April 2  ...  #4

Some random impressions of Florida:

Hwy 10 across Florida is BORING.  A corridor of trees and traffic.  No signs, no houses, no towns - the occasional cow was so exciting to see.  Did learn there are a lot of pine trees in FL .  Did not know that.

The moss hangs in so many trees.  Cool lit up at nite at rest stop. 

Disquieting sign at rest stop!

Sand hill crane waiting for peanuts at condo near Pam & Al's.

 This was a new warning for us - apparently vultures love to feast on rubber and vinyl on cars!  We saw this warning at two state parks.  Crazy!!

April 2, 2014  #3

Yes, #3 - wanna get caught up.

After EPCOT we did Universal Studios - it was a ride-a-palooza.  I held off on the first ride because it was intense ... the Hulk - upside down and backwards and spirals - constant screamin.  But I was holding out for Harry Potter!  I became the glasses, hat, backpack holder.  Finally we made it around the park to the big excitement...

I shoulda followed the recommendation - it was  GREAT ride and halfway through it I thought I was gonna toss my cookies - I was soooo sick I became the permanent sunglasses, hat, backpack holder the rest of the day!  Sigh...  So many of the rides were just boxes where you were rocked back and forth, were shaken, tipped forward and the rest was CG - good rides! (At least the ones I was able to participate on )

One of the favorite rides.  Straight up!

April 2, 2014  #2

Prior to park hopping we gave Pam her "present".  A surprise ride on a airboat!  Our guide was Captain Billy - a bit grizzled and full of information.  I was surprised how loud the airboat was and understood why we had to wear headphones.  Another surprise was how FAST we went...it was exhilerating!!!  I was smiling the whole time - first we went down a canal and then out into a swamp.  Capn Billy took us to a gator nest - the female was in it - it said by the time she was done it would be a floating "island" that would support her and plenty of baby gators.  They had done a count of gators in this swamp by air and estimated there were probably a minimum of 5000 gators down there - yikes.  We didn't see that many at all, but I will take his word for it.

gator "nest"

baby gator

April 2nd, 2014

Our trip began with a visit to Orlando to celebrate "someone's" 60th birthday - to be able to go to all the theme parks we had to do something we had never done - hire a dog nanny!  It felt so silly but it was a good idea - the dogs got relief and TLC from a lovely lady, Tracy.  As for the parks, well, I never ever need to go to the Magic Kingdom again - didn't feel too magical.  Disneyland is soooo much better.  EPCOT was lovely, more an educational park than ride oriented.

Butterfly exhibit

small example of amazing landscaping

After a short while we were walking around EPCOT as the exhibits are stationed around a "lake".  I stated that it appeared what one did at EPCOT was just eat and drink since we had no interest in the touristy knick knacks for sale.  Well, a young woman turned around and said that's exactly what one did, especially today.  She was amazed our ticket supplier had not informed us about the special activity going on that day.  It was an "around the world" experience where each "country" provided food and drink from that country - not for free of course  :( .  She immediately turned us around and introduced us to the first beverage and food of the afternoon.  Brandy was a young mom from the Tampa area who had left her husband and toddler back in the hotel so she could have a day off -  pretty cool.  She was fun to hang out with and seemed to have fun with us.  Later, as a treat she bought us tequila, $84 dollar a glass tequila - it was very smooth and we were blown away that she did that but she said she had had fun with us and we had made her day so it was her treat - wow.

Al & Paul waiting in line for food.

Also a special exhibition of  topiary art.

Ibis waiting for the concert to begin!

I

March 27, 2014

Yesterday we explored our island - which is called Pine Island by the way.  It is a nice island depending on where you are.  I do appreciate the setting of our RV park now that I've seen a couple others here on the island.  Later we drove out to Sanibel Island, our true destination on this western coast of Florida.  Well,  as we saw in Miami, it was bumper to bumper traffic.  Although THIS time, that was a good thing.  Often when we are slowed down to a crawl, Paul opens the side windows so the dogs can enjoy the breeze and all the new smells.  And to refresh your memory...

because they like it, especially Miss Maizy.

The road was a small two lane highway.  (again, a GOOD thing)

You just have to picture the earlier bumper to bumper traffic.

Paul and I had just wondered if we needed to worry about Maizy jumping out the now open window.  That question was answered almost immediately.  The answer:  YES!!!  She did indeed jump out the window on this crowded road ( because she spied a cool bird) - nearly giving us heart attacks.   Paul slammed on the brakes,  I jumped out of the truck, running, screaming her name.  She of course looked over her shoulder and ran quickly....in the opposite direction!!!  I headed back to the truck for my secret weapon..crackers.  I have discovered she will come if she sees a cracker in my hand.  As I rounded the front of the truck I was grateful to see that the opposing traffic had stopped...because Maizy was now in the middle of the road BEHIND the truck!  Paul called and she came toward him, but avoided his outreached hands and, thankfully, came to me for the cracker.   I Grabbed her, tossed her in the back seat (mostly gently) and we continued on our way.  I wonder what the people behind us said when they saw this little dog fly out the window??  From this point on the window will stay up at all times.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

I'm sitting here, with a mostly great view of sunrise from my "dining room" window.  I see the palm trees "swaying in the tropical breezes"...kind of...they're being blown around by very cold breezes  - if the temp is below 70, or as of this moment, below 60 (!), can they be called "tropical" breezes.  I did not come to Florida for this!  Although the folks in Sonora would appreciate it since it was 47 there yesterday.  Brrrrrr.
I had begun to make fun of these Floridians when I heard the weather report about a "dramatic drop in temps"  -  all the way to the 60's  - but then it dropped to 50 Tuesday night and I had to turn on the heater.  So, no more jokes at their expense.    I just heard it's supposed to be 79 today!  Yay - but, "spotty" showers coming in off the Gulf ...  boo.  Oh well, I'm not workin so it's all good!  Plus I'm trying to live by this bumper sticker thought....

here...

comes...

the sun.

March 26, 2014

Traveling with pets is always a challenge.  We have to stop every few hours - we usually know when it's time because Chloe puts her head over the dog "barrier" and noses Paul and Maizy "talks" to us!  On this trip Callie has us somewhat concerned - several times when we have stopped and deployed the dogs she has started eating plants like she was starving.  I always remember my dad saying dogs know which plants to eat, I hope he was right.  We don't know if she's had an upset tummy or what.

Chloe continues to decline - she separates herself a lot these days, preferring to go up and sleep in the bedroom so we just put her bed up there now.  The other dogs seem to know it too as they sometimes go into be with her - comfort "nurse" dogs?

But she still likes to get in the truck and go and get out the leash, she's wagging that tail.  

In Orlando we did something we've never done, we hired a dog "nanny".  We called several businesses and chose "Wag Watchers".  Tracy (an expat Brit) came over and interviewed US about our dogs.  It was funny how detailed her questions were.  She was great with the dogs and would send us texts every time she saw them as well as pictures.  It was worth the peace of mind and we didn't have to take time to come back to walk the dogs.  We got maximum park time that way.  More about the parks next blog.  Going to explore Pine Island and Sanibel Island!