Home Sweet Home

Wow, it was really strange to be walking in my front door after 11 1/2 weeks away. Anna looked after things really well, so it was easy to step in and mess the place up with all the miscellaneous from the car, LOL!
We put on over 12,000 kilometers, saw more places than I could ever imagine I would see, especially in one trip, and found some hidden gems that I'd have never known about. I definitely feel like a seasoned traveler, and  I know I started out with "tips" but kind of let that go. However, if anyone out there ever wants some advice or help planning or executing a trip, I'd be glad to help out. Of course, I always loved getting comments on my posts too!
So I've pretty much got the laundry caught up, the suitcases put away, and now on to seeing all my family that I've missed since before Christmas, for some of them!

Take care, y'all, and don't be strangers!!

LaGrange, Kentucky on Wednesday night

We're taking it kind of easy on the way home. We travelled through Tennessee and just northeast of Louisville, about an hour or so away from Cincinnati on the Ohio-Kentucky border. It looks like an excellent depiction of Smallville, USA. Nice, clean and far enough outside of Louisville to be much less hectic. Still, it's on the way between Louisville and Cincinnati, so there is still lot of truck traffic along I-71. We went to the "historic shopping district" (haha, about 1 block long) and had dinner at The Irish Rover Too (the original Irish Rover being in Louisville). Excellent food, reasonable and a great bread and butter pudding for dessert. Beautiful drive through the hills of Tennessee and Kentucky. Something happened to the car radio though...it seemed it only played country music :)

Priceville, Alabama

Priceville is where we stopped for the night last night. It's just south of Decatur, near the Alabama-Tennessee border. Now we're starting to get into the hills, which will be nice to see since when we came down it was snowing and misty and we couldn't really see anything. We were just in a hurry to get to the warmth of Florida, which of course was freezing when we got there, haha. What a winter...coldest on record in areas of Florida, and of course it seemed that the winter was exceptionally mild back home. I guess we can blame it on El Nino, or so I hear. Not sure how far we'll get today, probably stop somewhere in Ohio if we don't run into any more miles-out-of-our-way detours!

The Big Easy...and Little Easy

Yesterday we travelled from Mobile, Alabama along the gulf scenic route to Slidell, Louisiana (also known as Little Easy because of it's proximity to The Big Easy haha). The 25 miles or so along the gulf between Biloxi, MS and the Saint Louis Bay is listed as the 5th most scenic coastal drive in North America, even ahead of the Cabot Trail. The road is basically right on the beach for that distance. It was quite windy yesterday, making the sand blow across the road just like ground drifting snow. Because it was so windy and quite cold, it was not enticing beach weather, so we had no beach stops. From Mobile we passed through towns like Pascagoula, Ocean Springs, Biloxi, Gulf Port and Pass Christian. Once in Biloxi, we could start to see some of the scars left by Hurricane Katrina. Until you can see this first hand, it's really hard to imagine the impact that is still felt even after 4 1/2 years. More about that later on. We found our hotel (a brand new Comfort Inn) here in Slidell. This is first hotel I've ever stayed at that has a second tv in the bathroom. I called my cousin Kenny, who happens to live no more than 10 minutes from the hotel, and took a drive over there to have a visit. We met his girlfriend Raenelle (please excuse and correct if I have that spelled wrong!) who is absolutely delightful, and the dogs and the lizard and a few assorted family members and had a good visit. Raenelle lost her home in Katrina, in fact she said everyone in her family but one person lost their homes. Left for what she thought was a few days, and never made it back. Katrina is still first and foremost in life here. Today we drove into New Orleans and took a city bus tour. It left from right in the French Quarter (which is pronounced by the locals as "Quota") and went through the lower 9th District, which is where the most destruction was. The water level in this neighbourhood was about 12 feet, if I understand correctly. The homes left bear the evidence of the searches afterwards. The homes are marked with a large X with the date they were searched in the top, the search group number in the left and what they found in the right. While there is restoration and new growth going on by groups such as Habitat for Humanity and the foundation started by Brad Pitt to name a couple, the empty lots, empty foundations and rotting homes give testament to that great flood. Our guide told us that in the New Orleans area of 160 square miles, 140 of those square miles were flooded to some extent. Some areas just a foot of water, some 4-8-and more deep. Buildings, signs, and other structures have obvious water lines to show just exactly how that neighbourhood fared. It was impossible not to be affected by the disaster even 4 1/2 years later. He explained how the levees were constructed in the different areas, around the canals etc, and where the water breached them. We also stopped at one of the many cemetaries in the city and saw how New Orleans buries their dead above ground. After the tour we walked through the Quarter to the French Market, stopped at Le Monde Cafe for hot beignets. These are a kind of square, fried dough that is served hot out of the oil with about a half pound of powdered sugar poured on it. That and a cafe au lait for Thor and a hot chocolate for me provided our recommended daily intake of sugar for about a week! Funny, you can tell anyone on the street that's been there by the white powder all over their clothes (ourselves included, haha). We enjoyed the market, the street musicians and just the experience of walking down Decatur Street. We stuck close to the car though, and didn't do any walking down Bourbon Street. Funny many of the trees were still festooned with just tons of beads from Mardi Gras.
Well, tomorrow we start the trek north towards home. Hard to believe 11 weeks have gone by since we left Canada!

Sweet Home Alabama

Love this area! Today we drove down to Dauphin Island. If you're looking at a map, look on the west side of Mobile Bay south and if you scroll in close, you'll see the island. It's a "true barrier" island. All sand, with dunes, maritime forests, salt marshes, tidal flats and also has two freshwater "lakes". It's only about a mile and a half wide at it's widest, and I think about 12 miles long all told. There is a ferry to the Gulf Shores islands to the east, and into Florida Pensacola area. If you are looking for a serene beach vacation in quiet, total beach experience, this is the place to go. The far west tip of the island is all and only white sand beach, the south facing the Gulf of Mexico and the north facing Mississippi Sound. Both sides are beautiful. If you go right to the end of the road, you can walk from one side to the other in about 3 minutes. I took a stroll and saw many beautiful shells just within the water's edge, but unfortunately they were all still inhabited! I picked one up that looked abandoned and saw the claws peeking out, it's terrified owner probably praying that I'd put it back. I did. I couldn't bear the thought of killing one of the creatures to take home it's home. At the east end of the island (this is where you'd pick up the ferry across the bay) is where Fort Gaines is located. There were Civil War battles here, something Thor is pretty interested in. We took a look around the fort, there wasn't really much there.
Almost all of the homes/cottages on the island are built up on poles. Again, the sand takes over everything. On the way back out we passed a street cleaner brushing sand off the road. I imagine this has to be done quite frequently.
Later in the day we went to Dick Russell's BBQ for dinner. Mmm. BBQ baby back ribs, chicken, potato salad and BBQ beans. Sweet tea with lemon. Homemade biscuits. Oh, I was stuffed. I really wanted the peach cobbler (our own recipe!) but just couldn't do it. We drove around a bit, checked out some residential areas. Noticed right away that many homes have huge front porches, and almost all have rockers, sometimes lots, and/or porch swings. Places to set a spell and have a sweet tea. Another thing, in Florida, you don't hear that deep south "y'all" accent very much, as most of the inhabitants are from somewhere else. Here, our northern accents stick out like sore thumbs. People are very friendly though, and it's definitely slower paced. I find it truly amazing to find these areas that we've never heard of, as opposed to the "known" vacation destinations.

The Emerald Coast

This is the area from Panama City Beach and Pensacola. Advice on visiting the area...skip Panama City Beach and go straight to Santa Rosa area. Look in real close on the map for Choctawhatchee Bay. Start at Hwy 331 right in the Gulf and go west from there. You will pass through places like Santa Rosa Beach, Turquoise Beach, Miramar Beach, Destin and through Fort Walton Beach. Wow, these places were a whole 'nuther world as compared to Panama City. The beaches were the most different we've seen in our travels. The white white sand was just everywhere, if you didn't know better, you'd think you were in the middle of an area under snow. The sand took over the roads, sidewalks, parking lots and open fields. The area itself in this drive was delightful. Obviously a higher class of travellers than the "spring breakers". It was still busy in some areas, just not the mayhem of the younger crowd. Tons of vacation rental properties, condos, and in this tiny strip island area both sides of the street were waterfront. Pensacola Beach is definitely a recommended vacation destinaton, just plan it in April or early fall so you get some better temperatures though.
We scored an unbelievable deal here in Mobile, Alabama at a brand-new Wingate by Wyndham hotel at $54 per night for 3 nights. So here we are in Mobile, thinking of New Orleans and in the meantime, we'll see what there is to see within driving distance of this place. We're actually on the northwest outskirts of the downtown area in suburbia. A few days to relax now!

