King Kong For Real

Here is a photo of the true King of the Jungle. This guy posed for me while we were on the Pangani Forest Trail at Animal Kingdom.

It was a rainy Monday, January 3oth, so we decided it would be a great day to do housekeeping chores. Actually it is fun to take a day out to shine up the RV. On Sunday, I had bought new flowers to brighten up the RV. When I first started buying fresh flowers, Mel just rolled his eyes at me. But now, he is on the look out for pretty bouquets so it has been fun for me. Please do not rib him about this as he will stop playing along with this. It is nice that he is being nice.

While we were at Caribbean Beach, I looked up satellite dish installers. Since it was raining, I called a company that advertised trouble shooting. To our delight, they were willing to come to Fort Wilderness to service the dish that afternoon. I called campground security so they would let them in. When they arrived, it turned out that they were a husband and wife team. Kim did the inside work and Rich the outside. After checking our set up and determining that we had all the wiring correct, they started checking the equipment. Of course, with their equipment, they immediately got a signal. So what had gone wrong? Ready for this? The receiver that we bought from Miami's Best Buy was defective. There was no voltage output. Now, this was a unit that came out of a sealed box so who would have thought it would be the problem.

Frankly, we were so relieved because we just knew between the two of us that we had done every step over and over. The other thing that we found out was that we could not use the unit with the recording device because it requires a phone line, which of course, we do not have because we are in an RV. By the time, we were finished with Kim and Rich, we had made new friends, had all the equipment installed and wired along with the VCR so I can still record what I want to. What is cool is that Rich set it up so that we can have local and DirecTV on both the living room and bedroom TV's. Kim made sure that we were activated with DirecTV service so we could watch satellite TV right away. Two hours and $100.00 later, we had satellite TV. We were so grateful that we gave Kim and Rich a tip to cover Friday night dinner on us.

To celebrate our day, we went to see Tristan and Isolde, a historical tale about ancient Ireland and England with a wonderful tragic love story. This was a much better movie than New World. There was dialogue, action, romance and story. We love that.

Mel was on a roll so at 11 p.m., he decided that it was a perfect time to do laundry. He was right. All five washers in our area were available but then again, consider the time. By 1 a.m., we were back to the RV with our nice, clean, warm, folded laundry. What a nut case!

Bath Time for Hippos

Sunday, January 29th was moving day again. Time to re-check into Fort Wilderness. Once we were settled, we went to Macaroni Grill, where we had a delightful chat with the manager about our travel adventure. He was raised in Deerfield, IL but moved with his family to Florida when he started high school.

After lunch, we returned to Animal Kingdom. On the Pangani Forest Trail, we saw these hippos playing in the river. Live animals are the best because you never know what they will do. After our walk, we took a ride on the Kilamanjaro Safaris that wanders on trails through open animal habitats.

As we got off the safari ride, Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade began, so I got some great parade photos again. Since we were at the beginning of the parade, we circled around to Asia, where the Expedition Everest ride was. Sunday was the last day for the preview ride. Since it was late and the crowd was thinning out, we were able to get two more rides on the roller coaster. Great fun!

Since it was Chinese New Year, we found a Chinese restaurant for take out. There was a grocery store next to the restaurant so we did our shopping and got something for Mel to eat since he won't do Chinese.

Where In The World Are Mel and Nancy?

At Magic Kingdom, of course. It was another gorgeous Florida day so we decided to spend the day, Saturday, January 28th at the Magic Kingdom with the maddening crowd. Silly us to pick the busiest day of the week.

Because we do just small segments of the parks each visit, it was Frontierland's turn. We took the train from Main Street Station to Frontierland. We skipped Splash Mountain as it was just a bit too chilly to walk around wet all day. We crossed into Adventureland and enjoyed the show at the Tiki Bird House. Then we headed to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller coaster with a runaway mine train as the theme. When we left the ride, we will just in time for the Share a Dream Come True Parade. Mel found a great spot so I could get good pictures.

When the parade was over we went to Liberty Square, where the Hall of Presidents is located. It is a show that always makes us proud to be Americans. We feel it should be a requirement that members of Congress attend this attraction so they get an idea of what they should be doing with our country. From there we just walked around the castle gardens enjoying the beautiful roses that were in bloom. We headed for the campgrounds before dusk to escape the cold front that was coming in.

