#(( i too treasure gasparilla ))

[raysofcrosby]

tampa doing a stanley cup champions boat parade is the most tampa thing i have ever seen in my life...and i love it.

[myhauntedsalem]

Old Hand Found In Florida Attic With Coins And Treasure Map

If you’ve ever cleaned out a grandparent’s attic, you know that you might find some weird things up there. One Florida family recently discovered that this can include a hand.

Mike Lopez told NBC affiliate WFLA that his sister was cleaning out their grandparents’ attic when she found a wooden box with a wedding photo of their great-grandparents, a Tampa-area map, some coins and what appears to be a human hand all arranged inside.

The map bears the word “Gaspar,” and Lopez told WFLA he thinks it may be connected to the legend of a late-18th and early-19th century Florida pirate José Gaspar, who was also known as “Gasparilla.” There is even an annual festival in his honor.

Despite Gaspar’s place in Tampa-area culture and folklore, there is no proof he was real, and the myth may have originated with a railroad company advertisement in the late 1800s, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Well, that certainly is a hand,” Tampa Bay History Center Curator Rodney Kite-Powell says in footage from the news station. Kite-Powell said the treasure map is likely a blueprint from the 1920s or 1930s, and the coins look too thin to be authentic Spanish treasure, or even very old.

“I just don’t know what to make of it aside from the fact that it’s probably not José Gaspar’s hand,” he said.

[sherryfundin]

Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold @Carolyn_Arnold @HibbertStiles

Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold is the second book in the Amanda Steele series and I am really loving Detective Amanda Steele.

Amazon  /  Goodreads

MY REVIEW

WOW! I was expecting a great read when I opened Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold, but I got more than I expected. I find that amazing, because I have been reading her work for some time now and loving it, so for her to write a novel that has me saying to myself (and you), “WOW, this is the perfect story for me.”, it hits all the spots.

Amanda Steele reminds me of Clarisse on the new TV show. I guess that shows how I feel about Carolyn Arnold’s work. It is suitable for the visual media, whether on TV or the movies. Who knows?

The romance is there, but not, and that is fine with me, because I was so involved with the characters I was reading about, I never really missed Logan. He did drop in for a minute or two here and there, just enough to let us know he is waiting….

I love that Amanda doesn’t jump into a relationship with Logan too quickly. I kinda like the one they have right now, taking their time to let it develop naturally, if that is possible in the world they live in. Danger is all around, and they never know when it will find them.

Carolyn Arnold does police procedurals proud. She gives the investigative details in a clear, concise manner, not slowing down the story in any way.

We have a lot of things going on in Stolen Daughters. Logan is trying to hook up with Amanda, but she is too busy trying to help her mother, find out who killed the girl in the fire and deal with her own personal issues.

I love when I can have empathy for the villain, but that does not excuse his actions. He knows right from wrong, he just loves doing wrong. The past is the past and I feel no one can use that for an excuse for their behavior, and when I remember his victims, well…you’ll have to read the book and then I think you may know what I feel.

I love when a fictional novel can draw me so far into it that I, at times, forget I am reading fiction. I had a bunch of notes, but after rereading the blurb, I had to wing it. I didn’t want to give anything away. I want you to experience it for yourself. It is well worth it.

I ignored everything going on around me and stayed up late to finish Stolen Daughters, so to say it was unputdownable is not doing it justice. When IT hits the road, Amanda Steele puts the pedal to the metal, no looking back and no second guessing.

I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of Stolen Daughters by Carolyn Arnold.

5 Stars

MY REVIEWS FOR CAROLYN ARNOLD

In The Line Of Duty (Madison Knight)

Power Struggle (Madison Knight)

Shades of Justice (Madison Knight)

What We Bury (Madison Knight)

City of Gold (Matthew Connor Adventure)

The Secret of the Last Pharaoh (Matthew Connor Adventure)

The Legend of Gasparilla and his Treasure (Matthew Connor Adventure)

Eleven (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Silent Graves (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Remnants (Brandon Fisher FBI)

On The Count of Three (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Past Deeds  (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Halloween Is Murder

Exercise is Murder

The Little Grave (Detective Amanda Steele)

You can see my Giveaways HERE.

You can see my Reviews HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.

Thanks for visiting!

[twentysomethinginorlando]

First Disney Visit Part Two: Magic Kingdom

New Post has been published on https://twentysomethinginorlando.com/part-two-magic-kingdom/

First Disney Visit Part Two: Magic Kingdom

Staying in The Lion King suite, I regret not setting the 6:30 am alarm to “The Circle of Life”. I have it on my phone, but I wasn’t thinking so I woke up to my usual Zumba music. It was a slow start but I had the boys packed up and walking out the door by 7:10, only ten minutes behind my original goal. We loaded up Jay’s car since we were only staying the one night and drove to the Ticket and Transportation Center (the TTC, Magic Kingdom’s parking lot) with only one wrong turn. This is what happens when the navigator offers to sit in the back. This was my first time to Magic Kingdom since they relocated the security check points to the TTC from the park gates. Since we were there so early for Extra Magic Hours, there was a minimal wait. I’m curious to see what it would be like during peak hours, but I like the new flow at the park gates much better. The fences forcing everyone to a choke point are gone. I also like that people are being screened before being on enclosed, high speed vehicles with other guests.

