We spent Saturday afternoon at Gatorland. The rest of my family had been there before but I had never been. The Florida residence rate of $9.99 through the end of February drew us in.

The grounds were well maintained with native central Florida vegetation. The buildings and exhibits were well done in a Florida cracker style. Of course the main attraction were the gators, and they have some big ones. They just sit there sunning themselves. The number and size of them is what is most impressive.

There is also a raised boardwalk meandering through a swamp. Except for the road noise it feels like you are deep in a swamp. They also have an interesting collection of white alligators.

We caught the alligator wrestlin' show. This is a must see even though they just sit on an alligator like the crocodile hunter and put then end of the alligators mouth under the handler's neck. I'm sure this is dangerous but its just not that exciting. Still, if you are there you've got to go.

The last show we saw was gator jumparoo. There were two handlers competing to get gators to jump out of the water for some chicken. The gators were not that interested but they managed to get some decent lunges. The handlers, pretending to be dumb rednecks, made some jokes that generally fell flat. I think they have the right idea but need to work on their dialogue more.

Introduction

In April of 2004 I accepted an engineering job in Orlando. Having lived in eastern Massachusetts for most of my life this was a tremendous opportunity to explore not just a new workplace but also a whole new environment! We jumped at the chance, moving our family of four down in June.

Five years on the move has been very positive for us. We have settled into a newly built house in Seminole County. My son and daughter are fully acclimated to the school, community, and weather. We enjoy living here and partaking in many of the wonderful activities available to us.

This blog is meant to capture our adventures in Central Florida. The idea is to give a transplant New Englander's point of view on things to do in the area beyond, but also including, the theme parks.

I will also use the blog to comment on two other topics as they relate to the area or my family. The first area of interest is the environment. To date our family energy policy has been, "take what you need but don't be a pig". This is puritan moderation. I would like to post a few analyses to better understand where we stand compared to others and how much better we could be.

I would also like to create some posts on how Orlando compares to other cities or regions in terms of the possibilities for renewable energy, quality of life, transportation improvements, and government policies.

My other area of interest is business. What are the competitive advantages and disadvantages of Orlando compared to other regions? Is there a business opportunity not currently being served in Orlando? I hope to dig up some interesting comparative facts and create a discussion.

That's all for now!