De-where in the world is De funiac Springs???

OK, look on the map. Find Tallahassee Florida. Look west about half way between Tallahassee and Pensacola, north of the Gulf beaches. Scroll in close at the junction of Hwys 10 and 331. Around are places like Bonifay, Ponce de Leon, Chipley and Crestview. Nope, never heard of any of them. Yep, right there in the middle of nowhere, it seems. We got to Panama City Beach and holy smokes, didn't realize it was PRIME spring break destination!! The mean age there was about 17 1/2 it seemed. And holy smokes busy!! Anyone out there reading know what Grand Bend on a holiday weekend is like....think about times 10. Maybe more, because it's much bigger. Maybe go times 100. All along the coast from there to Destin so we decided to high-tail it north. I guess we won't be seeing the #1 beach area in the U.S. :(
And it was cold today, it was about 50 when we got in to our room (very nice I might add, brand new Comfort Inn). This area of Florida has less palm trees, more pines and deciduous trees. The trees are all popping out with their blossoms and new leaves so it seems a strange mix, with all the pines, the look of northern spring with the new leaves and blooms and palm trees, all mixed together. It seems that this area has a lot of lumbering...I think we passed a big stinky paper mill on the way, and there are lots of big trucks loaded with logs. Didn't look like big logs for lumber, hence the paper mill guess. These were tall very skinny trees. What we could see of the beach was very unimpressive, but we never got anywhere near it in Panama City so I'm sure it's as nice as it was reported.

Hi y'all! Welcome to Tallahassee!

I think northern Florida is really part of the deep south. We've heard it referred to as the "Redneck Riviera" and scoffed about that, but guess what? Sorry to offend anyone who may be from this area or have loved one around. It's OK though, Tallahassee is a beautiful area. We walked around the downtown area to see the capitol buildings and whatnot, and found it a beautiful, well-kept city. It's kind of hilly here as well, the first hills we've seen in Florida. Most of the state is flat, but here some of the streets that make up the downtown area are very steep. It certainly wasn't what I expected and I would definitely recommend a visit here. I guess there's not much draw here for tourists as it's not in the "warm" zone of the state. However, I think it's warmer here today than in some of the actual tourist spots we've been in this last while. It hit 75 here today. I know it's almost that temp back home today too.

New Port Richey

Just for the night. We're working our way north over to the panhandle. We didn't go too far in miles, but meandered around and thought we'd stop mid-afternoon. Went through Tarpon Springs, it's like Greektown. Once we stopped here we drove around to check out this small-ish community (around 25,000) and found a small park out on a key (Green Key - just a tiny speck on an enlarged map) that was a nice place to watch the sunset. Apparently it was a big spot for birders, we took a walk on a "boardwalk" through a swampy area that had lots of birds. We don't really know what we're looking at, but we saw red-winged blackbirds and heard lots of different bird calls. Tomorrow, we'll probably land in Tallahassee.

The Jays vs the Braves

Yeah, Jays lost. It was a fun game though. The stadium held about 4,000-5,000 people and almost every seat was full. There were lots of Canadians and of course, Atlanta isn't all that far so Braves fans as well. It's good to see a real sport, even though it's still pro, it just felt more like "real" baseball. Some of the fans are obviously regulars. Snowbirds, I'm betting, that fill their days with season tickets to the pre-season games. Thank goodness I thought to bring caps, but I still got too much sun on my shoulders.
The last two days we have just been checking out the area. This peninsula-type area that we are in is pretty much defined by St. Petersburg in the south, Clearwater in the north, Largo to the west, Tampa to the east. Of course, you have to go across one of the bridges to get to Tampa. We hit the beach at Sand Key yesterday. The beach area was large, but not as nice and clean as we have become accustomed to on the Atantic side. The water line was full of vegetation that washed up, oh, and I actually got a piece of sponge! The "sand" was far more crushed shells than sand. We've been spoiled!!
After the big rain we got on Friday, the last two days have been absolutely delightful. Tonight is our last night in St. Petersburg, tomorrow we are off to the north - Perry or Tallahassee.

Day 3 in St. Petersburg

We've spent the last couple of days scoping out the area here. Yesterday and today were very warm. Yesterday was bright and sunny and actually quite humid. We went downtown to the Pier, which has an aquarium (which we didn't visit) but we did walk around the pier and enjoy the view. Along the water were several parks which we walked around and did some people watching. It was almost too hot to be laying on the beach, but we did come back to the hotel and do a little sunning at the pool. Today the wicked weather has moved in, and we're supposed to have some severe thunderstorms, and wind tonight and tomorrow. We drove over to Tampa and went to see the stadium where the Yankees are spring training. We thought about getting tickets to see a game, but the only game that fit in our schedule was Sunday and it was against Baltimore and neither of us have any ties to either of those teams. I called Dunedin Stadium (just north of Clearwater, about a 30 minute drive from here) and got tickets for Sunday's game Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. Baseball fever is in full bloom here, let me tell you. I'm kind of excited to see a pre-season game. Smaller crowd, and hopefully some real baseball. Now we're going to do our homework and make sure we know who's who!

Yesterday, Sarasota, Today, St. Petersburg

No internet access yesterday but we were in Sarasota. We stayed just outside the downtown area. Took a drive through the downtown and found a nice park on the water to have lunch at. We decided to continue on so this morning headed up through St. Petes Beach area and all the way up to Clearwater Beach. Continued over the bridge back to the mainland through Clearwater and into St. Petersburg. The day was mostly cloudy until almost suppertime, then the sun came out. We've hunkered down at a Comfort Inn for a couple of days, maybe a week and we'll check out this area. The weather doesn't sound great for the next 10 days, in fact, it sounds almost as warm back home! I can't believe we picked the coldest winter in years to have our winter here. But we haven't seen any snow since we've been here and there are still lots of flowers blooming and palm trees and of course, the beautiful ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 

Two nights in Naples

Yep, Friday and Saturday night were spent in Naples at a very nice Best Western hotel with a very nice pool. And nice breakfast :)
The Naples area is really nice. There is a huge touristy-shopping area, shops like on Mackinac Island or in Bayfield only much larger. The streets were beautifully decked out in all manner of green plants and colourful blooming flowers. We walked around a few of the streets and down to the pier, which jutted out probably about a quarter mile into the Gulf of Mexico. The water was really churned up and quite brown looking, and there was a chilly wind but it was just too pretty!
Today we drove north up through Punta Gorda and got a room in Port Charlotte (another La Quinta, I think our next stay is a free night!). It's very busy here, lots of traffic. Of course, it is a weekend and I think it's March break for some schools. After we checked into our room, we drove north again to Venice and Casey Key. We were checking out some places for tomorrow night. Casey Key was a great find, and you could park for free for the beaches. I don't think we'll be staying on the key, but it was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day. We also went to Englewood and over to Manasota Key. Again, pay to park to go to the beach. The Englewood business district was pathetic, many places empty and not much traffic at all. The Venice area is beautiful and we'll probably stay there tomorrow. If you want to find these places on the map, you have to scroll in VERY CLOSELY to find them! I kept wondering how people knew about these places. The keys are similar to St. Pete's Beach area and a lot of the off the mainland beach areas. Some of them are so narrow that one side of the street has beachfront property and the other side of the street has the intercoastal waterway in their yards. Water, water everywhere! This part of the state is very busy again, a big change from the Fort Pierce area but all seems to be more expensive, more of the bigger homes and newer buildings.
OK, time to settle in for the Academy Awards.

Back in the US of A

Wow, the night was a rough one again. No complaints here, I love the rocking at night, but to some it's misery! We got back to Miami this morning and when leaving the ship we were greeted with “Welcome to Alaska”. These people down here are just too spoiled. It was cold, mind you. Apparently El Nino is to blame for this. We drove from Miami, Highway 41 which is the southern-most way to go east-west in the state. I did get some alligator pictures. You'll have to look hard, since the pictures are so small on here. I'll put a big one at the bottom. We are in Naples (on the Gulf of Mexico) for the next two nights. It's still cold (55 degrees at 6:30 pm) and it doesn't look all that promising in the next ten days either. I just keep telling myself at least it's not snow!


We still don't have our land legs yet. This sensation of moving will take a couple of days to wear off, if I remember correctly. This hotel is a Best Western, has a heated pool, is very large and looks great. We have a balcony, even if it does just overlook the parking lot!

