FTJ, Entry 35: Glading through Life

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  — Mark Twain

Before getting into our new locale, we wanted to share these photos of our Thanksgiving evening at Melbourne Beach.

OK, not the greatest photo, but what the heck, I took it by holding the camera out in front of us.

This heron visited us for quite a while, then roosted in a tree behind our RV.

And then he said goodbye, with the last of the sun.

After our delightful Thanksgiving, we spent Friday relaxing (we extended our stay at Melbourne Beach one day), and then moved on Saturday morning to Miami Everglades park, alongside -- what else? -- the Everglades. It's a nice RV park, but alas, not on the water (my, we are getting spoiled!).

On Sunday we splurged -- once again -- on a private airboat ride through the Everglades, where we saw egrets, great blue herons, turtles, and gators. 

Spider lily, which blooms for just a few days every 3-4 months

The Christmas Tree, where people scatter ashes of their loved ones.

One of the places we went in the Glades

Gator!

Lemur after the ride

A baby alligator on display

Al, our airboat captain, is originally from Long Island, but has lived in Florida more than 50 years. We wore our earplugs and took in the sea of grass around us whizzing by. Loved it when the boat did sliding turns!

Captain Al

On Monday, we drove the Boo (our Malibu)  through the Everglades National Park, stopping at a number of pulloffs along the way. I am still surprised that the Glades look more like an African savannah than a rain forest--vast, flat, grassy vistas as far as the eye can see. But at Mahogany Point, we walked through a hammock (which is a raised area of heavy vegetation) -- and it was more like what I had incorrectly imagined all of the Everglades to be. The giant mahogany trees, some toppled from hurricane winds, were awesome. And we heard owls hooting!

We drove as far as we could go on the road to the Everglades, ending at Flamingo, which has suffered a lot of damage from recent hurricanes. The weathered old Visitor's Center, with missing windows and blown out screens, is still being repaired  (from hurricanes including Katrina and Wilma back in 2005), but obviously slowly.

In fact, the motel that Beau and Mat stayed in on their "Dad 'n' Boy" trip 24 years ago had been destroyed to the point it had to be demolished and hasn't yet been re-built. You don't realize the power and scope of a hurricane until you've seen its aftermath. A sign we read explaining about them said "...after several summers of tropical downpours, Flamingo is finally becoming green again." It seems the damage went far beyond the man-made structures to include a lot of the vegetation in the area. There was a storm surge of up to 8 feet, which is a lot considering the highest elevation in the area is about 4 feet.

But we weren't there to visit buildings, anyway! I happily got my fill of fauna -- by the end of the day we had seen lots of anhinga (a type of blonde-plumed cormorant), turtles, and alligators, along with the requisite great blue herons, vultures, and egrets. Wonderful!

On to Key West, where we are going over budget by staying at the priciest resort there for the entire month (we canceled our reservation for a more reasonable place for the last 2 weeks of December). We are so BAD!!!

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 34: Happy Turkey Day from the Intracoastal Waterway

We send our love to all our friends and family on this holiday. We really miss all of you!

Since you likely will not read this until after Turkey Day, we will just quickly catch you up on all the doings.

Our stay at Disney was great, but a bit more stressed than we anticipated because of Buddy, who had two episodes of illness during the week. First he had some sort of spinal kink and was in pain so we could not leave him. I fixed him up with an anti inflammatory and a homemade collar that prevented him from bending his backbone too much. But he was so sad -- all so upsetting! No Disney park that day.

Then, when he recovered, he promptly went into an attack of what we can only guess was pancreatitis -- very common in Yorkies. I think it came from our trying to get him to eat dog food. He hates dog food, so perhaps he got sick for spite!  I dosed him with Pepcid, and he recovered the next day.

Sooo, not wanting to leave him too long, we did manage a quick trip to Epcot again. We went on cool rides such as Spaceship Earth and Mission to Mars, and really enjoyed the day, but felt rushed, not wanting to leave our little boy too long at the Best Friends kennel so soon after his illness.

Check out the band, Off Kilter, at the Canadian pavilion. Rock n roll bagpipes!

