Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Florida Winter 2012-2013

Hello all!

Our winter outing is nearly finished.  We are in Tallahassee
 and we will soon be heading to Ocala.
  I'm sorry that my postings have been non-existent 
for this trip, but here is the make-up posting.  
This winter we spent all of our time in Tallahassee with our son,
 Brian, and in our two Thousand Trails Parks.   

Brian, re-grading to improve drainage around his garage.



There are always chores when you own an RV--some pleasant,
 some not so much.


We visited Havana's winter welcoming festival
 in 70-degree warmth.



The parade was nice, with old cars.


Motorcycles.  

We are standing in front of the Wanderings store.
  It has an eclectic worldwide collection of gifts,
 along with antiques, furniture, and more.
  It is a great place to shop.  If you are in the area,
 stop by and say hello to the Lombardos.


A Viet Nam era Huey.


And what we all were waiting for--the lawnmower portion of the parade!



Havana even trucked in snow! 
 I hope there was not too many snowball fights
 because the snow turned to mushy ice very quickly.




We visited the Governor's Mansion with Brian
 and our host, Carin Butler.
  Carin is the sous chef there.



Brian and Judy on the lawn sculpture at the mansion.



Later in the week, Brian attended a Christmas party 
for the mansion's employees.




Our time in Orlando Thousand Trails included more maintenance.
It also included lots of pickleball--no pics  :(



A trip to the east coast beaches with
 Rick Gabhart and niece, Jan Gabhart, of St. Cloud.
No fish yet??!



Judy and the birds.  Perhaps she is scaring the fish!



Still no fish!



Finally!  Exactly what we were looking for.  Blackened Mahi, topped with a mango salsa.
  A medium rare catch.



We noticed this sign at the beach's entrance and had
 to borrow a two-gallon container for the picture.



Back at Rick and Jan's place, relaxing on the back deck.



Installing a sunscreen on the motorhome.  
Wow!  What a warm winter.
  And now that spring is here, it has gotten cool. Go figure.



We had a great visit with brother Chris (right), Randy (foreground), 
and Louie (background).  They were down to do repairs
 and maintenance to Nick's place.
It now belongs to Chris.
We will get another visit with Chris and his wife, Kathy,
 when they come down from Indiana on her Spring Break.





Lots of pickleball in Peace River Thousand Trails,
 with pictures.  
Judy and Janet.




Canoe trip down the Peace River.



Some of our traveling mates.

Marge and Dean.

Mira and Renault.

Judy and Dennis in the trees.  The photographer focused
 for the fall.  We obviously did not fall because
 you are not watching the video now!



Lunch break on a comfortable sand bar.



AHHH!  Florida white water!



Approaching the campground.



In the river, looking for fossil treasures.

We found several in our four outings.  Here is a sampling.



Dennis played pickleball too.  Here with Nathan against Rich and Rich.




We spent time with RV friends to eat out, pick strawberries and play LOTS and LOTS of Euchre.
Joann and John are from Muncie, Indiana.




Visited the beach on the west coast on Anna Maria Island.
Judy chose the sun.



I chose the shade, and a goofy glasses look.



A nice beach/tree house.



We stopped at a National Park--really!




Judy as Desoto.





The Pioneer Days were happening, so we hopped on our bikes
 and pedaled to Pioneer Park in Zoflo Springs.




Florida Flywheelers had their hit and miss
 engine collections from the early 1900's on display. 




There were antique tractors (early 30's to 50's) that looked new.




1939 Plymouth pickup.




Unusual V-8 power.




Unusual amount of colorful Fiestaware.




Unusual and colorful insulators.



And just plain unusual.




Before heading back to Tallahassee, we drove to Plant City
 for strawberry shortcake at the "world famous" Parksdale Farms.
  Yum!
  We walked off a few of the calories in downtown Lakeland.















No comments:

Post a Comment