Week in Kissimmee 2/7/14 - 2/14/14

Decided to go spend a week in Kissimmee at our favorite resort because Candians we met last year would be down.  Lammy and Walt are just great people and we wanted to see them again.

Left on Friday and stopped in to Clermont to visit our friend Tom.  We said we'd take him to lunch but he graciously prepared lunch for us.  He also invited his friend Nancy, so we all had a good time eating and visiting.  Lucky to have local fresh strawberries prepared as shortcake.  Left Tom's around 3:00 and checked in to Vacation Village at Parkway.  Went out to Bob Evans for dinner (had a buy one, get one free coupon). Had a new waitress who messed up every conceivable part of our order, but we just chuckled to ourselves and tried to help her get our food to us.

Saturday, up late and went to an indoor flea market.  I needed to buy a huge suitcase for my trip to Alaska.  We usually travel with small ones, but I've got to put in 3 sets of long johns, snow boots, etc., etc. and that stuff was not going to fit in my suitcase.  Got a great pretty blue suitcase that has 4 wheels.  It was $65.00, a good deal, but I'm hoping it doesn't fall apart.  It does look OK, we'll see.  I can imagine getting to Fairbanks and all my clothes are loose and strewn on the belt with a shredded case.  I hope not.  John bought me my Valentine's Day present.  It is a hand carved trivet that has a handle and you pull it up and it turns into a heart basket.  Made of rosewood and it is a real treasure.  So funny because first time I'd seen anything like this was on Super Bowl Sunday at my neighbor's party, she had a bigger one that I had admired.

Closed - see heart

Opened - what a beautiful heart candy dish

Met friends Barbara and Josh at Old Town.  Glad the rainy weather that day was finally gone. Looked around some shops and I bought John his Valentine's Day present, a great shirt that has parrots on it holding beer bottles, some are wearing sombreros and there are little signs on the shirt that say "It is 5:00 o'clock Somewhere." Had a good dinner and enjoyed talking and catching up. Watched the cruise that had about 50 cars.  Said good night to friends, stopped by store for some food.  Back home and watched a little of the Olympics.

Saturday Night Cruise

at Old Town, Kissimmee, FL

Up late again, went to the pool, read.  Around 4:00 p.m. we headed to Subway to get sandwiches for a Couch Surfer picnic.  We drove out to Bok Tower Garden, a wonderful National Historic Site where we met up with a couch surfer I'd met last year, Cynthia, and a few others.  I had invited my friend Teresa to come and she finally decided to come and brought her friend Josh. We enjoyed the gardens by moonlight, pathways lit by torches, and with the carillon music it was magical.  Left around 8:30 p.m. and Teresa, Josh and John and me went to Chili's and had some appetizers and drinks and visited.  It was a very fun evening.  Got home past midnight and had to park in the boondocks, far from our room.

Bok Tower Gardens

Sunset at Bok Tower

Phones out with Droid Sky View App.

Lots of fun finding stars, planets, etc.

Up late, went to the pool/hot tub, read.  Came back to the room and got ready for Lammy and Walt to come over for dinner.  I made meatball sandwiches, fresh zucchini sauteed in butter/garlic and for dessert we had freshly picked, Plant City, strawberry shortcake.  So tasty.  We sat around and talked for several hours and had a good time.

Up late, to the pool around 11:30 a.m..  Visited with Lammy and Walt and lots of people.  Clouds came over a few times and it was cold when they did.  Up to room for tacos at 2:00 p.m.  Felt so pooped out needed a nap and took a major one.  Some mojo chicken, veggies in the room, Olympics and that is the day.

John peeking around the water fountain

Up early (darn) to drive to Oviedo, FL, about an hour away, to go see Teresa's parents,  Hwong and Roger.  They had asked Robert and I stay with them several days while John was in the hospital in Orlando last year.  Wanted to say hi and take them out to lunch.  Very special people.

