Moving On!

Margaritaville in Kissimmee.  A nice shopping and dining area.  

Ford’s Garage

Tuesday was spent doing laundry and cleaning out the refrigerator.  Kristin brought lots from home in the way of condiments, fruit, drinks, etc. so she had several bags of groceries and we had a bag and two small coolers.  Once that was all finished we decided to go to Ford’s Garage for dinner and not mess up the kitchen.  There was a Margaritaville area close by so we started there.  It was chilly and at least an hour wait but no indication if it would be inside or out so we went across the street to El Jefe Tequilas.  We were seated right away and the food was good.  It was a pretty area so we walked a bit, stopping in a confectionery store.  I was given a small piece of praline and a bite of Ted’s strawberry cheesecake ice cream and it was out of this world!  But I stopped at just that one taste.

I woke up at 4 am and never did fall back to sleep. Ted heard Pat and Kelly getting ready to leave so he got up about 5:30.  They left about 6:15 and wrote back they were on the plane a little after 8:00 and eventually wrote again that they had landed. 

Meanwhile we and Kristin took off at the same time with all the towels in a heap in each of the 5 bathrooms, garbage emptied and dishwasher running. That was all we had to do. Ted dropped off the keys and we were good to go. 

We stopped at the exit in Tallahassee on the way over for fuel and a car wash. Next stop Dolphin Street in Destin, FL!  

We arrived late afternoon and walked the one block to the beach to see the sunset!  Very pretty.  Barb fixed dinner and we got caught up on family news. 

This house is huge!  Sleeps 24, 8 bathrooms, 8 burner stove, 2 dishwashers, 3 coffee pots, 9 TVs, pool and hot tub, parking for 6 autos and is one block off the beach.  

Terry and Carol arrived the next day and we sat around the pool and in the hot tub until we decided to go to MacGuire’s for dinner.  Barb and I split a chicken sandwich that I could hardly finish.  We went home and played cards.  I won!

Friday we headed east to Sandestin which is a bit more upscale in stores, housing and rentals.  We visited Topsail State Park and walked to the beach but rode the tram back.  Ted walked down as far as the tram station and waited with Kevin while Barb and I pressed on to the beach.  Terry and Carol rode the tram both ways.  

It is our favorite camping spot but is very hard to get reservations.  It has lovely sand dunes and is a different kind of beach beauty.  

From there, because it was Friday and no meat in Lent, we chose to take friend Tal’s suggestion to eat at Goatfeathers, the second oldest restaurant in the area.  The ambiance was fishing or beach shack, the view non existent, but the food was excellent.  I chose grilled mahi mahi, hush puppies and Brussel sprouts that were honey glazed and excellent!  The peach margarita was pretty good too!

After the long walk to the ocean since we didn’t take the tram down and then continued on the boardwalk to the ocean, plus a margarita, I excused myself from card playing when we returned home and I went to bed. 

Saturday was a pool day.  We all just hung out, went to church at 4:00 then to a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  I was underwhelmed though Barb and Kevin really like it.  The raspberry frozen margarita I ordered was not frozen and must have been missing the Simple Sec, it was awful.  All 6 of us agreed it was terrible.  Ted gave me his drink and they brought him a frozen margarita to replace it.  Then we both ordered the same entree and received similar but different stuff!  Oh well, it was one meal of thousands I will have eaten in my lifetime!  

We went back and played cards and a game called Spinner followed by Shanghai cards.  We were all ready for bed before midnight. 

We were up early Sunday morning and on the road by 8:30.  We made it home right at 6 pm.  Monday was putting everything away and doing two loads of laundry.  At the last minute I was asked to sub in a Shanghai group and ended up last!

I finished up things on Tuesday because I had Dr appts on Wednesday and Thursday.  We plan to go to the Home Show this weekend!

Happy trails!  

Florida and Family Continues

Our Cincinnati neighbors who now live in The Villages came to visit on Saturday.  The kids took off to Kristin’s for various reasons.  The cats needed to be fed, Kara needed to print something off a computer, Bill was doing some measurement for whatever his next project at Kristin’s is and Pat needed to pick up his wind surfing kite.  I can’t remember why Kelly went other than everyone else was.

We had a terrific visit and Texas Roadhouse lunch with Marge and Steve. We lived next door to them before moving to Michigan in 1981.  They stayed from 11:30 until 5:00 when we needed to leave for church.  The kids ate while out, went to church at 5:00 and we all showed up back at the condo about the same time.  

I didn’t mention how nice this condo is!  There are 4/4 beds and baths with a half bath off the downstairs hall.  Everyone has a king bed and bath so we all have our own space, there is a fully equipped kitchen with seating for 10 to eat.  There also is a laundry room.  We have a balcony with lounge chairs and a back deck with an outside kitchen and seating for 6.  We are very close to Disney which is great but the traffic can be crazy until you learn the back roads which Kara knew.  

Sunday it rained all day.  Our plans were lunch at the Boathouse at Disney Springs.  We had umbrellas in the car and Kara had ponchos so we made do.  An entertainer Kara and Kelly follow was playing one of the dueling pianos and we got to sit in the boat!

