Orlando...

Spent a week in Orlando recently at a conference, and as usual made the most of the spare time we had. The first day off we had a few of us hired a car and drove to Big Cat Rescue in Tampa. Nearly two hours drive, made all the more exiting by being in a left hand drive automatic car on the wrong side of the road with 6 lane highways and exits that go off to the right and left! Only two of us had driving licences, and I was the only one who'd driven over there before, so I took the first leg and drove there. Luckily we had a sat nav or I think it might have taken us considerably longer....

Big Cat Rescue is just what it says - a rescue centre for big cats which have been rescued. It's a fantastic place, but it was very hard hearing the stories of where they have rescued the cats from - abandoned pets, circuses, entertainment venues, concrete cages not big enough for them to turn round in...  Many of them have been declawed badly so have deformed feet. But, all of them are well cared for here, and spend the last years of their life being well looked after.

We arrived just after lunch and checked in for our keeper tour.

The first thing we did was make some "enrichment" for the cats - filling bags and tubes with strong smelling spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg and catnip, or spraying them with perfume. The cats love them, and roll over on them and rip them to pieces - just like my cats do with catnip!

It was great going round with the keepers. There is no contact with the cats, so in order to make sure they can look at their paws, bellies etc, they train them with a piece of meat on a stick to stand up, open their mouths and show their paws.  The first cat we saw was a snowcat, very small, very cute, but very fierce! 

We also saw cougars, servals, bobcats, leopards, lions, tigers, and lots more. All in very big enclosures - bigger than they look in these photos as there are many enclosures joined together by tunnels.

The tigers were definitely my favourite. The last picture is of Nikitta, a lioness who was recused from a drugs den, where she had been kept as a 'guard lion"! Bit of a surprise to the police when they broke in....

Half way round it rained, and we had to put on our fetching ponchos

and Nikitta refused to come out, looking at us as if we were mad standing in it!

A really good day, spoiled only by two insect bites I got which over the next two days swelled up to about 6 inches in diameter, to the point where friends were threatening to take me to hospital. But  luckily they went down as quickly as they had swelled up!


The other free day we had was spent at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. It was so quiet, couldn't believe it. Went on my favourite Superman ride first, and instead of queueing for an hour, we were on in 5 minutes, so went straight round and on it again.

I love the park, and prefer it to Disney. I'm not a roller coaster fan, so gave the big ones a miss, especially the Incredible Hulk:

Since I last went, they've developed the Harry Potter attraction complete with Hogwarts and Hogsmeade

Fabulous attention to detail in the shops - the owls in the post office were animatronic and moved...

There was also a Harry Potter ride - one of the best I've been on - difficult to explain. A simulation where you felt you were flying and taking part in a game of Quidditch!

Of course we went on the obligiatory get wet ride where we dropped hundreds of feet (I could be exaggerating) in a log flume

But since I was last there they've installed people dryers. Not that it made much difference to us

Just as we were leaving the heavens opened, and it rained so hard we couldn't move. Luckily we were in a Margarita bar watching it...

More things to do in Denver when you're not dead

I always try and get out of the city when we're at Educause in the little spare time we get, and this time a group of us hired a couple of cars for a short drove out into the Rocky mountains. Denver sits at the edge of a very flat, very barren desert area, but nestles at the bottom of the Rockies, and you can see their snow covered tops from most of the city.

We aimed for Georgetown, a small, old ( by US standards) settlement which has been preserved. Lovely old houses, most decorated for Halloween.






And a lovely old main street where we had enormous burritos for lunch in a Mexican cafe.



Seem stunning views of the mountains as we drove over a very high pass, went rises to nearly 12,000 feet above sea level and the effects of the altitude were felt by many of us.



We were lucky ( I think) that we were in the US on the day of the presidential election. TV adverts were more boring than usual in the run up to it as the two parties continually criticised each other, but being there for the vote was great fun. We headed down to a bar about 6pm, and got a Brit table, and watched it on the giant flat TV screens. We had a map to colour in as states were called - not declared, that's done much later. The calling is done by the media as results come in based on estimates. We were watching different states being called by different media organisations, and it was also odd to us that results were coming in from the Esat Coast before the West Coast had finished voting. Not long after Ohio was called for the democrats, the media declared Obama the winner and we saw the famous "four more years" tweet. Much cheering in the bar, from us and the democrats who seemed to make up the majority of the customers, and it was over. We stayed in the bar to celebrate, the Americans went home. And we all made the 8am session the next day!


