It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

Ok, so you might not know this, but…I LOVE HARRY POTTER!!! Yes, I am that typical nerd who grew up with them, has read the books too many times to count, and has a tattoo of a key with wings… But in my defense, the books really helped me through some tough times when I was a kid. When I was 11 (which is when I got my Hogwarts letter in the form of these books) my parents were going through a pretty rough custody battle and I lived with my dad for a year. My step-monster was…let’s just say I recognized her in the Dursleys. I was also in a town of about 200 people with the closest grocery store 60 miles away. The school I attended had about 12 kids in it. Total. So there weren’t a lot of kids my age (actually there were none) and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were my friends. That sounds sad, but it was actually amazing! I would just get lost in these books for hours and hours, going on all these incredible adventures: defeating Voldemort with Harry, researching with Hermione in the library, and playing amazing chess with Ron. So needless to say, I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan.

Dakota has never been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando before, so we just had to go. Really, it was for Dakota…not me…I solemnly swear…

Job or no job, there was no way I was going to be in Orlando and not visit Harry Potter world. Plus, Dakota and I had been planning the trip for months so even with the news of my imminent unemployment, we still made it happen! And I am so glad we did!! We were super prepared as well, we packed our own snacks, and actually went home for lunch and to let Raina out, before going back to the park.

Dakota is quite the ride junkee, so the first thing we did was go to the new ride that came out: Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure. It was awesome! The premise was you were a student at the school and you were going out with Hagrid for class but the motorbikes you were riding went rogue and took you through the Forbidden Forest and some old ruins, finding Blast Ended Skrewts, unicorns, Fluffy, devils snare, and Cornish Pixies. Personally, the best kinds of rides tell a story while you are riding them and this one absolutely did that. It also had a very decorated queue that included Hagrid’s cabin and a bunch of pumpkins growing in a garden.

We got to watch a show of the Beauxbatons students dancing and the Hogwarts choir singing with their frogs. I am sad to report, the butterbeer was……awful! But the chocolate frogs made up for it.

We rode the ride inside Hogwarts Castle and explored the lovely Hogsmeade Village. It was so awesome to be surrounded by a bunch of fellow Harry Potter dorks, I felt right at home!

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." — Albus Dumbledore

Blue Springs State Park

We had to wait in a line of cars for about 1 hour before we could enter the park (which has only ever happened to me in Yosemite) but once we were in, we understood why. There were HUNDREDS of manatees in the water just bumbling about!

The Blue Spring is a natural shelter for manatees to stay warm in colder weather and to rear their young. The water stays a consistent 68-72 degrees F and is crystal clear. We even got to see some babies!!

This week was a bit more subdued than normal, just applying to jobs and preparing for unemployment. But the manatees and HP world were definately highlights of Florida for us. Next week: Georgia!