Cruise Day 4: On The Open Seas

The weather just will not co-operate! Everyone keeps saying how unusually cold this weather is, hasn't been like this for years, etc etc. It just figures! Well our day at sea was cold and windy. No sunbathing or swimming. We ventured out to sit on deck a couple of times, but it was just too cool and windy. There were lots of things to keep everyone entertained today. All the musicians were playing at one place or another. There was bingo, food, the casino, food, contests, food, people-watching, food. See a pattern here?? Ok, I admit to having second breakfast this morning. Thor had second dinner.

For our dinner tonight, I had a chilled black cherry soup, also fresh mozzarella and tomato plate and Thor had Mediterranean Fruit plate. I had english-cut steak (medium rare and delicious) with Yorkshire pudding, vegetables and a few slices of roasted potato while Thor had chicken breast with mashed potatoes. I ordered German chocolate cake and Thor ordered warm coconut souffle and we shared. I missed out on my crepe, as the station was closed after the evening show. The show was fantastic again. It was a mixture of the ship band (blues/jazz), comedy, a bit of comedic magic, and other performances. We listened in on the ship talk, where they have an officer representing different areas of the ship available to talk about ship life and answer questions. Some of these people having been working on ships for ten years or more.


All in all, what I liked about the Norwegian cruise was the freestyle dining, and the quality of the entertainment. What I liked better in the Carnival cruises was that there wasn't as many things that were extra (meaning pay extra) for and I thought the variety and availability of food was better. Other than that, they were pretty comparable and I thoroughly enjoyed the four days.

Cruise Day 3: Is This Alaska?

Honestly, I overheard some of the locals saying they think it must be Alaska it's so cold. It's in the 60's, people! The wind was unrelenting all day, however. Captain made an announcement that he was cancelling the stop at Great Stirrup Cay as it was too dangerous. There is no dock there, so the ships have to drop anchor and then passengers take a small tender boat to the island. With the waves as big as they are, the tenders can't safely hook up to the ship so we were staying docked in Nassau overnight. We didn't know this until around 10 pm, so we did run back onto the island briefly, but we were too nervous to venture too far. The shops and that were closed up so unless one was looking to go pubbing or over to Atlantis for the casino, there wasn't much to do. When we first got on the island this morning, we elected to take a two hour tour of the island. The rest of the people on the tour were ladies (and one other man) from South Carolina, Florida and West Virginia. They were a hoot, let me tell you. The accents alone were great entertainment. So we saw Bennett Point, which is the highest place on the island. There is a small fort there and had a good panoramic view of the Nassau part of the island. Then we went over to Pleasure Island, which is where the huge, expensive Atlantis resort is. The establishment reminded me of the huge casino hotels in Las Vegas. It was very opulent, and busy! There is a huge aquarium, which has two huge glass walls so one can get a great view of all kinds of tropical fish and rays. Our guide Frank told us the rooms there start at $185 per night, and go all the way up to $25,000 per night. The cost of living is high on the island, with milk being over $5 per gallon. Gas is over $4 per gallon. The Bahamian dollar is on par and equally accepted with American dollars. One of the island favourite foods is conch. You know, that elusive shell I have been hoping to find on a beach somewhere. Well, they pull these out of the sea by the hundreds. There are stands all over with them, and they take out the creature that lives in there and eat it. Frank said they like it raw, with lime juice. (shudder). I decided I really wanted to try some “cracked conch” which is really conch fritters. I bought some at the food court (3 booths) in the welcome center area to try. Well, I ate one, but I just couldn't eat any more. The meat was very very chewy and just too foreign for my tastes. Thor tried a half of one, and just didn't like the idea of what it was. But, I can say I've tasted conch! I could have bought a shell, but it's just not the same as finding one on the beach.


Dinner tonight was cheese cauliflower soup for myself, and Thor had Caesar salad. We both had roast turkey. It came with dressing, sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts but Thor wanted mashed potatoes instead. I had a warm strawberry souffle with crème Anglais (delicious) and Thor had a cappuccino custard-type dessert. I had to have my nightly crepe (strawberry tonight) and Thor, his ice cream. But listen, stairs!!!

The entertainment tonight was a Broadway revue with 3 songs from 6 different musicals, including “Mama Mia”, “Movin' Out”, “Wicked”, “Swing”, “Jersey Boys”, and "In The Heights". It was excellent, the entertainment this cruise has really been good.

So tomorrow is an unscheduled sea day, hopefully into the sun and calmer waters. Tuesday night the sea was so rough it was like being rocked to sleep in a cradle. I loved it!

Cruise Day 2: Forget Sea Legs, it's Sore Legs!!

My goodness I could hardly get out of bed this morning, but we must continue to eschew the elevators. My calves are killing me!


So this morning we had a freestyle breakfast to order in one of the restaurants. The ship docked so we could go on and off whenever. Freeport is on Grand Bahama Island, population approximately 50,000 people. We spent a little time at the port, but there really wasn't much there as the area is a commercial harbour. I did get my hair french-braided (no cornrows – too expensive plus too time-consuming). We crammed into a taxi with 8 other people for a ride to Port Lucaya which is the cruise stop shopping area. The wind was unbelievable, and not very warm either. Our driver said if it dropped one more degree, he was taking a snow day. It was around 70 degrees. We were heading to the beach and got way-laid by a gentleman wooing us cheapos with free stuff in exchange for a 90 minute vacation club presentation. I cannot believe we got suckered into this! So the 90 minutes turned into 3 ½ hours but we did get lunch, a tour of the resort, plus two t-shirts and a small bottle of banana rum. Judith was the lady who was doing her best to sell the club to us, but it was a lost cause. Too bad, she was very funny and did a great job of prepping. Judith said she sent her children off to school with hats, mitts and scarves this morning! We felt really bad letting her down, but I guess that's the name of their game. The beach looked great, but really it was near-hurricane winds and it did rain a couple of times. We shopped a bit, taxied back to the cruise ship and back on board. Dinner tonight for me started with a cold strawberry soup, and for Thor was a fruit plate. We both had the same entree which was a grilled chicken breast, mashed potatoes and vegetables (Brussels sprouts, yellow squash, carrots). Thor had lemon cream pie and I had a flourless molten chocolate cake. Now before you go thinking we're eating ourselves into oblivion, the portions are small! This is the fine dining, if you go to the buffet, you're at your own mercy for portion control! I did decide that my guilty pleasure is the dessert crepes. I enjoyed a pineapple filled one tonight :)

The show tonight was a comedian and he was funny enough. We spent the rest of the evening wandering around the decks (more stairs!!!) and settled in to listen to a guy playing guitar and singing for an hour or so, then into one of the lounges to hear a Tina Turner tribute which was quite entertaining. The wind is so strong tonight that the decks are closed off. I guess they don't want any guests blowing overboard. The seas are rough. Thor and I are both lucky enough that we don't suffer from sea sickness, but we noticed they have the seasick bags out!

Tomorrow is Nassau, which is by far the biggest city in the Bahamas, about 250,000 people. I hope the weather is better.

Cruise Day 1: Ohhh Miami!!

I think I'm in love....:) Well Miami from the ship is absolutely gorgeous. It's sprawling and the skyline is awe-inspiring. The islands between the mainland and Miami beach are populated with mansions complete with swimming pools and boats and yachts of all sizes docked right at their doors. I'm very glad we didn't avoid Miami like we had planned, or we'd have missed this perspective.


On to the ship...boarding was surprisingly easy, even though we didn't have luggage tags or any documentation other than the itinerary that was e-mailed to Thor (since we only booked a couple of weeks ago and we weren't home to collect the package!). So we just carried our luggage on, and just had to show the printout and our passports. Lunch was available, the sun was shining and getting to know the ship took up the hours before we sailed out at 5 pm.

