February 20, 2007

Today we went for an enjoyable drive to Orlando. We stopped at Lake Eola Park. It is a beautiful place in the middle of town where you can float around the lake on people powered swan boats. As we walked around the lake, we saw joggers, walkers, and people on benches enjoying the scenery. We also saw squirrels, pigeons, ducks, egrets, white and black swans, a cute gosling and a goose nesting along the walkway.

A passer-by shared her puffed rice cereal with us so we could feed the geese and ducks. It was fun.

As we walked we came to a tree with an unusual limb. It grew sideways, down to the ground and then up again. It was definitely different as you can see in the below picture.

We made one more stop at the health food store and then went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. It was Rich and Vera’s first visit to this restaurant. I think they loved the salad bar, pasta, soups and especially the ice cream. This was a great end to a great day.

February 19, 2007

Yeehaw! What a day! Yesterday, we attended the 119th Silver Spurs Rodeo. This was our first rodeo. It was FANTASTIC. The riders are terrific athletes. We saw bull riding, bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, barrel racing, team roping, steer wrestling or bulldogging and the clowns, bullfighters, and barrel men. I’m still not sure why a grown man would want to get on the back of a 2000 pound angry bull. But, I’m glad they do because it makes an exciting event. It is obvious; rodeo is very dangerous for the participants. I’m sure some of these men and women are a little sore this morning. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. Charlotte and Vera thought this was the fastest 3-½ hours they’ve experienced in a long time. We all agree, there is nothing boring about the rodeo.

February 12, 2007

On Saturday, Richard, Vera, Charlotte and I went to Port Canaveral to see Mike. He was supposed to go to the Disney Island for the next 90 days and we were going to keep his truck for him. Well, things don’t always work out as planned. At this time, he is not going to the island. The people in charge at Disney Cruise Lines didn’t get all the details worked out soooo the planned test may not happen. See previous entry for the test info. Keep in touch for further updates. We did enjoy a nice lunch at Ruby Tuesday. After lunch we went to Jetty Park for a walk on the beach. We found the water cold so we kept our feet dry and let the sand sift between our toes as we walked. We had a good visit with Mike.

On Sunday, the fantastic four, Richard, Vera, Charlotte and I went to Wekiwa State Park. It was a little cool so we didn’t stay long. It is a beautiful place to visit when the weather is better. We checked the campground but didn’t find it to our liking.

We then drove to Wekiva Falls Campground near Sanford, Florida to see where Richard and Vera stayed a few years ago. It is much like they remembered, very large, 823 RV sites, with a natural spring that leads to the Wekiva River. It is pleasant, quiet and reasonably priced. We may try to stay there in the future.

Later in the evening, we played the domino game, Mexican Train. I must say, Charlotte is learning to play very well. Of course, Vera and Richard are still the masters of the game.

February 4, 2007

For the second time in the last year, we were in the general area of a tornado. This time we were about fifty miles away from the terrible storms that went through Central Florida. At this time the death toll stands at twenty. The storms hit about 3:30 am on Friday as most people were sleeping. Approximately 1500 homes were damaged or destroyed. Because this happened in the middle of the night, we are considering the purchase of a severe weather alarm. Hopefully, we will never need an alarm but we will certainly feel safer.

Our good friends, Richard and Vera are back in Florida. They will be at Ponderosa RV Park with us on Wednesday. It will be great to see them and hear all about their adventures at the Rose Parade. I will enjoy checking out all the things Richard bought at the Quartzsite, Arizona show. Of course, I will probably want all the great things he found and purchased. Richard is my mentor. He continually enlightens and teaches me what is needed to make full-timing easier. For those of you who don’t know, Quartzsite hosts one of the largest RV shows, rock and gem show and flea market in January each year. Approximately 100,000 people show up and dry camp in the desert. I’m sure both Richard and Vera will have great stories to share with us.

Our son, Mike will spend the next three months working for Disney Cruise Line on Disney’s island, Castaway Cay. He will be part of a test program to see if merchandise presentation and revenues can be enhanced. He will assist with the building of a new stock room for the location to make it easier to get set up when the Magic and Wonder are in port. Every twenty-eight days he will have a four-day rotation on the Wonder and return to Port Canaveral for a few hours. We plan to go see him this Saturday and bring his truck back with us. He doesn’t want to leave it unattended while he will be away.