Blue Tree Resort

Located at Lake Buena Vista in Orlando, Florida, Blue Tree Resort is a perfect accommodation choice for families and groups. While looking for a place to stay during your next vacation to Florida, consider choosing this beautiful resort. Blue Tree Resort offers all the conveniences of home while you are far away from yours.

Also this family friendly resort features everything from well equipped kitchen and fitness center to complimentary shuttle service and outdoor pools. Blue Tree is a condo style resort that provides all that’s required for a perfect vacation experience all year round.
The Ideal Choice for Your Central Florida

Vacation Getaway:

Westgate Blue Tree Resort offers a wide range of accommodations options ranging from cozy one-bedroom villas to spacious two-bedroom villas. The resort is within walking distance of amazing tourist attractions and theme parks in Orlando, Florida. It is also close to great family friendly restaurants and shopping opportunities. Guests are not allowed to bring their pets neither are they allowed to smoke within the environment. For the fact that the resort offers a wide variety of amenities, Westgate Blue Tree is just the place to be.

Amenities:

With the number of quality resorts in Orlando, Florida, Blue Tree Resort still stand out. It offers a calm atmosphere ideal for a relaxing vacation experience. There is no better place in Orlando to enjoy the much needed vacation that Blue Tree Resort has to offer. You will find what you are looking if it is convenient amenities, outdoor activities and comfortable accommodation. Relax and unwind in one of the resorts pools and spas. Some of the resort features include whirlpool spas, wading pool, heated pools and on-site miniature golf course.

You can check your last minute emails via Wi-Fi or participate in sporting activities such as volleyball or basketball. Every amenity you need for a great vacation experience in Westgate Blue Tree Resort is available

You will definitely come back for more high quality service on your next trip to Florida. This spacious property has been updated so to help insure guest will have a better experience. Enjoy a stress free vacation when you decide to include the affordable extras. These include daily housekeeping, coin-laundry facilities, Market Place convenience store shopping and more. Start your day with a tasty meal at one of the many restaurants within minutes of the resort. You can also take advantage of the free transport service to world class theme parks and attraction in Orlando.

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Westgate Vacation Villas Resort & Spa

Located just 1 mile from Walt Disney World® Resort, Westgate Vacation Villas Resort & Spa offers vacations at its best. Most of all the resort offers great services that make guest feel at home. Plenty of fun filled activities await guests due to its location and distance to Orlando area attractions. Furthermore there are other places of interest nearby include shopping centers, great restaurants and cafes.

Rooms

Westgate Villas features a wide range of accommodation options. These include cozy studios, oversized Two Bedroom Villas with lofts, and lots more. Your luxurious accommodation is fully equipped with world class amenities including leather furniture, television, private balcony etc.

With a fully equipped kitchen, you can save a lot of money, instead of spending money on expensive theme park meals. All you have to do is take a break from your busy day and head "home" for a quick meal. There is no better way to save for your holiday.
Swimming, Mini Golf and Lots of Other Fun Recreation

Enjoy a refreshing dip in one of the 14 heated outdoor pools at West Gate Vacation Villas Resorts. The Lakeside marina and dock offers guests the chance to enjoy several water sports activities and paddle boats. The resorts feature several recreation activities to keep family members fully entertained. In Addition other onsite amenities include Hollywood Trend Shop, fitness center, 18-hole miniature golf course, tennis court and much more. Westgate Villas has all it takes make your Florida vacation the most memorable vacation of all.

Another place worth checking out is the new Shipwreck Island Water Park. This family friendly park offers an expansive multi-level, pirate-themed water playground. Also featuring loads of aquatic fun and entertainment for people of all ages including young and old.
Other Amenities

Westgate Vacation Villas Resort & Spa features a lot of amenities. You will find a basketball court, game room and horseshoes all designed for fun. Food enthusiasts have several dining options to choose from. Some of the meals you will find barbeque facilities, pool bar, sports bar and grill and much more. Great tasting pizza from Cordovano Joe’s is available for delivery poolside. Other additional services include free scheduled service transportation to theme park, 24 hour front desk and concierge service.

Furthermore are you looking for an accommodation that offers the comforts of a fully furnished home? Look no further than Westgate Vacation Villas Resort & Spa. It is considered the perfect choice especially for tourists looking to enjoy memorable Central Florida vacation experience. In conclusion owners and guests enjoy this resort as there are 2 other resorts on the property giving you lots more to do at no cost.

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Titanium Time Travels

Ready to escape to nature? Outdoor activities are a favorite outlet for many of us to decompress from the day to day routine. A popular outdoor activity is to hit the trial on a great hike and overnight camping adventure. Of course, if we are camping, we are usually cooking. There's nothing like some fresh air with a healthy dose of nature to build up a good appetite! In this article, I will highlight a brief history of titanium, an important element now found in some light-weight camping cookware.