We spent the evening at the movies seeing Nanny McPhee, a children's fantasy with Emma Thompson and Colin Firth. Can you think of a better combination? This is a must for children of all ages.

Expedition Everest

What a ride!

At Animal Kingdom, Disney is ready to launch a new attraction, Expedition Everest. On January 26, Mel and I joined thousands of fellow passholders for a preview ride that is similar to the Matterhorn in Disneyland. We were invited to attend by e-mail and received a special Everest Preview lanyard and pin, very tradeable, if one wanted to trade. While it took quite a while, we were able to take four rides and passed the time by chatting with fellow passholders. After a few hours, we were ready to call it a day.

When we returned to the RV, Mel said that he had an upset stomach. He went to take a nap and I thought that he might really be sick because he never naps. But when he woke up, he said that he was ready for a pizza so I knew all was well.

Cinderella and Her Fairy Godmother in Mosaics

Here is a photo of one of the mosaics in the hall of Cinderella's Castle.

When making reservations for this Disney visit, we could not get two consecutive weeks, so today, January 27th, we had to pull up stakes and move to Caribbean Beach Resort for two days. Since we had planned to get hotel rooms on occasion as a treat, we were okay with the interruption, except that when you have to move you usually lose a day of park touring.

Once we were checked into Caribbean Beach, we went to TGIFridays for lunch. Then we headed to Pleasure Island AMC for movies. First, we saw Matchpoint, Woody Allen's new film. It was okay with a little twist at the end. Basically, it's a renter. Then, we saw The Matador, with Pierce Brosnan, as a distaff side James Bond-quite a counter character. We enjoyed this movie but it can be a renter, too.

The Earful Tower

We spent January 25th at Disney's MGM Studios. We started out with lunch at the Brown Derby, where I ordered their Cobb Salad, that was originated at the Hollywood Brown Derby. After lunch, we caught the stage musical, Beauty and the Beast, an all time favorite of mine. To balance the day for Mel, we saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Show-really quite good. When the show was over, we were just in time for the parade. As usual, Mel found us a great spot to watch the parade from. After the parade, we went on the Great Movie Ride, then saw The Little Mermaid, another musical stage show.

We tried something new this visit, an interactive version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Even Mel thought it was fun. The difference from the TV version is that the whole audience gets to answer every question. That is how they choose the next player. We answered the questions right but we were too slow on the trigger to beat other players-those darned kids and their video games.

We covered a lot of territory in one day so we were glad to go back to the RV and relax.

Under the Sea

Here is a photo of the coral reef at The Living Seas at EPCOT. In the lower left hand corner is a beautiful green and blue fish. There are others in the photo but you would have to enlarge the photo to see them. Just click on the photo to do so.

On Tuesday, January 24th, we spent the day at EPCOT. On our last few visits, we have missed The Living Seas, but daughter, Michelle, informed us that the area had been redone and it was worth a visit. Well, I fell in love with the place. The aquarium has ceiling to floor windows so you are up close and personal with the fish. I was trying to track down a sea turtle but he remained elusive. I was able to get a number of good photos and wish I could share them all. The only way that Mel could pull me away was to show me the manatee pool so I spent some time there but couldn't get any good pictures.

There is an interactive show, Turtle Talk With Crush, based on a character from Finding Nemo. On the screen, you could see Crush, the animated character, and the dude was able to talk to the children in the audience and answer their unscripted questions. How'd they do that? Amazing!

From The Sea, we went to The Land so we could ride Soarin' again and we able to do so twice, another amazing ride. Then, we took a leisurely ride on Living With The Land, a boat ride through Disney greenhouses, where they experiment growing fruits and vegetables under a variety of conditions. We finished off our visit to EPCOT with a movie, The Circle of Life, about ecology and man's impact on the environment.

Once we returned to the campsite, we took my pearls to the Fort Wilderness Outpost and FedX'd them to Michelle for repair. Mel was still raring to go so he took himself to see the movie, Underworld, a vampire flick, not my cup of tea.

All Lit Up

Our 1st full day at Disney, January 23rd, was capped off with the beautiful fireworks show, Wishes.

