April 28 Tuesday

Well it's hard to believe,but today is our last day here. This month sure went by fast! Wish the weather had been better, but we enjoyed our time here anyway. It was another overcast day. After breakfast we went to a zoo which is nearby. It is a really very clean well kept zoo. In the afternoon the weather had cleared up some so we went golfing.we wanted to make the most of our last day here. We golfed 9 holes and when we got back, the sun was peeking out. Richard wanted to watch something on tv, it was already 5:00 , but I thought I still could get in a couple of last minute beach hours. I'm going to miss being on the beach relaxing and watching the waves roll in. There weren't many people on the beach that late in day, so it was super relaxing!.

April 26 & 27 Sunday & Monday

Surprise, surprise the sun was out and the forecast said no rain!! After church we got ready and off to the beach we went! It was a beautiful, sunny, warm day. We spent the day there. The water was great. The beach was very crowded and a lot of little kids, which I love to watch playing in the water & sand. It was a typical Florida beach day! This is what we came to Florida for.

Monday, back to rain! Washed clothes in the morning and it was still raining in the afternoon so we decided to go to the show. Pictures are of the pool here at the park, which with the weather, we haven't been able to use much!

April 25 Saturday

Overcast again,(what's new??) we had seen a notice  at a church for a parking lot sale earlier in the week (which  of course they had to have inside because of the weather) so we went to that in the morning. Didn't see anything we wanted. It was not a beach day and to wet for golf, so we decided to take a ride to Panama City, about 1& 1/2 hrs away to a huge flea market we heard about. When we got there, much to our surprise, it was a "dump", a pile of junk. But we enjoyed the ride there anyway. When we were almost back to the park, a storm hit. A lot of wind and heavy rain. After that there was a beautiful sunset (see pic) there were fireworks at the beach which we were able to see from the park.

April 24 Friday

It was a very overcast morning, (again). We went out for breakfast and then to several garage and moving sales. Richard likes to go to these. I just tag along. By late afternoon it cleared up, so we went to the beach till almost dusk. We took a picture of the Palm because it looked just like a giant pineapple.

  

April 23- Thursday

We are finally getting some warm, sunny Florida days. We went to a different beach today. It is near one of the RV parks we looked at the other day, about 1/2 hr away. It was really hot. The sun was out all day and the water was very refreshing. We decided we like Navarre Beach by our park better. But it was a good beach day anyway. 

April 22- Wednesday

The forecast predicted Wednesday to be a warm sunny day, and it was. Richard went in the morning with his metal detector to the volleyball court by the beach. He had a good find.... $2.69 cents! The afternoon we spent at the beach. It was a super day, warm, sunny with a little breeze. Richard took his nap and we also saw the Goodyear blimp go by. We treated ourselves to dinner at a little locally owned restaurant because the Wednesday special is liver & onions...Richard's favorite, and he said it was delicious. I had beef tips over rice and gravy which also was delicious.In the evening we went back to the beach because we wanted to see it at night, but boy was it ever dark and kind of eerie. We didn't go on the beach, we just walked on the the walkway leading to the beach.

April 21 - Tuesday

Tuesday morning was overcast. We took a ride to check out a few other RV parks near by that we had heard about. But it is hard to beat the one we are at. By late afternoon the sun made an appearance so ...off to the beach we went! I was going to take a picture of the blue bubble fish that were washed ashore the other day, but there were none left on the beach. Navarre beach is kept very clean. There is never any trash on the sand. So I guess they cleaned up the fish also.

April 19 - 20 Sunday & Monday

It rained all night again. We woke to a storm, thunder, lightning, wind. In fact our area was also under a tornado watch! We felt like we were back home in Illinois, a tornado watch in Florida!!! We went to church...umbrellas in hand. After church the storm eased up and the tornado watch was lifted, but thunder storms were still predicted. We decided to go out for a late breakfast. We didn't want a chain restaurant so we were looking for a good local family restaurant. We drove to a little town called Milton. We saw a restaurant called Aces and there were several cars in their parking lot, so we figured it must be good. Our instincts were right. It was fairly crowded, which usually means good food. It reminded us of a restaurant back home in Morris called "R Place". We enjoyed a good meal. Richard wanted to watch the NASCAR race in the afternoon. So I decided to do the laundry, what fun, but it has to be done. While I was waiting for the clothes to get done, I sat outside by the pool which is right next to the laundry room. It was still overcast but at least it stopped raining.