Doug’s first interaction with an actual Magic Kingdom Cast Member was not what I would have preferred. We picked a ticket line at random and waited our turn. The Cast Member manning the touch points, whose name was an older gentleman named Dave, kept fussing at us to stand single file instead of three across. Having spent most of my time as a Cast Member trying to get guests not to stand single file, I didn’t understand this and asked him why. He said we had to be lined up on the first touch point and could only use the second one when we called us over. He then snatched Doug’s ticket from his hand when he didn’t scan it fast enough, having never done it. Not the first impression for Magic Kingdom I wanted, and we had to double back to check his name tag.

I grabbed a Times Guide and we headed through the tunnel to Main Street. I wanted to get to Fantasyland to knock some rides out before the Welcome Show, but it was understandably hard to get Doug to move quickly. Jay described it as sensory overload, and he’s absolutely right. Mainstreet U.S.A. has a lot to take in, and that was without me explaining hidden details. It took us about ten minutes to get from the train station to the hub and we only stopped for one picture! We found the check point where they were scanning Magic Bands for Extra Magic Hours and headed

Getting into the Honey Pot.

into Fantasyland. Our first stop was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was basically a walk on. I know what you’re thinking, “Pooh, really? His first ride is going to be Pooh?” Pooh is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom because of a memory I have with my mom, and for as long as I can remember, Doug has called my mother “Mom”, so it was a perfect starting point. Plus only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open for Extra Magic Hours, and I already had Fastpasses for Space Mountain and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Our second stop was it’s a small world, because it must be experienced at least once but I don’t like to spend a lot of time on it. We headed towards New Fantasyland but double backed to the castle as it was getting close to 8:55 for the Magic Kingdom welcome show called “Let the Magic Begin”.

Mickey is the first character to appear.

I had actually never seen “Let the Magic Begin” myself, just because I rarely open a park unless I have company in town. Jay has seen it numerous times while working and he told me we didn’t need to make it a priority but it was cute. I disagreed, I wanted to see it too! I’m so glad we did. One of the Royal Majesty Makers comes out and welcomes everyone before Mickey and Minnie arrive with their friends in tow. Apparently the character assortment is random and can change by the day, much like the old welcome show on the train. I was surprised to see the Evil Stepsisters from Cinderella, but it made sense as we had seen them earlier meeting with guests. The fireworks went off, just a tiny spurt, and Mickey and Minnie walked off hand in hand. I looked over at Doug, he was wiping a tear away! “It’s magic!” He said and I grinned ear to ear, “It absolutely is.”

At Jay’s suggestion, we headed for Liberty Square where the Haunted Mansion had just opened, or so we thought. We arrived to find it closed for technical difficulties. Jay talked to the butler, who was a friend of his, about the problem and we agreed to try back in a little while. We headed for Big Thunder Mountain but everyone else had the same idea, so we switched to Pirates of the Caribbean instead. It was a walk on, and one of the pirates out front, who Jay and I both knew from the Jungle Cruise, told us to look for treasure in the queue. I didn’t know what she meant until I found gold plastic coins scattered on top of some of the props. I don’t know when they started doing that, but I like it! We each took a couple and made sure to leave plenty for the kids behind us.

We made good use of our time and knocked out Under the Sea: Journey of the

Blast off!

Little Mermaid, Barnstormer and Space Mountain before we grabbed our first snack of the day. We stood munching on the Mickey pretzels as we waited for Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire. I am one of those terrible people who like it better than its predecessor. Had I realized Doug had never seen Princess and the Frog or Frozen, I might have been more inclined to skip it, but it’s cute regardless. Except for Daisy Duck. She is never cute.

Our next stop was to use our Fastpass to meet Mickey Mouse. I’m not sure who was more excited, but Doug’s reactions to everything were making me so happy. We waited our turn and we were the last ones in the room with Mickey. Jay and I let Doug go first, and it was adorable and wonderful, but I was a little sad Mickey didn’t do a card trick. The photographer took plenty of photos and I made sure to get it on video. I love having unlimited Photopass downloads on my annual pass.