We started out our day with a bike ride to Trail's End Restaurant for their great breakfast buffet-Mickey waffles-Yum. After our ride, we had chores to attend to, mailing bills, cards, etc., stopping at Walmart for some essentials, searching for a jewelry repair place at the Florida Mall. I am in need of having my pearls repaired but everyone needs two weeks and we won't be here that long.

After running around, we went to the Magic Kindom to have a magical time. At the castle, we watched the show, Cinderellabration, a musical stage show. Then, we went to PhilharMagic, a new 3-D style show, that is so enjoyable and amazing with the computer-generated technology.

At dusk, the Spectromagic Parade began. This is always a great show. The day ended with the fireworks show and as the photo shows we were up close to the castle.

Mickey On Parade

Here is Mickey Mouse in the Spectromagic Light Parade at the Magic Kingdom.

We were up bright and early on Sunday, January 22nd and on the road to Disney World, our home away from home. Determined to get our satellite working at Disney, we stopped at Camping World to buy a satellite locator and more cable for our set up. We checked into Fort Wilderness at 11:30 a.m. and set up the camper for our stay.

As soon as everything was hooked up, we headed for Giordano's for some much-awaited Chicago-style pizza. We ordered a large so we could take some to the RV for a snack. Instead, we devoured the entire thing, something we are never able to do usually but we were really craving pizza.

After lunch, we went to Winn Dixie for our supplies. The grocery stores in Orlando, at least around Disney, are just beautiful in the way that they display the food. So it is an enjoyable experience to shop.

Our final housekeeping chore was laundry. It is always a challenge on the road but on this particular sunny Sunday afternoon, the laundry facilities were available. With 4 or 5 washers available, the laundry can be done fairly efficiently, if not cheaply--still cheaper than installing a washer dryer in the unit.

With the laundry going, we returned to the campsite to install DirecTV. Now, we have it all, the dish satellite, the satellite locator, a super-duper compass and a bubble level. What more could we need. It's just got to work now.... Alas, no such luck. Frustration level is pretty high now. We know we are two intelligent people, who are being out-foxed by technology. Scarlett, tomorrow is another day.

By the time we finished with laundry, I was exhausted but Mel was anxious to go to a park. So we negotiated. I would stay in the RV and take a well-deserved nap and Mel would go to Magic Kingdom with no hurt feelings on either side. We both got want we wanted and were the better for the separation. There is a lot of togetherness on this adventure and it was a nice break for both of us. We reunited to watch Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. I now have Mel hooked on these shows, much to his dismay.

Painted Sea Turtle at Marsh Landing

This turtle sculpture is the mascot of the Marsh Landing Restaurant, a historically designated building in Fellsmere, FL.

We started our day, Saturday, January 21st, by joining Cal and Marion for a drive to Fort Pierce, FL for their Saturday Waterfront Farmer's Market and Craft Show. The day was gorgeous, the location terrific and the bakery goods, fruits, vegetables and flowers were scrumptious. Mel's godmother, Marilyn, joined us with their friends, Ray and Helen. It was great being able to buy baked goods and fresh fruit. After eating our cinnamon rolls, we strolled through the crafts show. I was good and didn't buy anything but had a good time browsing through the kiosks.

Marilyn, Ray and Helen headed back to Grand Harbor, while Mel, Marion, Cal and me toured the Navy Seal Museum, which had replicas of the variety of vessels used by the SEALS in our various conflicts throughout the world.

It wasn't quite time for lunch so Marion and I window-shopped at the Vero Beach "Village Shops," like a little Long Grove area with so many lovely things. Mel and Cal were happy sitting outside at an umbrella table and chatting about stuff.

From the shopping tour, we went to the Grand Harbor Beach Club and had lunch around the swimming pool. Ray and Helen joined us for lunch. We had a good time laughing, talking and getting acquainted. While we were eating, the diners started gathering to gaze out at the Atlantic. It turned out that there was a whale off shore, spouting through his blowhole. No one was aware that whales travel this far south but there was no doubt that it was a whale.

After lunch, we returned to the RV to try the satellite again, but nothing. So I talked Mel into going to Fellsmere for the annual Frog Leg Fest. Compared to other fests that we have attended, it was lacking in charm but the locals were clearly having a good time and the bluegrass music hadn't begun yet, so it was time for us to leave.