As comparison; the Norwegian Sky is approximately the same size as the Carnival ship we took the “family cruise” on. We've found it maybe a half-step down in the level of opulence from that Carnival ship, and maybe a step and a half down from our first cruise on the Carnival Miracle. We have the very bottom level of accommodation which means smallest indoor cabin. I was a bit worried about claustrophobia, but really it's not that bad. What I really miss is not being able to place the time of day with no outside source of light. And really, what more do you need but a bed and bathroom! We've also found that compared to the Carnival ships, there are more things that cost money on this ship. There are two main dining rooms that are included, plus all the buffets, but if you want pizza, you pay. Also the free drinks are coffee, tea, milk, plain iced tea and water. The soft self-serve ice cream closes up when the buffets do. Now for the good parts...it's what they call “freestyle”. So no set dinner time, no set table and dinner companions. Our first cruise we had almost insufferable dinner companions. And of course the family cruise we all sat together so that was ok, but if you wanted the yummy main dining room selections you were tied to the same seating time the whole cruise. This one, you can wander into either dining room any time that they're open and be seated at your own table. For our first dinner on board, I started out with Thai summer rolls with sweet chili dipping sauce. Thor had Teriyaki chicken skewers which were served on a slice of grilled pineapple. I chose the sage and potato gnocchi which was served with vegetables in a pumpkin cream sauce and Thor had prime rib with horseradish whipped potatoes and vegetables. Dessert for me was dulce de leche flan garnished with raspberry and Thor had a cappuccino chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup. After dinner we did some “sightseeing” on board and just happened through the dessert station in the buffet area that was making crepes to order. Oh boy, a strawberry crepe with caramel sauce just hit the spot. Ok, one tip to avoid too much weight gain on a cruise...NEVER TAKE THE ELEVATOR! Our cabin is on deck 10 and the restaurants are on deck 5. Buffets, pools and sundecks are decks 11 and 12. Shopping is deck 5. The theatre for nightly entertainment is deck 6 and 7. Explore the ship and that adds up to LOTS of stair climbing! The show last night was a music and dance revue, very high energy and VERY entertaining. We enjoyed immensely. Tomorrow – Freeport, The Bahamas!

What a game!!

Yes, I was a little torn. The country of my birth, in which I'm currently enjoying a wonderful holiday, against my adopted country, where I live. I had to go with Canada. Sorry to my American followers! It was great though, a nice clean game, real hockey. We watched here in Miami, something to remember and tell the grandkids.
So tomorrow morning, off to find a place to park and board the Norwegian Sky. Hard to believe, time is going by so fast. Today we mostly spent driving here to Miami, and re-packing suitcases and re-arranging the car.
Miami is huge. I've always been scared of Miami, hearing about crime statistics and people always seem to say "stay away from Miami" but so far, it doesn't look any worse than any other big city. Nice areas, bad areas. The trick is to stay away from the bad ones, haha.
I am anticipating not having internet access (because I can't see paying for internet access) so I will save my blog entries and post them all on Friday when we get back. And some new pictures!
Have a great week everyone!

Musings and 2 more sleeps...

Yes, only two more sleeps until the cruise! Tomorrow we head to Miami to be closer to the docks for Monday.
Yesterday, we spent some more time on the island and also had more dolphin sightings. We watched a dolphin and pelicans playing a game around a couple of guys fishing in a quiet cove on the intercoastal. The guys fishing didn't like the dolphin hanging around, and when it surfaced close to their boat, they yelled at it to scare it away. I thought it was mean, until Thor pointed out that it was probably competing for the fish they were hoping to catch. I guess that made sense. The pelicans had the same idea, the pair of them followed that dolphin around. It was pretty funny, everytime the dolphin surfaced somewhere, they'd fly over to where it was. It was like a game of chase, but I suppose they were hoping it would lead them to fish as well.
It was sunny again yesterday, but still cool. Sunny enough that we got some sun time on the beach, then came back to the hotel for a nice warm swim. The air still had a cool bite to it on wet skin, but it only lasted a minute!
We also checked out Jai Alai. Nobody was actually playing at the site yesterday, but people were inside watching other matches, also dog races and horse races. I guess it's a place to go to bet on things, and get beer out of vending machines. Well, you could also buy beer at the bar, but if you wanted a can you could get it from a machine. There was also a poker room there, but we didn't go in. There weren't many people there, and it seemed pretty boring so we didn't stay long. If games had been in progress, I think it would have been interesting
Today it rained, and we went to the planetarium at Indian River State College which is just down the street from here. They were showing a program called "Music of the Spheres". It was basically an astronomy lecture to a show on the planetarium dome and music played on a synthesizer and a device called an "ether stick" It is an electronic device that made tones going higher or lower depending on where someone touched it, and the tones bending depending on the movement. The other hand controlled the volume by going nearer (quieter) and farther away (louder).
Thor said he almost fell asleep, but I thought it was an interesting way to hear a condensed version of the history of the planets and constellations.
The day stayed somewhat cool, but the rain dried up by suppertime. No swim today!

Air temp: COLD

Haha, this was the info at the lifeguard station at Round Island Beach today. Along with the condition of the ocean, tide info, and water temp (68 degrees) the air temp was listed as COLD. Those lifeguards think they are funny.
It was 52 degrees when I went swimming this morning. The water felt like about 90, and if it hadn't been so darn windy it would have been great. However, my head was getting really cold by the time I got out. And the wind had blown my towel right off the chair to the fence, and my room key card went THROUGH the fence, but luckily was stopped by a shrub, so I could reach it through the fence. I think the maid that saw me come in afterwards thought I was out of my mind, but really, I LIVE IN CANADA! If there's 90 degree water, I'm in it!
This afternoon we went back to the island, and stopped at a couple of the parks on the intercoastal. Saw more dolphins, and I got a poor quality picture. It's just impossible to predict where and when they are going to surface. I also got a video showing a couple of pelicans doing their dive bomb feeding routine. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to upload a video to this site. As we were walking back to our car from the trail we were on, we came face to face with a startled looking otter. Poor thing wasn't quite sure what to make of us, and of COURSE the camera was in the case and off. By the time I got it out and on, the creature was deep in the brush.
Well, time to settle in with a book and watch the Olympics in the background. Women's freestyle tonight. Supposed to warm up a little anyway tomorrow. 4 more sleeps until cruise time!

A DAY without sunshine

To my critic who will not name his/her self (my guess is a former co-worker who doesn't like bananas)...thanks for the advice, I'll take it under advisement.  Thunderstorms are the word of the DAY toDAY. It was acually not too bad early on, and we drove over to our old haunt, north Hutchinson Island. We stopped on the causeway to get some pictures of the drawbridge, and while we were there were treated to some dolphins gracefully gliding by. Of course by the time I got my camera out, they had moved on out of range. We could see them way in the distance frolicking, yes, actually playing (we think, anyway!) There was lots of splashing and jumping around but just too far away to get anything on camera. I guess they like the intercoastal waterway. As we were standing on the docks we could see tons of tiny fish just teeming below us, and the occasional bigger fish jumping in there for lunch.
Yesterday we sunbathed at Round Island park on North Huchinson Island as well. We just have not found a nicer beach area than North Hutchinson Island. The south island beach is coarser, darker sand and just not as nice. And of course the fact that there is so much beach (something like 15 miles or more) means it's never crowded in any one area. And the fact that all these parks where you can park, enjoy the facilities (meaning washrooms, picnic tables, bbq's, even showers and the beach is guarded) are free is the best. We haven't seen anything comparable in our travels. And our travels encompass the whole Atlantic coast right down to Key West and some of the lower gulf areas. Some of the gulf beaches we've seen are whiter and softer sands, but we haven't found facilities and privacy like on this side.
Well, the pool has been heated up finally and if it stops thunderstorming, I think I'll try it out! Tomorrow is supposed to be bright sunshine but also cooler.

Monday, Monday...

Ba dah, ba dah dah dahhhhhhhh. Things are warming up again on the Treasure Coast. We managed to hit 77 degrees today, a nice change from the last couple of weeks. We went down to Stuart for some shopping, lunch and a peek at the beach. Hard rainstorm down there, but when we got back to Ft. Pierce, it didn't look like it had rained at all, however the clouds stuck around the rest of the day. We should have another couple of warm days, then a cool front moving in again. We keep hearing this has been the coolest winter in a long time. It figures, when we're here. I am not complaining though, no freezing rain, no snow, no shovelling. Our hotel here is quite nice, even though the supposedly heated pool doesn't feel too darn warm to me. Tomorrow we are packing up and going for a day on the beach. Today when we stopped in at the Stuart beach, the guard house was flying the purple flag. Some places translate that as "dangerous marine life" in the area. This was explained in Stuart as "sea pests". Sea pests?? Thor mused that sharks might be seen as somewhat more serious than a pest. I concurred. Stuart is actually the area where the fatal shark attack was last month. It doesn't keep people out of the water. All the experts seem to agree that when a shark attacks, it can be put down to mistaken identity as sharks do not have humans in their diet plan. Apparently a human swimming can be mistaken for bait fish. Hey, I don't make the news, I just report it :)
There is a Jai Alai stadium (court?) not really sure what term you use to describe where jai alai is played is called. We've seen the term in crossword puzzles often enough, but never knew what it was. I guess people bet on it, like horse races. I looked up the rules, and it sounds complicated, something like a cross between squash and racquet ball maybe. I guess it's the "fastest game on earth". We might have to try and take in some games and see what it's all about. There is also a poker room on the premesis, but not a casino. All sounds very mysterious. Will report my findings.