We then had to go the long way around the park to get to lunch at Columbia Harbor House to avoid the three o’clock parade… that was being held at noon and three-thirty that day. Yay spring break. Doug and I were going to do the later option after Jay went to work, so we tried to avoid him seeing any of the floats. Harbor House was packed, but we still had our food and a table within fifteen minutes. Jay had to scarf his food and run to get changed for his shift at the Riverboat and we told him we’d be by after it reopened from the parade dessert party. Roughly 1 pm and we had already done six rides, two shows and met Mickey Mouse. Disney considers eight and a half attractions to be a full day, so we were doing pretty darn good. It seemed like a good time to slow down a bit and take it easy, so we headed for the Country Bear Jamboree. While this Magic Kingdom opening day attraction isn’t on most people’s “must do” list, Doug and I grew up in East Tennessee and going to Dollywood. If there is one thing in all of Walt Disney World that screams East Tennessee, it is the good ol’ Country Bears. The cast member started to give the safety briefing in what was the driest voice possible and Doug sort of scoffed at the lack of enthusiasm until I started to explain he was doing it for comedic effect, except I broke off into a fit of giggles as he launched into the spiel for the Carousel of Progress. “What? Wrong show? Tiki Room?” More laughter. He finally got to the right introduction and I went up to tell him how funny he was after the show ended. The closer I got, the more familiar he looked, and when I made it up to the former skipper, “I should have known it was you!”

Yo ho?

Our next stop was “Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial”, where I was hoping Doug would get picked as part of the crew. No such luck. “You! With the teddy bear! Come on!” But of course, Duffy and I were born to be pirates. We ducked into the Enchanted Tiki Room for some air conditioning before heading to stand in direct sunlight to wait for “Festival of Fantasy” in my favorite spot across from the Country Bear Jamboree. Its my favorite because it has great viewing and its not hard to get a spot since the shade is across the street. We waited about forty minutes, and saw three separate high school marching bands come through before the parade music started to play. This parade is one of my favorite things at Disney, and I was certain Doug would love it too. I wasn’t disappointed. He loved Flynn and the ruffians swinging on their float. He actually yelled out loud when the Dragon breathed fire, and said he took that picture at the right moment. Mickey waved down at us as the balloon passed, and we headed across the road as soon as the end was clear. Time to visit my old home, the World Famous Jungle Cruise.

“Sit right down next to that complete stranger. He doesn’t bite, he might drool but it’s a water ride.”

Every time I go by the dock, I know fewer skippers. However there was one old friend out front and she sent us up the Fastpass line. We wound our way around when I spotted a veteran skip, Robert (Jay’s pirate friend from Gasparilla), hanging out at unload. I talked him into doing a bote for me, and we commandeered onto the next one that came in. Call me a snob, but I am very picky about whose bote I ride. (That is the correct spelling for a Jungle Cruise vehicle.) I heard a few new jokes and Doug couldn’t understand why everyone else was so quiet. “They were so fast! Did they just go over everyone’s heads? Why weren’t they laughing?” “Welcome to my life. Welcome to every skipper’s life!”

Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny

We had now given the parade enough time to clear Mainstreet U.S.A. so we made our way to where the Easter Bunny was scheduled to be. For the four years I’ve been living in Orlando, I have tried to meet Mr. And Mrs. Easter Bunny with no luck. I never make it to Magic Kingdom at the right time. Doug didn’t mind taking the detour and their line was only about ten minutes. I may have squeaked.

“And here’s a thing that does a thing.”

We made our way to the Riverboat to see Jay. Doug wanted to watch him work the steam engine. Fun fact: it’s a real 1800s steam engine. There’s no button to push that makes it go, you have to put water in a boiler to create steam. It’s a very technical engine to operate and like most car guys, Doug is fascinated. However Jay wouldn’t be in the position that works the boiler for a little while so we knocked out Big Thunder Mountain and came back, just as he moved onto the Liberty Belle. Jay launched and she began her cruise around the river, and Jay began explaining all sorts of technical mumbo jumbo about how the engine works. A few guests were paying attention too and taking pictures.

Next, we did Peter Pan’s Flight before our Fastpass for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with a quick stop at Mickey’s PhilharMagic in between. After Mine Train we waited out the line for Rapunzel and Tiana, and Doug had a much better time with the princesses than he expected. We then wandered down to the Carousel of Progress to see our final show of the day before we staked out a spot for “Wishes”, Magic Kingdom’s fireworks, with forty minutes to spare. I miss having “Celebrate the Magic” as a preshow, it makes waiting so much longer and I like it better than the new show. Jay got off work just in time to come find us, about five minutes before Jiminy Cricket started narrating. The music surged and I was torn between watching Doug and watching the fireworks. I don’t know if I’m going to make it back before this show is retired next month, but when it got to the Hercules part I saw Doug wipe his eyes. I grinned ear to ear, tearing up myself.

His first Dole Whip.