We ended up our visit to the Vero Beach area by attending the movie, New World, the love story of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and John Rolfe. This was a tortuous 2 1/2 hours of beautiful scenery, implied dialogue and interpretive history. It got interesting when Pocahontas and John Rolfe went to England. It felt familiar. Clearly, everyone tried very hard but the viewing was very trying. Wait for the video so you can fast forward to the next action segments-too many longing gazes among the actors with little to no dialogue.

Pelican At Sea and Aground

As you can see in the photo, there is a pelican in the foreground and there is the Pelican aground on a sandbar. While on our three hour river boat ride with Captain Bill, we saw a number of shipwrecks between sunken boats or boats washed ashore. This is all the result of Hurricane Wilma. While some months have passed since the hurricane hit, there is still a lot of property damage, including boats, docks and piers. There were cranes along the shore line trying to lift boats off the land. Pretty interesting to see.

The pelicans put quite a show on for us. You could see them cruising along, spotting their meal, then swooping down, and violently hitting the water to scoop up their lunch. Because of the Sebastian Inlet, which allows the Atlantic access to the rivers, we even saw a few dolphin, frolicing and the river. Couldn't capture them on camera as they were very swift moving. Captain Bill asked, "What do you call pictures of dolphins?" Answer: Water, because it is hard to spot them and then react to snap the picture. They don't stay surfaced very long.

After the boat tour, we ended up buying a DirecTV satellite dish, hoping that investment would help us in our installation fo DirecTV. Also, we stopped at Home Depot for electrical boxes and cable so we could complete the installation. Eagerly, we drove home hoping to complete the work. Alas! No luck! We will wait now until we get to Disney to see what can be done.

Sunning on a Log

On Friday, January 20th, we took a three hour tour on the River Queen, an ecological boat trip on the Indian and Sebastian Rivers. Along the way, we saw this gator sunning on a log. It is just a baby, four or five feet long but with plenty of bite. Glad that we were safely inside the boat.

The tour started at Captain Hirams Beach Resort, after a great lunch at a waterside cafe. We did a bit of shopping, too. Mel bought me early Valentine gifts of sterling silver and abalone shell sailboat necklace and earrings plus a sterling and gold sea turtle cuff bracelet. I will forever remember our beloved Florida when I don the jewelry.

We had a fantastic guide for the tour. Captain Bill is a former merchant marine captain from New England. His love of the sea lead him to become a marine biologist. He taught marine biology at a local university. Now that he is retired he runs the tour boat and gives wonderful lectures about the flora and fauna in the area.

We learned many things about the ecology of the area. A most interesting fact is that the Sebastian-Vero Beach area is the dividing line for the Temperate and Tropical Zones. How can one tell? By observing the mangroves. Only certain types grow in the Temperate zone versus the Tropical zone and vice versa. Fascinating!

Sebastian Inlet-Where the Atlantic Meets the River

Here is a photo of the entry to Sebastian Inlet, where the Atlantic meets the Indian River. This inlet is one of two local ocean accesses from the intercoastal waterway. The other is at Fort Pierce, south of Vero Beach. The picture does not do justice to the treacherous waterway. The river is trying to flow out and the Atlantic is trying to flow in, creating swirling eddies and whirpools. It is a very dangerous route for little fishing boats and pleasure yachts to maneuver.

From Cocoa Beach, we drove to the state park, where we met Marion and Cal at the Sebastian Marina. We parked and took one car to tour the state park. We walked along the bridge and waterway and saw young men surfing the Atlantic waves, fishermen with their catches and watched as boats tried to manuever throught the inlet from the ocean.

When the sun, went down, we returned to Grand Harbor, the community where Marion and Cal live. We changed clothes and walked to the Grand Harbor Golf Club, where we were treated to a tasty dinner in fine surroundings.

We went home tired, but happy campers. from our nearly perfect day.

NASA's Launch to Pluto-Go Baby Go!

We caught the Pluto rocket launch from Cocoa Beach, FL.