 

We took Bill and Kara to the airport on Monday morning, Patrick was long gone to Cocoa Beach to ride his windsurf kite “thing.”  The girls, Ted and I decided to return to the orange groves to finish visiting what we had not seen when we had to leave for Kara’s work zoom call.  It is tough to be a VP and try to go on vacation!  

The Simpson’s, fresh from Universal Studios we surmised; also a turtle that CeCe will like.  She saw Hawaii photos of turtles and when talk of going there came up, she told us how much she likes turtles.  And most everyone recognizes the famous hostess of Cincinnati’s famous Frisch’s Big Boy!  The rest are just random shots.  Lots of things to occupy kids besides Mickey and Disney.

We bought Dole Whips and sat in rocking chairs in the sun!

And Another Adventure Begins

We left Wednesday morning, 2/7, as planned a little before 6 and drove straight through to Tallahassee not even stopping to eat.  We checked into a motel, walked next door to eat and went to bed early. We were on the road the next day before 7:00 and arrived at Kristin's right at noon. 

At the same time Kara and Bill were landing at MCO but they were renting a car so we didn’t have to pick them up. It was Bill’s birthday so he chose Giovanni’s for dinner.  We all had early starts so it was off to bed early again. 

On Friday, Kara and Bill left for their timeshare at the Grand Floridian and our plan for after dinner was to see The Boys in the Boat.  We made it all the way to the ticket counter to be informed that the last show was at 4, not 7 and sometimes the times don’t get updated in real time!  So we went home. 

Kristin and I did a Harry Potter scavenger hunt with two of her friends Saturday morning. All I know is we walked to clues for 2.5 hours and at the end the three decided on a murderer. It was wrong so I told them my thoughts and I was right!  Who knew?  

While we did that Ted went to MCO and picked up Kelly and Pat.  We ate a big lunch then didn’t have dinner.  The evening’s agenda was YeeHaw Bob at Disney’s Port Orleans Resort.  He is a hoot with a very energetic show for all ages.  It was a late night and I went to bed as soon as we got home  

Kristin was up early and went to church at 9:00 so she could have lunch ready for the four of us when we returned from 11:00 Mass.  I really like her church too.  She had prepared fajitas with steak or chicken, all the fixings, corn casserole, Mexican beans and tres leche cake.  It was all very good. 

I stripped our bed, did two loads of laundry and repacked our things for our 4:00 departure to Hilton’s Tuscany Village where we were spending 3 nights with our old FL friends who now live in Palm Coast, about 100 miles away. 

Our accommodations are exceptionally nice including a screened in balcony.  This is our view (through the screen).  

Ted learned there was a Super Bowl Party down at the pool so we went there to watch.  They were handing out red and gold Pom poms but we just sat in our lounge chairs across from the bar. 

It was a boring first half so we took our drinks upstairs to our suite.  The third quarter was slightly better but that fourth quarter and overtime were exciting.  So much back and forth.  Since my Detroit Lions were not playing I didn’t much care who won.  

Monday was Epcot!  We were to meet up around noon with everyone and we all ended up in line for the same tram.  We covered a lot of ground, stopping at 4:00 for dinner in the German pavilion.  It was all delicious but their potato salad was a disappointment to this connoisseur of good warm, German potato salad!  But there was so much I really was too full to eat it all anyway.  Then it was back to the venues.  It was almost 9:00 we staggered out to the parking lot while the 5 of them were staying until midnight!  Pat said at that point we had walked about 7 miles!  I could hardly move.  

Our friends from our days living in DeBary, FL arrived in our absence so we met them for breakfast on Tuesday before going to our Hilton presentation.  They had one for Hilton Head that was almost two years old while Tom battled bladder cancer (we both did MDAnderson at the same time) and they changed it to Orlando, so we got one since Hilton asked us to attend each time we made a reservation.  

We listened to the real estate guy, the manager and the closer.  Ted told them our time to travel is dwindling and it would not be a good investment at this time of life.  They gave us a $200 voucher for a Hilton stay and we left!  We drove to the Grand Floridian since they have never been there, showed them around and Kara had the sales manager show them the 2 and 3 bedroom units we stayed in last summer.  They were in a studio for just the two of them.  We went to Maggiano’s for dinner before calling it a night.

We needed to check out at 10 Wednesday morning while Tom and Eileen had another night at Tuscany Villa.  We had them follow us to Disney Springs where we could park for free (the parks are $25) and catch a free bus to Art of Animation resort.  Lots of cartoon things there!  We caught the Skyliner (free) and rode it over the Riviera Resort, the Caribbean resort onto Epcot where we walked around a bit before retracing our steps by Skyliner and bus back to Disney Springs.  We intended to take Bill, Kara and their things to the condo but they had moved everything to GF storage and went to Magic Kingdom!  So we just went on to the condo and got settled ourselves.  Ted went back later to get them and their things.  Tom and Eileen were returning to Tuscany but decided to just check out and drive the 96 miles back home.  