Back after lunch headed out for a lobster dinner in Winter Haven, FL, about an hour away. Another Couch Surfing get together.  Drove in a pretty strong rain, lightening storm.  Had lobster, two little ones, but they were good.  Rained continued and glad to be back to our room.  Olympics and bed.

Up at 8:00 a.m. because we were going out to breakfast buffet with our friends, Lammy and Walt. We had quite a feast and it was the first time I've had breakfast with dessert.  Everyone had all the normal stuff, then ice cream.  Me, I had cotton candy, two of them, yes two.  I love that stuff.  We sat and visited for a long time and had a good time.

Lammy, Walt, John and my cotton candy

Such super fun Canadians

It was blue sky, but cool and quite windy.  We came back to the room and I took a nap (had to get up early, right).  Around 3:45 p.m. went out to soak in the hot tub for awhile.  We were going to go to do several things today, but it just felt better to take it easy.

Week went so fast.  Checked out and went to pool for a few hours to soak in a little more fun.  Walt and Lammy were down there so we had our last visit.  It is Valentine's Day and John had a special message written in the sky (I'm sure all men told their wives the same thing).

It did end up saying 

LOVE YOU JESUS

We've invited them over to Clearwater so we hope they can make it for a visit with us.  Went out to Mexican (of course) lunch and then made our trip home.  At the restaurant I was so surprised to see my old boyfriend, the Most Interesting Man in the World.  Well, he insisted we get our picture taken together.

 Stopped at the grocery store and John bought me a beautiful orchid for Valentines Day.  That is a bonus to living in Florida -- the plants we can have all year long.  So I guess it is back to the grindstone or as we say, "another ho hum day in paradise."

Week in Kissimmee 2/7/14 - 2/14/14

Decided to go spend a week in Kissimmee at our favorite resort because Candians we met last year would be down.  Lammy and Walt are just great people and we wanted to see them again.

Left on Friday and stopped in to Clermont to visit our friend Tom.  We said we'd take him to lunch but he graciously prepared lunch for us.  He also invited his friend Nancy, so we all had a good time eating and visiting.  Lucky to have local fresh strawberries prepared as shortcake.  Left Tom's around 3:00 and checked in to Vacation Village at Parkway.  Went out to Bob Evans for dinner (had a buy one, get one free coupon). Had a new waitress who messed up every conceivable part of our order, but we just chuckled to ourselves and tried to help her get our food to us.

Saturday, up late and went to an indoor flea market.  I needed to buy a huge suitcase for my trip to Alaska.  We usually travel with small ones, but I've got to put in 3 sets of long johns, snow boots, etc., etc. and that stuff was not going to fit in my suitcase.  Got a great pretty blue suitcase that has 4 wheels.  It was $65.00, a good deal, but I'm hoping it doesn't fall apart.  It does look OK, we'll see.  I can imagine getting to Fairbanks and all my clothes are loose and strewn on the belt with a shredded case.  I hope not.  John bought me my Valentine's Day present.  It is a hand carved trivet that has a handle and you pull it up and it turns into a heart basket.  Made of rosewood and it is a real treasure.  So funny because first time I'd seen anything like this was on Super Bowl Sunday at my neighbor's party, she had a bigger one that I had admired.

Closed - see heart

Opened - what a beautiful heart candy dish

Met friends Barbara and Josh at Old Town.  Glad the rainy weather that day was finally gone. Looked around some shops and I bought John his Valentine's Day present, a great shirt that has parrots on it holding beer bottles, some are wearing sombreros and there are little signs on the shirt that say "It is 5:00 o'clock Somewhere." Had a good dinner and enjoyed talking and catching up. Watched the cruise that had about 50 cars.  Said good night to friends, stopped by store for some food.  Back home and watched a little of the Olympics.

