Our 2019 Florida Summer Vacation

Palm Trees in Florida

Palm trees stand tall against a cloudy sky in Kissimmee, Florida, as seen during our 2019 Florida Summer Vacation.

We are now back home after a week in Florida. Did you miss us?

It was a nice time, and fairly relaxing. We spent the week in a condo at the High Point World Resort, as we do just about every summer. We did not go to any theme parks except for a visit to Kennedy Space Center one day. Also, we spent a day at Cocoa Beach, which is always one of our favorite places. And we spent some time at Disney Springs and visited some of the Walt Disney World hotels, too. And we spent lots of time at the condo pool. All in all, it was great.

The photo above sums up the vacation pretty well. Especially the clouds. The “normal” afternoon Florida showers were slightly above average during our visit. None of them were bad, and none of them lasted all that long. But they were there every day. The only day we did not get any rain was on the day that we were driving back home. That figures, doesn’t it?

But we did not let the rain slow us down any. On the days that we did not go to Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach, we would go to the pool in the morning and stay out there either until it rained or until we were hungry for lunch. If lunch was our reason for leaving, then the rain came while we were eating our lunch on our covered porch. So it was good that we left when we did on those days. At Cocoa Beach, we got to enjoy the beach for about 4 hours before the rain drove us away. And at Kennedy Space Center, we were inside in exhibits for must of the rainy times.

So even with the rain, it was all good, and we got to do most everything that we wanted to do. Plus, we got to take a break and relax while it was raining. That was nice, too.

It was good trip. And it was good to get away from everything for a few days, too.

New Things

One of the nice things about getting away from some responsibilities is that I have more time to think. Not that I think about very profound or important things. But after a few days of relaxing, my mind starts to work on its own again.

It is fun to think of new ideas, new things to do, new ways to do the same old things. Some of those thoughts might not ever amount to anything. Other thoughts might turn into something that you might see here. Some new ways to process photos, or maybe some new things to write about. Maybe even some new site graphics sometime.

Sometimes I think those people who seem to be really creative just set aside more time to think than the rest of us do. And then they take those thoughts that they have and actually do something with them. Or sometimes it is just that they are not afraid to hold onto some seemingly crazy thoughts and not just toss them aside.

So I really don’t know what, if anything, might come from some of those random thoughts. But it might be fun.

Check the 2019 Florida Summer Vacation page from time to time to see what all we did!

Bible Verse

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. - Psalm 51:10-12

About the Photo

This was a somewhat simple photo of a few palm trees at the condo pool, but I wanted to make it stand out a little from just a photo of some palm trees. So I increased the saturation, added some split toning for the highlights and shadows, and added a color gradient from top to bottom. I worked on it a bit to make the clouds stand out instead of just looking flat, too. The sky was originally rather washed out, but the Raw file allowed me to bring out some of those cloud details.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Luminar. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
_Lens: _ Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS Lens
Date: June 14, 2019
Location: Kissimmee, Florida