Florida 2020: Orlando Cat Cafe

In our quest to find non-theme park activities in Orlando, we discovered our new favorite place: The Orlando Cat Cafe. The Orlando Cat Cafe is a feline rescue organization, that as of our visit, has placed over 929 cats in new homes.

Located in a quiet shopping center, The Orlando Cat Cafe is split into two halves: The cafe and the cat playroom. The cafe portion is open to everyone and had viewing windows to see the cats. The coffee and cat themed desserts were delicious. Guests visiting the play room can bring cafe food and drinks inside.

Entrance to the cat play room involves making advanced reservations and paying an eight dollar hourly fee. The fee goes towards care for the cats, all of whom are from the SPCA Florida. Children are allowed in the play area, but there are many rules to keep the cats safe and calm in their environment.

Although it felt a bit like cheating on our own cats ( Slinky and Tom) we visited The Orlando Cat Cafe twice, since we loved it so much. An employee even gave us a frequent visitor punch card. It seemed like a majority of the other visitors were on a mission to find their perfect cat, and there is quick turnover for cats getting adopted, which is of course wonderful.

Here are picture of The Orlando Cat Cafe.

Due to Covid, we were not free to walk around the play area. We had to stay in our assigned corner of the room. If the cats didn’t wander into our area, staff members would bring a cat over with toys to entice them. For those looking to adopt, the staff brought over cats that they felt would be a good fit. For example, there was a single guy living in an apartment who wanted a quiet cat, so they found one with the right temperament. I can’t say enough good things about The Orlando Cafe Cafe and the caring people who are trying to match cats to humans.

We discovered our perfect match in a black and white cat named Todd. Todd was the sleepiest, most snuggle-bug that I have ever met. He was just so sweet. We seriously contemplated ways to get him back to Colorado, and I think had we not learned that he was already spoken for, that we would have filled-out adoption papers. He was picked up by his new family while we were at the cafe. It was bittersweet, but we hope he is having a good life that is filled with optimum napping spots!

Todd was clearly our favorite, but we also enjoyed playing with the other cats. The Orlando Cat Cafe had an abundance of kittens who were so friendly.

In Colorado we have a cat cafe called The Denver Cat Company. It’s also a great organization, but The Orlando Cat Cafe edged it out for the friendliest felines. If we lived in Orlando, we would certainly be adopting a new family member!

As an added bonus, we discovered a British pub across the street. Friar Tucks was just like a typical village pub in England: no frills decor, delicious food, and chatty patrons. On our first visit, we had dinner, which included Scotch Eggs for Dan- his favorite. We went back for a full-English breakfast on our final morning in Orlando. The food is both good value and authentic. They even have a small shop with British import items, like Cadbury chocolate. We learned that Florida has a large British community, so it’s another reason to love “The Sunshine State.”

We hope to return to Florida in 2021 with the kids, and we will definitely visit both The Orlando Cat Cafe and Friars Tuck. They are Orlando gems.

Florida 2020: Midway Airboat Rides

Visiting Florida in the summer of 2020 was a strange experience. Due to Covid, many attractions were either closed or significantly altered. It was simply not possible to be spontaneous, as places like Disney World, required advanced reservations and had capacity limitations. When we couldn’t manage to book a day at the theme parks, we shifted gear and went on an airboat excursion.

An airboat ride has long been on my Florida bucket list and I was thrilled to have the chance to experience it. We booked with a company called Midway Airboats, located in central Florida. It wasn't exactly the Everglades, but it was close enough.

The tour cost us just under eighty dollars (total, not each) and lasted over an hour. While waiting for our excursion to begin, we went out on the large screened porch to meet Coco the parrot and Park Chop the pig. Coco kept lifting her foot, desperate to climb on Dan. We realized that she often gets treats when people hold her, and since we didn’t have treats, she wanted back in her cage. We were dead to her. Pork Chop was so sleepy, he didn’t even open his eyes when we petted his tummy.

The airboats have four rows, and although the tour was completely outside, it was not exactly socially distanced. We were seated on the top row, next to our boat captain, there was a family of four adults and a toddler in front of us, and an older couple in the very front row. This said, being outdoors with the wind whipping around us as we flew through the water at high speeds, made me feel generally safe.

We all had headsets, so that we could hear our captain’s narration. She kept an eye out for gators and points of interest. One Covid change was we did not have microphones on our headsets to communicate with her and the tour guides did sanitize the headsets between tours- we saw them cleaning!

Selfie of Dan and I.

The tour was more amazing than I could have imagined. The speed was thrilling and the views were magnificent. We visited on a perfect blue-sky day with fluffy clouds. It was serene.