Beau at Epcot Xmas tree

Ye olde pub in the United Kingdom section

We ended our stay at Disney by finally getting to the 9:45 pm light show at the lakefront beach right near our RV site -- it was so cool, with barges displaying colorful light images of dragons, turtles, gators, etc., set to music. The show ended with a display of American flags in lights. Following that, we saw the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom in the distance, with recorded narration from speakers on the beach. 

I cried, of course. Hey, it was Jiminy Cricket talking about wishing on a star!

From Disney Magic to Dockside Splendor

The next day we left for Melbourne Beach.

We are now on a waterfront site off A1A in Melbourne beach -- right along the intracoastal waterway, with the Atlantic at the other end of the park. Super, super place. We were greeted by a pair of dolphins our first day here, along with pelicans, herons, and ospreys. So much to watch, and yet so calming and relaxing. We spent Thanksgiving morning at the beach, where a dredlocked young boogie boarder put on a show for us.

Later today we will be having our own little Thanksgiving feast at the dock. We'll be thinking of all of you!

Check it out:

Beau fishing off the dock at our site, at sunset.

One of the dolphins that greeted us -- you can just see the fin.

View from our site

One of the three pools, right along the intracoastal.

Buddy at the dock

FTJ, Entry 33: The Magical Cash Suckers

We are having a lovely stay at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. But gawd almighty, if you come to Orlando, you'd best bring a sack full of money --SUPER EXPENSIVE!!!  We have gone well over our budget for the month and it is only the 19th! Thank goodness we are leaving on Monday -- much longer here and we'd be broke.

I think Beau has ridden on every roller coaster at Disney's and Universal's theme parks. One of them included a 90 degree vertical climb and a 90 degree vertical fall!  He is a crazy old loon.

Oh yes, that is Beau up there, hanging upside down.

And here he is, post ride.

So far, we have visited Disney's Hollywood Studios and Universal's two parks, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I highly recommend the Spiderman 3D ride (we are definitely in our second childhood). The Jurassic Park ride is great, also, but at the end, T-Rex comes at you just before your boat plummets straight down into the river -- and you get soaked. And I mean soaked.

Here we are in Amity, Universal

Poseidon's lair at Universal

Disney's Aerosmith Roller Coaster ride -- we both did this one! Wow, what a rush.

Think this was at Islands of Adventure, Universal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jurassic Park ride -- we got very very wet on this one.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal is simply amazing. The main ride is astounding, with riders experiencing the sensation of a flight on a magical broom behind Harry Potter and friends (who are hologram-like projections). 

Unfortunately, it made me ill.

Harry Potter's world -- amazing! My hair after the Jurassic Park ride, not so much.

Cute videos below -- one of the singing frogs at Harry Potter, the other at Universal with the Blues Brothers.

Christmas Crazies

We can't end this blog without noting the incredible displays of Christmas decorations  we have noticed throughout the campground. At first, we thought there were full time RVers living here -- but no, we asked and found out these nutters are typically Canadians who spend much of the winter here and apparently participate in some inflatable decoration one-upmanship competition among themselves. The photos do not adequately convey the extent of their mental illness. Hope Disney makes them pay the electric bill.

Note the model with the Monorail -- it actually works.

A typical Xmas display by an RVer.

Just a small part of one display. Things move, lights light up and flash, etc. Some RVs have the entire dashboard filled with Xmas-themed stuffed animals.

Whatever revs your engine, I guess. We have no decorations yet, just a sign that says "It's 5 o'clock somewhere." 

(You aren't surprised by that, are you?)

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 32: Gator Bait!

We have been busy! Saturday we went to Beau's "Promised Land" -- The Swamp for the Florida Gators - South Carolina Gamecocks SEC game. It was a BIG game, to decide which team would win the SEC East championship.

Beau was SO excited. And what a happening it was. Kids everywhere, partying at off-campus houses, one with a DJ atop a bus! And it wasn't just kids partying, either- it was LOADED with thousands of alums whooping it up!! They take this VERY seriously!!

The walk to the stadium was one long parade of these parties. Then, there it was -- the stadium!