Thursday was a down day.  I did some laundry and we went to the grocery.  The 3 kids left for Hollywood Studios but Kara had a noon zoom meeting.  When she was finished she and Bill went to meet them at Hollywood Studios and we passed!  

Ted and I had a quiet evening and I headed to bed at a reasonable time, I am not sure when Ted came in.  Saturday was a slow morning with us all heading out to a farm/orchard looking for oranges!  We saw some animals, a butcher shop that used EVERY bit of the animal.  I was shocked at Sirloin Tip roast at  $49.95 a pound among other things like $15 a pound wild rice!

We tried another one and found fresh squeezed orange juice but no oranges nor the coconut candy I have been requested to bring home that is still being illusive!  Kelly had work to do so didn’t join us.  Kara had a 3:30 Zoom meeting so we made it home with 3 minutes to spare.

We ordered meatless deep dish Goridano’s pizza for take out at 4:30 so we could be ready to leave at 6:30 for a live production of “All Shook Up”, a cross over play with some Elvis music and Footloose story line.  Such energy and wonderful voices. It was an enjoyable evening. 

  

Our Time is Running Out

Friday’s weather was ok, not the normal temps but dry and not windy.  We had breakfast at the motel which was very nice then went to Bentsen State Park to check out a restaurant that has opened recently.  It was small with a limited menu but a pretty nice one beyond your fast food fare.  We didn’t eat there but drove into Retama to visit a few friends.  

Patty and Steve were our neighbors for several years so we stopped there.  They had just returned from the doctor and were ready to have lunch.  She is having a lot of health issues so after a short visit we headed to Marissa and Steve’s.  But they were not home and we thought they may have left for Nebraska because I think they came down only to pick up their motorhome.  She had been at breakfast and said Steve had fallen out of a tree and needed some surgery plus the chain saw hit him in the face!

Emily said Norm was at their place at Green Gate where he stores their 43 foot motorhome and has a workshop so we headed that way.  After that we returned to the motel for the rest of the afternoon.  Had the weather been better, people would have been outside and we would have seen many more.  

Saturday we checked back with Marissa and Steve and they had not returned home to Nebraska.  It is always interesting to visit with them.  Steve is a pilot and farmer. They own extensive land and all their children work in the businesses.  

We chose Mama Mia’s for dinner and laughed about the time we went there with Tom and Eileen for her birthday.  I had bought a cake so when it was time to sing I borrowed balloons from the birthday party next to us to have them in the photo.  I asked the birthday boy first and he seemed flustered and said “well, ok, I guess!”

It was time for card bingo so we returned to Bentsen Palms to meet Ornell, Faith and Rick.  You need groups of four and we were 5.  Luckily Beverly from Retama came in with two friends and Ornell recognized her.  5 + 3 = 8 and we were all set!  Over 100 people were playing so the pots were big!  But none of us won!  

Saturday we started getting our things sorted out.  Ted bought a big plastic bin to put all the things we purchased in because there were just too many bags!  We went to church with Fr. Roy and met the bingo group.  After Mass we all went to Danny’s Mexican.  We were going to a show at Mission West but none of the others were interested so we went alone.  We had seen this young lady before and she puts on a great show.

Sunday found us heading north to home.  We arrived mid afternoon.  We emptied the car but just put our feet up because Monday was a “”free” day and we had all day to get organized.  I actually had Tuesday free too except to do three loads of laundry.  I had invited Irene and John for dinner on Wednesday.  They are still not finished with all their renovating.  I think everyone enjoyed the food.  All plates were eligible for the clean plate club and John had seconds!

I made a BIG mistake!  I signed up for a Chair Yoga class.  Oh my!  After my second hip surgery I took classes with no problem.  My back is still killing me!  Our weekend was quiet.  Had dinner after church and came right home.  

Anna, my new neighbor next door, and I went to lunch Tuesday at a new restaurant, Rise Soufflé!  I had French onion soup, ham and cheese soufflé (it was written in French so I told the waitress I couldn’t pronounce it but I could translate it), and raspberry soufflé for dessert!  I enjoyed it but I doubt I would ever get Ted to eat there.

Thursday was Continental Breakfast for the Newcomers group so I signed up to attend.  There were 50 ladies in attendance.  I saw many friends and met a few new ones.  It sometimes is an effort to “get up, dress up, show up” but I am usually glad I made the effort.  This was one of those times!

I continue to clean out closets, cabinets and drawers.  My bad back has slowed me down.  It will be March before it all gets picked up by TX Paralyzed Vets.  I didn’t get the bags out quick enough in January, we are gone in February so hopefully I will get my act together for March!

We are heading out Wednesday the 7th, planning to arrive at Kristin’s in Winter Springs the next day.  We will be there until the 11th when we meet up with Tom and Eileen (from Palm Coast) for 3 nights at Tuscany Village Resort in Orlando then moving on to a condo with all 3 girls and spouses for a week.  When we leave there on the 21st, our next stop will be Destin, FL as we head for home.  Ted’s youngest brother has invited us to spend time at their beach rental.  Our plans are to spend 4 nights then head for home!

I will try to do better in keeping my posts current and shorter!  

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