First, let's start by understanding titanium is a chemical element you may have learned about in chemistry class, with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It is the ninth-most abundant element in the Earth's crust and the seventh-most abundant metal. It is a lustrous transition metal with a lovely silver color, low density and highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metallic element. In its unalloyed condition, titanium is as strong as some steels, but less dense. Impressive! It is highly resistant to corrosion in sea water, aqua Regia and chlorine. So, what does this have to do with camping cookware? We love titanium because it is light weight in our packs, exceptionally strong and a good investment, as it holds up well over time.

Speaking of time, did you know titanium was first discovered in Cornwall, Great Britain by William Gregor, the vicar of the Creed parish and amateur geologist in 1791? Gregor recognized the presence of a new element in ilmenite when he found black sand by a stream in the nearby parish of Manaccan. It seemed the sand was attracted by a magnet, so Gregor analyzed the sand and determined the presence of two metal oxides: iron oxide and a whitish metallic oxide he could not identify. Realizing the unidentified oxide contained a metal that did not match any known elements, Gregor reported his findings to the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall and in the German science journal Crell's Annalen. Interestingly a few years later the oxide was independently discovered in 1795 by Prussian chemist Martin Heinrich Klaproth, in what we now call Slovakia. Klaproth named the new element for the strong Titans in Greek mythology.

Fast forward to the 1950’s and 1960’s, the Soviet Union pioneered the use of titanium in military and submarine applications as part of their Cold War programs. Beginning in the early 1950’s, titanium was frequently used in military aviation, particularly in high-performance jets, such as the F-100 Super Sabre, Lockheed A-12 and SR-71.

Recognizing the strategic value of titanium, the U.S. Department of Defense supported early commercialization throughout the Cold War. So much so, that a large stockpile of titanium was maintained by the Defense National Stockpile Center, until it was finally depleted in the 2000’s. As of 2015, titanium sponge metal was produced in six countries: China, Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan, United States, Ukraine and India (in order of output). So, there you have it - who knew titanium is found and valued worldwide? Today we know that it is a wonderful cooking companion on our many travels across the great outdoors.

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The Most Festive Cities To Travel Over Christmas

With Christmas coming up, festivities around the world are well and truly beginning to take over. Christmas is a time for tradition, with different cities and cultures celebrating it in all manner of ways. Even though everyone has their own traditions, why not try something new? Experience a new taste of Christmas, or try out some of the more unique traditions across the globe. So if you fancy some sun, or maybe even just some fantastic lights, there are some wonderful places for you to visit at Christmas.

London, England

One of the most vibrant and exhilarating cities to visit during Christmas. The city comes to life during the festive period. You can forget the hustle and bustle, simply becoming engulfed with the feel-good factor. The whole city gets decorated, packed full of lights and trees. With markets galore, there’s a great opportunity to get stuck into some street food, and try out some authentic English cuisine.

If there’s one place in particular to be in London, check out Hyde Park. The whole place transforms into a complete ‘Winter Wonderland.
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Barcelona, Catalonia

Sick of the freezing cold? Barcelona is the place to go. It’s a break from the bad weather but isn’t too hot. During the festive period, the place is completely transformed. If you fancy a break from the old roast dinner, then the Spanish certainly know how to feed you. Christmas food, usually consists of seafood, tortilla de patatas, croquettes and caldo con delotas. It’s a world away from turkey!

If you can stay until the 5th of January, then you’re in for a treat. The city puts on an enormous parade, celebrating the three Kings, Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar. The three go through the city, with cannons, fireworks and even camel’s joining them.

New York, America

Already a fantastic place to visit, but during Christmas there is simply no place like it. The whole city is lit up, with free ice skating rinks set up in Central Park along with an enormous tree, which has been going up for 84 years. There’s street stores galore and simply no better place to do your Christmas shopping.

If you really want to feel the Christmas vibe of New York, grab yourself a pretzel and head to Central Park, the spectacles there will simply blow your mind.

Reykjavik, Iceland

If you need a break from the usual Christmas celebrations, then this is the place to go. Iceland has a few peculiarities to say the least. The décor is slightly different to what you might usually expect! 13 ‘Yuletide Lad’s’ which are effectively scruffy Santas supposedly bring gits to 13 well behaved children, during the 13 nights which lead up to Christmas.

The main pull for this fantastic city in Iceland, however, is surely set to be the magnificent Northern lights. On top of the brilliant decorations, they truly do make it an extraordinary place.

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg in Austria has recently become a very famous city. But not for the most conventional event! A recent Christmas/horror film called Krampus is based on a famous tradition from Salzburg. Across Austria and parts of Bavaria, people dress up as the terrifying alpine bests, which search the streets for naughty children.