Saturday Night Cruise

at Old Town, Kissimmee, FL

Up late again, went to the pool, read.  Around 4:00 p.m. we headed to Subway to get sandwiches for a Couch Surfer picnic.  We drove out to Bok Tower Garden, a wonderful National Historic Site where we met up with a couch surfer I'd met last year, Cynthia, and a few others.  I had invited my friend Teresa to come and she finally decided to come and brought her friend Josh. We enjoyed the gardens by moonlight, pathways lit by torches, and with the carillon music it was magical.  Left around 8:30 p.m. and Teresa, Josh and John and me went to Chili's and had some appetizers and drinks and visited.  It was a very fun evening.  Got home past midnight and had to park in the boondocks, far from our room.

Bok Tower Gardens

Sunset at Bok Tower

Phones out with Droid Sky View App.

Lots of fun finding stars, planets, etc.

Up late, went to the pool/hot tub, read.  Came back to the room and got ready for Lammy and Walt to come over for dinner.  I made meatball sandwiches, fresh zucchini sauteed in butter/garlic and for dessert we had freshly picked, Plant City, strawberry shortcake.  So tasty.  We sat around and talked for several hours and had a good time.

Up late, to the pool around 11:30 a.m..  Visited with Lammy and Walt and lots of people.  Clouds came over a few times and it was cold when they did.  Up to room for tacos at 2:00 p.m.  Felt so pooped out needed a nap and took a major one.  Some mojo chicken, veggies in the room, Olympics and that is the day.

John peeking around the water fountain

Up early (darn) to drive to Oviedo, FL, about an hour away, to go see Teresa's parents,  Hwong and Roger.  They had asked Robert and I stay with them several days while John was in the hospital in Orlando last year.  Wanted to say hi and take them out to lunch.  Very special people.

Back after lunch headed out for a lobster dinner in Winter Haven, FL, about an hour away. Another Couch Surfing get together.  Drove in a pretty strong rain, lightening storm.  Had lobster, two little ones, but they were good.  Rained continued and glad to be back to our room.  Olympics and bed.

Up at 8:00 a.m. because we were going out to breakfast buffet with our friends, Lammy and Walt. We had quite a feast and it was the first time I've had breakfast with dessert.  Everyone had all the normal stuff, then ice cream.  Me, I had cotton candy, two of them, yes two.  I love that stuff.  We sat and visited for a long time and had a good time.

Lammy, Walt, John and my cotton candy

Such super fun Canadians

It was blue sky, but cool and quite windy.  We came back to the room and I took a nap (had to get up early, right).  Around 3:45 p.m. went out to soak in the hot tub for awhile.  We were going to go to do several things today, but it just felt better to take it easy.

Week went so fast.  Checked out and went to pool for a few hours to soak in a little more fun.  Walt and Lammy were down there so we had our last visit.  It is Valentine's Day and John had a special message written in the sky (I'm sure all men told their wives the same thing).

It did end up saying 

LOVE YOU JESUS

We've invited them over to Clearwater so we hope they can make it for a visit with us.  Went out to Mexican (of course) lunch and then made our trip home.  At the restaurant I was so surprised to see my old boyfriend, the Most Interesting Man in the World.  Well, he insisted we get our picture taken together.

 Stopped at the grocery store and John bought me a beautiful orchid for Valentines Day.  That is a bonus to living in Florida -- the plants we can have all year long.  So I guess it is back to the grindstone or as we say, "another ho hum day in paradise."

Ajijic and Chapala, Part II

Cobblestones, that could be my most memorable thing from Ajijic.  We had to be on guard constantly so we did not fall down, or break something.  My flip flops were out the window traded in for my sturdy tennis shoes.  Narrow streets, beautiful décor on sidewalks (where there were some), doors, buildings, iron work.  Hardly a surface in the area was not beautifully decorated.  I've done a separate blog showing the beauty we found.

We mostly walked around each day, no car, so we got some good exercise.  We took a different street each day and explored the tiny village.

Had a good time pet sitting two wonderful dogs.  Enjoyed the home and the homeowners were great people.  Once we moved to our second week AirBnB place we were closer in town, but not right downtown.  Had to walk about 8 blocks to get to town center.

