March 28 & 29 - Thurs & Fri

We did a lot of sight-seeing these last two days. Yesterday we went on a guided trolley ride given by one of the park rangers through parts of the park not accessible to the public. Saw several alligators also a mother alligator with her babies. He explained the different habitats of the animals and also the different vegetation grown here. It was interesting, just glad we didn't see any of the snakes that live here in the park! There is a lot of swamp areas deep in the park. It was 1-1/2 hr ride. When we got back we went for a 2mile bike ride. Later there was a family camping here that played Cajun music. They had a guitar, mandolin, violin, and a decider (sp?) it looked like a small lap harp. They were very good.

We went to church for Good Friday. While there the lady in front of us dug in her purse and turned around &handed me a Kleenex packet! I was shocked! I didn't think I was sniffing & I whispered to Richard if I was, but he didn't have his hearing aids in, so of course he didn't hear if I was, but thought it was funny! I was insulted. I know that sometimes I do sniff and not realize it (at least that's what I have been told) but I thought that was very rude of her! Oh well, So be it, i'll never see her again in my life. After church we treated ourselves to a fish dinner at Captain D's restaurant Tomorrow is a travel day to our next site.

Sorry no pics today, forgot to take the camera on the trolley ride.

March 26 - 27 - Tues & Wed

Tues. - We arrived at our next site, Hemmock Highlands St Park. It was only about a 3hr drive through a lot of vast land. I never realized FLorida had so many cattle and horses. I always thought of it just beaches &palm trees. We have seen a lot of "faces" of Florida. The park is very well maintained and it is filled with tents and RV's. after we got set up, we went for a ride to tour the area. The park is located in Sebring. We saw a large lake which we found out is Jackson Lake. It is more of a boating lake than beach area.

Wed. - This morning was a little chilly, in fact our heater turned on last night. The weather channel said FL is having a cold spell ( of course it would be while we are here) as I was getting myself together this morning, Richard went for a bike ride around the camp. Then he took a walk down one of the walk trails. He does not sit still, he is constantly on the go !! In the park there is a museum on the history of the park that one of the park rangers told us about, so we checked it out. It was very interesting. Later we went to see the Sebring International Raceway. There was a few cars on the practice track which we were able to go by the fence and watch. Richard enjoyed that. Near the racetrack there was an airport. We saw a pretty blue/gold helicopter which we found out was a hospital helicopter.

March 23 - Sat.

After a night of rain, we woke to a sunny, warm,humid day. Even tho we were still sore from sunburn, we decided not to let a perfect beach day go by. We went to Siesta Beach. The beach was crowded, a lot different from the other day when it was cold &windy and the beach was empty. The water was fairly warm. Richard did his metal detecting and found a really nice silver ladies watch. We think it must have been lost not long ago because it wasn't that caked with sand and it was still running. The beach has white,fine sand,the kind Richard likes to detect in. A funny thing happened. We were eating our packed lunch on the beach and Richard just took a few bites from his sandwich and a sea gull swooped down from behind him and grabbed his sandwich right out of his hand!! Boy was he mad! I of course thought it was so funny. I had already eaten my sandwich. The sun became overcast, and it was like a fog mist was on the beach. You couldn't see very far, but it was still warm and didn't seem to bother anyone. It was like a humid mist because my hair was wet and I didn't get it wet in the water. We stayed there most of the day. In the park there is a bridge over part of the river. When we got back there was several people standing on the bridge. So we got out to see what they were looking for. Well there was a large alligator sunning himself along the edge of the water, a smaller one was there also. (See pic) we enjoyed the day, but are "double sunburned" now and sore.

March 22 & 23 - Fri. & Sat

We arrived at our next site. Myakka RIver State Park in Sarasota. On the way here we saw a herd of Bison ( see pic) they look like buffalo. We also saw huge trucks filled with oranges picked from the groves (see pic). After we got all hooked up in our site, we went to check out the area. The park is located near a very nice section of town. Beautiful homes and condos. Most importantly it is just about 1/2hr from Siesta beach. We found a church nearby and they were having a fish dinner, so of course we went to it. The meal was delicious and we sat with some very nice people. It started raining on the way back to our RV and it rained all night. I felt sorry for the people camping here in tents.

March 21 - Thurs.

Well we finally got a warm,sunny, not a cloud in a blue sky day. So of course we spent the day at the beach! It was a great day, just a slight breeze. Richard found 1dime & 2pennies detecting. It got pretty hot sitting in the sun, so I had to at least get my feet and arms wet. Richard went in for a full body dip. But after spending our first full sun day ..... We are paying for it tonight! Yep, SUNBURN!! We are both red! So this is a short entry, because I am sore. Tomorrow is a travel day. After being here for 14 days, we go on to our next site.

March 20 - Wed.