Apart from the rampaging monsters, Salzburg is a wonderful place to visit come the festive period. Filled with stalls and home to the perfect box of chocolates. The city is also home to the memorable hymn ‘silent night.’

There are plenty more which could have been included on the list, with so many famous cities having their own unique set of traditions. But for Christmas beauty and pure theatre, these are the places to go!

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Eagle Islands

It was a clear, warm summer afternoon on Lake Chaubunagungamaug in Webster, Massachusetts. We were anchored in a quiet cove, playing a lively game of cribbage when I spotted a pair of eagles soaring high above us. It was as if they were playing a game of tag. Then suddenly one of the eagles headed straight down into the water and came back up with a big fish in its beak. He flew to a tall bushy pine tree nearby to enjoy his fresh catch.

These are the special lake moments that many of us have come to look forward to in summer. Each spring at least one pair of bald eagles return to nest here, on one of the lake’s many small islands. Webster Lake, the other more "speaker friendly" name, is located near the corners of Connecticut and Rhode Island and has a surface area of 1,442 acres. The lake’s original name comes from Nipmuc, an Algonquian language and is frequently said to mean "You fish on your side, I fish on my side and no one fish in the middle.". Another translation according to anthropologist Ives Goddard, is "lake divided by islands". Given the size of Webster Lake, locals refer to its’ three connected bodies of water as North, Middle and South ponds.

Webster Lake also goes by an even longer, 45-letter alternative name, "Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg" that was thought to be coined around 1921. It is frequently cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world! Many of our long-time resident neighbors are proud to roll the exaggerated name off of their tongues with ease and finesse. I am still working on it.

Today there are an estimated 7,066 nesting pairs of bald eagles, according to US wildlife experts. An eagle can live up to 30 years in the wild, with many decades to produce offspring. Their nests or aerie, are found high in large, strong trees near rivers, coasts or on lakes. The nest shape can be cylindrical, disk, bowl or inverted cone depending on which branch point it’s built. Typically, the nest is about five feet in diameter. A nesting pair often return to use the same nest year after year. When doing so, they tend to reinforce the nest structure, as strong winds or storms often take a toll. As you can imagine, over time the nest can get as large as nine feet in diameter, weighing nearly two tons! Eagles have also been known to build a second nest nearby if they feel threatened. On Webster Lake our pair have a massive nest on a single residence island in South Pond and another smaller (newer) nest on an island in Middle Pond.

Eagles lay one to three speckled, off-white colored eggs about goose egg size, one day at a time. In our New England area egg laying starts in late March. Then it takes 35 days of incubation duties shared by both parents. The female spends the most time on the nest, not only keeping the eggs warm, but to protect from intruders such as squirrels, ravens and gulls who will eat the eggs. Interestingly, the male habitually brings green sprigs of fresh conifer branches to the nest during the incubation period. To date experts have not determined why, other than to possibly deodorize the nest or provide shade for the eaglets. The cycle from the time parents build the nest to when the young are on their own is about 20 weeks. The parents remain within one to two miles of their nest during this cycle.

Human disturbance can have a negative impact on the bald eagle, as most require privacy and quiet to breed and raise their young. The Webster Lake Association (WLA) has a home webcam on the nest of our local pair. From the comfort of his home, a WLA member watches and regularly reports the eagles’ many activities in a newsletter. Those of us out on the water in our boats and kayaks enjoy spotting the eagles and letting the WLA know of their whereabouts. We even have a fun contest each spring to name the new eaglet(s), with Independence, George and Martha and Liberty being a few of the most recent winners. Last spring one of our eaglets was injured during the banding process. The year before one of the young fell out of the nest and had to be rescued. Both eaglets survived, however last summer our nesting adult pair left their large, original nest and were repeatedly spotted in Middle Pond by their smaller nest, likely a result of these traumatic experiences. It is predicted they will relocate there to safely raise their young next spring. We shall see.

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Fall to Winter - Water to Ice

There is no doubt fall has left and winter has arrived. Our deciduous trees have shed their leaves. Early morning frost and warm days have turned to frozen ground and bone chilling winds. Activity on our lake is represented by a few ducks splashing in the slightly warmer creek fed waters. As the days pass, a thin coating of ice will begin to form around the shoreline and eventually across the various coves. Soon the lake will be covered with winter ice increasing in thickness by each passing day. As the ice thickens, so does the excitement level of our ice fisherman! Yes, it is time to put those augers, tip-ups, spears and light fishing gear back to work.

We are anxious to get out on the ice. Is it thick enough? Ice fishing is one of the most dangerous methods of fishing. Caution must be taken, especially when we are so eager to get started. There have been many accidents on our lake. Unfortunate stories have been told of hummers, trucks, cars, snowmobiles, animals and of course people breaking through the ice. A sure way to start the season off on the wrong foot. Some fisherman risk walking on ice at two and a half inches, when experts recommend a minimum of four inches. Ice thickness varies, especially in lakes with greatly varying depths. Our lake can drop twenty feet in a lateral distance of eight feet. This means the ice thickness will vary greatly early in the season. Six inches is recommended for sleds and snow mobiles. Ten inches for smaller vehicles and at least 16 solid inches for full sized trucks. In our seven years on the lake, the ice thickness was over 10 inches only once.

