2026 - TRIP SUMMARIES AND PHOTOS

Trip Date: 7/24/26

Today was such a fun trip and I loved the way it started. As I pulled up to Gaga’s house, Emi was glued to the front door glass, and I could see that she was very excited that I had arrived. We went to the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, and as we pulled away from the dock, Emi was giggling with joy, especially when we sped up. She enjoyed seeing the large bamboo we saw as we went through the canals. We went close up to the large house with the full-size bronze elephant in the back yard, along with the giant faucet fountain across from the elephant. Emi also noticed the unique art sculptures that were throughout the back yard of this residence. We moved on through another canal, and she got a kick out of going under the bridge, especially because I had to duck down as we went underneath. After moving through several of the lakes, we tried to catch some bream and/or bluegills, but the water was considerably murky, and we only got little bites. After several hours, Emi was ready to head back to the dock, and again, after we made it through the canals, I sped the boat up, and Emi was again cheering on going fast!

When we thought the day was almost over, we had a few more surprises for us at the dock. As I was loading the boat back onto the trailer, Gaga and Emi sat on the dock and tried to catch some fish there. After I finished loading the boat, I parked and walked down to the dock and saw Emi excited and shouting, “I caught a turtle! I caught a turtle!” Sure enough, she had a nice sized turtle hooked. I ran to the truck and grabbed my pliers and extracted the hook without any damage to the turtle. Emi made sure to tell me as I was releasing him not to hurt him. A few seconds later, she said, “Look, an alligator!” As I turned to look, there was a huge splash just to the left of me and the gator disappeared, however, he reappeared about a minute later farther away from the dock. He was probably about three feet long and kept a watchful eye on us. Just then, we heard a loud pop, and it startled all of us, because it sounded like a gun shot. We turned and looked at the boat ramp, and there was a group of paddle boarders standing together, staring at one particular inflatable paddle board. It had hit something on the bottom of the ramp and popped, and it was the loudest pop any of us had heard. On the way home in the truck, Emi said she had a great time! I loved being able to provide such a fun experience and some memories for her and Gaga.