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Things to do in Denver....

Am in Denver at the moment for a conference. The journey over was fairly uneventful - a little long, but at least the 10 hour flight was direct. It was late when we landed, but a group of us met up in the evening and had a couple of drinks and went out for a meal to try and beat the jet lag. It's a very long day - you get an extra six hours, and I'm sure an extra couple of meals!

The following day we went for a walk around LoDo (Lower Downtown), an old warehouse district which has been done up. There's a beautiful station, which is shut at the moment, but we managed to get in and take some photos of the interior, which we are sure has been used for some films, but we couldn't remember which.

We called in at Coors Field, the basketball stadium, and at Wynkoops, our favourite microbrewery pub for lunch.

I was thrilled to find we could get another Segway ride in whilst here. Those who know me or read this will know how much I love them, and we went on a 2 hour tour of Denver. There were 3 on the trip who'd never done it before and I was pleased to find they enjoyed it just as much as I did. The UK is one of the strictest places in the world for being able to ride them in public - you can in most of the States and Europe. Bonkers really.

We travelled about 8 miles on the tour and saw most of Denver, including the performing arts district, and the civic centre. It's a beautiful city, on one side a desert, and the other the rocky mountains which are topped with snow at the time of year.  As we were in the mile high city, had to sit on the step of the State Capitol which is exactly a mile above sea level. Give or take a couple. Apparently it keeps changing.

Highlights of Philly

The rest of our spare time seems to have been spent walking. I've walked miles, one end of the city to the other, many times. It's a lovely city. Very relaxed, very nice to walk round, lots of squares, parks, fountains, wide streets. There's a boulevard from the centre to the Museum of Art based on the Champs d'Élysées with a great fountain at one end, and the flags  of every nation lining it. 

Highlights of the stay  include:
A visit to Elfreth's Alley, a street of terraced houses built in the 1700s which have been continually inhabited. Very pretty and very well conserved. Lots of lovely doors, and as it's nearly Halloween, lots of pumpkins.

The Magic Gardens of Philadelphia. An amazing place created by an artist who has covered whole buildings with mosaics made with everyday things - bottles, cycle wheels, bit of pottery, and has created a grotto in the garden of one of them by digging steps, caves etc. Here's some pictures, but they don't really do it justice - it was amazing. 

And my absolute favourite, a trip on a Segway. An hour and a half in the late afternoon sun cruising round Philadelphia's parks, just 3 of us and a tour guide. We even went to the top of the Rocky steps - although not straight up them. Brilliant, I absolutely love them, so easy to ride, and great fun. The sensation of using your balance, and only very slight movements to accelerate, steer and stop them is quite something. I would love one, but they are quite expensive, although the patent runs out in a couple of years so some competition should reduce that, and in the UK you can only use them on private property - so far behind many other places in getting them licensed. Oh well, maybe one day I'll have one! 

Off to Philly

Set off yesterday to Philadelphia for this year's EDUCAUSE conference. Fairly uneventful trip, drive to Heathrow, read paper, get on plane, watch film, sleep, land!  Bit bumpy over Canada but I slept through most of it. Then an hour's wait to get through immigration, fingerprints and photo taken, and interrogated on life story by very nice, but thorough, immigration officer!

Met up with some other Brits, and shared shuttle van into town, and as usual my hotel was the last on the route, so had 30 mins to unpack, shower and get to bar for a very welcome beer and meet up with the rest for dinner. Not as many of us as expected, and one of the direct flights from Manchester had been cancelled. So some colleagues had not managed to leave, but were still in airport. hope they make it today.

About 8 of us ventured outside of the hotel and realised we were in Chinatown. So, we went for a Chinese meal. A great place, and we were kept amused by the chefs, especially the one making thin bread by spinning the dough round his head.

Back to the hotel, and in bed at a reasonable time. Woken in the middle of the night by someone banging on a door somewhere near me. Obviously locked out, and couldn't wake the person in there. Eventually security were called, they were making so much noise! Woke at 7, so had managed 8 hours sleep, hopefully sorting out the 5 hours time difference. Although I did eat much more at breakfast than my normal fruit and yoghurt. Body was convinced it was lunchtime! Anyone know what's actually in the "gravy" you get with your bacon and eggs here?

A group of us met up and decided to get the open topped bus tour. An hour and a half round the city including the historical district and the museum district.  Also saw the famous LOVE sculpture.  A really good way of getting your bearings. Then a couple of us decided to queue to see the Liberty Bell, a very famous landmark and important piece of American history.