Thursday, January 19th was another beautiful day in Florida. We went to Marsh Landing restaurant in Fellsmere, FL for a hearty breakfast. Then we drove to U.S. A1A, the intercoastal road along the Atlantic Ocean. Because we planned to go to Fort Pierce with Marion, Cal & Marilyn, we decided to head north. We stopped at the beaches along the way, observing sun worshippers and fishermen. When we got to Patrick's Air Force Base, we noticed airmen on the boardwalks, facing north. There were interesting planes flying in the area.

We continued north to Cocoa Beach and headed for Ron Jon's, a store with great Hawaiin shirts. When we walked in, I asked the clerk, if something special was going on. He said that the Pluto rocket was being launched at 1:08 p.m. It was 12:45 p.m. We turned around and walked out the door and drove fast to the beach, where we joined other launch enthusiasts. One lady had a radio so we stayed close by so we could keep track of what was happening. We found a fence to sit on and faced north to Cape Canaveral or Kennedy-take your pick.

As we sat, a young man approached, asking what was going on. He and his girlfriend were from London, England and had no clue where they were. They were just sunning on the beach before flying back home the next day. It was fun informing them of the happenings taking place. While we waited, they called London to tell family & friends where they were and what they were observing.

Of course, 1:08 p.m. came and went. Information pushed the launch to 1:25 p.m. NASA had a two hour window, 1:08 p.m. to 3:08 p.m., to complete the launch. We had planned to meet Marion and Cal at 3:00 p.m. to tour Sebastian Inlet State Park. Mel said that we had to leave at 1:30 p.m., launch or no launch.

1:25 p.m. came and went. We were now invested. We decided to call Marion to scratch our tour. How often does one see a launch? Well, actually this would be our 3rd launch but who can resist when you are this close. A space launch is something we can take pride in as the best of what our country can achieve.

Mel said that we would stay until 2 p.m. and then we would have to head back to Vero Beach. After a few more delays and 2 p.m. approached, I was getting anxious as I had my camera poised to catch the space shot. Finally, we saw the plume and shortly thereafter, the rocket came through the clouds. Somehow I got the shot, only one, and then it was gone. I hope that you enjoy it. It was such a rush to be so close to something as spectacular as a launch. Not only could you hear the rumble but could feel it under your feet and we were about 25 miles away. Awesome!

(I just figured something out. If you double click on the photo (any of the photos actually), the photo will be enlarged and you can see greater detail. Try it.)

Once the launch was over, we quickly returned to Ron Jon's, where Mel bought another Hawaiin shirt-a jungle print, very pretty as always. We called Marion and Cal answered saying that he figured that we saw the launch. He suggested we meet at the park, which made sense since it is on the north side of Vero Beach. We stopped for ice cream cones to celebrate the launch and enjoyed our return trip.

The Usual Suspects

Here we are in Fort Pierce, FL with relatives and friends. Next to Mel is Cousin Marion, her guy pal, Cal, their friends, Ray and Helen and Mel's Godmother and Cousin Marilyn.

It has been a while since I have written because we have been having so much fun both at Vero Beach and Orlando, so I am going to try to catch up on all our comings and goings. To our surprise, there was a lot more to do in the Vero Beach area than we thought. Now that we are at Disney World, we are constantly on the go.

On the 18th, we spent the afternoon with Cal and Marion catching up on family activities. Marion prepared a great lunch and we had a lot of laughs. On the way home, we stopped at the Vero Beach Book Store and stocked up on magazines and books. On Marion's recommendation, I bought An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof, one of Marion's book club picks. It is about a couple, who spent two years sailing the Caribbean. Uhm, sounds like someone we know. Also, picked up Night by Elie Wiesel, an Oprah pick. Probably won't be as controversial as A Million Little Pieces by James Frey, a great read whether fiction or non-fiction, couldn't put it down.

Construction and Installation

This is a photo of the "flip-flop" lifeguard station at South Beach-very creative. The red flag is a small craft advisory warning-don't go boating today, high seas.

Today was construction day. Mel pulled all of his tools out from the RV "basement" so he could build the shelf for our satellite receiver. He was so happy building the contraption. Once he had all the holes drilled for the wiring and the hangars, then he stained the oak shelf to match the RV cabinets. When the stain dried, he installed the shelf. As I knew, he did a very fine job with the project. That was the morning's activity. All the while, we watched as NASA tried to launch a rocket from Cape Canaveral. (Yes, we are so close that we should have been there but we weren't aware of the launch until 20 minutes before. As it happened, we could have made it but then NASA did not have a good outcome.)

