Rainbow Springs State Park 3/29/2009

On Sunday afternoon,Earlene took us to Rainbow Springs State Park. This area(1472 acres) is a mixture of cultural gardens,a spring fed river and a natural headspring. A popular spot for swimmers,kayakers,tuber and campers. Take note of how clear the waters are..The beautiful butterfly is called "Sleepy Orange" Guess who’s planning to return to this beautiful spot.

Native Sun Tours 3/28/2009

Here we go again, off on another Airboat Ride. 9 am Saturday a 2 hour tour,
Traveling down the Homosassa River to the Gulf of Mexico. We had intended for these pictures to be as a video, but it didn’t work out that way. This guide had proper ear protection for us to use, not cotton balls !!! We saw lots of wild life,coral,and sponge .At times we hovered over only 4-8 inches of crystal clear water. What is West Quoddy Lighthouse doing on the Gulf Coast?What a beautiful day.

Homosassa Friday 3/27/2009

After a restful nights sleep ,we headed out to explore more of the Florida coast line. One interesting stop was at MacRae Dock. A fisherman had just arrived and began cleaning his catch. The Pelicans,much like the Maine Sea Gulls ,love taking advantage of an easy lunch. So,we hung around and thanks to Erline we had these great pictures to share. The restrooms looked soo inviting had to check them out before leaving. Carl and Dave fixing a computer glitch..Thanks guys.

Leaving Sun City Center 3/26/2009

Our friends Bob and Erma Hill, gave us a grand tour of the beautiful coastline of Sarasota Bayside, and out on to the barrier islands. Great sunny day ,took pictures of Carl,Bob,Erma in front of Dolphin fountain. The sculpture of “Unconditional Surrender” is 25 feet-Painted Aluminum. The monument honors the courage and spirit of survival of America’s World War II heroes. Take note of Bob and Erma standing underneath the skirt. Where is Bob’s hand?? Before leaving the Hill’s B&B we did some grapefruit picking from their tree in the back yard. We really enjoyed our visit with them and look forward to coming back soon. Thank you Bob and Erma

Sun City Center --Golf Carts no training needed

Sun City Center

Our friends took us to visit Big Ben Power Plant and the unique thing about this place is the Sanctuary for Manatees, where they come from the cold waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the out flow from the power plant, with temps of 80 degrees. They feed and have their young’s in these waters. We also saw several different species of other fish enjoying the warm waters.
The museum also showed a video explaining how the power plant was co habiting environmentally with the Manatees.

It’s a common thing in these Senior Retirement Community to see people using golf carts to do everyday shopping instead of the family car. We took pictures/video of such going on. Close encounters or traffic accidents occur frequently..I couldn’t help but laugh! Don’t need a license, top speed 15 mph,however a tinkering will get you more. And we’re sure they go much faster.


A tour of MacDill Air Force Base and my first time going shopping at a BX store. Very impressing. The day finished with a delicious dinner(my birthday ) at Colonnade Restaurant window seat over looking beautiful Tampa Bay

Air Boat Ride in the Everglades

3 videos with sound effects 03/21/09

Miccosukee Indian Village-Air Boat Ride 3/21/09

We left the FL Keys this AM , heading North until we reached Rte US 41 - then it was West into the Everglades Nat’l Park and Big Cypress Nat’l Preserve . Another check on the “bucket list “ - the 2$s took an air boat ride thru the grasses and lily pads - looking for alligators - saw a really big one ! Before getting on the boat we were issued cotton balls for ear protection - this must be part of an insurance clause - for customer’s safety ! Tonight we are in a RV resort Naples , FL

Sunset Cruise/Sunset Dinner

Saying goodnight to Paradise,and hopefully to return soon.

Key West

3/20/09 , the 1st day of SPRING; sunny and we headed south to Key West . We are @ the Jolly Roger camp grounds on the Grassey Key , about 58 miles north of Key West. Early start so traffic was light - 7 mile bridge is something else to travel over ; Alantic Ocean on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other. Took a 90min. Trolley tour of the Key so we could get our bearings, and what we wanted to visit later in the day. Walked the length of Duval St. - harbor to the buoy that marks the “southern most point of the continental USA “ While on Duval St. we found “Margaretaville “ and of course had to go in and have a Margarete lunch - it’s 5 o’ clock somewhere !! No, Jimmy did not show up while we were there - but I guess we are now both parrot heads ?? Visited the Whalen gallery, but didn’t buy anything . While touring in the AM there was a cruise ship in, but she left around noon time . Then there were the young persons in the streets and bars, as it was Spring Break and the colleges had sent their representatives south to try out different forms of “undress “ !! Our evening suppa was spent on the upper level of the “Rum Barrel “ overlooking Front St - YES of course we had samples of rum drinks !! We saw the sunset from their balcony , and then it was back up the road from “zero “ Rte 1 north - did not get a picture of this sign has it had already been stolen on Spring Break . The city is very historic and beautiful buildings that have been restored .
We have been at this campsite for 3 days and now time to move on - north and up the west coast of FL . We’re rolling 2 $ s