S-A-TUR-DAY NIGHT!

To the tune made famous by the Bay City Rollers....Yes, it's Saturday night and our last night in our little beach bungalow at the ocean. Tomorrow we're going out to a Comfort Suites hotel just on the outskirts of Fort Pierce proper, off the highways. There was an ad in the local free paper advertising one week for $350. All suites, heated pool, breakfast, internet included, rooms have fridges and microwaves. Not on the ocean, but I have to admit it will be nice to have daily housekeeping service again for a while :)
We walked down on the beach today, low tide. I actually made it out to the sandbar (see pic at bottom of the page), again it was a calm day. Also saw someone "fly" by on a motorized kite? Sorry, didn't get a picture, but it was like a giant kite with a seat with a motor behind it. Slowly flew up the shore and back again over the water. We also saw a couple of guys that looked like they were standing up on surf boards and paddling with a long oar. Never saw that before. I would think one could only do that when the water was very calm.
So we have the laundry all done and almost everything all packed up, just need to get it all back in the car tomorrow. We went in to Vero Beach to TGI Fridays for their 3-course $12.99 special. Way too much food I tell you. Enough for lunch tomorrow, with dessert even! Ok, I'll tell you. I had french fried green beans with a white dip (had a bite to it, like horseradish) for an appetizer, parmesan-crusted chicken breasts on mozzarella cheese with bruschetta (diced and spiced tomatoes) with angel hair pasta with more bruschetta. Dessert was vanilla bean cheesecake topped with white chocolate mousse artfully served on a large, rectangular plate drizzled with hot fudge sauce and garnished with a large strawberry. Sounds too good to be true, right? Thor had a cheesey spinach dip with red and yellow tortilla chips, a petite sirloin (6 oz, looked more like a filet mignon) with a butter sauce, mashed potatoes, and baked beans. For dessert he had the brownie obsession, which was an extremely decadent warm, moist brownie with Ghiradelli chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and pecans served in a bowl drizzled with caramel sauce. Yep, tomorrow, no food. Ha ha, it always seems you are still hungry the next day anyway!

Still cool on Thursday...

Darn, it's just taking forever to warm up again here. However, it did get above 60 and we got an hour of sunning in and a nice long walk on the beach. The tide was as low as we've ever seen it, very interesting. The water was as calm as we've seen it at the shore. There were still white caps breaking, but they were out as far as the sand bar and by the time the water reached the shore, it was barely lapping. It's a strange feeling to be walking over the area that in 12 hours would be deep under the water.
Today we're still working on where we're going on Saturday after we leave here, and also have booked a cruise to the Bahamas leaving Miami on March 1 for 4 days. I'm pretty excited about that and counting down the days!
It's been pretty quiet around here, most guests have moved on and there's only a few units occupied. Even though it's been cool, it's been sunny and nice enough to soak up some sun on the front deck or on the lawn.
I've read about 10 books since leaving Canada. I keep finding cheap books that I can't pass up so now have to decide what I'm going to do with them as I finish them. I don't really want the ballast!
I forgot to mention that when Leroy and Wilma were here and we were doing some sight-seeing, we stopped in to see the Energy Encounter at the Port St. Lucie nuclear power plant. It's a program for kids really, but it was interesting and "dumbed down" nuclear energy so that even us old folks could understand it. The lady working there was quite nice and we asked about all the dead fish we had seen across the street while walking to the beach. She said that the cold snap from the beginning of January was just too much for some of the tropical fish species and they just washed up. There were so many, the birds and scavengers got tired of them. She also mentioned that at the same time the sea turtles were starting to just "shut down" and float as if dead. There was a huge rescue operation and turtles were taken to "turtle hospitals" around, but there was not enough room. She said the power plant had about 250 that they took care of, some of them in people's offices! It was interesting and informative, and free to boot. Anyone in the area, check it out.

The Tuesday after....

Well we have to acknowledge 3 different holiday Monday celebrations on Feb. 15. Happy President's Day if you're in the U.S., Happy Family Day if you are in Ontario, and Happy Louis Riehl Day if you are in Manitoba. Of course from here, every day seems like a holiday :)
We've been laying kind of low, the weather has been cool and windy, but mostly sunny. Still getting to sun a bit, (it's very therapeutic) and still trying to get some walking on the beach in, but I'm afraid we're growing a bit lazy! Well, we will be moving out of here on Saturday so we're now in the process if deciding where to go next. I think we'll be following the warm weather! I know, I shouldn't be complaining, we don't have any snow. But it is supposed to be going down close to the freezing point tonight and there is no heat in our little bungalow! Time for a hot breakfast (think turn the oven on) tomorrow morning. It's time to start packing up the big suitcase and pare down to the little one for travel again.
The Seahorse has sort of cleared out; I think there are only 5 units occupied right at the moment (out of 12). I didn't have to fight over the washers and dryers today, anyway.
As of yesterday, we have been away for 6 weeks! I can hardly believe it, time has flown. I feel so lucky to be away from the harsh winter and to be a stone's throw away from the beautiful ocean and beach.

Holy smokes --- I missed a few days...

It happened, I got lazy! Well we spent the week checking out the "Treasure Coast". That is the coast between Vero Beach at the north and Stuart at the south. We saw a pair of dolphins arching gracefully together while at the water's edge of the Intercoastal waterway enjoying a jazz concert. We took in a nice dinner at Applebee's for my birthday. Spent some time on beaches at Vero, Jensen Beach and of course our own here. And we played games in the evenings. Cards and dice. All in all, a very nice visit and now the "old folks" have gone back home to the cold. Speaking of cold....it's VERY cold here today! It's almost 1 pm and only 49 degrees. And windy. However the sun is shining and we will get out for that beach walk yet. I want to go down at low tide, which is around 3 pm today. I've found that's the best time to get good shells!

Just another manic Monday

Nice day for a Monday. It got pretty cool around here last night, 39 degrees at 7 am, brrr! It did get up to 66 and sunny, so a nice day all in all. We went over to the historic downtown Ft. Pierce today. It was nice, we walked around, listened to live jazz in the park, saw a couple of dolphins and some interesting birds. The dolphins surfaced near the breakwall we were sitting on and a young guy jumped right up, he thought it was a shark and that he was in danger! We all got a laugh out of that. We also went to the fishing pier on the south island to watch the pelicans and the fishers. The pelicans hang out near the cleaning tables, and as soon as the fishers bring their catch in to clean them, the pelicans line up to fight over the leavings.
The shuttle did launch at 4:30 this morning, but we were sound asleep and missed the whole thing.
Ft. Pierce has music in the park from 11 am - 2 pm every day this week, so we'll probably take in a concert with a picnic lunch tomorrow, weather permitting.

What a Super day...

In Miami...if you like football. It's cold, but they had a nice day for it. We (all four of us) did some scoping out of the area today. We stopped in at an open house for an ocean-front brand new condo complex. We thought we'd see how the "other half" lives. Hahaha. Wow, this 7th floor 2600 sq ft condo had 3 bedrooms, (the master bedroom overlooked the ocean with a sliding glass door out to the balcony). The master bedroom ensuite had a separate water closet room, a jacuzzi tub, and walk-in glass corner shower, double vanity in granite, tile floors. The other two bedrooms shared a bathroom, and there was another half bath. There was also a room they called the study, which could also be a den or another bedroom, and another small room that again could be called a den or study. The kitchen was top of the line, granite countertops, all stainless steel appliances, double oven. This was going for the low low price of just until a half a million. However, if you wanted to go for less of a "vista" on the 4th floor, you could get in for about 20 thousand less. It was fun to check it out. It's nice to have some company, we had dinner together, went for a little drive and played games for a bit. Now we're all beat and will probably head to bed early.
There was a scheduled launch for the space shuttle this morning at 4:30 a.m., but it was delayed because of cloud cover. They are going to try for tomorrow morning around 4 am. Apparently we can see it from the beach here (launch site is about 90 miles or so north of here) but I don't think I'll be getting up at 4 on the chance there may be a launch.
And the underdogs took the prize...yay for New Orleans!

on to the weekend...

