C&C Retirement Adventures March 9 through 22, 2011

Wow, we've moved twice since my last post, so I guess I'd better start sharing our recent activities.

Our trip from Wesley Chapel to Arcadia was a short one--only about an hour on the road.  We settled into Big Tree RV Park early afternoon on March 9.

My aunt & uncle live in the community adjacent to this Park, making it easy to visit.  Aunt Jeanie & Uncle Jim moved to Arcadia about 14 years ago and have loved every minute of their time here.

They stay quite active in their neighborhood--Jim plays golf nearly every day and has taken up golf club repair as another hobby.

Both of them are avid pool players--running the community billiards tournaments and weekly game nights and various other activities.  We enjoyed an evening shooting pool with them and their neighbors.

Golf carts are the mode of transportation around the neighborhood!  It was fun.

The Arcadia Rodeo, "the Granddaddy of 'em all," according to the mural painted on a downtown building, was being held during our visit.  We took in the parade on Saturday, but opted to try out the hot tub at the park rather than attend the rodeo.  

Arcadia is also well known for its numerous antique shoppes in the historic district.  Corky and I poked around a few of them one afternoon.

Hey Joy, this one's for you!

And Anita--you could have two Mikes in your kitchen!


Our next destination was Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda, a whopping 25 miles from Arcadia--not a strenuous trek.  We pulled into the Water's Edge RV park in Punta Gorda about noon on Sunday, March13.   My cousin Debbie and husband, Greg now live in Port Charlotte having moved from Maryland after retirement in 2007.  And, like my aunt & uncle, they love it here!

Debbie prepared a tasty spaghetti dinner. 

Greg has something growing out of his mashed potatoes--what is that!

The girls are browsing while the guys wait at Fisherman's Village

Just a little silliness!

More photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/MuskratLake

C&C Retirement Adventures, March 6, 2011

We had a wonderful reunion with friends Frank & Jean Lacks who live in Lakeland, FL.

Frank was a bookbinder (a true lost art) for the Government Printing Office but was assigned to BLM to assist with its records preservation efforts.  For years, Frank & Corky carpooled into work at BLM's Eastern States Office when it was in Alexandria, Virginia.   Frank would drive from his home in West Virginia and meet the carpool in Rockville, MD and continue with them to the office.  Corky tells me Frank wore out two VW Jettas during that time!

C&C Retirement Adventures, March 2-5, 2011

Our home for the week (Mar 2-9) is in Wesley Chapel, Florida (about 25 miles north of Tampa) at the Quail Run RV Park.    We are situated in the newer section of the Park--spaces are a bit larger and there are concrete pads for the coach; but the older section has more character--the RVs are nestled among huge live oaks with masses of spanish moss dangling from the limbs.

There's a small pond with several resident critters, this sandhill crane being one of them.

The first order of business while here is to find a groomer for our shaggy boys.  It was somewhat time-consuming finding a groomer that could accommodate our schedule--they were all quite busy.  Anyway, after several phone calls we located a nearby PetCo where   Gus and Woody got spiffy new dos!  They are such handsome fellas!

While the boys were being groomed, we took advantage of the few hours of empty nestdom by having a nice lunch and contributing substantially to the local economy with a visit to Sam's Club!  

Friday was "see the sights day."  I was anxious to see manatees, so we opted to go to Homasassa Springs to the State Wildlife Park about an hour's drive.  We took the boys with us because the Park's website showed complimentary kennels were offered to guests traveling with pets.  We thoroughly enjoyed seeing Florida alligators, bears, panthers, bobcats, various reptiles, pelicans, cranes and other waterfowl and fish.  However, we were a bit disappointed that the manatees did not swim anywhere near the observatory while we were there.  

Looking at the manatees from above, they look like giant baked potatoes!

Here are the boys anxiously waiting for us to return.  

You can see all the photos taken at the Homasassa Springs State Wildlife Park at  https://picasaweb.google.com/MuskratLake

On Saturday we joined the throngs of humanity headed for the NY Yankees/Washington Nationals Pre-season game at the George Steinbrenner Memorial Stadium in Tampa where the Yankees train for the season.  The Nationals took an early 5 run lead and then the Yankees rallied and went ahead by 2 runs.  By the 7th inning the win could go either way, but the Nats took the lead and kept their edge winning 10 to 8.  It was fun!

CC Sabathia (sp) is pitching for NY--they replaced him at end of 2nd inning after Nats took a 5-0 lead!

I think that's Jorge Posada at bat.

Nats win--10-8!

A few more photos from the game can be seen at https://picasaweb.google.com/MuskratLake

C&C Retirement Adventures, March 1-2, 2011

Rather than take the Interstate highway from Alabama into Florida, we opted for a more scenic route through some of the beach towns along the panhandle of the State.   Good choice--it was a lovely drive.  

One of the many trendy souvenir shops in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama.

Sometime during our last couple of days in Alabama, our "ghost thief" returned.  I guess he finished viewing all our DVDs and now wants to hear some groovy tunes because now our "IPOD" is missing!  Just as I did to search for the DVDs, I've retraced my activities over and over again, and nearly taken the coach apart looking for it.   It's very perplexing!

We overnighted in Panacea, FL at the Holiday Campground--aptly named, it is a lovely peaceful spot by the water.

Another RV pulled into the camp site next to us while we were setting up--Janet & George were from upstate New York; we swapped stories while sipping some wine and nibbling on cheese & crackers.  They were travelling in a camper over a pickup style RV.  George seemed interested in our rationale for the motorhome as opposed to 5th wheel--he seemed to be ready to RV up!

On Wednesday we headed for the Tampa area where we'll stay for about a week.  Again, we decided to take the state roads rather than the interstates into the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.  

But refueling was vital this morning.  As the price of oil has been the topic of the news lately, I decided to document the gas-up---oh my!

Somewhere along the route we crossed the Suwanee River and Corky started singing in his best Al Jolson voice "oh Suwanee, how I love ya, how I love ya..."  Boy, o boy, I wish I could find that IPOD!

Our DL neighbor has property in Cedar Key, Florida--so this picture is for her!  Judy--we didn't make the turn, but took the photo to prove we were almost there!

I just love the name of this town--Weeki Wachee!  

It makes me smile--we returned here on Friday for lunch at Nellie's in Weeki Wachee!

Next blog will be from our home in the Tampa area.

See all our Florida Bound photos at  https://picasaweb.google.com/MuskratLake