The Story of Jesus...The Passion Play

Easter was fast approaching and we'd been wanting to drive over to Zolfo Springs and see the play. Denny had seen Noah there and said it was good, so we had high hopes. We went over early and had dinner at a small diner....it was fine then some nice locals led us to where the play was. It's done in a HUGE building that's open on both ends and has bleachers on one side......the set was amazing.

Such detail....this was going to be good.....

A stream deep enough to baptize...which they offered at the end of the play.

The play.....WOW!!!

Before the play they did a military tribute....

They re-inacted many historical scenes...it only last about 15-20 in but was really good.

This will give you an idea of the size, sorry for no sound but I had already silenced my phone so it would not ring during the play and I forgot...oops

The play began right on time and was truly amazing. 

These folks go to MUCH effort to make this as real as possible.....

again...sorry for no sound...we were amazed at all the animals.....wow

He has risen and is victorious......

The play was just great...it was very hard to sit on bleachers that long. We even had some cushions but there is NO leg room...even my short legs got tired. I'd suggest booking the very back row...they could stand up and not bother anyone....I was envious. There was an intermission...other than close seating, no complaints...was truly an amazing production.

We were there on Good Friday...made it special. We had a quiet and nice Easter. I made my first ever Lamb roast...yum. 

Hope everyone had a great Easter...we did....He has Risen.

Avon Park, FL.....a weekend outing........

We'd heard lots of things about this small town...so we struck out. It was a somewhat scenic 2hr drive there. I had taken this Fri off work and we had been told there was a restaurant in the old Jacaranda Hotel that had a great seafood buffet on Fridays...so we decided to check it out. We'd also heard there was a cooking school at this hotel, so we had high hopes for some really good culinary dishes.

We spotted the hotel right away, but it was too early for dinner so we decided to ride around town and the surrounding area. We're so glad we did, we found this adorable country store.

It was so cute and the gal that owns it was so nice. Her Dad opened the store many years ago on the main street coming out of Avon Park....but they had to move it from the roadside a few yrs back.....so he took it apart board by board and put it back together on this spot....and u see lots of signs pointing to it.....

An aerial shot of where it was originally..

Pictures of it being reconstructed....a true labor of love.

How it looks now.....

They sold fresh fruits/veggies from the farms close by...and many other typical items, but the also sold some of the BEST orange ice cream...made from REAL oranges...it was wonderful. The also sold wine. They have wine tasting every week...wish we lived closer.

Denny was checking out the free juice.....

Very good grapefruit...

We got the smallest ones you could buy since we were headed to dinner....it was yummy. We knew it had to be, there was a front porch full of people eating eat!!!

Ice Cream on the front porch....nice.

These signs were too cute...

That was the best find of the day. Turned out we had been misinformed about the culinary school. They only use the kitchen, they don't cook for the restaurant....which was really too bad. It was not very good. All but 2 seafood dishes were fried and it was VERY obvious they were from frozen boxes.....the dead give-away is when it all looks perfect and the same...LOL!!! Like Gorton's fish squares.....so we had salad and few other things and headed out. Wish we'd looked at the buffet before we were seated....we'd have left and gone to the beef place across the street....I think it would have been very good. Oh well...lesson learned. Lunch or some other night might be better, but we'll not be back for Fri nite again.

So...we headed home with our fruit and wine and another fun experience......

Game Time....last day at sea

Another nice slow day......moved slow this morning....and barely made it to The Windjammer for breakfast...we got a window table and watched others that were moving faster this morning....good for them, we should probably learn from them...

As we were leaving this display of pies was being set up...too bad we were full....I bet they were amazing....

We decided to play a few games that were happening in different bars.....we didn't win anything, but we had fun....and laughed a lot at ourselves....first game....

The facilitator put pictures on the screen that we were to identify.....we tried...but clearly we need to travel more!!!! 11 out of 21....not good!

Our next challenege was a version of Scattergories....can't blame this score on lack of travel...just old brains...but it was fun.

This game was in the Schooner Bar....loved the decor

Back to see how Denny's luck was in the casino....and before we knew it, we'd played away the entire day....

Our last dinner...the waiters were great.....

It had been a wonderful cruise....LOVE this ship and saw some places we'd never seen before....

Our drive home was easy....what a great week.....time to start planning the next adventure!!

2 days sailing back to FLL

We moved slow...got some breakfast and made our way up by the pools.....

The towel guy had a great sense of humor....

These guys were all around...lots of fun...

This group of folks were learning how to do a mob flash dance...was a hoot.

We hit the casino a little ..Denny was doing really good.

And we spent some lazy time in the cabin....

For the evening we decided to go listen to some music in Central Park...it was wonderful..

Central Park in the evenings was a really nice place to relax...This is the front of the restaurant 150 Central Park....