As soon as the lights went back up, we bolted for Adventureland to grab our Dole Whips and carried them to Frontierland to wait in line for our final ride of the night, Splash Mountain, the happiest ride in the park. We made it off just before close and we made the long slow walk to the front of the park, stopping for one final Magic Kingdom picture.

A quick ride on the resort Monorail took us back to the Ticket and Transporation Center to find our car parked in the very front row of the Aladdin lot, fifteen hours and 35,000 steps later.

Check back to see if we break those numbers when we plan to split a day between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Read Part One to learn about our stay at the Art of Animation.

[myhauntedsalem]

Old Hand Found In Florida Attic With Coins And Treasure Map

If you’ve ever cleaned out a grandparent’s attic, you know that you might find some weird things up there. One Florida family recently discovered that this can include a hand.

Mike Lopez told NBC affiliate WFLA that his sister was cleaning out their grandparents’ attic when she found a wooden box with a wedding photo of their great-grandparents, a Tampa-area map, some coins and what appears to be a human hand all arranged inside.

The map bears the word “Gaspar,” and Lopez told WFLA he thinks it may be connected to the legend of a late-18th and early-19th century Florida pirate José Gaspar, who was also known as “Gasparilla.” There is even an annual festival in his honor.

Despite Gaspar’s place in Tampa-area culture and folklore, there is no proof he was real, and the myth may have originated with a railroad company advertisement in the late 1800s, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Well, that certainly is a hand,” Tampa Bay History Center Curator Rodney Kite-Powell says in footage from the news station. Kite-Powell said the treasure map is likely a blueprint from the 1920s or 1930s, and the coins look too thin to be authentic Spanish treasure, or even very old.

“I just don’t know what to make of it aside from the fact that it’s probably not José Gaspar’s hand,” he said.

[sherryfundin]

New Release – One More Kill by Carolyn Arnold @Carolyn_Arnold @HibbertStiles

YEAH! TODAY IS RELEASE DAY FOR CAROLYN ARNOLD’S LATEST BRANDON FISHER FBI NOVEL, ONE MORE KILL

Amazon  /  Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Carolyn Arnold’s opening pages for One More Kill made me cringe and I love that she pulls me into the story so quickly.

FBI Special Agent Brandon Fisher of the BAU, along with his cohorts, Paige Dawson, Kelly Marsh, their new boss, Tony Manning, and, of course, we cant leave out Nadia Weber, the gang”s Penelope Garcia from the Criminal Minds TV show, are called in. As they discuss their next case, Jack, their boss before he was temporarily replaced by Tony Manning, steps through the door and says, “”Wheels Up.” They believe The Leopard is back and the higher ups have let Jack return for the case. He was there when The Leopard first hit their radar. It was his first major case and it haunts him. For Jack, it’s personal. Could his career be on the line?

The Leopard has not been heard of for fifteen years, and Jack has been diligent about keeping his ears open and constantly on the alert for anything that could hint he was active. He is back and they are headed to Huntsville, Arkansas.

His targets are Caucasian couples and his modus operandi is always the same. His signature is cats eye marbles and he puts them to a gruesome use.

The Leopard is a chameleon, easily shedding one persona for another. He is charming, but his life is a facade. He kills for the sheer joy of it. He felt life was survival of the fittest and he doesn’t shy away from a challenge. In fact, it gets his blood boiling. For Jack it was personal, and before it’s over, it will be for The Leopard too.

One More Kill unravels like a Criminal Minds episode, as does much of Carolyn Arnold’s Brandon Fisher series. Does she do her research? That is a definite YES. That is also why she is highly respected by law enforcement. I have watched and still watch reruns of Criminal Minds, so it is easy to follow along and visualize their journey, beginning to end.

While the story was quick to grab me, it slows down as the investigation begins. We have to do some research of our own for the case and things are not always action, action, action. Carolyn Arnold paints an accurate description of events through her words. She is a must read author for me.

I voluntarily reviewed and ARC of One More Kill by Carolyn Arnold.

4 Stars

MY REVIEWS FOR CAROLYN ARNOLD

In The Line Of Duty (Madison Knight)

Power Struggle (Madison Knight)

Shades of Justice (Madison Knight)

What We Bury (Madison Knight)

City of Gold (Matthew Connor Adventure)

The Secret of the Last Pharaoh (Matthew Connor Adventure)

The Legend of Gasparilla and his Treasure (Matthew Connor Adventure)

Eleven (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Silent Graves (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Remnants (Brandon Fisher FBI)

On The Count of Three (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Past Deeds  (Brandon Fisher FBI)

Halloween Is Murder

Exercise is Murder

The Little Grave (Detective Amanda Steele)

Stolen Daughters (Detective Amanda Steele)

The Silent Witness (Detective Amanda Steele)

Midlife Psychic  

You can see my Giveaways HERE.

You can see my Reviews HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.

Thanks for visiting!