In the afternoon, Mel began wiring the satellite dish, the receiver, the VCR and the DVD players. He managed to get the VCR and the DVD players installed and working. Now I have to read how to program the VCR so I can tape some of my favorite programs. Why you ask? The point of having DirectTV with DVR is to tape our favorite shows.

However, as with NASA, we had failure to launch our satellite system-even with tech help. I am sure this is user failure but Mel believes that it may have to do with our satellite dish. The only way to know for sure is to buy another dish-not an expense that I am too happy about at this point.

Finally, at 4 p.m., we shut down our system for the day. Tomorrow is another day. We drove to the coast and drove south on A1A. We found a great restaurant, The Ocean Grill, right on the beach. As night fell, we watched the Atlantic breakers roll onto shore as we dined in a lovely romantic setting.

Leaving Miami

A flamingo sculpture nestled in greenery along Ocean Drive, South Beach.

Our stay in Miami has sadly come to an end. We acclimated quite well to the area and were able to move around easily.

We left around 11 a.m., heading mid-state to Lake Okeechobee. We meandered along the Florida Scenic Trail through the Everglades, then east along the Intracoastal Waterway that runs through the state of Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean and through the Lake Okeechobee. Now we are in Sebastian, Florida, a bit north of Vero Beach.

Once we were settled, we had a late lunch at a great Florida "cracker" restaurant, Marsh Landing in Fellsmere, FL. Of course, we had to find a local movie theater in Vero Beach and saw Hoodwinked, an animated take on the story of Red Riding Hood, recommended for children and parents or grandparents.

We headed back to our new, very nice campgrounds in time to see the Golden Globe awards. Happy with the outcome and loved the clothes!

Historic Art Deco District at South Beach

This photo shows the variety of buildings that make up the Art Deco Historic District. The angles and curves are representive of what makes Art Deco, Art Deco.

Clearly the Art Deco weekend is meant to be a celebration of South Beach's fantastic architecture. I am limited in sharing the many photos that I took as we strolled up and down Ocean Drive, but it was a fantastic experience with the archictecture serving as background to a great street festival. We obtained a copy of the festival program and there was more going on than what we saw on the street. There were classic films from the 20's and 30's, guided tours of the architecture, seminars and art classes. Glad that we were able to see it all.

Atlantic Ocean at South Beach

There is a cruise ship in the distance of what I consider to be a perfect beach photo.

On Sunday, the weather was still cool but the wind had died down, so we decided to head to South Beach to attend Art Deco weekend, themed Putting on the Ritz. This festival had a totally different flavor to it so I was happy that we had attended the Beaux Art Festival on Saturday. The Art Deco fest was more like a big block party with lots of clothing and food vendors, flea market, and some art. We enjoyed the happening and mingling with the crowds. It was nice to escape to the beach for some quiet time.

Miami Skyline

Here is a photo of the Miami skyline.

After the Beaux Art Festival, we decided to take a drive north on A1A across the intercostal waterway. Every area of Florida has a variety of housing when it comes to condominiums. As we drove, we kept saying, "Oh, look at that building. No, this was is even better." We don't know where the money for these mansions came from but it is fun to see.

At sunset, we headed back southwest to our campgrounds. Mel found a Bahama Breeze so we had a nice dinner in an appropriate setting for the area.

Then, we found a Home Depot and Mel bought wood, tools and and stain to build a shelf for our Direct TV receiver. It is too deep for any of our cabinets. Always something. At least, I know Mel will do a great job once he gets around to it. Will report on progress later.

Beaux Art Festival

A sculpture outside of the art museum on the University of Miami campus

Saturday was another beautiful day in Miami. A cold front had come in and the air was cool and crisp but quite windy. I had wanted to go to Art Deco weekend at South Beach but thought it would be too cold (cold is relative). We opted to attend the Beaux Art Festival at the University of Miami. I thought it would be inside the art museum on campus but instead it was an outdoor festival with rows upon rows of tents. So we were outside anyway but inland so the wind wasn't quite a bad had we been on the shore. Because the show was a juried art show, one tent after another held spectacular pieces, paintings, sculptures, glass and jewelry. My mantra was "We have no walls." It was such a pleasurable afternoon.

