Time flies when you are having fun, doesn’t it? We have sure been having fun and the time has flown since I last posted. Not all has been fun, though. I have been having ‘puter problems and I have not been a happy camper in that regard. Dave has sat down a few times to see if he can diagnose the problem. He has deleted some of the 40 (yes, I said 40!) programs that were trying to start up when I turned the baby on…yikes! And since this computer is an older model, it does not have much memory so that doesn’t help. I keep saying that a “tool” is only as good as it is efficient. This is not a very efficient tool so I am clearly not motivated to use it much! Forgive my lapse. I will now attempt to use this inefficient tool to tell you about our travels in Florida and into Georgia and now South Carolina.
When you last heard from us, we were headed back to Eglin Air Force Base and Dave’s medical appointments. The VA is not set up with a central database so he has to reenter the system wherever he goes. What a pain it is for him! With his heart and other health issues he needs many, many medications and after spending 15 minutes with the doctor telling him he needs the meds to last for at least 90 days, the doc gave him some prescriptions for 30 days! He says it was like the doctor never even heard him! Frustration. Now, he needs to figure out how to get his meds quickly, as we don’t stay long in one place and snail mail does not move as quickly as we do! The RV place we stayed at for the second time has lots of snowbirds so they have activities planned for them. One in which we participated was a deep sea fishing trip out of Destin, FL, in the Gulf of Mexico. It was a perfect day on the water. Calm, sunny and not cold. We had several different kinds of dolphins escort us during the day. We caught some fish, some of which we had to throw back as they were either too small or not in season. We cooked some when we got back but they were somewhat bland in flavor so I ended up feeding a couple of stray cats (or raccoons, I’m not sure which).
We traveled down to Tampa where we went to the eye doctor at the AFB and both had new glasses made which we picked up after we got back from Ft. Lauderdale and Key West, which you will hear about shortly. But first, Tampa. What a beautiful city! We stayed at MacDill AFB right at the tip of a peninsula in the middle of Tampa Bay. The weekend after we got there, they had a big airshow in which the Blue Angels performed. Loved it! They practiced right over our heads for a couple of days beforehand so that was an added bonus. Between the two of us, we took over 1400 photos! I’ll let Dave upload some of those. What an incredible time! We were going to go back for the second day of the show but it poured buckets of rain. We did hear the Blue Angels perform, though! On St. Patrick’s Day, Dave’s friend Matt, who he knows from Lompoc and who is currently stationed at MacDill, invited us to his place in Tampa for a delicious homemade spaghetti dinner. (Sorry, St. Paddy! Italian is always good!) The view from the 17th floor overlooking the Bay is gorgeous! One day Dave and I rode our bikes along the waterfront, enjoying the beautiful weather and the birds and fish, people and animals. When all was said and done, we had ridden about 12 miles, the longest we had ridden together. Dave had to get a padded cover for his seat after that one! We then enjoyed a tasty barbeque dinner at a restaurant we had passed by twice on the ride. The scent was so enticing we couldn’t resist! After about two weeks in Tampa, we left the fifth wheel parked in our spot and drove the truck down to Ft. Lauderdale, where my friend Diane, lives. We stayed at her place for a couple of days before she flew out to Santa Barbara and then we continued to stay there while she was gone. She lives on the 10th floor of a building just a short distance from the beach. A walk through a small park, across a roundabout, through a tiny parking lot and there is the beach! The view from her balcony is incredible! The first morning when we awoke, there was a thunderstorm. Diane and I were up squealing at the view while Dave rolled over and snored away! Awesome! The water color changes with the winds and the time of day. For a California, Pacific Coast girl, this Atlantic water color is incredible! We went to Diane’s church, a Calvary Chapel the first Sunday we were there. It is a huge complex! It is a mini-Disneyland, complete with trams from outlying parking lots! There are three restaurants on-site, one of which we ate at after the Wednesday night service we went to. The food was excellent as well as the service. We had an incredible apple tart dessert! Mm! Mmm! At the Sunday service they had a guest who is a potter and his wife, who sings. They gave a wonderful message as he created a huge pot right then and there, while his wife sang as well as both commenting as they went along. It was a masterful illustrated sermon. Very moving. We so enjoyed it! On Saturday, we drove to Key West with the intention of making it just a day trip but as we got to the Keys, we realized that in order to get the full experience, we had to stay there longer so we found a room and went on a Sunset Dinner Cruise. Beautiful! The next day, Easter Sunday, we went on the same boat and went para-sailing, banana boat riding, kayaking, snorkeling and jet skiing! Whew! Key West is beautiful. I could spend the rest of my days there! We had a blast! I even fell off my rented bike in the middle of the busiest street at 10 o’clock at night and Dave goes merrily rolling down the street in front of me. I finally caught up to him, skinned and bruised knee and all, about five minutes later. “Where were you??”, he asks. “On the street, literally”, I reply. Just picked myself up and rode on…
Back in Ft. Lauderdale, we stayed a few days so I could pick Diane up from the airport. (That is one of the easiest airports to drive in and out of, besides Denver, that I have been to.) Dave and I enjoyed walking on the Riverwalk in Ft. Lauderdale a couple of times. I found a gardenia bush that I picked flowers off of and kept for their scent. Love it! Ft. Lauderdale is also very beautiful. I enjoyed walking on the beach in the water. The sand varies so much in Florida. The Gulf Coast is very white while the sand in Ft. Lauderdale is more like the West Coast. Browner but at the same time, when you walk in the waves you sink way down. It consists of shells or at least, their tiny pieces. After we returned to MacDill AFB, we took a day and drove back down the Gulf Coast to Sanibel Island and Ft. Myers. Now that, for me, was an incredible beach. I spent six hours, bending down and picking up beautiful sea shells! The whole beach is shells! Wow! We also went to the seashell museum. By that time, I was feeling the effects of the sun and had a bit of sunstroke so I think I need to go back when I can enjoy it more. God is so awesome! His creation is incredible! The next day I was so sore I could barely move! I hadn’t felt those muscles since high school! Another memorable thing we did in Tampa was to visit the “Church Without Walls, International”. This is Paula White’s church. I thought it was awesome. The gospel choir was reminiscent of my time singing in Jubilee’s choir when Ron Kenoly was the director. Paula illustrated her sermon with boxes and boxes and racks and racks of shoes. Go ye…I enjoyed it immensely. Dave, on the other hand, was so totally distracted by the security that he does not even know what the sermon was about. I did not even notice the security…Go figure! We then left MacDill, which had been our home for a little over a month. Dave tried to make reservations for next year but they stopped taking those in January! It’s a snowbird’s paradise! We are blessed to have gotten to stay there at all. We’ll probably just show up there next year like we did this year!
