Where Did We Go?

11/01/2023 – 03/17/2024

Over the past few weeks, several friends have pointed out that we haven’t posted anything in a while. Like in over 4 months!! What have we been up to? Are we still travelling? Where are we? Well, we sort of slowed down for a few months. I guess it is time to update the journal and catch everyone up.

North Carolina

We landed at our home base in Mebane, NC the first of November and spent the month hanging out with Bill’s parents. My brother in-law and his family also live nearby. We were able to attend a couple of my nephew’s hockey games, get together several times for dinner and do a little thrift store shopping. I wanted to find a lantern to put on the picnic table and found the perfect one. During this time, I also completed another quilt top. This one was for my daughter in-law, made out of her late father’s work shirts and t-shirts. I think it turned out pretty good for not working with a pattern. 😉

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we used some of our timeshare points and reserved a couple of rooms at a resort in Williamsburg, VA. And BONUS, Chris had the week off, flew out and spent Thanksgiving with us!

We had a great time in Williamsburg. We arrived Wednesday night and got settled, then everyone was up early on Thanksgiving morning enjoying coffee, apple fritters and the Macy’s parade while preparations started for the big Turkey Day dinner. Bill even brought his little smoker so he could make his famous smoked turkey and to make things a little easier, Chris and I made all the pies beforehand. We finished the day with a family game of team Pictionary. Rumor is one team got easier words to draw. I don’t know about that but the room was filled with laughter. The food was delicious and having almost the entire family together made it an almost perfect day. (We missed having Jefferey, Jess and Weston. Maybe one day.)

Chris had to leave us early, very early, on Friday morning so he could get back to work on Saturday. After we returned from the airport at 5:00AM, Bill and I went back to catch a few more Zzzzz. Once everyone was up, we headed into Colonial Williamsburg for a day of sightseeing.

Colonial Williamsburg

History

If you are into American history, Colonial Williamsburg is a must see. Williamsburg was founded in 1632 by English settlers and it functioned as the capital of the Colony and Commonwealth of Virginia. It became the center of political events that led to the American Revolution. The city began to fall into decline when the capital was moved to Richmond around 1780. The decline continued through the civil war when the city was captured and then occupied by the Union.

Thanks to one Episcopalian priest and a dream, Williamsburg was restored and became the worlds largest living history museum. Reverend Goodwin received the financial support of John D. Rockefeller Jr and his wife. Together they restored much of downtown Williamsburg and developed this 301-acre museum.

Exploring

We parked at the Tavern Parking lot and walked and walked and walked. The area is about 5 blocks long and 5 blocks wide. Duke of Gloucester Street is the main street and is anchored by the Capitol building on one end and the Merchants Square Shops on the other with the Governor’s Palace in the middle. Throughout the area are several demonstrations; a blacksmith shop, a millinery, tin plate making and carpentry just to name a few.

Most of the town can be seen free of charge but if you want to enter the Capitol, Governor’s Palace and other homes, tickets will be needed. We did a tour of the Governor’s Palace, went on a Ghost Walk and attended a reenactment of a pirate trial. As you are walking around town, there are several historical characters speaking about their time in Williamsburg. We came across The Marquis de Lafayette and Martha Washington. It was interesting hearing their stories while envisioning life at that time.

Colonial Williamsburg was so much more than I was expecting and will require another stop so we can further explore Jamestown and Yorktown.

Florida

December brought us down to Florida to enjoy the warm, sunny and mild winter it is famous for. Well, it was mild but that is about it. It was not especially warm and the majority of the days were grey. I mean, I did not even have the opportunity to wear a tank top one time (well okay, maybe I did a couple of times but it wasn’t until mid-March) and I can probably count on one hand how many times I actually wore shorts (gasp)! But we managed to survive LOL.

Christmas

Our first couple of weeks were spent doing some Christmas shopping and catching up with cousins and friends.

Two weeks after we arrived in Florida, we boarded a plane and headed out to the Portland area to spend Christmas with the kids. This year we decided to stay for two weeks instead of one and the boys were okay with that. We had a wonderful time enjoying the sights, sounds and all the yummy goodies of the holiday season but most of all we enjoyed this special time with our family.

Our activities included taking in the beautifully decorated houses on Peacock Lane, making cookies and pies, playing Christmas bingo (thanks Jess and Teri for introducing us to one of your family traditions) taking a trail ride in the jeep and Durango (which did not turn out so well for the Durango) going for a drive to see some waterfalls, taking a ride out to the coast, playing Monopoly, Bill did a ride-a-long with Jefferey and we watched all five Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Oh, and Bill and I properly tried Sushi for the first time. It wasn’t bad at all.