Moon Over Miami

This was the beginning of the full moon over Miami weekend. A local Miamian explained that on the night of the full moon, there is a drum circle at midnight on South Beach, too late for us to visit but I did try to capture it.

It was a backwards day for us. We started with seeing a movie, Last Holiday, a comedy with Queen Latifah. It was charming and the costumes were fun. Afterwards we stopped at a pizza stand next to the theater. We have been in search of pizza here in Miami, not a staple here like in Chicago.

Then, we stopped at Best Buy and finally acquired a Direct TV receiver so we can use our satellite dish. We wanted to buy the equipment before we left Chicago but have been managing with local stations and occasional cable hook-ups depending on the RV parks that we stay at. We still are having trouble adjusting to the eastern time zone. With DVR, we will be able to record favorites and go to bed at a reasonable hour so we can be up early enough to begin our touring. Why is TV important when one is on a trip of this kind? We are like everyone else, when the sun goes down, into the RV, we go. Yes, we have books, magazines, puzzles, music and other forms of entertainment, but we like to keep up with our favorite shows and what is going on in the world.

To help ourselves to get good night sleeps, we bought new sheets and pillows. We have been princess and the pea-like trying to make our bedroom just right. Hope we got it right now.

When we returned to the RV campsite, we decided to do our laundry at 8:00 p.m. While that may not be late for normal people, it is unusual to see campers doing laundry at night. Oh well, as I said it was a topsy-turvey day.

Mel By a Banyan Tree With His New Haircut & Hawaiin Shirt

Look at the post, named Coconut Beach Park Bench. You will notice that Mel desparately needed a haircut. This morning, he announced that today was Hair Cut Day.

After doing maintenance on the RV, we headed out to the Falls Shopping Center for a lovely lunch of steak for Mel and lobster for me. There was a movie theater there so we checked out the movie times. Except for horror movies, there was only one movie left for us to see as we have seen everything else. The movie didn't start until 3 p.m. giving us plenty of time to get our hair cuts.

Mel reluctantly drove to Supercuts, not far from the mall. The stylist was finishing up on a client so there was no going back for Mel. It took an hour to tame Mel's mop and about 15 minutes for me.

Then, we went to the worse movie of the year, Grandma's Boy. There were good comedic actors but was so sophmoric, a real guy movie, but even Mel didn't like it. We were alone in the theater and no one had chained us to the seats. We stayed just because we hoped it would get better. An hour into it, I was begging Mel to take me home. Mel accused me of laughing at parts but I was just reacting to how ludicrous it all was. Save your money, folks. Wish we had.

After the movie, we went to Publix to buy provisions, then we headed home. Once we were at the campsite, I badgered Mel to don his new Hawaiin shirt and to stand by a banyan tree that is on our campsite. Reluctantly, he agreed but he wouldn't smile. Oh well.

In the Florida Keys

Wednesday, we headed out to Marathon, FL to visit Mel's nephews. We tried to find new Hawaiin shirts for Mel and stopped at shops along the way. Eventually, we made it to Marathon in time to have lunch with David and his friend, Liz, a lovely woman from Columbia, who lives in Hollywood, FL. We lunched at a delightful open air restaurant, The Island.

David and Mel spent the afternoon trying to fix David's boat. While Mel did get it running. there were parts needed so he couldn't finish the job.

Then we went to visit Dan, whose commercial for his Stay Alive life jacket is ready for the February Miami boat show. We had dinner with Dan and then headed "home" to the RV.

Atlantic Ocean Breakers

As we walked along the beach at the Bill Baggs state park, we spotted a man o' war, which is a poisonous jellyfish-like sea creature. Do not step on or touch these because they can cause a whole lot of hurt. You can see it near the center of the photo.

We have been enjoying the Miami area and every day we see one spectacular area after another, but Key Biscayne beat all our expectations. We are sure that much of Miami Vice had been filmed around there. The neighborhoods were outrageous with one beautiful mansion after another. There were many out-of-state licenses, which we surmised meant that these were winter homes for those escaping the cold.