Travels with Snowbirds 2016, January 24 to February 9, Thousand Trails Orlando, Clermont, FL

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Travels with Snowbirds 2016, January 24 to February 9, Thousand Trails Orlando, Clermont, FL

Another one about catching up

I have settled nicely into the dull roar of life at TTO. We did lots of fun things, and lots of down time. In no chronological order, here’s a catch-up.

I moved my site one more time. E103, next to Ginnie, put my back end under a tree in the morning. The sun didn’t hit the side until noon or so, and Moya never warmed up. The Feng Shui was just not right for me or Winston or Ginnie. My door side was in the shade, meaning sitting out for breakfast or lunch wasn’t going to happen. I kept watching for a site across the street to open up, and after a fashion, I noticed E96’s occupants packing up. I confirmed with them, and sure enough, they would leave early the next morning. Sure enough, they pulled out, Ginnie pulled her car in to hold the site while I broke camp and drove across the street. I am now really a happy camper. We are all in harmony with the environment. Winston can stand in the dashboard and watch Ginnie’s dogs, Linus and Alfie, play in their yard. Ginnie and I can see each other’s doors. A much better situation than the other site. I put out my chair and rug, put my orchids and stag horn fern on the picnic table, and I am a happy camper!!!

Kim found a Groupon for Cirque Magique, a lunch/show event, in Orlando. At $16, we couldn’t pass it up. It ended up being a cute, fun thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. We were served a really good hamburger, and entertained by some very talented magicians, jugglers, and clowns. The wait staff ended up being the performers as well. Our button-cute “Giggles” ended up being a contortionist extraordinaire.

Kim found that the Orlando Museum of Art was having a “National Geographic Photographs by Women” exhibit. Had to do it, right? It ended up being a very depressing exhibit; you know how some of those National Geographic stories can go sometimes. The permanent exhibit was small. I most enjoyed the Chihuliy glass sculpture in the entrance rotunda, and a few really good Hudson River School artists (and there was even a large landscape of Greene County, Cless and Jean). There were a few acrylics by an artist named Tom McGrath (my dad’s name) but they were really modern and way out there. Photo someplace.

The day Kathy was to arrive, she texted us to let us know she was close. Ginnie and I hopped in the car and drove around to locate potential sites for her. We found a gorgeous one along the neighboring ranch, along what we call the cow pasture. Saving sites is not allowed and we were nervous this gem would go away. When Kathy called and said she was at the gate we headed for the gate to lead her to this gem, nervous we would lose it. Ranger Ken in his golf cart asked us if we were looking for a site, and we said our friend was checking in and we had a great one and we were going to lead her to it. He told us to go park in it and wait for her! Unbelievable. No holding of sites, and here the Ranger was telling us to go grab it. We did, scooting in behind a couple in a golf cart scouting the site out. Ken passed by and waved at us, and Kathy pulled in. It ended up being a great site for her, there are 5 cows and a baby in the cow pasture, there are lots of birds to photograph with her brand new super telephoto Christmas Present lens and she, too, is a happy camper. She has had a tough year, and her second hip replacement happened last fall. She walks slowly due to compressed spinal disc issues, but she is a real trooper and doesn’t complain at all. She makes the best oatmeal pancake and sausage breakfast. The mornings have been cold, too cold to eat outside. We opted for pancakes for dinner, and it was too cold to eat outside. She rearranged her rig enough to seat the four of us and we feasted on the most wonderful pancakes I have ever eaten.

Ginnie decided it was time to get new foam rubber for her RV cushions. We figured out that Joann’s Fabric sold it by the yard. Drove off the 20 miles to the store, get it cut to size, buy it, get cashier to use two coupons making it half price, back to rig, it is too thick. They agreed to take it back. Back to Winter Garden, a really nice looking town, return, repurchase, coupons not as good, only 50% off one piece, back to rig, and they fit much better. Mission accomplished.

I made dinner one night for the four of us, did you see that Mississippi Roast recipe floating around facebook awhile back? Well, I bought the ingredients. No poblano peppers at Publix, so I substituted Cubanelle. Other ingredients include AuJus mix, Ranch Dressing Mix, and butter. It ended up tasting wonderful to Ginnie and Kim who like spicy food, but it was too ‘hot’ for me and Kathy. It really had a great flavor, and I will serve it again, just use very mild peppers. My Wilmington friend, Martha, had given me a small boxed Christmas gift she said was from her neighbor Jeannie. They were beautiful baby blue and baby pink chocolates. Now, I know Martha makes molded chocolates, and I thought her friend must, too. I served those beautiful chocolates for dessert that night. They were not chocolates, but soap. I was embarrassed on 2 levels. First I had thanked Jeannie via email for the adorable chocolates, and second for serving soap to my girlies. Senior moment number 49. Humble apologies, Jeannie.

