Timeshare Travels: 2004

Showing posts with label 2004. Show all posts

Orange Lake Resort-Kissimmee, FL (Jan-Mar 04)

On Jan 3, 2004 we arrived at the Orange Lake Country Club Resort for a three month stay. Orange Lake is a very large golf resort which covers over 1000 acres with 54 holes of golf. We spent most of our weeks in a nice single story golf villa. These are large 2 bedroom units with nice views of the golf course. We attended a welcome party the first Sunday evening and met a great couple from Illinois, Darrell and Carolyn, who have become very good friends. We spend lots of time with them playing cards, walking and enjoying the area. We also enjoyed a 2 week visit from our next door neighbors Casey and Esther.
Click here to view video about the resort.

We visited Celebration which is a beautiful planned Disney community several times.
Click here for a short tour of Celebration

We enjoyed worshiping at the Community Presbyterian Church in Celebration where Ron volunteered in the church office and Marlene joined a women's bible study group.

Click here to enjoy a sample of the music at Community Presbyterian Church.

Our first winter in Florida was a great experience with beautiful weather and making some great friends.

Fairfield Ocean Walk-Daytona Beach, FL (1/16/04)

We traveled from Kissimmee to Daytona Beach for a one week visit at the Fairfield Ocean Walk resort. This was our second visit to this resort. This time we stayed on the new North Tower which was under construction during our first visit. We enjoy walking the beach at Daytona because the sand is hard and easy to walk on. We also enjoyed several of the resorts activities which included bingo, putt putt, and pool tournaments.

Click here for a view of the beach from the resort.

Grandvista Emerald Pointe-Branson MO.(5/22/04)

On May 22, 2004 we traveled to the Grandvista Emerald Pointe Resort which is located on Table Rock Lake near Branson for a two week stay. This is a very nice resort with beautiful views of the lake. During this visit we enjoyed the lake activities, shows in Branson and spending time with family who live in the area.
Click here to view the resort.

Fairfield Nashville TN. (6/19/04)

On June 19, 2004 we traveled to Nashville for a week stay at the Fairfield Nashville resort. During this visit we enjoyed the activities at the resort and a riverboat dinner cruise. On Sunday we attended Cowboy Church where the pastor is Johnny Cash's brother-in-law
Click here to view video of the resort.

Fairfield Smoky Mountains-Sevierville TN (6/25/04)

On June 25 we headed from Nashville to the Fairfield Smoky Mountains Resort in Sevierville, TN. We enjoyed a beautiful 3 bedroom unit with timeshare friends from Virginia.
Click here to view the resort and surrounding area.

This was our first visit to the Smoky Mountains where we enjoyed to beauty of the National Park as well as other area attractions.
Click here to enjoy the sights of the Cades Cove Loop.

We also enjoyed a day at Dollywood

Alaska (7/22/04-08/02/04)

We retired at the end of 2003 and one of our traveling dreams was a trip to Alaska. On 7/22/04 we joined a tour group from our hometown for a 12 day tour of Alaska. We flew into Fairbanks and spent the first two nights at the Fairbanks Princess Lodge. While in Fairbanks we visited a gold mine, the pipeline, and had a beautiful river cruise. Pictures below.
Click here to enjoy a video of the Fairbanks area.

On 7/24 we boarded the train from Fairbanks to Denali National Park. Along the way we enjoyed a nice dome car with great food and beautiful scenery. Click here to enjoy a video of the beautiful train ride.

After arriving at Denali National Park we enjoyed lunch before boarding park buses for a trip into the park. We enjoyed seeing wildlife and had a fairly good view of Mt. McKinley.
Click here to enjoy a video of the bus tour into the park.

After our bus trip into the park we enjoyed spending the evening relaxing at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. Click here to see video of the lodge.

After a good nights rest we boarded the train again for a beautful full day ride to Anchorage.
Click here to enjoy a 7 min video of the train ride.

After checking into the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage we walked around the downtown area had a nice dinner and and enjoyed a long evening of daylight with nice views of the bay.
Click here to view a video of the hotel.

On 7/21 we enjoyed a scenic bus ride to Wittier where we boarded the Dawn Princess for a 7 day cruise along the inland passageway.

On our first day out we enjoyed cruising past College Fjord and Glacier National Park where we saw some great views of the Glaciers. Click here for a short video of the Glacier calving.

On 7/29 we made our first stop in Skagway where we explored the sights of the gold rush town. Click here to see highlights of Skagway.

On 7/30 we made our second stop at Juneau the capital of Alaska.

Click here to view the highlights of Juneau.

On 7/31 we enjoyed the day in Ketchikan. Click here to enjoy the highlights of Ketchikan.

Click here to enjoy a 30 min. National Geographic video of Alaska. Beautiful photography.

On 8/01 we concluded or cruise in Vancouver Canada where we enjoyed a tour of the city before spending the night at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel which had a beautiful view of the harbor.

Click here to tour the City.

On 8/02 we took the ferry to the city of Victoria which is located on Vancouver Island. Victoria has a beautiful downtown area with great views of the bay. Click here for a tour of Victoria.

After enjoying the beauty of downtown Victoria we took a tour of Butchart Gardens which is a National Historic Site of Canada, and still privately owned by family descendants. The Butchart Gardens offers 55 acres of wonderful floral display located in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island. The family's commitment to horticulture and hospitality continues to this day. Click on the link above to enjoy the beauty of this place.

Click here to enjoy a video of the gardens.