Casa Monica Hotel St Augustine, Florida, USA

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Casa Monica Hotel St Augustine, Florida

.Casa Monica has been totally rebuilt and is a wonderful place to stay..if you can swing it…some of the best food in town also..There are wonderfuls shops to the street side on the left..with an art gallery in the building along with a nice coffee shop…It is right on the town square (to the left out of sight), right in front of the Flagler Museum (to the right.) Shops are within walking distance along with the nearby historical district…Built in the Spanish Renaissance style…Saint Augustine is the oldest city in the United States.

When Florida was being populated, this used to be the last stop of the railroads and this hotel along with another (across the street, which was bought and is now Flagler College) were very exotic places for the rich and famous of the day for wintering. Flagler eventually extended the railroad down through Florida to the Miami area.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler

Magic Kingdom® Park, Florida USA

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Magic Kingdom theme park, one of 4 Theme Parks in Walt Disney World Resort, captures the enchantment of fairy tales with exciting entertainment, classic attractions, backstage tours and beloved Disney Characters.

Designed like a wheel with the hub in front of Cinderella Castle, pathways spoke out across the 107 acres of Magic Kingdom theme park and lead to these 7 whimsical lands:

Main Street, U.S.A.® area
Adventureland® area
Frontierland® area
Liberty Square
Fantasyland® area
Mickey’s Toontown® Fair area
Tomorrowland® area
Travel through these lands and see how fantasy becomes reality when you learn how to be a pirate, match wits with funny monsters and conquer mountains. Get swept up in the spectacle of splendid parades and fireworks shows at Magic Kingdom theme park—it’s here that dreams come true for children of all ages.

The Pirates League

The Pirates League: Transform yerself from a land lubber into a true buccaneer!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique: A beauty salon where little girls are transformed into precious princesses.

Guest Services

Guest Services at Magic Kingdom theme park is a list that includes some of the benefits to Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort hotel, where to find ATMs, what attractions use the FASTPASS ticket system, where to find Disney merchandise and where to get a haircut.

Attractions

Attractions at Magic Kingdom theme park consist of classic experiences that pay tribute to Walt Disney’s concepts and designs. Celebrate adventure, fantasy, the past, the future and the imagination. Use Disney’s FASTPASS system on popular attractions to reduce wait times.

Entertainment

Entertainment at Magic Kingdom theme park includes parades, musical stage shows, spectacular nighttime fireworks performances and the chance to meet princes, princesses, heroes and popular Disney Characters. For show schedules, check the Park calendar or Times Guide.

Dining

Dining at Magic Kingdom theme park means sharing meals with Disney Princesses and other Characters. Or grab a fast snack at a quick-service restaurant. Breakfast, lunch and dinner from less than $15 to $60 per person, based on average Guest check, not including tax and tip.

Shopping

Shopping at Magic Kingdom theme park means exploring the enormous Emporium store and strolling through the numerous shops on Main Street, U.S.A. Find gifts, souvenirs, Disney Character apparel, Pal Mickey, pins and pirate and princess accessories.

Tours

Tours at Magic Kingdom theme park travel through secret areas of the Park. See the steam trains up close, go on a quest to conquer Villains, get highlights of Disney history—or let a team of Disney-trained vacation planning professionals personalize a tour for you!

Special Events

Special Events at Magic Kingdom theme park include Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

Calendars

Calendars for Magic Kingdom theme park display Park hours, Extra Magic Hours, operational updates, entertainment and special events.

Transportation

Transportation to and from Magic Kingdom theme park is available via monorail, bus and boat throughout Walt Disney World Resort, and is complimentary for Walt Disney World Resort hotel Guests. For Park Guests choosing to drive, convenient self-parking is also available.

Walt Disney World Resort

Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park
Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park
Epcot theme park
Magic Kingdom theme park
Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park
Disney’s BoardWalk Area
Downtown Disney Area
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
Disney Resort hotels

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler

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Space Shuttle Endeavour Lifts Off!

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Editor’s Note: Hi Flickr friends! This is a slight departure from what I usually post, since this is a shuttle image. But as I was blessed enough to witness this launch in person — my first launch! — I wanted you to see what I saw. Please note that these incredible NASA images are not mine personally. I urge you to see the whole set at mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour lights up the night sky as it lifts off Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Launch on the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station was at 4:14 a.m. EST. This was the second launch attempt for space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-130 crew and the final scheduled space shuttle night launch. The first attempt on Feb. 7 was scrubbed due to unfavorable weather. The primary payload for the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station is the Tranquility node, a pressurized module that will provide additional room for crew members and many of the station’s life support and environmental control systems. Attached to one end of Tranquility is a cupola, a unique work area with six windows on its sides and one on top. The cupola resembles a circular bay window and will provide a vastly improved view of the station’s exterior. The multi-directional view will allow the crew to monitor spacewalks and docking operations, as well as provide a spectacular view of Earth and other celestial objects. The module was built in Turin, Italy, by Thales Alenia Space for the European Space Agency.

For information on the STS-130 mission and crew, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts130….

Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Uploaded by nasa1fan/MSFC on 10 Feb 10, 4.31AM EET.

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler


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Icarus at Night, Florida USA

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Icarus at Night, originally uploaded by jurvetson.

My evenings are punctuated with preparation of various rockets for the Black Rock Desert launches later this month. Night launches with LED sequencers on board, video rockets and a bigger V2 – weighing in at 100lbs so far… and I still need to add three parachutes and two flight computers. First flight will with an Animal Motor Works N2801 spewing a shower of titanium sparklers.

Met today with a colleague who has a system to accelerate his rocket from 0 to 1000MPH in 0.25 seconds. Getting the electronics and even the propellant grains to survive over 400 g’s is a challenge!

This looks like the best of the NASA shots, but it is by Nils from Sweden, posted with permission.

(P.S. I don’t have access to my photos right now. Upgrading to Snow Leopard corrupted my hard drive, irreperably. Slowly recovering everything. Almost as bad as a Microsoft OS… I suspected a X.0 install on a near-full HDD, so I backed up everything right before; nevertheless, iPhoto will not open)

“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
Copyright © Demetrios the Traveler


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