Kim had a good week fixing things. With a little morale support from her girlies, she rewired all the wires to the batteries of her golf cart. I called my ex, Richard, to ask him one technical question about order of placing the cables on the battery stud, but Kim did all the work, and IT WORKS!! She also replaced the shower head, then replaced the entire faucet assembly. That took guts. She also put up her LLBean tent…all by herself. She is woman, hear her roar. I had it easy. I just removed and replaced the caulking in my shower. EasyPeasy. And walking over 8K steps per day, which is very hard for me. Good thing it is flat here. My fitbit friends are inspiring me!! Wished it allowed me to track the 3 miles a day I ride my bike.

Another Groupon ala Kim led us to Universal Studios for Blue Man Group. 6:00 show, so we left early so we could eat dinner prior. $20 to park at Universal. As we were paying, the toll taker told us the parking deck was really full, and we should consider $30 Preferred Parking. Since there were 3 of us, $10 each wasn’t a bad hit. When we got to preferred, only open spots looked far away. We saw an attendant, and she told us to ‘park right there’, which ended up being in the very front row, 5 steps away from the moving sidewalks and greatly reduced our steps. We picked up our tickets and went to Hard Rock and shared a monstrous 3 person shareable appetizer. The show was awesome, first time for Ginnie. How do you explain Blue Man Group to someone who has never been? “Well, there are these guys with blue masks on who move slowly and shoot marshmallows out of their mouths, and have Twinkie fluff coming out of holes on their chest, and play incredible music on PVC pipe. No description does them justice. The Groupon seats were great, too.

Ginnie and Kathy went off one night to see Barry Manilow at Amway Center, and said it was a great show; both had a lot of fun strolling down memory lane and knowing every word to every song. That night Kim and I were going to go to Bahama Breeze for coconut shrimp and fluffy drinks. Something must have been going on special, there was a 30 minute wait when we arrived at 5:00. We went across the street to Joe’s Crab Shack and discovered $2 Tuesday. $2 Hurricanes or drafts and $2 appetizers. For under $20 for both of us, we had 4 Hurricanes and 5 appetizers to share. All were good. We saw that there is $15 lobsters all day Thursdays, we are headed there this week. We ended our night at Twistee Treat, the local soft serve ice cream store shaped like a Twist Cone. I am still full from the small cup I had.

We headed back to Sea World, and enjoyed some good shows. It really is an easy thing to do when you have an annual pass, you don’t feel the need to have to spend the entire day. We saw the rain was coming, and we headed out after a few hours and just made it to the car before the deluge. It poured for the next 24 hours – it must have rained 4 inches. We tried a new restaurant on the way home, Gator’s Dockside and noted they were having an all you can eat/drink SuperBowl party for $45 per person.

Speaking of SuperBowl, I hosted a Commercial Watching Party. I made another one of those recipes found on FaceBook; pigs in a blanket baked with a chili/cream cheese dip. It was absolutely awesome. We had veggie platter, wine, dips, chicken tenders, chocolate cookie desert, and Ginnie’s Christmas gifted Egg Nog. And, enjoyed the commercials. My personal favorite was the Doritos sonogram. I thought others were silly, and missed seeing the Budweiser horses. I hated the half time show, couldn’t understand what they were singing, later found out I should be happy I couldn’t understand it, and wondered what the relevance to the 50^th SuperBowl could possibly be. I guess I was not alone in my thoughts. Do we think ABC destroyed the sound so mainstream America couldn’t understand what she was singing??? That thought crossed my mind.

And, my final catchup, the third annual Mineola High School Class of 64 mini Florida reunion. 17 attendees this year at Disney Wilderness Lodge Whispering Canyon Café. We had a few new attendees this year, and some very familiar faces from years past. Despite the fact that we did it on SuperBowl Sunday, it didn’t matter to those who attended, and they are already talking about next year!!! The unfortunate thing – 17 required 2 tables. So, we didn’t get to talk to everyone as much as we wanted. I keep telling everyone, it doesn’t matter that you weren’t best friends with these lovely people during high school. After 50 year, the playing field is leveled. We all have the same memories of 1964, we have all suffered illness and loss. There is a certain camaraderie among us that is beautiful to see, but difficult to explain. Some of us will be going on a NCL Western Caribbean cruise in May, I wish more were going.

Hard to believe I am on the downstroke of this year’s journey. I wish it was warmer. But, it sure beats being in NJ, and tomorrow’s weather for ILM is very cold. I am thankful for 55 degrees.



Kat out

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Photos

Sea World
The Sea World app has 3 different frame borders you can apply! Very slick

My latest completed crochet project
for next baby

An entire wall of Mickey Very Bradley
Just beautiful