The day started out overcast, but we decided to go to the beach anyway. We thought we would go to Lido Beach in Sarasota, about 2 hours away. On the way there we stopped for gas and a girl there told us about Siesta Beach which was a little closer and had a large parking lot. sooo - off we went to Siesta Beach. We got a real close parking place because by then it had started to sprinkle and was very windy. The beach had fine, white sand ( the kind Richard likes to do metal detecting in) but today it was pretty empty of people. We had our packed lunch there at a picnic table and Richard did a little detecting - 2dimes, 2 pennies, & a bottle cap. It was so windy we only stayed about an hour. It was early afternoon so we went to check out Lido Beach. It is in a very nice section of Sarasota, but the traffic was terrible, like driving downtown Chicago. It also was barren of people. Near the beach we saw a HUGE statue of "The sailor &the nurse kiss" ( the famous picture taken at the end of WW11) there were parking places by it for people to take pictures ...... So of course we did! It really is amazing how large it is ( see pics) we found out that a resident of Sarasota paid $500,000 to have it made in 2009, and donated it to the city. In 2012 a woman lost control of her car and crashed into it (no it wasn't me!) Her car hit the sailor's right leg and caused a crack by his waist. Structural engineers said there was fear that it would topple over. So it was taken down by cranes and shipped to New Jersey where the artist lived. It was recently brought back and re-erected. I thought that was interesting.

March 19 - Tues. Happy Birthday Richard!

Yes today is Richard's birthday. After a rain storm last night, this morning was overcast. We decided to take a ride to the Everglades. It was not what we expected there is a highway right through it. There was a place that was giving airboat rides through the Everglades, but the next boat was leaving in about 1/2hr and the sky was clouding up again. So we decided not to go. We started back to the campsite which was about 2 hrs away. We had planned to go out to supper for Richard's birthday. Several people had told us about a restaurant with great baby-back ribs not far from the campsite. Well they were right! The ribs were delicious, fell right off the bone and had a great sauce. The service was great also, very friendly. It was not a chain,but a family owned restaurant. I told the waitress, we were celebrating Richard's B/D and they came over to our table & sang Happy Birthday (ha -ha ) & the owner brought over cookies & cream ice-cream with a lit candle. After we got back to the RV, we took a 2mile bike ride ( to work off our delicious meal!)

March 18 - Mon.

Where oh where is sunny Florida??? The day started out a little overcast, but we decided to go to the beach anyway in hopes that the sun will come out by afternoon. We went to Lovers Key State Park to the beach which had the trolley from the parking lot down to the beach. Well the sun did come out for a couple of hours, then it started to cloud up. A lot of people on the beach started to pack up and head for the trolley, as did we. By the time we got to the car and started out of the park, it started pouring. At least we had a little peek of the sun for about two hrs. I relaxed and watched the waves and Richard found 21cents with his metal detecting, and got in a little nap. It pretty much rained for the rest of the afternoon and evening. We have been in FL for over a mt now and the weather certainly has not been warm & sunny very often! Oh we'll, maybe the next six weeks it will warm up! We have been enjoying ourselves anyway, but we really like beach time.

March 16 & 17 - Sat & Sun.

Sat was "lazy" day. We stayed around the campsite. Laundry had to be done - what fun! It would have been a good "beach day" it was a warm,sunny day, but being that we were down to our our last towel & underwear, laundry took priority. Afterward we took a ride around the surrounding area. We were sightseeing &talking and Richard looked at the gas gauge &we were almost on empty. We were out in the "boonies" & I remembered that I heard a ding a while back , but I thought it was on the IPad which we had with us. Actually we realized it must have been the gas warning light. There was nothing but forest around us. We were getting a little nervous ( I was a lot nervous!) Richard was trying to save gas by accelerating & coasting. We finally came to a town and saw a gas station, just in time! Our car has a 12gal tank &it took 11.71 gals!!! I guess the Praying I was doing paid off!!! We went to 5:00 mass and came back &had a cookout.

Sun. Happy St Paddy's Day! The morning we spent grocery shopping for supplies. There was a NASCAR race on t.v., so of course Richard had to watch it! I sat outside relaxing, reading, and watching the boats go by on the water, some large ones.The church we were going to, which is just a small, but very pretty church was having a corned beef / cabbage supper, so we had planned to go. It was a super delicious meal with strawberry shortcake for dessert! Yummy!! The people we were sitting by were very friendly, &made us feel welcome.

March 13,14,15 - Wed,Thurs,Fri

Wed & Thurs were twin days as far as weather goes. It was chilly & very windy. We'd we decided to do some sight seeing. We checked out some other campgrounds we saw (but it's hard to beat the one we are at now) We also found some other beaches. Besides the more popular beaches, FL has a lot of other beaches. Parking was great by the beaches because of the weather, they were pretty empty. On a warm day I'm sure the lots are full, you have to get there early to get a close spot. The closest beach to our campsite is about 1 1/2 hrs away in Naples and Bonita Vista.

