From left to right :
Bob Welch, Ron Abrams, Lorna Sands, Carl Sands,
Fred Higham, Joan Higham, Phyllis ( Drabel ) Abrams, and Barb ( Tallman ) Welch

Same as in top photo :
Bob, Ron, Lorna, Carl, Fred, Joan, Phyllis and Barb.

The Florida Reunion !

Here is a list of the people who participated :

Lorna and Carl Sande
Joan and Fred Higham
Bob and Barb Welch
Phyllis and Ron Abrams
Barb & Fran Ryan

On January 10th,
eight of us met at the "Best Western" across from "Cypress Gardens".
While we were all gathered together, we chose a place to have dinner together.
There are a few photos of us at that event,
which you can see listed below,
and also at the bottom of our Index page,
entitled "Cypress Gardens Reunion".

http://www.joanhigham.com/CL57-1-10-03-2/CL57-1-10-03-2.html

And ----

http://www.joanhigham.com/CL57-1-10-03-3/CL57-1-10-03-3.html

The next morning, ( Jan. 11th ) - we set out for "Cypress Gardens".
It was a very clear - though brisk day.
We stayed in a group, which was a total of nine,
after we joined up with Barb and Fran Ryan, that AM.,
and Fred stayed at the hotel, to visit with an old friend, he had not seen for approximately 30 years.

We went on the "Island in the Sky" ,
which is a ride, lifting you very high into the sky,
so you have a lovely view, of the entire park,
as well as its surroundings.
There are only 5 such rides like that in the world,
and Cypress Gardens is the only place there is one in the USA.

We all attended the concert, which featured "The Platters".
However, they were not the authentic "Platters"
as we knew them, and we decided to leave the concert
to go on to do other events in the park.

The "Rockin' Around the Dock" water ski show was quite entertaining,
and we enjoyed music from the "Fifites" while observing the show.

After the ski show, we all scurried on to the "The Palace"
where we were fortunate to get quite good seats,
and we saw "Skate the States", which was a very good ice skating show.

One of my favorite things, was going through the  "Wings of Wonder" building,
which was a sort of "greenhouse", having a rain-forest environment.
The butterflies were everywhere, and they would actually lite on you !
It was fun !

We saw many beautiful birds, and much wild-life,
including monkeys, goats, alligators, --
just too many to name.

There were ever so many beautiful plants.
From beautiful flowers, to intriguing trees,
having roots showing a few feet above the ground,
to trees which had "arms" outstreached,
from which roots dropped down, and touched the ground,
to start growning again from there.

Many of the decorative Christmas lights were still up,
and some were turned on shortly before we left the park.
However, in general, we did not get to see the majority of the lights,
since we wanted to get back to the hotel, and have dinner.
Most of us had to get back home that same evening.
However, a few stayed an additional night.

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL time,
and Lorna had a great idea -
which I feel worked out magnificantally !
Thanks, Lorna !!

And thank you all who attended, and made it so much fun !
We missed the classmates who were unable to attend.
Maybe we can do something like this again, next year !

Any suggestions ??

Go to INDEX page
http://home.att.net/~joanhigham/INDEX.html