All's quiet in Florida

Sorry everyone..I'm a little behind with writing you all. Last week was a fairly quiet week. I had a head cold and stayed in bed off and on all week. About all I wanted to do was sleep. Yuck!!! I'm glad I usually only have about 1 cold per year. It just isn't any fun. Coughing, sneezing and blowing my nose a hundred times a day. Not my idea of a good time.

Gary ran errands (kept us in water and generator gasoline). Played with Ellie too.
We did go over to the dog beach one afternoon so we could take Elli out. Port Orange has closed their dog beach so we had to go to Ponce Inlet. The beach designated for dogs is very small. Pretty bad. Lots of rocks and not really much area to run around in.

We did see a raccoon that came pretty close to us without fear. At least he didn't seem to have any fear. I sure didn't want to get too close.


















I took a picture of a pretty shell. And I posted it to the Daytona Journal newspaper website and they put it on the front page of their web site. I got pretty excited about that.

While we were at the park, Gary took a few minutes to sit down. If you look closely you'll see that the "chair" was appropriately named. :)














By the weekend I was feeling some better and we moved on Friday afternoon to the New Smyrna Beach campground. We needed to dump the tanks and fill up with fresh water. Pretty nice campground. We made reservations when we left to return there again in May. Mom, Dad, Jenn and Mark are coming down the last week of May. They will stay in our time-share condo and we'll stay at the campground. Doug, Sherry and family will be down too. We'll have a big reunion at New Smyrna Beach. Oh boy, I can hardly wait. Anyone else want to come???

On Saturday night we met the family at the Port Orange Steakhouse for dinner. We were celebrating Tommie's birthday. Very good ribs. Yum..yum!!!

On Sunday we packed up again and moved south to the Thousand Trails Peace River Preserve in Wauchula. We had made arrangements to met Gary and Suzanne Tomlinson.
We first met them last May at the Life on Wheels Conference in Kentucky. We again saw them at the Escapade in Indiana in September.

They are from Michigan and have a Hitchhiker Discover America 5er. After getting set up on Sunday, we got together just to visit for a while. They came over to our home to see it. On Monday I worked off and on. Gary worked around and entertained Elli. Suzanne and Gary went fossil hunting in the river. Afterward we went to dinner at a local restaurant called the "Bread Board".

The next day, we went to the Florida Natural orange juice plant in Lake Wales. The visitor center offered displays and a video on the history of citrus growing and juice making in the area. Very interesting and very tasty juice to sample. Orange, Ruby Red grapefruit, RR grapefruit and cranberry, and Lemonade.














After wards we had lunch at the Country House restaurant. Then we went to Spook Hill . Spook Hill is ..well I'm not exactly sure what Spook Hill is supposed to be..but whatever it is..I didn't get it. I think the truck was supposed to move up hill on it's own or something..but it just rolled down hill as expected. ????? Any way it was fun to look for it and see what would happen.

On the way back to TT campground we stopped at a fruit stand and bought some Honey Bell oranges. The Honey Bell is the most juicy and sweet orange I have ever eaten. Juice just runs down your chin and you lick it off your fingers to get every drop.




On Wednesday we went to Highland Hammocks State Park.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/highlandshammock/

This is a wonderful park with a small campground and many walking trails. We went hiking for several hours. We saw some amazing nature. The first trail was to the Cypress Swamp. These trees grow into many many different shapes. Cypress knees provide oxygen and support for the trees. They have a very shallow root system.

We saw many birds (vultures and hawks were plentiful). We even saw a "Snake" bird. Named because it's head and neck looks like a snake when it is in the water searching for lunch.
We also saw turtles and alligators (big and small).















On the Old Oak trail we saw a 1000 year old tree. To reinforce the tree to keep it from falling down, several years ago, concrete was poured into the center of it. It is now oozing out the top of the tree. Very strange.


After a picnic lunch (visited by yet another raccoon) we went on an hour long tram tour with a Volunteer Ranger. He was very knowledge about the park. This was the best $4.00 we have spent recently.







Thursday was an around the campground day. I worked again. Gary and Suzanne went to hunt for fossils again. Gary helped out a neighbor and worked around the house some more. There is always something to do to keep us safely on the road. On Thursday night we drove over to Bradenton. We stopped first at a Best Buy some Gary T could buy a new DVD player. I enjoyed walking around and looking.
For dinner we drove over to The Roaring 20's Pizza and Pipes restaurant. This very good pizza restaurant is home to a rare 1931 "Mighty Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ". The organ was installed in the Paramount Theater in Oakland California. After the theater closed the next year it was sold and placed in storage.
Around 1960, it was installed in Ken's Melody Inn in Los Altos, California. Later on the organ was moved to the Paramount Music Palace in Indianapolis Indiana. It was rebuilt and enlarged and stayed in Indiana until 1995. Finally it was purchased by Pizza and Pipes and moved to Florida. The thing is hugh. The pipes are in two rooms beside the organ. Various other organ parts and instruments hang from the walls and ceiling. There was a player piano, drums and cymbals all controlled by the organ. The organist played 15 minute sets from 5-9pm. We got there about 7pm and stayed until he stopped playing at 9. The place was packed when we arrived. But we got a table, enjoyed our pizza and listened to the music. Many customers put requests in a jar and he picked from it and played their requests. It was great. I loved it. And to top it off, Gary and I splurged on a cone of Edy's ice cream. Chocolate for him and strawberry for me. Yummy!!

Yesterday we went to Cypress Gardens. This was a beautiful and fun place to visit.
http://www.cypressgardens.com/

The gardens are excellent and quite extensive. They were hurt some a few weeks ago when the temperature hit a 10 year low. Many plants were hurt by the cold. They are working to repair and replace the damaged plants. As pretty as most of the plants are now, I imagine they will be even more so as spring comes in.
In the middle of the garden is a Banyan tree. This tree is 72 years old and is unlike any tree I had ever seen. Very large. Small branches come down from the main branch to the ground. Once it attaches itself to the ground, other tree, scrub or railing it hardens like a steel cable. And grows!! It spreads out for quite some distance around. They haven't measured it so don't really know large it is. We learned there is another larger one in Fort Meyers. (We're going to see it next week).
The water skiing shows are still being held. Some very good skiing on a variety of boards, music and some comedy made for a good show.


We also went to an ice skating show that was entertaining too. The weather was a bit cloudy and misty but it didn't stop us from enjoying the day.
The park is going through some changes since recently being sold. Some areas were closed. The park was very quiet. Not too many people out on the overcast day. I hope they can turn it around so more people will be able to enjoy it. The park is a good example of the "Real Florida" that is slowing merging with "today's" Florida. Overall it was a good day.
Today we stayed in. I worked off and on. This afternoon Suzanne and I made a trip to a Beall's Outlet. I purchased 2 pairs of carpi pants (1 size smaller than usual.yippie!!). Tonight Gary and I went back to the Bread Board for dinner. A quick trip to Wal-Mart and home. We took a walk with Miss Elli and are in for the night. Night all.