Welcome 2024

I can’t believe another year has come to an end and another is beginning. We made it back to Florida in time to bring the new year in with our friends in Titusville. The evening was spent sipping bourbon on their lovely back porch under the gazebo with a fire burning nearby and watching the neighborhood fireworks.

Chore Time

We settled into January and my mom and dad kept me plenty busy. While Bill was hard at work, so was I. My dad and I raked up leaves in his huge backyard and burned them in the firepit. Boy did we smell good after that. We also looked through several boxes of old family photos and reupholstered a couple of bar stools. My mom and I did some more closet and cabinet cleaning this year and she parted with a few more treasures. After that I took the liberty of giving her house a good dusting from top to bottom and we made it sparkle inside. As a reward, we went shopping to get her a new sofa and coffee table which she desperately needed. I thoroughly enjoy every moment I get to spend with my Mom and my Dad during our time here in Florida (even if they put me to work 😉 and I have to be honest, I volunteered to do the work)

We didn’t work the whole time either, we had plenty of fun just hanging out together.

St Petersburg

Chihuly Glass

When I wasn’t slaving away, we managed to meet some friends in St Pete where we checked out the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Art Center. It was amazing! The glass sculptures were beautiful and it is mindboggling thinking about how they were created. At the end of the exhibit was a short film about Dale Chihuly, how he got started and grew his art. One of the exhibits they featured was at the Chicago Conservatory where he incorporated his glass art amongst the botanical settings. This is something I would really like to see one day.

Once we finished going through the gallery, we headed across the street to see a demonstration of glass blowing and how a piece of art is created. Very fascinating. The artists moved quickly with skill and precision and created a beautiful bowl in under 15 minutes. Wow!

Downtown St Pete looked like a place I would have like to explore a little more. There were a lot of cute shops and restaurants but… it was cold, windy and a little rainy. Time to move on to the Pier and grab a late lunch.

The St. Pete Pier

The St. Pete Pier jets out into Tampa Bay and dates back to 1889. It has evolved and been redeveloped many times over the years. The pier I remember was the Inverted Pyramid Pier that was built in 1973. That pier was closed in 2013 to make way for a new pier. The new pier officially opened in July of 2020 and offers something for everyone. Restaurants, museums, parks, playgrounds, shops, a beach and places to fish. This is a great place to come and spend the day.

We enjoyed lunch at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grill. The food was great and the prices modest, win win! After lunch, we walked out on the pier and had drinks at the Peak Tiki, a little tiki bar at the top of the pier. We had a lovely view of the St Pete skyline and sunset. However, it was cooollllld! (notice I am wearing my heavier winter coat)

Rainbow Springs State Park

Our next adventure took us an hour north on US41 to the little town of Dunnellon and home of Rainbow Springs. Rainbow Springs is Florida’s 4^th largest spring, producing 490,000,000 gallons of water a day! There are several springs here that percolate through the sand rather than one big vent, like many of the other Florida springs.

From 1937-1974 Rainbow Springs was one of Florida’s many roadside attractions. Guests could swim in the crystal clear water at the spring, hop on a riverboat, raft or take an underwater cruise. There was a small zoo, aviary and waterfalls too! Here is a picture of an old map of the area.

Today, it is a state park. For just $2 a person (a bargain in Florida) you can come and enjoy a day in the park. There are several nature trails, a picnic area, a café, a large swimming area and a kayak launch. There are kayaks for rent, but if you have your own and don’t mind walking a little you can launch your own kayak here too. At $2, that is a real bargain. We checked another launch a mile down the road and they wanted $7 a person to launch. The river current is not too bad either, so you should not have any trouble paddling down a little and paddling back upriver.

If the weather ever warms up, we will come back with our kayak and paddle around some.

Horses, Wine, Quilts, and a Birthday, oh my!

Wine Tasting and Cuban Sandwiches

February brought nothing but good times! Someone celebrated her 55^th birthday (yikes!) and received a visit from her son! We had a very fun-packed and busy weekend. Our first stop was wine and cider tasting at Keel & Curly Winery followed by Cuban sandwiches at Brocato’s. Not a bad way to kick off birthday weekend, right?

A Draft Horse Pull and Quilt Show

Day 2 of birthday weekend was spent at the Pioneer Florida Museum in Dade city to watch a Draft Horse Pull and see a quilt show. Horses and quilts?? Another win win! I had never heard of a draft horse pull but if it was anything like a tractor pull, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. We  set up our chairs and waited for the horses to arrive. These horses were HUGE! They average 16-19 hands (which translates to approximately 5’3” to 6’3” at the base of their neck) and they weigh about 1400-2000 pounds. Like I said, HUGE! The horses start with a 3,000-pound load and must pull it a distance of 20’ to continue to the next round. The winning team pulled 4,500 pounds a total of 18’7”. Pretty cool!

