Epcot and the Keys

Mark and I drove to Orlando Monday afternoon to spend the next day or two with President and Sister Berry (Mike and Beth Ann), Mary Alice and Kim and Dad.  We enjoyed a nice dinner with grilled hamburgers with all the trimmings.  

Because the mission home is set up for missionaries to stay when they first arrive, we ended up sleeping in twin beds.  Dad, however was given the GA room (General Authority) with its connecting bathroom.  It's just as well.  Between Allie and Kim and Mark and I was a connecting bathroom.  It was just fine.

Tuesday, we spent the day at Epcott.  I love Epcot.  It is one of our favorite places at Walt Disney World.  I think everyone had a great time.  We talked Dad into getting a wheelchair.  I think he was really glad he did because even on our way from the car, he was having a hard time walking.  I know he enjoyed the day much more because he didn't have to walk everywhere.

I have to say that since my experience at Harry Potter World, I've been leery about doing the rides that tell you if you have motion sickness not to ride them.  Mark has stopped going on those kinds of rides too.  I think we missed some fun.  Dad was a real good sport and rode on everything everyone else did.  He would come back and tell us it wasn't that bad.  And it probably wasn't, but since Mark wouldn't go on the rides,   I usually stayed with him.  Neither of us wanted to risk feeling miserably sick.  We still had a really good time.  

Having fun in Norway

We grabbed up some space for the fireworks and then Mark noticed a family with a couple of kids in back of us trying to see, so he invited them to come in front of us so they could really see the fireworks.  We had a nice conversation with the parents.  The family is from England.  He told us when his mother died, she left money for her grandchildren so they could come specifically to see Walt Disney World.  They had waited quite a few years for their children to become old enough to enjoy being there.  They were having a wonderful time.  It was such a pleasure to talk with them.  There are so many wonderful, friendly people from all over!  They really appreciated us letting their kids stand in front of us so they could see.

Of course, the fireworks were magnificent!

Wednesday, we went to the Orlando temple before heading home.  The others were staying until Thursday and were headed to the Church's Ranch for a tour.  It was business as usual for President and Sister Berry. 

Thursday, Mark and I spent the day driving to the Keys:  Key Largo and all the way down to Key West.  It's been on my bucket list of things I wanted to do before going home, so I was really glad we finally got to go.  I got some great pictures.  We had a lot of fun seeing things and I think we got a pretty good idea what Key West is all about.  We toured through Ernest Hemingway’s home. 

Ernest Hemingway's writing room

We climbed this lighthouse.  This is a view from Hemingway's second story balcony.

They were partial to cats.  They had one with six toes and now there are many cats from the original that is on the property.  This picture is of a ceramic cat made by Picasso and given as a gift.   The original was stolen or broken (I can't remember).  I believe this is a replica.

We went to the lighthouse we saw from the balcony of the Hemingway house.  It was originally right on the ocean, but over time is now about one mile inland.  Amazing, huh?  There is a nice museum and gift shop.  We both started to climb the 77 steps to the top, but Mark got part way up and could go any farther.  He kept looking down.  I concentrated on looking at the stairs so I was able to get to the top.  I have to admit it was a bit freaky being up so high, but there was no danger.  The rail was wired on top so no one could fall off.  The freakiness was all in my mind.  It was a great view!  I got a shot of the southernmost end of Florida.  The sign said Cuba was only 90 miles away.

Views from the top of the lighthouse.

The tip of Florida as seen from the lighthouse.   Cuba is only 90 miles away.

Looking down from the top of the lighthouse.

I took this after I got down to the bottom.

Isn't that tree cool?  What an awesome looking tree!  This was where I found Mark waiting for me after I came out of the lighthouse.

  He posed with this statue lady depicting the olden days.

It was a warm day.  The last thing we did before we drove by the beaches was we found a homemade ice cream parlor and went inside to have something.  It was delicious!

I thought this house was interesting.

This is a picture of the marker of the southernmost point of the continental United States.  It's quite a landmark, so there was naturally a lineup of people wanting their picture taken.  I found this one on the Internet.  I'm grateful to whoever took it.

What was really cool was driving across the bridges that connect the keys where the Atlantic is on one side and the Gulf of Mexico is on the other.  It makes me wonder how deep it is right there and was it very difficult to build those water bridges?  It was interesting to think of the two oceans mingling underneath us.  There was one water bridge that was seven miles long!

I think this is the seven mile bridge.

The old bridge.

We just spent the day there and got home late that night.  I tell you, if I had to drive we’d never make it home!  I just cannot stay awake!  Maybe it’s all that Coke Mark drinks.

The sign for Key Largo says it’s the diving capital of the world.  I was looking on the internet and there’s some pretty interesting information.  I did not know that ships had been deliberately sunk so a new coral reef could grow.   I’m so glad we went. What a fun day!

  

Public Open House Begins

 The public open house started Saturday the 29th.  We brought our landlords,  Henry and Dina Flesch.  We've become quite good friends with them and they have expressed a desire to hear more about the Church.  They were so impressed with everything and expressed how beautiful everything was and how they felt something so special in the temple.  Dina is from Columbia and still struggles with her English, so Henry talked with her in Spanish a lot throughout the tour.   When she looked into the mirror in the sealing room and saw "eternity", her jaw dropped.  I think we all felt the Spirit.  It was a really nice experience for all of us.