Wow, all over the news for the shark attack. Apparently the beach was never closed afterwards. They just give swimmers advice: there are sharks in the area, swim at your own risk. Don't go in alone. Keep an eye on your surroundings. If you see sharks, get out. Hmm. On the news last night they were talking to more kite-surfers that were not afraid to go in, and they say that the thrill (as conditions were great) was worth any risk there might be. They all feel that it was an anomaly, there wouldn't be another attack. I just don't get it, especially when they show the aerial shots and you can see the sharks milling around. And there is a great debate over what type of shark it was that bit the guy. Nobody actually saw it, so all they have is conjecture as yet.
Other than that...today promises to be warm, but overcast and supposed to rain this evening. Sunday should be great for Super Bowl. And there is a shuttle launch scheduled for 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Apparently it can be seen from here on the beach.
Today we are going over to Lehigh Acres to meet up with our dear friends from Exeter, Leroy and Wilma. They are coming back with us tomorrow to spend the rest of the week here on the beach. Hope for good weather for them next week!

Seafoam and shark attacks...

First of all, it seems the maker of Crayola crayons and some paint companies would lead you to believe that seafoam is a green colour. Not so, at least ocean foam isn't! When it's very wavy, there is foam left behind on the shore when the waves roll out, and it's not any sort of green colour, unless I'm colour-blind. There might be just a tinge to it, but it looks white to me. I don't really like when there is foam, since I like to wade through the waves when I walk, and the foam may obscure any jellyfish that are rolling in. I'm a little paranoid about stepping on one, since I read about their nasty stings.
Speaking of nasty, yes, there was a fatal shark attack in Florida yesterday. And yes, it was just off Hutchinson Island. Yes, that is where we are staying. However, we are on the north island, (north of the Ft. Pierce Inlet, if you are looking at a map) and this attack took place off the south island so we were unaware of it until watching the news last night. The man was kite-boarding about a 1/4 mile offshore and was repeatedly bitten by a shark. He was pulled out alive, but died later in hospital. It's a sobering thought. I believe I heard that it's the first fatal attack since 2005 here. We don't do any more than wade in the ocean, since the waves are usually so big it would scare me to actually get in there and swim.
Today promises to be sunny and warm, so time to soak it up!

Tides and jellyfish

Interesting about the tides...I still have no idea of the pattern, but today was definitely really high and really low. This morning on our 2 mile walk it was particularly high, and the beach was littered with washed up jellyfish. We looked them up, and they are Portuguese Man O' War. Their sting can be very nasty, and even fatal! And they can still sting after they are dead. You had to keep your eyes open, I tell you. Some of them were very tiny, and the biggest of the washed up ones was about 6-8 inches long. They are a bright purple-blue colour. In fact, we had no idea what these things were when we first saw them. The vibrant colour looked like something man-made. Of course I didn't have the camera this morning, and when we went down again at low tide with the camera, most of them were washed away or buried. I did manage to get a couple of pictures, but it's no comparison to the sheer numbers of them that were still glistening from being washed up this morning. Saw some movement too, so I imagine some of them were still alive.
The pictures can't really impart the size of the beach at low tide either. Low tide is easier walking, as the sand is packed down however, I'm sure it's a better workout on the loose sand!
We had some sun today, but was also overcast in the afternoon/early evening. Tomorrow should be a nice sunny day again.

It's a rainy day in south Florida....

feels like it's raining all over the world....
Seriously, it rained ALL DAY. After doing a bit of laundry and some housecleaning, we decided to go to Vero Beach to see Avatar 3D. Well worth the price of admission, great flick.
The temperature has actually been going up slowly today, it's 69 degrees now at 7:30. Yesterday, the temp barely reached 60. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, then hopefully it will dry up again.
This area of Florida is referred to as the Treasure Coast. Apparently there have been shipwrecks years ago that led to many "treasure hunts" in this area. We haven't found any doubloons or jewels yet, however :)

Another sunny day in paradise...

It was a lovely day today, yesterday too. Our turtle came back for a visit. Actually, when I saw it, it was high-tailing it back to it's turtle hole. Well, as high-tailing as a turtle can go (haha). We took a walk around downtown Historic Ft. Pierce today. Stopped in at the Manatee Center and got a few brief glimpses of the sea cows surfacing for a breath. It seems to hard to believe that it's the end of January, we've been here over 3 weeks and have been staying right at the ocean! How blessed we are!

Happy Hump Day

I know it's Wednesday, my cell phone says so :)
So I put up a few pictures of our room. It's a little messy, but we do live in one room!
Yesterday and today were cool (highs around 65-68) but cloudless so lots and lots of sunshine. Still trying to figure out the tides. I learned that not all high tides are created equal! Every day the highs and lows are different, so sometimes higher and sometimes lower. I keep meaning to look up the relationship of the tides to the moon, but so far haven't done so. Tonight is getting close to a full moon, we had an evening walk on the beach, as well as our daily "before breakfast" walk.
We've been here 1 week today. We're starting to think a week anywhere is long enough!

Took the weekend off

Saturday we met my cousin Denny and Terri in Jupiter. It is about an hour south and still on the coast from here.They took us on a whirlwind tour of Palm Beach and area that was like we were right in an episode of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". It is truly unbelievable how the "other half" live. It was nice to catch up and have a drink and dinner together. The picture of the pelican was taken at a place I think was called The Waterfront? We saw so much I just forget, anyway apparently he's a bit of a rare type among the others. He was the only one with a yellow head anyway.
Weather has been good, but we did have a thunderstorm this morning. First real rain we've had since we've been down here. It's been windy, therefore big waves down at the beach. There were a few guys trying to surf yesterday, but we didn't actually see any real wave rides while we were watching.
The picture at the top shows our door (bungalow #5) in the middle. I tried to crop it, but on this new netbook I am missing the program I usually use for editing so I haven't figured out how to do that yet. I'll work on it, and get an interior picture.
Thor has been busy working, so I went shopping around this morning. I picked up a few paperbacks at a thrift store (40 cents each) to read while lounging around :)
I'm trying to figure out the tide times here, but I can't figure out the pattern. Today high tide was 3:34 am and will be 3:32 pm, low tide 9:26 a.m. and 9:56 pm. I guess it changes about an hour every day. Having the tide going in and out really alters the beachscape, unlike the lake, where it is basically unchanged from day to day. Whatever the tide brings in is always gone within the day so always looks clean. There is the odd dead fish, and of course lots of shells, but always changing. We haven't seen any manatees yet, although apparently one washed on shore right here on Hutchinson Island a few days ago. We didn't see the commotion, so must have been further north or on the south island. They did rescue it though, it was on the news. I really have to see one before we leave!

First Friday on the Island...

We had some rain today. Not much, just little showers that lasted a few minutes a couple of times. We still made it for our before breakfast beach walk, some sun tanning time, and our before dinner beach walk. The ocean was calmer today, no "roar" up here at our cottage, and less wind. We had to search on the internet to find out the sea birds that we see. One is a great crested tern. At first we thought they were seagulls, but at closer view could see they had a different look. They like to hang out in groups, and are not frightened away by us walking past. They will shift out of our path, but don't bother taking flight. Another are the little sandpipers. They look very delicate, their tiny legs going too fast to actually see, following the waves in and out and picking away at whatever it is they eat. And the pelicans...the first time I saw one dive I was sure something fell dead out of the sky. They will glide so close to the surface of the water it looks as if their wings are skimming it, but will fly up higher and just dive into the water head first when they spot dinner. It's very awkward looking, after their graceful gliding but it obviously works for them!
We also discovered that it is unlawful to pick sea oats. Since I had no idea what sea oats look like, I had to look that up on the internet as well. I have no idea why anyone would want to pick sea oats, they are not aesthetically pleasing at all. Sure wouldn't want it in your garden, or in any dried arrangements. If you look down to the bottom of this page, I've put a picture of a great crested tern and some sea oats.
I also found out today that Florida does not have state income tax. I guess you learn something new every day!

At least it wasn't an alligator!

