The Everglades look quite a bit like the moors in Northern Germany. For me who grew up near such places the Everglades probably aren't as scenic as for others. One interesting aspect is that the vegetation is quite different from what I've seen in relatively old documentations, as the swamp is slowly drying out.
The Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is located North of the John F. Kennedy Space Center and is a large marsh area. I watched Manatees, got some photos on Scrub Trail as well on Palm Hammock Trail and got quite wet on Oak Hammock Trail. The hammock trails are quite interesting with a very distinct tropical vegetation. The Wildlife Drive is also very interesting, though in the afternoon there were not many birds to see. The bald eagle was nowhere to be seen, the osprey sat at the highway instead, but I saw some birds at least. I forgot the bird guide and have to look up at home what exactly I saw...
Fursuit bowling after Megaplex started one hour late, but was very entertaining. Unfortunately, it also ended late, so we didn't get to visit a theme park. Instead, BBF, Yappy, Kwisa and me chatted a bit and afterwards drove to Downtown Kissimmee. At night, we had dinner at Wolfgang Puck's at Downtown Disney with more than 10 people. The Macadamia Chicken was excellent.
The concert of Matthew Ebel was great. He needs a band, though. He's a hell of a piano player, and his voice is excellent. But the pre-recorded drums and bass don't sound right.
I'm having a blast. From what I had about Megaplex beforehand, I was expecting some kind of American MMC. And indeed, it is a relax-a-con deluxe. Even though there is not overly much programming, the panels and events are excellent. The Megaplex staff is running the convention very smoothly, everyone is having a great time and its fun to hang out with all the folks here.
My itinerary was Nürnberg, Frankfurt, Philadelphia and finally Orlando. The take off in Nürnberg was 33 minutes late, but that's not unusual. Opposed to what I expected there were only few turbulences and even
the kids on board were reasonably calm. The Frankfurt airport is still under reconstruction, which means missing or misleading signs and walking all the way from the end of concourse A to the end of
concourse C through the terminal halls. The security measures by US-Airways are getting more and more obscure (three people at the gate who practically stand next to each other requesting to see my passport, requirement to give an emergency contact...)
I'm skipping the tagging-nonsense, but I cannot resist answering the rest...
Standing there with my bicycle at the traffic lights, panting heavily, I thought "Jörg, you aren't 17 anymore." True. I'm 20 years older and in better shape than I was back then...