Photo by The Joneses Have you ever seen ibises? Well, here they are ... — — — E-mail Gisela — — — SLIDE SHOW: Birds, swans and more ...
ARCHIVES: You wouldn't believe how beautiful Canada is! Wouldn't change a thing Who knew there was so much to see in South Dakota? Time is flying by — but at least we're having fun! I (heart) Hart Ranch, South Dakota Rallyin' in Goshen, Indiana A special day From friends to work to warmer temps, we're still having fun in Florida Traveling to Texas Finally, we're in Alaska! On the way to Canada Boise sure has changed a lot Escapees Rally in Wyoming Bittersweet trip through the southeast From Boy Scouts to ‘Stars on Ice’ Michigan is full of treasures Arriving in Florida Earning our ears Celebrating Christmas and New Year's in Florida and the Disney Parks Down in the Lowcountry Making our way through Minn., Wisc. and Ill. The holidays in Florida Our time in Lakeland has come to an end Couldn't have had a better time in Omaha! Arriving in Charleston A day with friends from Frederick 'Life is good' in Lakeland, Fla. Leaving Florida, and heading north Our final days in Kentucky Into the Keys Out of Charleston and off to Indiana Dreams come true in Vermont You never know what you'll see or who you'll meet in Alaska Leaving Indiana, but not before taking some of the state's best sites Idaho is full of natural treasures — and moon-like craters, too It's all about the theme parks From prairie country to beautiful views to grand 'ol Yellowstone Thunderstorms, flooding, tornados and a visit with the 'Duke' And so it begins ... Moving days for Greg and his family The gang's all here! Happy to be in Florida again Strawberries, and more strawberries 'The RV Capital of the World' From the beautiful Maine coastline down to southern Connecticut Training for our jobs at Disney World Chillin' out at 'Camp Monaco' Under the weather Back in Florida At long last, back in the area Lots to see in the 'Show Me' state With family and spectacular sights in Hailey, Idaho Look back, look ahead Back in the Lower 48 The cold weather is hitting Florida From Dallas to devastation Back on the road again Leaving Idaho and heading east Beautiful Alaska A memorable visit to Alaska's Kenai Peninsula Watch out for flying dinner rolls

We are now at the Lakeland Carefree RV Resort and so far have enjoyed our stay here.

This week the weather has not been Florida-like! It has been very cold and windy. Last night the temperature got down into the upper-20s and today the high is 57, that IS cold for Florida. I had to get some warm sweaters out from the storage under our bed.

There are a lot of activities in this park for us to be involved in. We have settled into a nice weekly routine: I go for water aerobics on Tuesday and Thursday; Tuesday afternoon I play Bridge; and on Wednesdays I do line dancing for two hours, which is great exercise.

Ralph walks Gretchen every morning, smokes his cigar, stops at the office for Gretchen’s treat, and talks to everyone in the park. Actually there isn’t that much walking involved — the guys stand around talking — "solving all the problems in the world." The dogs, meanwhile, just sort of stand or lie around and wait.

On Thursdays Ralph plays golf with a group at a nearby golf course. Mondays and Fridays we leave open for shopping, getting things done, visiting with friends, going to the Disney parks, etc..

Most weekends we get together with the kids. Our workdays at Disney are Tuesdays and Thursdays, but mostly in the late afternoon, so our "work" does not interfere much with our" play." Life is good.

This RV Park is very conveniently located. It is right off I-4, about a 30-minute drive from the kid’s house and a little over a half-hour from work. This is so much nicer than last year when it took us 1 ½ hours to the kid’s house and 45 minutes to work.

Lakeland is a very nice town with a population of 93,500. It was incorporated in 1885 on land purchased by a man named Abraham Munn from Louisville, Kentucky. There are 38 lakes in Lakeland — no wonder it was named Lakeland. The largest is Lake Parker , which is 2,250 acres; the smallest is Lake Horney, just under 8 acres

Last Sunday Jordyn, who spent the weekend with us, and I drove around and explored Lakeland. We came upon Lake Morton that looked like a bird sanctuary. There were ducks, geese, swans, ibis, pelicans, seagulls and others (I really didn’t recognize all of them). We even saw several black swans. It was amazing that, almost in the middle of town, there were hundreds of beautiful and graceful animals walking and flying around.

I also saw on the street a sign that I have never seen any other place than Frederick — a caution sign for duck crossing.

The swans are a trademark of Lakeland. Like we had the "Keys" last year, they have swans painted in all different colors in various areas in the town. The swans were reported as early as 1923, but by 1954 they had all died. A resident (Robert Pickhardt) who had enjoyed the swans so much wrote to the Queen of England — I assume he was an Englishman — to purchase a pair of swans from the royal flock on the Thames River. The Queen donated a pair for just the cost of shipping and all the swans we saw are descendants of this pair.

Two weeks ago we attended a Holiday Rambler rally in Orlando.

Most RV manufacturers have an RV Club, and since we have a Holiday Rambler we belong to their club. The rally was fun and informative, just as most rallies are. We met two couples from Maryland, one from Laurel the other from Hagerstown. Both of them had purchased their RVs from Endless Summers RV on U.S. 15, where we bought ours.

One couple actually knew about us, because Thom Beckley had told them about the modifications we had made to our coach. What a small world this is!

We also enjoyed another Robotic competition that my grandson’s group sponsored, and attended another one where his group "Darth Panthers" competed. They came in fourth of 16 entries, not bad! It is so much fun to see the kids at these competitions.

We are starting to make plans for the Alaska trip this summer. Ralph’s brother Bob and wife Carol Ann want to join us when we leave here (March/April) to travel with us. Plans are to spend June, July, August traveling through Canada and Alaska. It will be a great and exciting trip.