Thurs we packed a lunch and took a ride to St Lucie where one of our reserved sites is. We found that there are several beaches about 1/2 hr from that site. One that we went to is in Stuart called if I remember, Jenson beach. It is in a very nice neighborhood. The parking lot is close to the walkway to the beach. Again because of the weather we got a close spot. We walked to the beach but it was extremely windy, the waves were very strong. We ate our lunch by our car in the parking lot where the wind wasn't as strong. We talked to a couple from New York, but also have a home here in Palm City. They gave us a lot of information. We were about 3hrs from our RV, so we had a long drive. On the way at a wayside in Moore Haven, Richard spotted an old style generating compressor, so of course we had to stop so he could examine it (see pic).

Friday was a great day! We finally got a warm day for the beach! We decided to go back to the one that had the tram ride from the parking lot. It is in Lover's Key State Park. I enjoyed sitting and soaking up the sun and Richard did his metal detecting. He fine today was $1.68, a zipper, a bolt and a fish hook!

M arch 12 - Tues.

Today was a chilly, rainy day. Definitely not a beach day! We decided to take a ride to Marco island. Along the way we stopped at a huge market we heard about called Sun Harvest Citrus. They had a window where you could watch how they process the oranges to make orange juice. Besides the usual o.j., they had several other varieties of o.j. And free samples of each. The cranberry/orange & strawberry/ orange were delicious. There was specialty wines,honey,etc. and a wonderful bakery. They also had ice-cream. Richard had a vanilla/orange cone & I had chocolate/key lime, yummy!! While we were sitting eating our cones we talked to a lady who lived in the area. She told us about Wiggins Park where there was a nice sand beach. So, of course we had to go check it out. It was nice, we are going to go there the next warm day ( whenever that is!) we made it to Marco island. And that certainly is my kind of area. It had beautiful homes & motels. The public beach had a parking lot with a boardwalk to the beach (distance about a block) it was raining so we didn't walk it. We saw an RV park not far from there, so we stopped to inquire. Boy did we get a shock, the sites were $60.00 a day!! ( a little, rather A LOT out of our price range!) we usually pay $11 - $20 a day. But as pretty as the area was, we decided it would be too far to drive there every day from our campsite & too far for us "seniors" to lug all our beach gear from the parking lot. We did a lot of driving today. We put over two hundred miles on our car!

March 8 - 11 - Fri - Mon.

Fri - We arrived at our next site, Ortuna campground in LaBelle, Fł. It is a super nice campground, extremely well maintained. It is a Core of Enginers park, and their parks are usually kept up very well and are almost always by water. Our site is concrete, which is great for keeping the RV level & it is right next to the waterway by the locks. So we see a lot of pleasure boats going by. It is a good thing we had reservations, because the park is filled. We spent Sat & Sun getting familiar with the area since we will be here 2weeks. We found a church and went to Sat evening mass. The one draw-back to this park is that it is out in the "boonies" the nearest town to LaBelle (which is very small) is Clewston which is also very small.

Mon. - It was a very nice morning, clear blue sky, about low 70's we decided to check out some beaches. We drove to Ft Myers about 1hr away. Well it is spring break &the traffic was terrible! We knew we would never get a close parking spot and there were people EVERWHERE!! In the area near the beach. That is not for us, Ft Myers for all it's hype did not impress us. So we went a little farther south to Sanibel Island which we also heard a lot about. Parking also is terrible, but there were areas along the beach road where you can park right by the water, which we did. We put down our chairs and had the lunch we packed, but it was more of a fishing beach. Sooooooo, we got back in the car and headed to Bonita Beach but we were told it was more of a shell beach than sand beach but were told "Lover's Key state park" had a sand beach. Soooooo off we went again! From the parking lot they had a free tram which took you to the beach which otherwise was about a half mile walk. Needless to say we took the tram, but it was already about 3:30 and the last tram from the beach was 4:30, so we had about 45min to spend on the beach (because we were not about to walk back to the parking lot) it was a nice sand/shell beach. I sat and enjoyed watching the waves &Richard did some metal detecting. He found 42 cents! It was an interesting day!

THurs.

Today is our last day at the "J&J Resort". The morning was spent doing "fun" things like laundry, and cleaning. Even an RV needs housecleaning. Then some grocery shopping to stock up the RV. RIchard checked the tires on the RV and made sure everything was set for the drive tomorrow. We were going to go for a boat ride, but it still was chilly, so we decided to go for a bike ride around the lake. Then we played a rousing game of croquet. They have a huge backyard, so it was a distance between loops. It was fun and of course Richard won. We had another delicious last meal of chicken & rice. Jan had made an angel food cake for dessert. It looked great when she took it out of the oven, but when we got back from our bike ride the cake had cooled and flopped! We had a good laugh at that. But she salvaged it by making it into a delicious dessert with strawberries &cool whip. We ended the evening with a game of spades which Jack won. We had a great 4days with Jack & Jan and we thank them for their hospitality.