Yes, we had a visitor today. I saw him there just chomping away on some grass, and went for my camera. Even though he saw me and I'm sure he was a bit startled, he IS a turtle and I still had time to get the camera and get a couple of shots before he took off in the long grass.
I don't think there are any alligators on this island.
So, not much to report today. We got up, walked on the beach for 45 minutes, had breakfast, did some work, went the beach to tan for an hour, had lunch, drove out to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items, came back and did some laundry while Thor did some more work, went for another 45 minute walk on the beach, had dinner and now we're catching up on e-mail and watching tv. There you have it, our day in a nutshell. It reached 83 degrees here today. Ahhh. There were some pretty big waves today, it was quite breezy. It's nice that it's loud and you can hear the "roar" right here in our little nest. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain (50% chance) so it will be interesting to see how we fill in our day. We are actually starting to be a little concerned about being in one place for a month. Here I couldn't wait to settle in somewhere and now it feels rather strange! So this shall be a learning experience. Can't beat the location though. Something about the waves just seems to soothe the soul. I thought I got some pictures of people actually on the beach, but apparently there were none around when I took these. Really, there are some people walking on the beach and frolicking in the waves. And a few guys with the big long fishing poles doing some fishing. I'll probably change the pictures every couple of days as I can't seem to figure out how to get more than 5 up.

It's Wednesday...

I know that because it says so on my cell phone :)
We moved into our cozy (read LITTLE) beach bungalow today. It is very compact, haha. But the beach here is just fabulous, I will be spending a lot of time there!! Tomorrow is forecast to be 82 degrees here and sunny, so I will have some pictures to put up. There are people here from all over, and all seem very friendly. The ocean is warmer than I expected, warmer than the pool at the hotel we were just at! We went to the local grocery store and stocked up for a couple of days and unpacked the suitcases. So I guess all that's left to do is kick back and do some relaxing. Neither one of us are quite sure how we are going to handle that!
I guess since we are not doing any travelling the for the next while, I won't have much to report. Will post some pictures tomorrow though.
Stay warm!

Start of week 3

I read today that the third Monday of January is the most depressing day of the year, literally. I guess it has something to do with the lack of sunshine. Oops, I guess I haven't had that! Sorry to you up in the great white north!
We checked out the beach bungalow today, and have decided to stay there for a month. The location is prime, very secluded, the beach is public, but there is no public parking around so just used by residents. I'll get some pictures up in a couple of days. We're checking in on Wednesday. It's on the southernmost point of North Hutchinson Island, near Fort Pierce on the Atlantic coast, if anyone wants to google map it. It's just a small space, something like one of Ron and Dee Sinclair's cabins. Basically 1 room and a bathroom, but has a full kitchen. The owners have free laundry facilities and of course, wifi internet service. There are 12 units so just a small place. No phone service though, so I've downloaded Skype if anyone is interested, you can find me shelly.denomme
It was mid-70's today. The pool here is not heated, and I was just too spoiled from the other one to brave it, but got some nice tanning time this afternoon. I did use sunscreen, Julie! But only a 15 :(
We're anxious to unpack!

We love La Quinta!

Seriously, how we never tried out this hotel chain before is beyond me... Each one (we've stayed at 3) has been better than the last! This La Quinta in Ft. Pierce (yes, back on the Atlantic side) is incredible, and what a steal at $45 per night. So that's the tip of the day, check the La Quinta next time you need a hotel :)
We've got a line on a beach bungalow, going to look at it tomorrow and if we like it, it may be our home for the next month. Also had a great comfort food dinner at the Cracker Barrel next door, yum yum. High of 81 today, it was lovely.
The trip back across the state was very monotonous, I'm sorry to say. We went "cross-country", stayed off the highways but not much to see at all. Some orange groves, and farms, but mostly just brush. Only 1 alligator sighting and no panthers! Another tip, if you are crossing the state, either take the Everglades route or the highways.

Lazy Saturday

Finally managed to get a couple of swims in today, what a great pool! We didn't do too much today, a drive into Cape Coral to pick up a few items at the Wal-Mart and stopped in at Historic Ft. Myers. Not much going on there on a weekend. We saw a couple of boat launches, took a walk around the marina area. Weather was kind of overcast, but nicely warm. Lots of yard and garage sales, and seeing the garden centers open and hanging plants for sale, makes it kind of hard to remember that it's JANUARY! Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next couple of days so I guess it will be a good time to get busy finding our long-term :)

Not TGIF, but IFIWF

Yep, I Forgot It Was Friday! The traffic on the islands was proving it, though. After breakfast we took off south through Fort Myers Beach, down past Lover's Key, Bonita Springs all the way to the beaches at Naples. We got an hour sunbathing in and I got a start on my winter tan :)
Unfortunately I wasn't thinking about my necklace and now I have a perfect "white" impression of the cross on my chest!
We stayed right along the coast as much as possible, where the speed limit is usually around 25 mph, but that was fine since there was so much gawking to be done! Now, on the way back late afternoon, wow, it was like driving through Grand Bend on a holiday weekend. Yep, took about an hour to go the last 3 miles. However, we weren't punching any clocks so it just gave us more time to see all the businesses, condos, apartments, homes and inns and hotels along the way. The beaches ARE beautiful here. The sand is that really fine white sand, and we read somewhere that there are almost no rip currents which can make swimming dangerous here. I found the water really cold though, so just wading was enough. Finally checked out the pool here, and I was mad when I found out how warm the water is!! I was thinking it would be cold, since it has been so cold here, but surprise, surprise, they actually heat it. I didn't get in, because it was getting close to closing time, but tomorrow for sure, and I'll get some pictures up. This place is like a resort, fantastic value for the price. It's La Quinta on Summerlin in Ft. Myers, if you want to look it up.
Almost forgot to report the temp today, the high was 77 with a forecast of 80 tomorrow.

Abundant sunshine

Hey, we finally got some great weather today! We did a lot of sight-seeing, starting with Cape Coral, and moving on to Sanibel Island and Captiva Island. I must say, I was quite Captiva-ted with Captiva! Those islands were absolutely, indescribably beautiful. However, it was impossible to pull over and take pictures, and all the beach access required payment for parking. Well, we got a good eyeful but no pictures. The islands were lush, tropical paradises with some beautiful, exclusive homes and resorts. Lots of people on bikes. Then we moved on to Ft. Myers Beach. This was a little more like a Grand Bend, or St. Pete's Beach. Very colourful, and crowded. We looked around for a place to stay, and decided on this La Quinta just at the approach to Ft. Myers Beach. We decided to stay here until Sunday and do some more sight-seeing in the area. This part of Ft. Myers is comfortable and seems like there are a lot of "snowbirds" here. Speaking of snowbirds, we read an article in a local paper written by a resident that hates snowbirds and wants them outlawed. I guess we come down here and soak up all their sunshine!

Is it Wednesday?

Haha, at breakfast neither one of us could confidently say what day it was today. I guess that's what happens when you are nomad-ing around. So we left Florida City and drove through the Everglades to Naples and Ft. Myers. At first the drive through the Everglades seemed disappointingly boring, as there was not much to see at all. Then as we got farther in, wildlife was the word of the day! Can anyone tell me what all the wading birds are that are along the route? There were different sizes of white ones, some taller grey ones with markings on their wings, and a medium size blackish bird that always seemed to be perched with it's wings outstretched. Lots and lots of them perched like that. I found it very odd. And of course, there were many alligators sunning themselves along the way. I'm guessing they don't eat birds, as there were always lots of birds around. So many birds in fact, that we began to feel like we were in a scene from "The Birds". Then there were the signs on the road indicating that we were driving through a panther crossing area. I was quite surprised at that, as I thought the only panthers in Florida played hockey! Unfortunately, we did not see any panthers crossing, or anything else for that matter. I did wonder about the people that were camping, RVing or actually living along that route. What are you thinking????? To each his own, haha.
Tonight in Ft. Myers, and still cold.
I am really enjoying the comments and e-mails. Please keep them coming!
Also, tonight many prayers for the people in Haiti. If anyone would like to contribute directly, let me know and I can hook you up with a former co-worker of mine who along with his wife goes to Haiti every year for at least 4 weeks to live and work at a hospital and orphanage near Limbe, which was not affected by the quake, but will for sure feel the repercussions of the wounded and orphaned. You can be confident that 100% of your donations will get to those that need it most. He will be leaving for Haiti in about 6 weeks, so if you care to, let me know ASAP.

