On the road again...
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Juliette
11 Februari 2015 | Verenigde Staten, Jacksonville
Miles: approx 600
Petrol runs: 1
States: 1 (Florida)
Talks: 3 (SunshinePHP + uncon, JaxWeb/JaxPHP)
Sunday I got my rental car - a brand new Kia Soul - together with Mike and Wim. Originally we wanted to go to the Everglades that day, but what with Saturday night having become early Sunday morning before any of us saw a pillow and with Mike having to catch his flight late afternoon, we decided to go for a lazy late lunch and do some shopping instead.
That evening after we dropped Mike off at the airport and gave him plenty of hugs to survive the flight, Wim, Eryn and me went to South Beach, as, after all, we were in Miami and hadn't really seen any of it yet. Wim, being the connected devil he is, guided us through the confusing and busy Miami traffic like a pro using several different GPS voices to keep us on our toes. The Elvis' like voice telling me there was 'congestion ahead baby' definitely won out as the most hilarious of them all ;-)
After dinner we went to the beach, dipped our toes in the Atlantic and marveled at the gorgeous full moon: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wimg/15865732594/
The next day, Eryn unfortunately had to leave too early to join us for another outing. So it was just Wim and me who went to the Everglades. Quite apart from the tour being absolutely awesome, it turned out that the main road from Miami to the Glades has National reserve area on the South and Indian reserve area on the North. Now you might think: what's the difference ? Turns out it's HUGE! We took an air-boat tour on the North (Indian) side and I'll gladly advise this more personal type of tour to anyone. We were brought really close to the alligators, saw birds, turtles and an Indian community area, were told about the effects of the water pollution in the sixties on the Indian community way of living and about the influence of the last real chief of the tribe. No wonder this tour had such high ratings!
After an semi-authentic lunch at a local restaurant, we returned to Miami and I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to Wim. Now the road trip was really starting. Off North towards Jacksonville with as a first stop, an enjoyable discussion over a cup of coffee with Adam Culp near Boca Raton.
I stayed the night near Fort Pierce and the next day I drove the rest of the way to Jacksonville. I wish I had the time to take 3 months rather than three weeks for this road trip as there were so many places I would have liked to stop, but couldn't for lack of time. Still, I'm not complaining. Even though I've seen motorway/interstate more than anything, the countryside alongside is gorgous! I saw some wild boar piglets along the road near Cape Canavaral, apparently quite a rare sight, so felt priviledged to see this, though I had chance to take any pictures to share with you.
Wim had been telling me that a shutlle launch was supposed to take place the Sunday before but got cancelled/delayed and was now supposed to take place on the Tuesday, though a few hours after I would drive past.
I made it to Jacksonville with two hours to spare before the JaxWeb/JaxPHP meeting I was going to be speaking at. The awesome Ligaya 'Bow before me, for I am ROOT' Turmelle was waiting for me and we went for a quick bite before she guided me to the meeting and took herself off to the exam she had to take which unfortunately was scheduled for the same evening.
The JaxWeb/JaxPHP meeting was great! The group had been given the chance beforehand to vote on which talk they wanted me to give, though the people at the actual meeting weren't too sure how the WP talk got the most votes... Despite that, my 'WordPress for the Win' presentation which is specifically aimed at showing how easy you can get things done in WP from the point of view of an experienced PHP developer, went over well. I ended up taking nearly two and half hours rather than the scheduled one what with all the questions the group asked - most of which I luckily could answer - and the feedback I got was very positive indeed ;-)
Lig had re-joined us about halfway through and guided me to her place in Yulee afterwards where I had the privilege to meet her husband Jason and their two amazing dogs.
More to follow soon! (my writing can't keep up with the travelling for now, but at least you all have some news now)
Petrol runs: 1
States: 1 (Florida)
Talks: 3 (SunshinePHP + uncon, JaxWeb/JaxPHP)
Sunday I got my rental car - a brand new Kia Soul - together with Mike and Wim. Originally we wanted to go to the Everglades that day, but what with Saturday night having become early Sunday morning before any of us saw a pillow and with Mike having to catch his flight late afternoon, we decided to go for a lazy late lunch and do some shopping instead.
That evening after we dropped Mike off at the airport and gave him plenty of hugs to survive the flight, Wim, Eryn and me went to South Beach, as, after all, we were in Miami and hadn't really seen any of it yet. Wim, being the connected devil he is, guided us through the confusing and busy Miami traffic like a pro using several different GPS voices to keep us on our toes. The Elvis' like voice telling me there was 'congestion ahead baby' definitely won out as the most hilarious of them all ;-)
After dinner we went to the beach, dipped our toes in the Atlantic and marveled at the gorgeous full moon: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wimg/15865732594/
The next day, Eryn unfortunately had to leave too early to join us for another outing. So it was just Wim and me who went to the Everglades. Quite apart from the tour being absolutely awesome, it turned out that the main road from Miami to the Glades has National reserve area on the South and Indian reserve area on the North. Now you might think: what's the difference ? Turns out it's HUGE! We took an air-boat tour on the North (Indian) side and I'll gladly advise this more personal type of tour to anyone. We were brought really close to the alligators, saw birds, turtles and an Indian community area, were told about the effects of the water pollution in the sixties on the Indian community way of living and about the influence of the last real chief of the tribe. No wonder this tour had such high ratings!
After an semi-authentic lunch at a local restaurant, we returned to Miami and I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to Wim. Now the road trip was really starting. Off North towards Jacksonville with as a first stop, an enjoyable discussion over a cup of coffee with Adam Culp near Boca Raton.
I stayed the night near Fort Pierce and the next day I drove the rest of the way to Jacksonville. I wish I had the time to take 3 months rather than three weeks for this road trip as there were so many places I would have liked to stop, but couldn't for lack of time. Still, I'm not complaining. Even though I've seen motorway/interstate more than anything, the countryside alongside is gorgous! I saw some wild boar piglets along the road near Cape Canavaral, apparently quite a rare sight, so felt priviledged to see this, though I had chance to take any pictures to share with you.
Wim had been telling me that a shutlle launch was supposed to take place the Sunday before but got cancelled/delayed and was now supposed to take place on the Tuesday, though a few hours after I would drive past.
I made it to Jacksonville with two hours to spare before the JaxWeb/JaxPHP meeting I was going to be speaking at. The awesome Ligaya 'Bow before me, for I am ROOT' Turmelle was waiting for me and we went for a quick bite before she guided me to the meeting and took herself off to the exam she had to take which unfortunately was scheduled for the same evening.
The JaxWeb/JaxPHP meeting was great! The group had been given the chance beforehand to vote on which talk they wanted me to give, though the people at the actual meeting weren't too sure how the WP talk got the most votes... Despite that, my 'WordPress for the Win' presentation which is specifically aimed at showing how easy you can get things done in WP from the point of view of an experienced PHP developer, went over well. I ended up taking nearly two and half hours rather than the scheduled one what with all the questions the group asked - most of which I luckily could answer - and the feedback I got was very positive indeed ;-)
Lig had re-joined us about halfway through and guided me to her place in Yulee afterwards where I had the privilege to meet her husband Jason and their two amazing dogs.
More to follow soon! (my writing can't keep up with the travelling for now, but at least you all have some news now)
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