We went on a tequila tour to the town of Tequila.  Guided tour of Jose Cuervo (cuervo means raven) tequila factory, and also the field where they grow the blue agave.  Enjoyed that day.  The legend:  http://www.tequilarevolucion.com/en/tequila_revolucion_legend_history.php

Ishmael - he can cut 600 blue agaves a day

The plants need to be 7-10 years old to harvest

Called the pineapple, this is the

part of the blue agave they smoke

and make tequila out of

Jose Cuervo factory - putting the pineapples

into the ovens for smoking

Elegant tequila tasting

End of tour - free margarita

Mural showing legend of how tequila

was discovered

Beautiful church in center of main plaza

Tequila, Mexico

Went to the marketplace, which was on our end of town.  There were probably 150 vendors - fruits, vegetables, meat, textiles, jewelry , food.  It was amazing and I bought a few wonderful items that will be my treasures from Ajijec.

I bought a hand made rug from this lady.
In 1994 a book was written about her family.  I came
home and ordered a used copy.  They get the wool, clean
it, dye it, comb it, prepare it and then she hand weaves it.
She was very sweet and her work was exquisite.

Lunch at Tango with Adrian, Deborah & John

Adrian is a ESL teacher in Oman, Deborah's friend

Great lunch at Peacock Garden

We enjoyed the birds in the garden

Went to a little Pulqueria, and met Roberto Santana, the owner who told us all about pulque, and other unusual Mexican native drinks.  We enjoyed our time visiting with him.

Roberto Santana

We had so many wonderful meals.  We'd usually eat out for one large meal each day and then just find something simple to eat at our little casa.

Lake Chapala

Net fishing

Mt. Garcia in the background on the left

On Golden Pond

It is a wonderful place to experience.  Pure, perfect air, calm, mellow, nice people.  I could live there, but not right now.  I think it seems like there are too many older people.  I need more of a mixture of ages and it just seems too gray there.  A person could live down there probably for $1,200 if they were careful with their money.  So we enjoyed our mellow trip and I would like to return someday and explore out laying areas, and even do some exploring the Guadalajara.

Viva Mexico

Ajijic and Chapala, Mexico - Part I

Not going to break this down into day by day, but just general impressions.  The overall feel for this entire trip was quiet and peace.  This area of Mexico could not be any more different from our usual stomping grounds in Cancun and Maya Riviera.

Ajijic is about 45 minutes out of Guadalajara - Mexico's second largest city with a population of 1.495 million in 2010.  It is a drive out of the city and up into the mountains -- reaching an altitude of 5,000 feet, which is high.  One needs to slow down a bit, hydrate and relax at this high place.

Lake Chapala is the largest fresh water lake in Mexico and is 50 mi from east to west and averages (7.8 miles from north to south, and covers an approximately 420 sq mi -- so that's a big lake.  The town is right up next to the lake.  There is a legend that the bromide vapors come up and that is what makes the air so perfect.  If I could have bottled it I would have.  It just feels good to breathe there.

We arrived at the hustle, bustle airport and our family we were pet sitting for came to pick us up.  It was wonderful to see two friendly faces with waving hands for us.  What super people Jim and Linda are.  They made us feel so at home and didn't have 50 rules for us -- just sort of assumed we'd be mature and responsible.  Their little girl dogs were the best.  Betty and Maggie (I called them Betty Boop and Maggie May) made our stay special in that we have no pets now and we thoroughly enjoyed them.  We took them down a cobblestone road several times a day to walk.  We encountered some nasty stickers that Betty got into; Betty also found some animal burrow and was digging to China to get that critter.  We saw a small herd of goats that walked a bit with John and I one day and there were also horses out in the area.  Their home is in West of Ajijic, so we were out in a little more rural area.  We heard many birds chirping each day, but especially loved the mocking birds that would do the "wolf whistle" each morning.  It was pretty magical.