Cold - it's relative

Really, can't complain. We've had two beautiful sunny days in the area. Yesterday was very VERY windy, but we still had a great day in Key West. The drive down to Key West took approx. 3 hours from Key Largo, and we counted 40 bridges. We had heard that it was a long, monotonous drive down a 2 lane highway, but it was not monotonous, nor was it 2 lane. Well, it was in some areas, over bridges for example, but driving through all the keys was interesting. Not much that was photographically friendly, so I don't have lots of pictures. I guess the best angle would be from the air. It's 106 miles from Key Largo to Key West. Islamorada is about a third of the way there, and is very beautiful. Marathon is at the half way mark, and is followed by the 7-mile bridge. Longer than Big Mac going up to the U.P. Key West is busy, busy. And it was on a day that had record breaking cold! The previous low was 48 degrees, and Monday morning it was 42 degrees. Record-shattering, I'd say. Took a shuttle from the hotel in Key West to the historic downtown for some sightseeing. We made it to the southernmost point in the continental U.S., which is 90 miles from Cuba and had a great dinner at a local restaurant called Two Friends Restaurant (I think!) of blackened tilapia, baked potato and a couple of great margaritas. Yum. Also managed to grab a most delicious piece of Key Lime pie. And get this, as we were walking down the street, a lady from Winnipeg recognized Thor, and they had a little chitchat. What are the chances of that?? She happened to be on a cruise that stopped in Key West for the day. More proof that it really is a small world. I posted a few pictures until I can figure out how to get a slide show on here. And the profile picture was taken today, on one of the Keys many bridges, in the very brisk wind!

Record low temp in Key West

Well, on the bright side, we were here for that record breaker. Internet service is not great here at the Courtyard Marriott on Key West, so just a quick check in. As soon as I have good service, will post some pictures.

CCCCOOOLLLDDD

BUT...no snow. Here, anyway. Yes, I know, Florida is making the news for having record low temperatures. It figures! It's funny, but you still see the automatic sprinklers sprinkling away on the lawns. Considering we are as far south as you can go except for the Keys, we're doing what we can to stay away from it! Today we decided to stay here one more night to wait out the weather. Tomorrow promises to be in the 60's again and sunny so we'll head for the Keys. This city is decidedly "un-touristy". Not too many out of state licence plates around. One thing we've found here is that people are really friendly. More so than most other places we've been. We had a stock guy in a Publix today coming down an aisle we were in with a great big dolly full of stock, and he said something like "excuse me, coming through" and then once we got out of the way, he said "that means get the hell out of my way" and then he laughed, excused himself and wished us a good day. We both laughed. In the Quiznos tonight, there was a mother and daughter, daughter being around 7 or so and the mother was teaching her to run the cash register, and take and count the money. I thought it was really sweet, and great life skills being taught. Another customer after us didn't look so impressed, but I definitely was.
I want to thank everyone that's given me positive feedback, whether through comments here or e-mails. Once I get a little encouragement, I tend to capitalize on it :) Knowing that I am recording this for you readers, or just as a journal for myself, reminds me to stop, look around and see the little things I might otherwise miss. Keep warm!

If it's Saturday, this must be Homestead...

OK, I'm back online! Last night we stayed in an Extended Stay motel in Ft. Lauderdale...and I do not recommend!! It's one of those places that make you feel like you need to keep an eye on your car all night. And they did not honor our coupon plus wanted to charge for internet so we said "no way". The drive down from Ormond was very long, in time if not distance. However, by getting off-road and trying to stick to the A1A highway, we did have a lovely drive through Jupiter Beach. It was so beautiful, very lush and verdant. (Verdant was Thor's word, and I liked it.) It was like driving through a tropical paradise. Beautiful homes (when we could see them through the dense foliage) and the beach was amazing. It was quite warm yesterday, in the mid-high 70's, and we did hop out of the car long enough to check out the beach. I still hadn't found my camera, however, so no pictures of that. The sand was white and clean, the water was a combination of all those glorious ocean blue hues, and the sky was blue and the water was warm, I could go on and on! I just love that setting. There were bathing suits galore, and some people in the water. I crept up to the edge as close as I could get without taking my shoes off, or getting them wet, and felt the water to be sure. Yes, it was wonderfully warm. We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale, and not having a room booked ahead did not work out the best this time. However, tonight we are making up for it by splurging at the Hampton Inn in Homestead. If you want to feel spoiled and pampered, stay at a Hampton Inn. You walk in and "aaaaahhh". It almost makes up for the cold and rainy day today. We drove the scenic route down the coast into Miami Beach as far as we could go, until we had to hop on the highway again. Yes, the weather is making news with the cold. However, tomorrow promises to be drier, if not warmer and by Monday see the temps in the 60's again, with high 70's by next weekend. The price of orange juice DID go up today in the stores by the way, we checked!
Oh, and I changed a setting on here, if some brave soul would like to leave a comment, please try. Someone said they couldn't comment so I changed something to see if it would allow.
Happy Saturday night!

Shorts at 47 degrees....

OK, it wasn't ME in shorts at 47 degrees, but I did see a gentleman in shorts today, right after I saw the temp flash at 47F. (that's 8.3 in celcius, for my children :) OK, maybe some of us would wear shorts at 8.3 degrees back home, but when we had an inch of frost to scrape off the windshield this morning, it struck me as funny. Like, "I am in Florida, and I am wearing shorts, I don't care if it is 47 degrees" You go, guy! We did find it somewhat warmer today, especially with the sun shining so brightly. We were actually able to go sans coats for the first time. We're still hearing there's worse to come for a few days, so not breaking out the bathing suit just yet. The ocean looks just as beautiful as ever, and is actually warmer than the air temp. I was tempted to take a dip, but not THAT tempted!
If you are wondering about the discount coupon books, you can pick them up at any visitor center, and I've even seen them in McDonald's, grocery stores, or online. Roomsaver.com. However, I don't think the online version has as many coupon options.They are regional, each area covers probably 5-6 states so if you are travelling between states, you'll need to pick them up for different areas as you enter. 
Today we travelled through some of the places we stayed at last year in February, namely Cocoa Beach, and down Hutchinson Island. Tonight we are camped out in Ft. Pierce at another Quality Inn, and making some headway at locating long term rentals. Now we just can't decide which coast of Florida we want to stay at! Decisions, decisions.

vacation???

OK, I am still in disbelief that this is not just another 2 week vacation, and that I will NOT be heading back to work! I think I'm having separation anxiety!!
Well, it is still cold, but at least it's more like jacket weather, rather than winter coat, hat and gloves weather. Tonight we are at the Quality Inn in Ormond, on Hwy 1. We just kind of meandered through Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and down A1A. The ocean and the beach looks BEAUTIFUL, even though it's not beach weather, the sun, sand and surf look great! We tried out dinner at a Steak 'n Shake tonight. I have seen commercials for it on TV, but had never been in one. Great burgers and fries, and real chocolate milk. A real deal for the price, even though it IS fast food and will not be on the menu often. The time I am here I am going to really try to be health-oriented; get rid of some flab and get moving!! OK, anyone that knows me has heard THAT story before!
Tomorrow is still a mystery as to where we will end up. I know travelling this way is not everyone's cup of tea, but it works for us! Gotta love those room saver coupon books!!

I hate titles...

OK, hate is a strong word, but having to put in a title or subject line always makes me feel stressed :)
To continue the story....
After leaving Stratford on Jan 4, we stopped in Michigan at my parents for a quick goodbye and one of my mom's egg mcmuffins. Thanks mom! We had a room booked in London, Kentucky, because it was about half way to Florida from home. The motel was called Budget Host Inn, and I would recommend this hotel to anyone for a night. (notice the terminology there, trying to emulate the website ratings, teehee). It was very clean and felt safe and secure. Make sure to bring your own shampoo etc, and the continental breakfast was prepackaged pastries but all in all, a good stop. Now, if you want cheap...go to Tennessee. Gas and rooms were the cheapest we've seen along the way so far. And I'm sure it's very beautiful too, however the light snow in the air and the mid-winter blahs were keeping it hidden. We just buzzed through Georgia as well, anxious to finally get into Florida. So here we are, sitting in a Motel 6 in Lake City Florida. I do not recommend this hotel to anyone. Sorry Thor, but I'm picky about CLEAN! Today we are going to head down the east coast, with possibly Daytona Beach as a destination.

First post...

My very first public blog, on my very first "snowbird" journey. Actually, I'm already tired of the word "snowbird". The word itself implies one is running away from the snow, and actually, it's still cold, even here in Florida!!
We left Canada around 7:30 a.m. on Jan 4. Our intention was to take it sort of easy, and stretch the drive over several days. First night was London, Kentucky, and it was still snowing there. Rats! However, today we finally got out of the sub-zero temperatures somewhere around Atlanta and at least now, just over the Florida border in Lake City Florida, there is NO SNOW! Now, on to the search for the perfect place to roost. Or maybe not, at least for a place to stay tomorrow night! Since I am really new to this, I will keep adding to this site and hopefully will make it an interesting and enjoyable place to visit. And I'm hoping to include some tips and hints for other "new snowbirds".
Tip #1, always pick up the discount room coupon books! You can "walk-in" to some great deals.