Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Our long awaited trip to Orlando’s Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure was well worth the wait.  Although I am not adverse to the Harry Potter books and movies, I have never been the huge fans that my wife and children are.  

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was impressive to say the least—from the Butter Beer to the four dimensional Harry Potter ride.

We seemed to stay in this part of the park more than any other, and by the looks of the crowds, it was a fav of most of the guests.  Kudos to the designers of this awesome place.

If you’re going to be in Orlando and are any sort of fan of Harry Potter, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a must see.

Meeting the Naked Cowboy

This is a re-post.  I originally wrote this post on Cindy M. Hogan's blog.


My fourteen year old daughter and I were in NYC on a cold, wet December day.  The rain had stopped as we made our way through Times Square.

I heard a lot of screams and laughter and saw lots of women around the famous Naked Cowboy.  I had seen him on numerous occassions in Times Square on other visits there, wearing only his cowboy hat, cowboy boots, tighty-whiteys and carrying his guitar.  What a perfect photo op!  But, I couldn't convince my daughter that it was.  She was so embarrassed; she wouldn't approach him with me.

We (the Naked Cowboy and I) shook hands and exchanged quick hellos. He asked where I was from and if I was enjoying NYC.   He seemed like a very pleasant guy.  As he and I posed for a picture together, I thought about how cold it was and knew he had to be cold.

I gave him a tip and he told me to put it inside his guitar along with the rest of his take for the day.  I wondered how long he had been out there in that weather, making his cold, hard cash.

Singing Locusts and Peeing Toads

I stepped out of our cool, climate controlled Orlando hotel room, just to be taken back to my childhood.  Stepping out into the warm, humid night air I heard the clicking and humming noises of thousands of crickets and locusts.  It immediately took me back to those warm summer nights I enjoyed while growing up in Tennessee. 

The only thing I was missing were lightning bugs (some call them fire flies) dancing around just above the tall grass.

I walked down the sidewalk and felt something squishy under my foot.  It was too dark to see it clearly.  I thought it was a piece of landscaping back.  After focusing my eyes more intently I realized it was a large toad frog.  I then saw it clearly sitting in it’s on urine down on the sidewalk.  I nudged it and it hopped away, evidently okay.  I remember catching these things as kids and having them pee in our hands.  The saying was toad pee causes warts.

Having lived in the mountain west for the last half of my life, I realized I miss those fun things about summer nights