending or not. You'll have to see it and decide for yourself.