Beau crosses one off his bucket list! The Promised Land, before the crowd arrives.

 

 

We had super seats -- eighth row, around the 40 yard line. Everything was up-close and dynamic. We were barely 20 ft. behind the Gator's bench. The stadium's 90,000-plus people surrounded us like one roaring, screaming animal. The noise was astounding. And we were shoulder to shoulder in the midst of it! They say our hearing ought to come back in about a week...it was absolutely the loudest place either of us has ever been.

For some reason, the camera was off that night, and everything is a bit blurry, but below is a video of the band playing the National Anthem. Very stirring start to the night.

The only empty seats were the band's when they were on the field!

Florida has a GREAT band! And they play while forming outlines of eagles, the U.S., Florida, etc.

The Gators started strong, with a great opening kick runback for a touchdown right off the bat.  Hopes were high.

But alas, that was the last and only time the Gators produced some excitement for us. They lost -- and badly. They couldn't stop South Carolina on defense and couldn't get anything going on offense. Still, it was an experience! Loved the halftime show, too.

We left Gainesville with a heavy heart, but Beau can now say he has seen an SEC football game.

On to the Magic Kingdom. Beau is cheering up quickly! Below is Har-V the Mar-V R-V nestled into our site in the Fort Wilderness campground -- just beautiful.

Our first night here we went to Epcot for the last evening of the Food & Wine Festival. Like a "Taste of..." event, with 26 international kiosks of food and wine samples. Great! And Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was performing. We heard them from the Parisian pavillion (too many people) while enjoying our escargot en brioche and creme brulee!

Of course, we had forgotten the camera....new photos TK.

Have a Magical Day, everyone!

Tanks, Panky

FTJ, Entry 31: Farewell Beach, Hello Cross Creek

Buddy spends his last afternoon at Beverly Beach

Beau and Buddy take five

We were sad to leave our home for the past week at Beverly Beach. 

We said farewell to the ocean and to Cappy the Clown, whom we hope to stay in touch with. Don't you love her dog Edison? She calls him Noodle because he goes limp when she picks him up (see the second photo below).

Beau, Buddy, me, Cappy, and Edison

We set off for the town of Citra, our home base for the trip Saturday evening to "The Swamp" to see the Gators play South Carolina....

A Visit to Cross Creek

We are staying at Grand Lake RV and Golf Resort (though I don't see a lake anywhere), and on the way I saw a sign for the Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic Site.  I was thrilled! After we got settled we took the car to visit the site and we got a tour of Cross Creek, the home Marjorie bought in 1928 and where she wrote her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Yearling. She lived there until1953, when she died.

Of course I cried when I saw her home -- in a lovely citrus grove. Here I am blatting, in front of the house.

 

I was in heaven -- transported back to the romanticized version of Marjorie's life that became the movie "Cross Creek." If you haven't seen the movie, you MUST. Although it is factually inaccurate, it is a truly wonderful film.

I was thrilled to walk the floors Marjorie walked (and Gregory Peck, Robert Frost, and others who visited her), and spend time among many of her things. She put in the first bathroom in Cross Creek, then celebrated by inviting the neighbors, filling the tub with ice and drinks, putting glasses on a tray over the sink, and using the toilet as a vase for roses.

She cooked on a wood burning stove, and loved to entertain. She converted a closet into a liquor cabinet, storing firewood below and "firewater" above (I got that from the brochure).

She also fished and hunted, once killing a wild boar from her front porch!

This visit was a real highlight of the trip pour moi. (Why am I speaking French?) Beau tagged along, as did Buddy. Neither of them appreciated the experience the way I did, though.

Some photos from the tour:

Scrapbook photo of Marjorie on the set of "The Yearling."

Her bedroom, where she sometimes wrote in the morning

Her dining room, with her original china. She always sat in the chair facing the outhouse outside, so her guests would not have to see that.

A photo of Marjorie.

She often wrote here on the porch.

Her wood burning stove.

Finally, me at the outhouse!

I stole a kumquat and an orange. The former was delicious, the latter horribly bitter!

Tanks, Panky