Flat Stanley was very excited.

He was going to visit some of the wonders of Florida. Disneyland or Bush Gardens or Sea World. You see, when Tyler wants to go to Florida he must have his mother or perhaps his grandfather call a travel agent and make a reservation for an airline ticket which can cost hundreds of dollars. He has to get up early in the morning and travel to the airport to get on an airplane and then probably he will have a layover in some other airport like Atlanta GA.

Now for Flat Stanley going to Florida was pretty easy and very cheap to do. As a matter of fact Stanley is in Florida right now and it only cost him the price of one stamp. Oh I know that he got banged around a little bit. He was dropped into a mail box with hundreds of letters. It was really rather stuffy and a little hard to breathe. The worst part was being run through those machines that sorts mail. As a matter of fact no ride on Disney except Space Mountain could compare to the speed with which he zipped through the mail system. It was sort of dark and scary and Stanley moving very fast. The envelope Stanley was riding in was stuffed into a big bag with thousands of other pieces of mail and flown to Florida overnight. There was a lot banging around with other envelopes until he was finally in North Port, Florida and riding with a very nice lady who's job with the post office was to drive him around in a jeep (that had the steering wheel on the wrong side) and when she found the right house, she put him in a mailbox.

Now when grandpa opened the envelope and discovered Stanley, he was very surprised. He had never received a little boy in his mail box before. But he liked Stanley right away and was pleased that Stan (that is what grandpa called him for short) had sunglasses on. You see the sun is very bright in Florida and it shines most every day. Grandpa decided that he would show Stan around so he taped him to his lapel and took him with him where every he went.

Because the next day was Sunday Stan went to church. Since grandpa sang in the choir with about a hundred other people in a large church Stan got to see over a thousand people in a very short time. And all these people where impressed by the new visitor on grandpa's lapel. They had never seen a flat boy before. They were very friendly people as a matter of fact grandpa called them "The happy, clappy people" because they worshiped God with a lot of singing and clapping.

The next day grandpa and grandma took Stan to Bush Gardens. It was in Tampa Florida. It was a great place and Stan really liked Dragon Land. Since Dragon Land was designed just for kids, grandpa had to let Stan ride with some new young friends. The problem was many of the rides were wet. You know, like riding over the water falls and sliding down a steep slide into a pool of water. Since Stan could not get wet as he was made of paper Stan spent a great deal of time in a plastic baggy.

Stan saw Killer whales and porpoises doing tricks and splashing people with their tails and high jumps. And a seal that did tricks with a ball but Stan was safe from splashes in his plastic bag.

There was a zoo where most of the animals were in natural surroundings not in cages. Many animals from Africa like zebras, rhinos, giraffes, elephants, camels and tigers were on display.

Stanley went to the beach on the east coast of Florida called Daytona Beach, Florida. The beach was very big and wide and the water was very nice. The sea shore was filled with seashells and Stan made a collection with a Florida snow shovel. It was not a shovel at all but was a wire sifter on a handle that would catch seashells but let the sand run through it.

Stan liked Florida. The weather was always warm and there was water every where because Florida is a Peninsula. That means that there is water on three sides. The water was warm and there were noisy seagulls and a large bird with a big pocket under his bill that he caught fish with. He was called a pelican. Florida has very different birds and animals. Like alligators which live in canals and lakes and armadillos that have armor plates and can roll up into a ball for protection.

The time came when Flat Stanley had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. He was again place into an envelope and mailed back to Connecticut. It is always fun to travel but very nice to come home.