Sandy's travels

Upon leaving the USA, we flew from Houston Texas to Edmonton, arriving late in the evening.  I spent 2 nights and a day at my son and daughter in laws and then flew from Edmonton to Fort McMurray.  Evidence of the major forest fire earlier in the year was clearly seen flying in!  My eldest grandson was there to meet me and drove me into town for a bite of lunch and then to see his place.  One of his friends, a lady who pulled some strings, made arrangements to get me a tour of their worksite on the tar sands.  I was geared up with work boots, a safety vest, goggles, hard hat and gloves, plus a guest tag with my info on it and we soon had a company truck to use on our tour!  And what an interesting tour it was.  Cameras aren't allowed so I was able to enjoy listening and looking at what they were describing and showing me!  You can google information on the tar sands to learn more about how it is mined, extracted, processed and its impact on the environment if you are interested.  

All good things must come to an end but....then you go on to something just as good, or fun and exciting! After leaving Cozumel we made our way across the Gulf to arrive at Port Canaveral. We arrived in the early morning and tied up next to another Disney cruise ship bigger than us. We had all packed up the night before so we just needed to dress and head off to early breakfast prior to departure. Taking our luggage with us we made our way by bus to the car rental outlet. After some issues were ironed out with a vehicle we were in a van and on our way to Orlando. Thank goodness for GPS on the phone!we checked out a Disney outlet mall and stopped for lunch prior to finding our adjoining condo rooms at the Sheraton Suites. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry facilities and full kitchen. The pool was just outside our door. We had picked up some food and drinks before arriving at the condo and enjoyed a light meal in our room. After dinner we decided to head to downtown D