 A quick trip round the Independence Visitor Centre and back for lunch to the market, which is just by the hotel. A great place, full of food stalls selling almost everything - Chinese, Indian, Thai, Italian, and the local specialty, Philly Cheesesteak. One of our number was brave enough to try one, I think you could probably fed a family of four on it.

In the afternoon we visited the Museum of Art, a lovely place, at the top of "the Rocky steps". I didn't know what that meant, but if you've seen the films then you'll apparently know.

You also get a great view of the city skyline from the top of them.

 Lots of impressionists, modern art and Asian art. Huge, we spent a couple of hours there and barely touched the surface. In the evening we visited a microbrewery pub, for some beer and food.

Gone google!

On the Wednesday night at EDUCAUSE, it's usual for suppliers to take you out for a meal, or organise an event. This year the Sheffield contingent went to the Google night. Not sure what was going to happen, we went on a fleet of big yellow school buses:

and ended up in a field, set up like an American outdoor party I suppose. Lots of tables covered with megaphones, huge sponge hands, and pom poms, with games round the edge.
The food was typically American - chilli dogs, BBQd ribs, chips, cookies, and lots of ice cold beer.

And then, a marching band, complete with cheerleaders turned up! This set one of our party off into fits of giggles, as she tried to imagine the three of us picking up the pompoms, putting on the short skirts and being next. I don't think we could have wiggled our bums like they did!

After giggling at the cheerleaders, stuffing our faces with food and drinking several beers, it was time to have a go at the games. as an incentive, each one was giving away prizes, mainly cuddly toys, so it became a challenge to see how many we could get. We played mini golf:

basketball...

and one of us, but only one, had a go at Baseball. Or Rounders, as I'm afraid we kept referring to it:

By the end of the night we'd collected armfuls of small furry animals, pompoms, megaphones, and an assortment of other prizes. Heaven knows how we were going to get them home.

The Grand Tour of LA

Yesterday we on the "Grand Tour" of LA and surrounding area courtesy of a black minibus and an excellent driver/commentator. Started with a drive from Anaheim to downtown LA, going over a highway intersection that was 8 stories high and was the one they used to film "Speed". The most spectacular building we saw was the auditorium, nearly everything else was just skyscrapers.




Then we stopped at the LA historical site where we saw the birthplace of the city, the first street, and the first house. Interesting that the oldest house in LA, built in 1847, is still not as old as my house which was built in 1806.




Then out of LA and off to Hollywood. Of course you have to see the famous sign, and we got a good view of downtown LA, despite it being surrounded by smog, and as a bonus the Hollywood bowl which you can see at the bottom of this picture.




The Hollywood sign is way up on a hill, and was originally there to advertise real estate for sale.




Then we had a quick drive down into Hollywood, passing the church where Sister Act was filmed, and several famous people's houses.
In Hollywood we saw the famous Chinese theatre with the hand and feet imprints outside, and I got as close to George Clooney as I suspect I ever will.




We went in the Kodak theatre where the Oscars are filmed, and had an amazing strawberry dipped in chocolate. The walk of fame is popular with tourists who take pictures of their favourite stars, who apparently pay $40,000 dollars to have their star in the pavement.




Then off for a trip round Beverley Hills, where the cheapest house is $1.5m, and the dearest currently on the market is $57m. Rodeo Drive is the only commercial area in Beverley Hills, and it's just every designer shop you've ever heard of.

Stopped for lunch in the Farmers Market, where prices were luckily affordable, and then a bit of shopping. The shopping area had a bakery for dogs! Then we went to the sea. First to Santa Monica which has a fantastic beach and a pier with a funfair on, and then to Venice Beach which is very different. A good beach, but the boardwalk is hippy heaven.





Lots of very strange shops, including "doctors" offering legal majuana. Couldn't quite work that one out!




And my favourite was "Botox on the Beach". had a pleasant hour walking up and down the boardwalk, and managed to find ice cream, but no beer! Venice Beach is so called because of the canals which were built in the 30s, but only 4 of them survive today, a very different side of the town to the one we saw by the sea.




Then finally we went to the largest man made harbour in the state, and finally found a beer!

Then back to the hotel where I had a quick relax in the hot tub before going out again for dinner, this time to the Anaheim Garden Walk. Everyone a bit tired, so an earlyish night.