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Photo by The Joneses
At one point, we came across wood sculptures by the ‘chainsaw artist’ Dayton Scoggin. |
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ARCHIVES:
Watch out for flying dinner rolls 11/12/09
From Dallas to devastation 10/28/09
Traveling to Texas 10/14/09
Back in the Lower 48 10/07/09
A memorable visit to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula 09/04/09
You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet in Alaska 08/07/09
Beautiful Alaska 07/28/09
Finally, we're in Alaska! 07/14/09
You wouldn't believe how beautiful Canada is! 07/02/09
On the way to Canada 06/17/09
Couldn't have had a better time in Omaha! 05/28/09
Bittersweet trip through the southeast 05/13/09
Leaving Florida, and heading north 04/28/09
Our time in Lakeland has come to an end 04/06/09
Time is flying by — but at least we're having fun! 03/19/09
From friends to work to warmer temps, we're still having fun in Florida 02/23/09
The cold weather is hitting Florida 02/11/09
'Life is good' in Lakeland, Fla. 01/29/09
Celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Florida and the Disney Parks 01/12/09
Happy to be in Florida again 12/22/08
Back in Florida 12/05/08
Back on the road again 11/20/08
At long last, back in the area 11/04/08
From the beautiful Maine coastline down to southern Connecticut 10/17/08
Dreams come true in Vermont 10/02/08
Chillin' out at 'Camp Monaco' 09/22/08
Michigan is full of treasures 09/10/08
Making our way through Minn., Wisc. and Ill. 09/04/08
Leaving Idaho and heading east 08/25/08
Boise sure has changed a lot 08/18/08
With family and spectacular sights in Hailey, Idaho 08/11/08
Idaho is full of natural treasures — and moon-like craters, too 07/30/08
From prairie country to beautiful views to grand 'ol Yellowstone 07/21/08
Escapees Rally in Wyoming 07/11/08
Who knew there was so much to see in South Dakota? 07/02/08
I (heart) Hart Ranch, South Dakota 06/24/08
Thunderstorms, flooding, tornados and a visit with the 'Duke' 06/17/08
Lots to see in the 'Show Me' state 06/06/08
Our final days in Kentucky 06/03/08
Moving days for Greg and his family 05/28/08
Leaving Indiana, but not before taking some of the state's best sites 05/16/08
Rallyin' in Goshen, Indiana 05/09/08
'The RV Capital of the World' 05/02/08
Out of Charleston and off to Indiana 04/25/08
Down in the Lowcountry 04/21/08
Arriving in Charleston 04/15/08
Wouldn't change a thing 04/04/08
Look back, look ahead 03/28/08
It's all about the theme parks 03/21/08
Strawberries, and more strawberries 03/14/08
From Boy Scouts to ‘Stars on Ice’ 03/07/08
The gang's all here! 02/29/08
A day with friends from Frederick 02/22/08
Under the weather 02/15/08
Earning our ears 02/11/08
Training for our jobs at Disney World 02/01/08
A special day 01/25/08
Into the Keys 01/21/08
The holidays in Florida 01/03/08
Arriving in Florida 12/28/07
And so it begins ... 12/17/07
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We are back in Florida and are staying at the Thousand Trails Orlando, a membership park where we have stayed before.
It is good to be back here in our ‘winter quarters.’ The weather is great – high 70s to low 80s and sunshine every day. I understand now more than ever why people from the north come down here every year for the winter months.
Now, living here throughout the year is a different story. The summers are brutal. When we lived in Georgia we came to Florida several times during the summer and it is hot and humid.
On our way here, we stopped in Biloxi, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama for a few days each. These two states filled some spaces on a map we have on the side of our motorhome. This map shows all the states we have traveled to since we bought this RV. The rule is we have to stay there at least one night and do some sightseeing. Just traveling through a state doesn’t count.
Since we have gone on the road in November 2007, we have covered Alaska and 42 of the lower 48 states. We have not been to New Jersey, Delaware, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. Those states are planned for 2010 and 2011.
Biloxi is on the Gulf of Mexico and has miles and miles of beautiful white beaches. This is the area where Katrina hit land and did the most damage. Even now, four years later, there were still many areas that were not restored. We saw empty lots where once a house stood everywhere.
In Biloxi, we followed a self-guiding auto-tour through the city looking at some of the historic sites like the lighthouse, Katrina Memorial, and Jefferson Davis' home, Beauvoir.
Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States of America, lived there from 1877 to his death in 1890. He wrote his memoirs there. The house was severely damaged by Katrina. We saw some unbelievable pictures of the damage. However, it has been restored and, so we were told, brought back to its original appearance.
In Mobile, Alabama we did not do a lot of sightseeing. We just drove through the town and then ate at the famous Lambert’s Café. It is a restaurant serving typical southern food. I had southern fried catfish and Ralph had the fried chicken. The sides are black-eyed peas, green fried tomatoes, fried potatoes, okra, etc. etc. The fame of the place is that the dinner rolls are thrown at you and you better catch them or they end up on the floor. The rolls were, just like the rest of the food, delicious.
We drove over to Pensacola to visit with friends from St. Timothy Church in Walkersville, John and Sally Carson. They moved to Pensacola in 2001. It was nice to get together and talk about ‘old times’. It seemed like only a year or so ago that they left Walkersville.
John gave us an interesting tour of the Pensacola Naval Air Station, the home of the Blue Angels – the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron.
They took us to an Irish Pup and Restaurant. A very unique place with dollars bills covering the ceilings and wall – 1 million dollars worth. The food was very Irish and wonderful. We were given a tour of their fantastic wine cellar that housed bottles with a price tag of $15,000 or even more. Needless to say, we did not buy any wine there.
We have been over to the kids house (Rich, Robin, Jordyn and Nick) several time already. Being near them is one of the reasons we love being here.
Last Monday, we went to a performance of the Tops in Blue, an outstanding show of music, singing and dancing by very talented Air Force personnel. It was fabulous. By the way (for the Frederick readers) they will be at Ft. Meade this Friday and at Andrews AFB Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free, and it's well worth the drive to these locations.
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