John, Jim and Linda

Having margaritas at La Belle Vida

which was in the hills and had a beautiful

view of Lake Chapala

Lovely backyard of homeowners

Our first two nights we stayed in the Casita on the property.  A fully functional place, with a nice bed, bathroom with shower and full kitchen.  We had a TV and were able to use Jim's computer.  We learned the routine and info we needed and shared meals with Jim and Linda.  On Monday, they left for their beach trip.  We got to meet their maid, Margarita, along with Diego, their gardener - very nice folks.  We moved into the master bedroom for the time homeowners were gone.  We were so content staying at the house that we only made one trip to Chapala.  This is very, very unusual for me since I'm a go, let's go person.  Maybe I'm slowing down?

Our Chapala trip was fun since we met a new CS friend, Deborah, walked around, shopped a little and had the best lunch that consisted of chips and salsa, nachos, molcajete with beef, chicken & shrimp, fresh tortillas and free margaritas.  All this for $22.00 for the 3 of us, including tip.

Don't find this around in the U.S.

too much anymore, and with a leather saddle.

John and Deborah

Best meal we had down there.

Beautiful church downtown

More later...............

Ajijic and Chapala, Mexico - Part I

Not going to break this down into day by day, but just general impressions.  The overall feel for this entire trip was quiet and peace.  This area of Mexico could not be any more different from our usual stomping grounds in Cancun and Maya Riviera.

Ajijic is about 45 minutes out of Guadalajara - Mexico's second largest city with a population of 1.495 million in 2010.  It is a drive out of the city and up into the mountains -- reaching an altitude of 5,000 feet, which is high.  One needs to slow down a bit, hydrate and relax at this high place.

Lake Chapala is the largest fresh water lake in Mexico and is 50 mi from east to west and averages (7.8 miles from north to south, and covers an approximately 420 sq mi -- so that's a big lake.  The town is right up next to the lake.  There is a legend that the bromide vapors come up and that is what makes the air so perfect.  If I could have bottled it I would have.  It just feels good to breathe there.

We arrived at the hustle, bustle airport and our family we were pet sitting for came to pick us up.  It was wonderful to see two friendly faces with waving hands for us.  What super people Jim and Linda are.  They made us feel so at home and didn't have 50 rules for us -- just sort of assumed we'd be mature and responsible.  Their little girl dogs were the best.  Betty and Maggie (I called them Betty Boop and Maggie May) made our stay special in that we have no pets now and we thoroughly enjoyed them.  We took them down a cobblestone road several times a day to walk.  We encountered some nasty stickers that Betty got into; Betty also found some animal burrow and was digging to China to get that critter.  We saw a small herd of goats that walked a bit with John and I one day and there were also horses out in the area.  Their home is in West of Ajijic, so we were out in a little more rural area.  We heard many birds chirping each day, but especially loved the mocking birds that would do the "wolf whistle" each morning.  It was pretty magical.

John, Jim and Linda

Having margaritas at La Belle Vida

which was in the hills and had a beautiful

view of Lake Chapala

Lovely backyard of homeowners

Our first two nights we stayed in the Casita on the property.  A fully functional place, with a nice bed, bathroom with shower and full kitchen.  We had a TV and were able to use Jim's computer.  We learned the routine and info we needed and shared meals with Jim and Linda.  On Monday, they left for their beach trip.  We got to meet their maid, Margarita, along with Diego, their gardener - very nice folks.  We moved into the master bedroom for the time homeowners were gone.  We were so content staying at the house that we only made one trip to Chapala.  This is very, very unusual for me since I'm a go, let's go person.  Maybe I'm slowing down?

Our Chapala trip was fun since we met a new CS friend, Deborah, walked around, shopped a little and had the best lunch that consisted of chips and salsa, nachos, molcajete with beef, chicken & shrimp, fresh tortillas and free margaritas.  All this for $22.00 for the 3 of us, including tip.

Don't find this around in the U.S.

too much anymore, and with a leather saddle.

John and Deborah

Best meal we had down there.

Beautiful church downtown

More later...............