Our first glimpse of Harry Potter at the Orlando airport
First night in Florida - Doubletree in Tampa
Lunch at a Peruvian restaurant in Tampa
Tarpon Springs, an old Greek town on the western coast of Florida
Tarpon Springs is known for harvesting sea sponges
Dessert at Hellas Bakery
On the boat ride - with our new sunglasses
Nature/dolphin watching cruise
An osprey and his nest
A boat brings in sponges
Huge houses along the water
Excess soil from the dug-out channels became homes for trees and birds
It was so hard to catch a picture of this baby dolphin
The other side of the lighthouse is the Gulf of Mexico
There's the dolphin again!
Eating chips on a beach in Anna Maria Island
The beach was popular with beginning surfers
Dinner at Five Guys (We had hoped for a restaurant unique to Florida and ended up at Five Guys, which we have in Seattle)
Days Inn in Sarasota
Beach day at Siesta Key Beach - named the #2 beach in America by Dr. Beach (not sure who he is...)
The sand is 99% pure quartz
Check out the sand!
Soon after the pic was taken, the dark cloud settled overhead and poured on us for about 10 minutes
Great lunch of mint Oreo ice cream with waffle bowls at Olaf Ice Cream
Yummy award-winning clam chowder at Captain Curt's Crab and Oyster Bar
Garlic mussels
Just a small assortment of food options at the World's Largest Entertainment McDonald's
We randomly stopped at this McD's for a bathroom break, not realizing it was WORLD FAMOUS!
Abby throws coins into the toll machine (Florida's roads were in great shape!)
Cupcakes at Pom Pom Teahouse in Tampa
Cute lanterns in Pom Pom Teahouse
The owner at Lollicup took a picture of us for his customer wall
Wingate at Wyndham in Orlando
A late dinner (take-out from TGIF), eaten in bed
You know I'm on vacation because I'm eating in bed! (I don't think we ever got off the West Coast eating schedule)
Cute couch in a bookstore in St. Augustine (on the east coast of Florida)
Checking out the fort in St. Augustine
Display inside a Greek Orthodox museum
Waterfront in St. Augustine
St. Augustine
Cannons being lit at the fort
I love how trees in Florida have moss hanging from them
Flagler College in St. Augustine
Kid toting a sword
Melanie and her new crabbie friend
Hermit crabs with crazy shells
More rain
Lighthouse in St. Augustine
Unfortunately, they ran out of cupcakes before we arrived
Another in-room take-out meal - this time in a really icky motel in St. Augustine
It poured all night in St. Augustine
Melanie at Ormond Beach - finally, a blue sky!
My latest inspiration
Clear jellyfish thing
Harry Potheads hit the beach!
We left the beach just in time before the clouds rolled in
We LOVED our last hotel - Hyatt Place in Orlando (I'm holding my dinner from Waffle House)
Check out our room!
Cool green ice bucket
Stalking people on Facebook
Making tank tops for our day at Harry Potter Land (officially known as Wizarding World of Harry Potter)
My tank top might spoil it for people who haven't read the Harry Potter books.
Moving on to Abby's tank
Melanie's tank
For you Muggles, Felix Felicis is Liquid Luck
Our cheesy faces of happiness over the tanks
So cute!!
Sending people pics of our tanks because we were positive everyone wanted to see them right away
An early start for Harry Potter Land
Faces of joy about our upcoming day at Harry Potter Land
Walking to Universal Studios (BTW, "HPL-10" means "Harry Potter Land 2010")
We didn't even hit up any other areas in Universal
Planning our day (We arrived at 8, and the park opened at 9)
Waiting in line to get into the Harry Potter section
One of our first glimpses of Hogwarts!!! (We were sooo excited!)
The Harry Potheads and Hogwarts!
The line for the Forbidden Journey ride winds through the Herbology greenhouse
Melanie and the plants that shriek when you pull them out of the soil
Of course Gryffindor has the most points
At the entrance to Dumbledore's office
Talking portraits
The Pensieve, where you can see other people's memories
Dumbledore's office - and Dumbledore himself!
Harry, Ron and Hermione give us an intro before the ride
Abby rides the Hippogriff (and looks like she's wearing fish net stockings)
Buckbeak the Hippogriff watches over the rollercoaster
Hogsmeade from above
Melanie's enjoying the ride
Hagrid's Hut
The Harry Potheads pose with Luna and visitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang (other wizarding schools)
Resting quarters for Tri-Wizard tournament contestants
Closed shops in Hogsmeade
Melanie hopes to win the Tri-Wizard Tournament
The Tri-Wizard Cup!
Muggles in the streets of Hogsmeade
Visitors can send mail with a Hogsmeade postmark from the Owl Post
Watch out for owl droppings
Hogwarts' trademark floating candles
When riding the Dueling Dragons ride, you can choose to ride on the Chinese Fireball or the Hungarian Horntail (We chose the Chinese one, of course...)
Hogwarts garb for sale (which we have already, of course...)
All aboard the Hogwarts Express
Butterbeer - frozen or cold - was a hit
We tried Butterbeer and pumpkin juice
Butterbeer foam mustache!
You get a souvenir cup and Butterbeer for $10+
The cap is sooo cute!
Chocolate frogs - one of the most popular items from Honeydukes
Cotton candy in the window of Honeydukes
The Weasley Twins' famous Puking Pastilles - guaranteed to get you out of a boring class!
We had lunch at the Three Broomsticks, where Hogwarts students go to snog
Chicken, beef pasties, and shepherd's pie
No brooms for us - they won't fit in our suitcases
Writing postcards while waiting in line to get into a store
Melanie looks like she might be writing a love letter to Victor Krum
Packages being sent from the Owl Post
Wands for $30 (We were sooo disappointed that the wand didn't choose us; it turned us off from buying one)
The Book of Monsters (I couldn't get the camera to focus on the book)
Inside Dervish and Banges gift shop
Owls ready to send mail
Hogwarts choir and the singing toads
If you ever go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, don't miss their performance
We really wanted to pose with the singers from Slytherin and Gryffindor but we felt sorry for these guys
Marauder's Map
We got sucked into the souvenir craze and got new lanyards
Hogwarts again (All day, we kept taking pictures of Hogwarts for our cell phone wallpaper)
Students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang return for another performance
The afternoon Luna
Shrine to Gilderoy Lockhart
Wingardium Leviosa!
Remember - the wand chooses its owner
The wand keeper gives a boy several wands to try, and instructs him to cast several spells until he finds the right wand (shown here, where a spotlight shines down)
Abby's wand must be made out of pages of used books
Who does inventory around here?
Scary skull wand
Melanie and the wand keeper, who stayed in character the whole time
Looking hungry outside the Three Broomsticks
Yikes, Sirius Black is on the loose (pre-book 5)