From Florida we traveled to Lake Park, GA, to spend the night at the recreation area for Moody AFB. It was a quiet, serene spot. The next morning, before we left, we rented a paddle boat for an hour and went out on the little lake and took pictures. We saw a bald eagle but Dave didn’t get the camera focused before it flew off. We’ll have to settle for the crane pictures as well as the lily pads…
Our next stop took us to Madison, GA. This is a famous historic town outside of Atlanta to the east about 50 miles. It is known as “the town Sherman refused to burn”. Dave has a couple of Army buddy friends who live close by. We had dinner and an enjoyable time with them both. He was a chaplain’s assistant with Jim (Vicki) NeSmith and was stationed in Germany with Bill and Teresa English. It was good for him to reconnect with all of them and I enjoyed meeting them as well. Last Sunday, we went to Stone Mountain. It is the largest rock in the continental US. It is over 800 ft. high and goes into the earth about 10 miles! It is just outside of Atlanta and from the top has a great view of that city as well as the surrounding area. Boy, Georgia has tons of trees! It is beautiful and so green. Such a stark contrast to the desert known as California!
On April 21st we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a day in Augusta, GA. We went to the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art Museum where we enjoyed a couple of exhibits (at least, I think Dave enjoyed them!). We then went to the Visitors Center where we got a recommendation for lunch and sights to see. We chose the Riverwalk and had a nice time. It appears to be fairly new but it needs upkeep. We did see one man in the weeds but it was obvious he was only making a dent. Poor guy! We dipped in to the art museum store for a looksee and I found a little ring I purchased. What is it with rings and bracelets? Love ‘em! Then it was to the Boll Weevil restaurant for lunch. They are known for their desserts but since we were having dinner later with Bill and Teresa, we passed on the dessert and just shared a sandwich. Dave was sure drooling over the foot-high carrot cake, though! We went Ft. Gordon to go to the Signal Museum but it was closed so we decided to stop at the PX (Post Exchange). They were handing out tickets for a drawing so we each got one and to make a long story even longer, Dave won! It was a piece of jewelry so, of course, I got to pick. I chose the white gold bracelet. And then, for $15 apiece, I could purchase whatever else I wanted. I chose the tennis bracelet and the Austrian crystal one carat studs. It was our lucky day! Dave was looking around for the lotto tickets!
The next day, Thursday, we went to Atlanta. Dave had a surprise up his sleeve for dinner and also an activity for the day. Dave has chosen to take me to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens! As we go to pay, because it is Earth Day it is “Two for One”! “Where can I buy that lotto ticket, again??” The gardens are beautiful! We could have spent many hours alone at the orchid center photographing the beautiful flowers. They have an edible garden, an overhead “Canopy Walk” and cascade gardens opening on May 1st, so that’s another thing we’ll have to come back and see. They also have a wonderful children’s area where the kids can get in their bathing suits and play in a fountain as well as other activities. We enjoyed watching the kids in the fountain and thought that it would be a fun place to bring grandkids! After leaving the gardens, we drove down the road to TRADER JOE’S, my first fix since California! Yay! I so miss TJ’S! Too bad I don’t have a freezer on board!! We then went to our final destination for the day which was Agatha’s Dinner Theater where we participated in a murder mystery based on the TV show “24″. Of course, it was a comedy and we laughed all the way through. Dave was “Bryan Oceancrest”, host of American False-Idol and I was a part of the Chorus singing a song to the tune of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. As the story progressed, we laughed harder and harder as the “actors” read their parts. In the meantime, we enjoyed our meal and conversation with the two gentlemen seated across from us, who were a part of the theater and who also had parts which they performed admirably. As the dinner came to a close and the carrot cake was being served, all at once, Dave pops up out of his chair and, lo and behold, he is the murderer! I got a picture of him lying on the ground as he dies a lingering death….My, oh, my! It was fun!
We are now up to date as we land here in North Charleston, SC. I promise to post “sooner and shorter”. Provided the ‘puter is a good girl…
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