Monday morning... No rain!! We did a little supply shopping in the morning. We decided to go golfing in the afternoon. It wasn't warm or sunny enough for the beach. Yesterday while we were looking for a restaurant we saw a golf course in Milton. We had a nice afternoon golfing 9holes.i thought It was a rather hard course, mostly par 4&5's. I like par 3's. Richard liked the course...it challenged him, but he really did good, he golfed a 53. We probably will go back there again before we leave here. It is only about 40 min from the park, but we were talking on the way back and missed our turn, so it took us over 1 1/2 hrs to get back to the park! But we enjoyed the sight-seeing.

April 18 - Saturday

We woke to another overcast day, not raining but overcast. Still not a beach day...no sun! We drove to Pensicola to a French/farmers market. Bought some good homemade bakery goods & browsed the booths. We thought about going golfing, but then it started to sprinkle, so that squashed that idea. I Heard about a big outlet mall the other side of Destin so we drove there about an hour away. It stopped raining by the time we got there. It was a huge outdoor mall. We walked around for a while, got an ice cream cone. It stopped raining, but still no sun. It was early evening when we got back, and it started raining again. We just stayed in and watched TV. (The picture is of the long bridge Richard rode his bike across the other day)

April 16 - 17 Thursday & Friday

And the rain kept coming, all night & morning! But by afternoon it finally stopped and the sun made an appearance!! So of course off to the beach we went. We took advantage of the nice afternoon and stayed there till almost dusk. Richard found a whole 53 cents with his metal detector. We didn't go into the water because all the rain had washed onto shore these ugly blue type of jelly fish. They were dead but gross looking. They looked like a light blue balloon with veins. (Sorry I forgot to take a picture) in fact on the news that night they said they were washed up on shore all along the coastline. They said normally they float on the deep water guided by the wind, but because of all the rain, they were washed ashore, but we enjoyed a nice "beach afternoon" anyway.

It rained all Thursday night and Friday morning, big surprise! I think it should be called "rainy Florida" instead of "sunny Florida" (at least this year anyway) we did some shopping in the morning and some sight-seeing early afternoon. The Çampground is located on a busy main road in Navarre, Fl so we are on it every day. I have noticed this really pretty small tree covered with small coral flowers in front of a restaurant. I told Richard I have to get a picture of that tree because I haven't seen another one like it. I like to check out the different trees & flowers that grow here. So since we had the iPad with us, we pulled into the restaurant parking lot and I got out to take the picture. I got a big surprise...... It was artificial!! I started laughing & Richard got out of the car to see what was so funny so he had to take my picture by "my tree" ( I guess that's why we haven't seen another one like it!) ha-ha . By late afternoon the rain stopped and the sun peeked out. Richard wanted to watch a race on TV, so I wanted to go to the beach for awhile. The beach is about 3-4 miles away over a long uphill bridge. I never drove there myself so Richard was going to give me a ride! But  then he said I should take the car just in case  it started raining, so I did. I was there for about an hour and Richard called . I thought he sounded very close & I turned and he was right there! I couldn't believe he actually rode his bike there, over that long bridge. He said he did have to push it up part of the bridge because it was narrow and cars were in both lanes. We of course put the bike on the rack on the car home, he was too tired to peddle back.

April 13 - 15 Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

And the rain continues! It rained (poured) literally all day long! We did some shopping and sight-seeing. I would have much rather been sitting on the beach with sand in my toes watching the waves rolling in. Rain off & on is predicted for the next few days! 

Tuesday, guess what ?? Yep, rain again! By afternoon it seemed to clear up. Richard found a golf course online that was about 77miles away in De Funiak, Fl  that offered a good rate..We called to be sure it was opened, not affected by all the rain and we decided to give it a go. It wasn't the greatest golf course, not clearly marked. We went the wrong way twice. We golfed what we thought was hole 3 but turned out it was hole 12!! But to our credit some other golfers told us they made the same mistake the first time they golfed there. It was the worse course we have ever played on, not kept up very well, and it was a country club! When we got to hole 7 we heard thunder & saw lightning. We set off for our car and just made it in time, it down poured! It stormed all the way back to our Çampground and all night.