There are other risks to be aware of when out on the ice. Frostbite can occur from prolonged exposure to wind and the low temperatures. Proper winter clothing is essential. These days there are great huts, tents and shelters that can be quickly erected for escape from the harsh temperatures and biting winds. Some ice fishermen have more permanent shelters, usually on wheels, that can be towed onto the ice. These shelters often have bathrooms, stoves, beds and even satellite television. If you have a shelter with heat, proper ventilation is critical. Some fishermen lost their lives on the ice due to carbon monoxide poisoning. The greatest risk and most deaths have occurred from hypothermia. This is when the body temperature falls too low. It is important to educate yourself on hypothermia and all the other potential risks prior to heading out onto the ice. The goal is to have fun and be safe!

Time to fish. There are many different approaches to ice fishing. All approaches have some factors in common. Fish do not expend much energy under the ice. No need to have your bait do so either. In fact, too much motion will actually deter the fish. Depth is critical. Do a little research prior to heading out on the ice. The species of fish determines the depth of the fish. For example, crappie and bass will be found at different depths. This is one time a bobber is important. Use a slip bobber to set the proper depth. The bobber will also serve as a good visual for when there is action below. Fishing for bluegills and perch? Send the bait to the bottom. Some bouncing action will entice them to your bait. Chum is a good way to attract some attention too. This activity created by other fish feeding can draw lower energy fish to the site. In shallow waters, it is a good idea to cover your hole. Light penetrating thru the hole can scare fish away from your bait. There you have it - the rest is up to you. Have fun and catch some fish!

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Musky Rodent Happenings

Early one December morning while sipping my first coffee, I spotted a small dark shape struggling on our newly nearly frozen lake. After further observations, I discovered it was a muskrat attempting to make his way from the little island in front of my cove to the nearby shore. Every few steps the poor little fellow would sink through the ice and cling to the edge, struggling to make his way back up and out. Once back on his feet, off he would quickly scamper with long tail pointing to the heavens, until again back into the water he would go. This hurry up and sink dance repeated itself countless times until the determined little guy safely made it to shore. Most impressive! So much so, that it inspired me to learn more about our local muskrats, here on Lake Chaubunagungamaug in Webster, Massachusetts.

The muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) gets its common name from a resemblance to stocky, medium sized rodents, along with their musky odor from scent glands used to mark their territory. Muskrats weigh between 2 to 4 pounds and are typically 18 to 25 inches long with a flat, sparsely haired (scaled) tail that measures between 8 to 11 inches. They are covered with a short, thick brown fur that is doubled layered to help protect them from cold water.

Most of the time the muskrat can be found in the water, swimming underneath up to 17 minutes at a time. They can close off their ears keeping water out, have semi webbed hind feet and a strong tail that propels. When walking on land their tail drags behind them, making it easy to spot their distinctive tracks, especially in the snow.

Muskrats are semi-aquatic, most active at night or near dawn and dusk, with an adaptable lifestyle native to North America. They are most commonly found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitats. Specifically, they make their homes throughout still or slow moving waters that include freshwater marshes, beaver ponds, reservoirs, canals and borders of lakes and rivers. The muskrat's den includes a short tunnel that leads upward from below the water to dry soil. Sometimes there are complex chambers with multiple entrances and even air ducts. They also build lodges in open water around 2 to 4 feet deep, up high enough to keep the den dry.

Food sources for the muskrat include a variety of plants, cattails, bulrush, arrowhead, water lilies, pond weed, clover, ferns and other crops if they are within their territory. When plant varieties are scarce they will also dine on shellfish, snails, fish, salamanders, and frogs. Normally they feed within 150 feet of their primary dwelling when food is abundant, although they will travel much further if necessary. My lake (and yard) offer most of these, making it a perfect location for the muskrat to live and thrive.

Most muskrats make a valuable contribution to aquatic communities. By harvesting plants for not only food, but their dens, they create open water space for ducks, geese, birds and other native wildlife. Other animals and reptiles will periodically share the muskrat's den or lodge to rest and even nest. Having said that, many of our lake neighbors consider the muskrat a pest, as they have been caught chewing through plastic floating docks, rafts, moorings and even boat ties. They can also damage dams and dikes when over burrowing or eating early sprouting crops, such as my tender young sunflowers near our beach. Muskrats are not climbers, so if we want to protect our beautiful waterfront garden we will need a fence staked at least a foot below ground, as they are determined diggers. One more project for spring!

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