Afterwards we took them out to dinner.  The introductory video talked about the persecution the Saints suffered.  I think Henry was shocked.  Of course he had no knowledge of any of that.  We were able to talk about the Church with them.  We are hoping to have the missionaries visit them soon.

After dinner we were invited into their home to visit for awhile.  It was such a lovely evening.  We're planning to get together one last time at Menchie's (frozen yogurt) before we leave.

VIP Week

So much preparation went into the Fort Lauderdale Temple open house!  The VIP week was March 24th through March 28th.  During that week, we enjoyed having political dignitaries, religious leaders, the temple construction workers and their families, neighbors (from across the temple), the media, etc.  

I worked in the hospitality tent, where they served a variety of cookies and bars and punch.  Around lunch sandwiches, veggies or fruit was brought in.   I thought it was a lovely gesture for those coming that special first week.  It made a very good impression after their tour of the temple.  And was greatly appreciated as well.

Mark's dad and sister and brother-in-law also came during that week on Wednesday from Idaho to see the temple.   They flew into Orlando and drove down.  Dad stayed with us and Allie and Kim had a motel room.

I made dinner at home for everyone that night:  lasagne, parmesean toast and salad.  Mark had to be at the temple, so we ate without him.

We met up with Darin Zwick from Zwick Construction.  His company had partnered up with Suffolk in building the temple.  It was interesting to be with his group because between Mark and Darin, we not only heard the spiritual aspects of the temple, they talked about the construction aspects.  Elder Kent Richards from the Temple Department was our tour guide.  One of the fun things was we went all over the temple, which is not normally allowed on the tours.  We went into the administration area, into the girl's baptismal bathroom, downstairs into all the rooms there.  When we got to the Celestial room, I had an opportunity to share the experiences I had with the people who had come to help me hang the crystals on the chandeliers.  There were a couple of times, particularly in the Celestial room and the sealing room that we were enjoying it so long, one of the ushers asked us to leave because other tours were trying to get in.

There is a beautiful video shown before the beginning of the tour that sets the mood so wonderfully, explaining why we build temples.  I'll tell you, when I saw that first shot of our temple, knowing what all has taken place to build it, it brought tears to my eyes and I could see that Mark was feeling a lot of emotion too.  The Spirit is so strong inside the temple too.

Afterwards, Darin invited us to join them for lunch at Antonio's.  It's a coal fired pizza place.  The other people in our group were John Eyring (President Eyring's son), Mark and Debra Bateman (Elder Bateman's son and daughter-in-law) and Eric Calder and his wife, who work for Darin.  Mark and I sat next to John during lunch and enjoyed getting to know him.  His mannerisms remind me of President Eyring.  We had a wonderful lunch and it was fun meeting everyone.

Dad Berry, me, Mark, Allie and Kim Taylor

Darin Zwick, Dad Berry, Kim and Allie Taylor, Mark, me, John Eyring, Eric Calder and his wife, Debra and Mark  Bateman

After lunch our party went back to the apartment and changed.  We all went to the Everglades for an airboat ride.  I thought it was really fun and our captain (Don) did a good job trying to show us as much of the wildlife of the Everglades as he could, beside telling us about the Everglades themselves.  It seems that water flows throughout the Everglades, even under the sawgrass.  We saw a couple of alligators, some buzzards, a heron and several other birds.

Captain Don had been able to train a couple of the birds to take popcorn from him-one especially would come when he called and would climb on his arm to take the popcorn from his mouth.  He told us this bird used to dig her claws into his arm and peck his mouth and make it bleed, but over time she has stopped doing that.  He is the only one she is so gentle with.

He told us once he was sitting on the edge of the boat talking with the people when this bird started chattering excitedly-warning chatters.  He didn't pay attention to her and continued to chat with his passengers.  Finally he glanced back and to the side and saw a huge alligator headed towards his backside with it's jaws wide open.  She saved his life that day!

The air boat's propellers are in the back instead of in the water.  this is perfect because the propellers in the water would get tangled in the foilage and could damage wildlife as well.  When the captain revs up the motor, these boats are really LOUD!

One nice thing was when those on one side saw some wild life, he would turn the boat around so the other side could see it clearly too.

There was an alligator show we could have seen, but Mark was meeting Steve Pineau, who was the first project manager from Suffolk for the temple, so we needed to leave, which was fine.

As we were riding through the Everglades, I thought and marveled at the beauty and diversity of this amazing work we've been provided with.  Tod truly had our happiness in mind when He created this beautiful work.  He wants us to be happy-to appreciate His handiwork.  "Men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)
Here are some pictures (Thanks Kim):

Buzzards

See the alligator?

That waterway will go on for 25 miles!

Mark was still at the temple, but Dad wanted to take us out for dinner, so after resting for awhile, we went to Outback and had a really nice dinner.

I worked at the temple the next morning.  Dad, Allie and Kim were headed back to Orlando.  They were staying with President and Sister Berry at the mission home.  We would be spending a couple of days with them next week.