Had been a nice relaxing day....time for bed.....and another "prize" left by our awesome Cabin Stewardess....Keisha....

St. Maarteen or Saint Martin....French or Dutch side???

Today was thankfully a gorgeous day....coming into the port was beautiful.

We're not used to seeing mountains ...they were a beautiful backdrop to the blue waters...

As always a few other ships in port....

A very kind lady took our picture....

We thought this was funny...we have a Sharky's!!!

Lots of action on the pier.....

We had booked a 3rd party tour so we headed out ot meet him....he was excatly where he said he'd be...in his nice Navigator and off we went to see the island...this island is approx 33 miles total...and it was just amazing to me that in just 33 miles it was like 2 countries. The French side governed by France and the Dutch side governed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Our ship came into the Dutch side, so this is a sign where we are crossing into the French side. Everytime you cross back and forth they each have up these big sign....how can this be in just 33 miles on an island???  The sides are very different, and even use different money. I was surprised we didn't have to get passports checked each time.

A beutiful bay....

Wow...not a bad view....

Lovely beach and mountains...

The Beach Man wasn't here today...but he has these things out for folks to see and touch...

The Fitzroy got this right out of the water,,,,,,

So cool to watch to move...felt weird in your hand....

When that urchin dies and dries up it looks like this....

Fitzroy our guide in the red shirt chatting with a friend at the beach hut.

On to see the Iguana's.....

There is usually an Iguana Man here... but he wasn't today..but we still had plenty of action..

So wild how they change colors to hide...see that one on the tree limb??

Wicked looking....

We wanted to go see Orient Bay but there was a strike on the French side in that tourist area so we couldn't get there.... we had to go a different way to see other parts of the French side. 

This was the cops stopping folks from coming  down the road.....

So our guy crossed back across the border and went a different way so we could see the city of Marigot.

These 2 fancy vesels belonged to one very rich man that comes here every winter.

This was an oil tanker at the refinery....

Back to the French side..

We'd been in the vehicle a while at this point and needed a break....so when we got to Marigot we got some time to have a snack at a French Bakery and shop a little at the open market.

Now we are next to the marina we just saw from the hill top...

Lots of $$$ in boats here......

A new bridge to help with traffic flow....Fitzroy said it has been great.

The black Pelican is the state bird and is displayed ont he way to the airport....

There small but nice airport....and that put us very close to ....

Maho Bay/Beach...or Airport Beach....see the sign warning you?? This is back on the Dutch side...you cros back and forth a lot.

It's a very tight road between the beach and the runway...we were not there at the right time to see a plane land, but because that's what folks come to see there is a board posting the flight times....

It's a beautiful bay....just gets a few noisey landings.....but it is a very short beach.

You can see the beach and the runway in this pic....we missed a landing, but was still cool to seee.

As we headed back to the car I noticed the 2 sides even have different license plates...wow!!

The Dutch...

The French... 

We drove around to this lovely and very expensive shopping indoor mall. Fitzroy said it's so expensive folks won't go and they are begging for more shops to come in....humm...wonder what it will become when it might close its doors??!!

And....back to the Dutch side....some border crossings were fancier than others...

 A beautiful drive back to the main Dutch city of  Philipsburg......

As close as we got to Orient Bay....

Time for a little shopping and lunch.....

Guavaberry store....thought we might get some good Guava stuff, but after a few samples decided not to...

It's legendary, just not to us.....

We were not in the market for jewelry which is what most of the shops are, but i did find some really good chocolate...then we headed to an area called The Boardwalk....was so nice. It was right next to beach. You could shop, eat and enjoy the view....kinda like Venice Beach in Calif.

These were fake.....but I bet they cook real ones like this....

We found Taloula Mango's that Fitzroy told us had the best Caribbean Lobster....not to mentoion a great view.

And a fun band right across from the front porch of the restaurant.....

It was good....they don't have claws...but the body meat was yummy. NOT cheap but good!

Time to head back to the ship....this was on the pier....

If you missed any shopping you could do it on the pier....

Denny wanted you all to see our new yacht..

It's a beauty........

Then a little bon voyage music...and it was time to go

So long St. Maarten and Saint Martin!!

We hurried to our cabin and dropped our junk...grabbed some wine and parked ourselves in some great chairs on the back of the ship....from there we watched many folks running to make it back, what a hoot...there's always some.....

Neat small local ship that just sails to these islands....hummm...maybe.

and away we go....2 days at sea...

Tonight we were sched to see the Ice skating show...it was amazing...

Was based on the stories by Hans Christian Anderson...since I don't know them as well, was a little harder to follow, but the talent/skating was amazing.

We wandered around a bit, there's always something going on...this bar that moves up and down across 3 decks was cool..

Pretty cool bar.....

Had been a great busy day...time for bed!!!

Next 2 days sailing and slow.....