Next it was on to see some of the beautiful quilts created by some very talented ladies in the East Pasco Quilt Guild. We even got to vote for our favorites in each category, however, I was unable to find out which quilts took home a prize. Here are a few of my favorites:

We finished out the weekend with multiple birthday cakes, a birthday dinner at the Bonefish Grill and a special lunch with my mom at one of our favorite restaurants, The Columbia, in Ybor City. And what did we have? Cuban sandwiches, 1905 Salad and Sangria. Yum Yum! I had a FABULOUS birthday weekend and am beyond blessed!

The World Equestrian Center

The World Equestrian Center, located in Ocala, is the largest equestrian complex in the USA. It consists of multi-indoor and outdoor arenas that offer state of the art amenities to the equine world and was the perfect place to meet our Iowa friends before they started making their way back north.

The complex is so huge they rent golf carts to get around to all the different arenas. We opted to just walk around the area close to the hotel, which included 4 indoor arenas and the grand outdoor arena. This gave us a good taste of what the center had to offer. We watched several practice sessions in the indoor arenas, walked through the gorgeous hotel, which is dog friendly 😊 and watched a jumping event at the outdoor arena while sipping on $14 cans of chardonnay. (Ouch!) This place oozes money and we are not the “la-tee-da” type but it was nice pretending for the day. LOL

Once we had our fill of horses, it was off to Swampy’s on the Rainbow River for some yummy fish tacos, sangria and beer. I am glad we got to visit with our friends one more time. Who knows when our paths will cross again?

Bye Bye Gulf Coast

Before leaving our home base in the Tampa area, we were able to squeeze in a ride out to Bayport to see a sunset and get some coney dogs from The Coney Island, a childhood favorite. I collected my “last hugs for a while” from my Mom and my Dad and we began our route back to North Carolina via Lakeland and Oak Hill FL.

Lakeland and Oak Hill

Before we actually start heading north, we “moochdocked” with family in Lakeland and again in Oak Hill. Bill uses his time in Lakeland to do some small maintenance projects on the rig and give her a good bath. When we weren’t busy with chores, we enjoyed some front porch sitting, visiting and eating with the cousins. You know that saying about cousins making the best friends? It is true, we have such a good time when we get together with this crew. There are always a lot of laughs to be had.

Oak Hill is sleepy little fishing town on the Indian River and very laid back. We spent the week here relaxing, going for boat rides, taking a ride around Daytona and New Smyrna (but not actually seeing the beach WHAT?) visiting with our Titusville friends, catching up with some family friends, taking in a race at the New Smyrna Raceway, picking loquats and checking out a lighthouse! We really packed a lot in during this week. The one thing we DID NOT get to do… all winter long… was visit with Aunt Lucille. She had spent most of her time in Mississippi with one of her granddaughters and her family.

See You Later Alligator

With one night left in our home state, I realized we had not gone out to see the gators or gotten our milkshakes at the Moonlight Drive-in. These are some of my favorite things to do when we are on this side of the state and we kept putting it off and putting it off. Sometimes, things work out perfectly though. We found out there was going to be a night launch of the Starlink satellites and the best place to see a launch is from the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, which happens to be where we go look for gators. Another Win Win! We saw 3 gators and an awesome launch!

Quilting Progress

During our 3 stationary months, I managed to get a lot of sewing projects finished. I finally finished my “Summer Breeze” quilt top that I started last April. It is gorgeous and I love it. I cannot wait to quilt it and put it on my future spare bed in my future sticks and bricks home. 😉

I also completed a lap sized quilt topper that I am calling “City Lights” because the fabric reminds me of skyscraper lights in a night sky. And finally, I had 3 table runners that I had already pieced but never quilted. Those are now finished and ready to use and Kona got a drool cloth for the truck. I also made some potholders and matching hot pads. LOL It was a productive winter for me!

And… if quilting and crochet were not enough for me, I have taken up watercolor too 😊 Got to have a little variety in life, right? Here are the results of my first few lessons. There are more lessons and lots of practice in my future.

It’s now time to start heading towards North Carolina. Even though Florida was chillier, wetter and greyer than normal this year and OH! I forgot to mention all the pollen… our allergies were in overdrive! In spite of all these things, we had a GREAT time down here and enjoyed our time with EVERYONE! Love you all!!

What’s Next?

A stopover in the Macon GA area and a week in the north Georgia mountains.