Third Week in Kissimmee

Last week in Kissimmee which has pretty much been our winter home with little side trips out of the area. When I count it end up being 12 weeks. Everything is here and we do love this resort. Only downside is the traffic. Of course driving up to Winter Park and Orlando for doctors/VA has put us in traffic that can't be helped. When I count our total time in Florida – Atlantic, Gulf, Orlando area is adds up to 12 weeks. I guess we can say we “wintered in Florida.”

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We were expecting Danielle and her sister, Nicole, early Sunday. She called on her way here and her sister, who is pregnant, got sick on the way over and they had to go to the ER. Everything ended up being OK, thank goodness. Turned out to be that bad intestinal flu. We will try to get together next week.

So John and I went ahead to Clermont for the winery festival. Had a tasting they had tastes of each of their wines which is more than they have when you take the normal tour. I love this wine because the muscadine grape has such a special flavor John doesn't care for the taste. I bought two bottles for gifts. Walked around and looked at all the craft booths. They had so many nice things. One photograph caught my eye, and luckily it was in card size. Not in a position to carry art around. See below. This photo was amazing and reminded me of the evening John and I drank a bottle of Merlot...................... We had a Mexican lunch, unremarkable, and headed back to room. We both took big naps as we were pooped out.

Cold day with our coats on

I love this place



Back to our favorite trip getting on the freeway and going up to Orlando. John has appt. to get his defibulator battery checked. Battery is good, so we should be fine for Mexico. Got our photos done at Walgreens, and a long trip out to get our fingerprints taken for our concealed weapons permit. Stopped on way home for some lunch, food for the rest of week. Back to room, pooped out and John is napping.

 

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Battery charge AOK

Good to Go



On Tuesday we made a trip over to Titusville for lunch with Lenore and Rick, our new friends we met last week. They showed us their deluxe 5^th wheel trailer that is roomy, and has every possible convenience. Lenore made us a lovely chef type salad and we ate outside on their picnic table in the shade on a great Florida day.  I forgot to take a photo, darn.  Mid-February and I love being in short and in flip flops. I wish we'd met these guys sooner so we could have spent more time hanging out, but hopefully we will run into them again in our travels. Lenore also writes a blog and it is fun reading of their adventures and observations.
 

After lunch we drove over to Merritt Island, Kelly Park, for a swim with dolphins and manatees. This was a gift from our CS friend Teresa (who is in Brazil having a total ball and even went to Carnival there). It took us several phone calls, one cancellation to arrange this and then the guy was 45 minutes late........but non the less, we boarded the boat and headed out. We stopped at a cute little island named Ski Island. Looked around for shells, manatees and dolphins, but we didn't see any. The water was way too cold to get in. We boated into marinas and we did get to see several manatees, not up close, but their backs and then they submerged. Also found one little dolphin who did a few jumps for us. Overall it was more of a boat ride, since animals are unpredictable, but we had a nice time out on the water. 

 

Ski Island

Our little tour boat

 

Tip of Ski Island

Trying to walk on water

 

Lots of good shells here

 

Smooth area is a manatee back



Back on the road about 5:05 p.m. and we came to a total dead stop. Seems there were a bunch of cattle that had got on the highway (with speed limit of 70 mph), so we sat there for almost an hour. In these days of technology, it was good to see that the cattle were really rounded up by a couple of real cowboys mounted on their horses. Finally back on our way, stopped for a Subway since we were tired, a few shows and bed. We do get to sleep in so that's the best.

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Round up those critters



John got our taxes done which is great since we'll be in Mexico in April -- so that is taken care of.  I went through our permit paperwork and got those ready for mailing.  So a quiet day of taking care of business.  See, we still have days we have to "do work."

Below are things that don't fit anywhere else ......

General comments/observations:

Heard from my friend in Rathdrum, Idaho that on Valentine's Day she received our Christmas card from the Bahamas. Guess this makes the U.S. Mail service look great, or the moral of the story is, don't ever mail anything from the Bahamas.

Now about driving in Florida.  It is very interesting and I would say the drivers are excellent.  Expect that when you look in the rear view mirror you will have someone right on your ass. Tailgating is popular here. So thank goodness they are good drivers. There is a thing here and it is called “speed limit”. It seems to mean nothing or is maybe a Disney fantasy. It doesn't even matter that the speed limit is 70 mph, that correlates to at least 95 mph, or you are going too slow. Extreme speeding is just the way it is here and don't think you can drive 5 or 7 mph over the speed limit or you will be blown off the road. We have just been amazed driving here.

* photos are borrowed
from Google Images