Wednesday morning it finally was clear, the sun actually peeked out. Richard made breakfast outside on the griddle, eggs & sausage.  It wasn't exactly a beach day though. So we decided to golf at a course we played on last year which was only about 40 min away. It's a nice small 9 hole course., par 29. Richard got 41.... Which is pretty good considering we are novices. I did 58 which is good for me. The weather turned really humid, so we thought we would go to the beach when we got back. But of course as we were driving back...... You got it.... It started to rain, but not storm. So we stopped at a couple of little boutiques I had seen along the way. Richard just loves browsing these little shops ( that's a joke) but he realizes it is my vacation too, so he "grins & bears" it. Maybe tomorrow we can get to the beach.

April 12 - Sunday

EWell another rainy day! I am beginning to wonder why Florida is called the "Sunshine State"!!! We came here to get a lot of beach time, so far we haven't had very much! Hopefully next week will be better. After church we decided to go to the Gulfarium which is on the order of Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. It stopped raining, but was very overcast certainly not a  beach day. It was fun. We saw a dolphin show and a sea lion show. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon. On the way home, which was about a 40min ride, it started pouring & did not stop all night. Infact there was a lot of thunder & lightning also. Welcome to the "Sunshine State".... NOT!!!

April 11 - Saturday

It was raining in the morning so we decided to go do some sight-seeing. We stopped at  an Air Force Museum we saw. It was quite interesting (pictures will follow). When we got back, the sun came out, so we went to the beach.We got our beach things together & got there and set up our chairs & wouldn't you know it ..... It clouded over! After a while it started to get a little chilly and we knew that the sun was not going to come back out. So we came back to the park.

April 10 - Friday

Since Richard was feeling back to normal again, he decided to make breakfast. Bacon, eggs & Toast outside on the griddle. Had to admit it was very good! It was a beautiful day, so of course we went to the beach. We spent most of the day there. The water was very refreshing, but the waves were strong. In the evening it stormed. Lightning, thunder & downpours.

April 5 - 9 - Sunday - Thursday

Hope everyone had a Happy, Blesed Easter! We had a nice day. We went to church in the morning. It was a little too chilly for the beach, so we took a ride and did some sight-seeing.

Monday was a perfect beach day, and we took advantage of it. We spent most of the day there. The water was great. But when we got back, Richard said he wasn't feeling that great. Well it turned out he was down for the next few days with a kidney stone. He was very uncomfortable. By Wednesday evening he was feeling a little better, so he either passed it or it dissolved. Thank goodness!!

Thursday since Richard was feeling a lot better, we did some supply shopping. So this week hasn't exactly been the best vacation week! Hopefully next week will be better.

April 4 - Saturday

PP  Saturday we woke to a cooler day. It drizzled a little in the morning, definitely not a beach day! We were feeling a lot better, but we both were still coughing. We decided to go to a flea market we noticed one day not far from the park which was only open on the weekend. It was not a very big one, but a fellow told us there was a larger one in Pensicola, which is about 25 miles away. So of course we went to check it out. But when we got there, it really wasn't the kind of flea market we liked. It was more like people cleaned out their basements or garages & set the junk on a table! On the way back we came across a farmer/French market in the town. Several of the vendors were closing down their booths. It was  1:45 and it was just open till 2:00. We did buy some good homemade chocolate chip cookIt's. When we got back to the park, we sat outside and relaxed.

April 3 - Friday

Well we felt a little better on Friday. It was a nice warm sunny day, so we decided to go relax at the beach. Being spring break, the beach was packed. A lot of young families with little ones & A lot of teens. But we enjoyed the day. The water was nice, not as cold as it was a few days before. We spent the afternoon there. When we came back to the camp, it still was warm out so we went to the pool for awhile.

April 1 & 2 - Wednesday & Thursday

Haven't posted for a few days. Richard & I both came down with colds and sore throats. We both felt miserable. We just stayed around the RV taking cold & cough meds. Some vacation! We didn't even feel like going to the beach. By the way a very Happy "22nd" Birthday to our Grandson Jake - April 2.