The Fountain of Fair Fortune is named for a short story in "Tales of Beetle the Bard." It is the local pub of Diagon Alley. Not quite as relaxing as the Hog's Head Inn of Hogsmeade Village but you can get frozen Butterbeer as well as the two Wizarding World's "craft" beers, Dragon Scale and Wizard's Brew, so it'll do!
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
The Tower of Terror must have been one of the most ornately-designed ride exteriors when it was originally created. It may have set the standard for the modern-day amusement ride. This is the back of the Hollywood Tower Hotel and you can see that they didn't stop at an impressive façade — they went all the way around, making it an icon for Hollywood Studios. It's looking like it has aged a bit over the years, but it just gives it an even more authentic feel to it.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
St. Petersburg's Sunshine Skyway Bridge soars 180 feet over the water and reaches over four miles, connecting St. Petersburg with mainland Florida, near Bradenton. A drive across it gives the Florida Key's Seven Mile Bridge a run for its money.
The span portion of the bridge is just over a mile long but with three miles of connector on each side, it's a drive that should be on everyone's road trip bucket list. The connectors seem to float just above the green and blue water of Tampa Bay on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. The close proximity to the water and wide-open views on each side make it a popular stretch of road for car commercials.
Another striking feature of the span bridge are the bright yellow cables that soar 250 feet into the sky.
Despite being an architectural icon that measures 430 feet tall, the 180-foot height limit is already preventing some of the world's greatest ships from reaching Port Tampa Bay. In fact, nearly every new cruise ship built today has an air draft exceeding 180 feet. That leads to the question, should they replace the 30 year-old bridge with a taller one or is it more cost-effective to build an additional, more modern port a few miles north or south of the current historic Port Tampa Bay? As the largest port in Florida — supporting over 80,000 jobs — its days may be numbered if it is no longer reachable by the state-of-the-art container and cruise ships that are being assembled today.
This photograph was captured with a DJI Mavic Pro drone.
The March of the First Order through Disney's Hollywood Studios is a tremendous spectacle for a Star Wars geek like me... and just about everybody else who visits Hollywood Studios. I mean, nearly everybody calls the entire place Star Wars World for a reason. That Indiana Jones show is cool but Indy represents the past. Star Wars is the future... albeit from a galaxy far, far away.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
The sunsets in the highest town East of the Rockies are nearly always dramatic. This salmon pink sunset was taken on my last drone flight on Beech Mountain this winter. It's always stunning to watch the clouds snake above the valleys far away when there is a high cloud ceiling on the Mountain.
This photograph was captured with a DJI Mavic Pro drone.
It may not be the most exciting attraction but no visit to Disney's Magic Kingdom would be complete without climbing up and back down the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. On our last trip, it seemed like it was in need of a bit of work. I seem to remember the water system, pictured here, working on our last visit, bringing water to the top of the house from the ponds below. They weren't moving at all when we visited.
Even without a working plumbing system, it's still fun to wander through the treehouse and talk with the kids about the shipwrecked — and innovative — Swiss Family Robinson.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
We spent a few hours wandering through historic St. Augustine on the way home from a Florida road trip. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States. They used to just say it was the oldest city in the United States, which obviously isn't true. Regardless of the terminology, it's pretty old. Especially for America.
While its founders would be proud of the many pubs that line it's streets, I'm certain they never imagined it would be the tourist destination it is today, full of shops selling everything from gummy bears to magic tricks to plastic samurai swords.
Some things have stood the test of time, though, like these walls constructed of coral bricks likely pulled from the nearby ocean. The architecture and street design of St. Augustine is the true treasure of the city. That and maybe the pubs.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
We went back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for our second visit and had even more fun than we did the first time. Rather than trying to do all of Universal Studios in a day, we just stayed in the the Wizarding World. The first time we visited, it was — in a very good way — a sensory overload. But this time, we knew what to look for and noticed many more details that have been secreted throughout the park.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
I could go to Disney World and just hang out in Harambe Village all day long. It's alive with the constant beating of drums as threads of other live music are intertwined throughout the streets as you make your way around. These guys were throwing a drum party out on the main street. They know how to draw a crowd! If there are similar — but more authentic — villages in Africa like Harambe, I need to book a trip. And I have a good feeling there are.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
We were at the Little Harbor Marina last Thursday for a little fishing in the bay. Our guide led us to some really good holes just off the shipping lanes and we managed to catch 2-3 keepers each in just a few hours. Most of the fish that we caught were Red Snapper and Sheepshead. I had never seen a Sheepshead before and they're apparently starting to catch on at restaurants.
They look like a giant Tiger Barb — their stripes have given them the nickname, "convict fish" by some — but what makes them truly unique is that they look like they have human teeth! Don't believe me? Google it. Once you get over the fact that they look like they're wearing dentures, they're actually a pretty tasty fish.
This photograph was captured with a DJI Mavic Pro drone.