Peach is a labrador, and as sweet as her name suggests. She warmed up to me from the first day, and her favourite hobby is playing catch - in a tug of war fashion. You have to pry the toy from her mouth before throwing it again for her to chase. She also loves lying down on her back and begging for a massage, as seen below:
Reese just stares at me all day long. She suspects i've been stealing her cat food.
Today i decided to go down south, to Kissimmee. Folk legend says that guys and girls who venture there with their crushes will be incapable of restraining their feelings in front of them, and will passionately cry, "Kiss me!" or some other variant. Maybe not.
I stopped by Florida Mall along the way, with its interesting M&M World that serves as both shop and exhibit.
Onwards, to Kissimmee Town proper!
It seems i get lucky every time, as i passed by the historic downtown district and spotted yet another calendar event to crash: the Kowtown Festival, celebrating 127 years of Kowtown heritage. Don't ask me how they get their names. But anyway, it was a fun event with a live band playing, assorted stalls of food and art crafts, and a meatloaf cookoff plus hot dog eating contest! We could even get tastings of the various meatloafs and chip in our votes.
From there, it was a brisk walk down to Tohopekaliga Lake. There were very interesting monuments on the way, one on World War II and the other dedicated to peace...
And i reached Lake Toho ... a vast, greenish-blue lake covered with algae, inhabited by birds and surrounded by gator-infested swamps. Couldn't afford the boat tours though, so i strolled along the boundary.
An old man sat fishing there, just like any old man fished, on a pail, and with all the time in the world. The first thing he said to me was, "You Japanese? Singapore? Ain't that in Japan? The earthquake was bad huh. Ah, nothing beats nature..."
Frank, 84 years old, had 6 kids and countless grandkids. He once worked for Kodak and now lived on a pension. As a retiree, he stays at New York in summer, and drives down to Florida for the winter. (That's a 22 hour drive, folks!)
He loves his family, and feels so rich having them. In fact, he had a close friend, a millionaire without any kids, who once offered half a million to let him adopt his child.
"I told 'im ten million at least," he exhorted, "and even then i told him, nothing. I won't even think 'bout it!"
"Why, he worked hard in his time, i brought up my family in mine. Now i'm rich with kids, and he's rich with money. Why, I told him, now then, go spend it now! And he cried. He was miserable."
He gave me a ride out to the main road, to catch the bus to my next destination.
"And remember," he left off saying, "stop wasting yer time and get married early!"
Next stop was Old Town, situated just off Disney's backyard... a giant attraction that's touristy with a rustic flavour. Themed with everything nostalgic, from the cowboy shops to old-fashioned themepark rides, the main draw today was The Saturday Nite Cruise®, the largest car cruise in the States, with over 300 classic cars, hot rods, street rods and antiques from 1974 and older. Fantastic, rare chance to see and feel these cars in action, and especially at night when they tour the place and the entire town feels electrified!
I just love how their owners proudly identified with their cars, as though they still felt they were the same hippies they were fifty years ago!
The shops are a great reason to come back again... lots of things to explore. There's also Laser Tag, Go-karting, making it a perfect attraction to hang out for a day with your friends!
Well, i'm beat. Hope to fill in more next timeee.
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