I couldn’t have anticipated that we would see more cows than gators. We learned that summer is not the best time to see gators. Since they have to regulate their own body temperature, they often stay under water and in the shade to keep cool in the heat of the day. It also doesn’t help that they are nocturnal hunters.

Cows were everywhere. Naturally, this caused us to wonder about the cow/gator situation. Apparently, they mostly live in harmony, with gators hanging out near the cows feet. The cows really being too big to be seen as prey for the gators.

Can you see the gator? This is one of three gator sightings of the trip.

My favorite part is when we slowed down and coasted through a heavy thicket of trees. It was exactly what I imagined the Everglades or a bayou in Louisiana ( where I’ve never been) would look like.

On the way back to the docks, we went under a very low bridge, saw some palm trees in the swamp, and enjoyed plenty more cows!

After our ride, we had the opportunity to hold a baby gator. The gator’s snout was strapped for safety reasons, but we saw our boat captain handle her without the strap and she was very gentle. She allowed the boat captain to hold her, much like we hold our cats. The skin on her belly was unbelievably soft, but she was heavy. I could only hold her for a few minutes.

Of course, as we were leaving, we noticed these warning signs.

An airboat ride is the quintessential Florida tourist activity and it didn’t disappoint. We look forward to taking the kids on our next trip to the sunshine state.

Summer 2016: Florida with Kids- Kennedy Space Center

In efforts to bring a little education and wonder to our Florida vacation, we took Zoe and Felix to Kennedy Space Center. Dan and I had visited Kennedy Space Center during our winter trip ( and previously as children), so we had a good idea of where we wanted to focus our time.

The Kennedy Space Center is huge. When we visited in the winter, we stayed from opening until closing and didn't see it all. We knew that the kids couldn't handle spending an entire day. It would just be too much. We were blown away by the entire presentation of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, so that is where we focused our energy.

We arrived prior to opening, giving us plenty of time to purchase tickets and take a few pictures.

The Atlantis presentation is phenomenal. It starts with a multi-screen video presentation, that ends with a clever reveal of the actual Atlantis Space Shuttle. I was most excited to see Zoe and Felix's reaction, which didn't disappoint. They were blown away.

After Atlantis, we spent about an hour in the Atlantis building, which is filled with educational and interactive exhibits. The kids really liked climbing through a clear tube tunnel that was on the second level: not for those who fear heights! We also rode The Shuttle Launch Experience, a simulator ride. The ride itself is fairly tame, but the preshow is a bit intense. It made Felix really nervous and he didn't ride.

The constellation globe is like a magnet for kids.

Next we took the bus tour to the Apollo/ Saturn V Center. Although this is a "not-to-be-missed" part of Kennedy Space Center, it was too much for the kids. They really enjoyed everything in the Atlantis building, but they were ready to call it quits and head back for an afternoon by the pool. If we lived in Florida or if we had more days on our vacation, it would have been wise to buy a multi-day pass and do the bus tour on a different day. It didn't help that our bus driver wasn't very enthusiastic and he was difficult to understand.

When we reached the Apollo/Saturn V Center, we skipped the main presentation ( which is great, should not be missed) and went straight to the Moon Rock Cafe for a quick lunch. When Dan and I visited in winter, we splurged on the "Lunch with an Astronaut" experience, which was a buffet meal and a Q/A session with an Astronaut. It was a great experience. It was spendy and we didn't know if they kids would be at the right age to appreciate it, but I wish we had gone for it. Eating at The Moon Rock Cafe was expensive, crowded, and underwhelming. It fed into our general vibe of needing to call it a day.

We briefly looked at the exhibits in the Apollo/Saturn V Center, including touching a moon rock.

Recently, we were talking to Felix about our trip to the Kennedy Space Center and he remembered the gators. He was a little freaked out about the gators. It was his biggest memory of the day; to be fair he was only six at the time. We did see several gators sunning themselves in the waterways as we were on the bus tour.

We didn't see any Sandhill Cranes.

Zoe told us all about Sweden's astronauts. It's cool to hear what she's learning about in her country. I'm always impressed with how much my step kids know about the world around them: science, politics, history, et...

Last stop was the rocket garden.

After Kennedy Space Center, we drove to Coco Beach. Unfortunately, a storm was rolling in, which made for dramatic pictures, but cut the playtime short. We had just enough time for a quick dip in the Atlantic.

On a future trip, we'd likely plan to spend a few days at Coco Beach, rather than spending the entire time in Orlando. Florida just has so much to offer for a vacation, that it's impossible to do it all on one trip.