Dedicated to Lorelei

The day began with showers and we went to plan B and that was shopping for shirts. We found the Lorelei cabana bar/restaurant made our purchases and decided to have lunch right there. The special of the day was none other than the Lor-e-lei fish sandwich. ,to be compared to So.Freeport waterfront restaurant. Weather for tomorrow ,sunny and we plan to spend the day at Key West.

Monday 3/16-Kennedy

1. 

Beautiful sunny morning,temp 75 heading for Kennedy Space Center. We purchased the deluxe tour package which included viewing the Lighthouse and going to Merrit Island. This complex is bigger than anything I had thought about. But then, I never really thought about it, except for when a Launch took place. There are 2 Imax 3D theatres .One shows The Luna landing and the other the International Space Station. Each show is about 45 minutes ,showing actual NASA film footage. This was something not to be missed! Wow! We were there all day ,acquiring more knowledge than brains count possibly remember. Our bus tour brought us to within walking distance of both launch pads A (where the Discovery was blasted off the night before )and B ( which is being set up for the next/new Orion capsule program - retiring the Space Shuttles ) . We also went to the vehicle assembly building and the shuttle landing facility/airstrip . This whole area is more than 140,000 acres. About 6,000 acres are devoted to space center operations, the rest is a wildlife sanctuary.We had planned to return next day (3/17) to finish the tour, however the place would be closed down and tours postponed till Wednesday due to a rocket launching Tuesday night. Our money was fully refunded, but we were somewhat disappointed not to see it all. Oh well, come back another time??

Shuttle Launch Sunday evening 3/15/09

Hey guys, we lucked out the postponement of the launch, so we could get down this way and in position to see . Was not able to feel the earth rumble as some 20 miles away from, but could hear the noise some 2 min. after the blast off . Seeing the sky lighten up and then the trail - one of Rachel's videos shows the 2 booster rockets falling away .

We are in the laundry room once again as this is where the Wi-Fi connection is best - some things never change !! Good night for now - up early to tour Kennedy Space Center tomorrow . 2 $s

Shuttle Launch

Shuttle Launch

We found David!!!!

He ran away from our previous blog!! The Ladies of St.Augustine demanded this statue be hidden in the bushes.So not visible from main street.,also we had to fight our way through the little school girls.,who were taking notes.

Historic St Augustine 3-14-2009

Beautiful weather as you can see in the pictures ,we spent the day playing tourists in this old city.
This is the site where western culture and
Christian faith took root in our country. At Ripley's Believe it or Not we found David hiding in the bushes--modesty??Had to take a picture.. --Included in our Old Town Trolley Tour was a tour of the 1891 "Old Jail" which use to house 72 prisoners. And had a gallows in the back yard--and used frequently and could still be used today. It is believed to be haunted. Carl is being reprimanded by the Sheriff.

St. Augustine

We're here and ready to play tourists! Today was agood day,only drove 180 miles,cloudy/sunny temps 70. I -95 reminded us of the boring Alaska Highway,flat and nothing but trees and swamp land. We plan to tour in town tomorrow,staying at this site couple of nights. 2 $'s

Leaving Shady Glen

Carl unaware picture being taken.. Be expecting more lovely pictures as we continue rolling south.

Warm & SUN

Down in Savannah GA for the evening . Left NJ ( no snow ) at 40 and that evening down to in NC the temp. was at 80 F !! From NC to GA traveled with the windows open 70 to75 F - flowers and spring green leaves starting to come out . New camera and computer and trying to work the 2 to see if we can get pictures included - bear with us - learning experience . Straight ahead, 2 $s

Good bye SNOW

Hey guys we want to thank you for your help in getting this set up, so we can get on the road . Tuesday 3/10 we are "rolling" south. More later, and sun reports, 2 Silver Dollars .