Time's Up in Florida!

The view from our window at night!

Our aerobics class was held one day this week due to the cold temperature - cold by Florida standards at least. It was 53 - but sunny. 

Today is our last day here at Santa Rosa RV Resort and we're sad to leave. We have already reserved (and paid for in advance) the month of February for next year. This last week we've done aerobics in the water and out (necessary as the temperatures went down below 55 degrees for two days), played cards, BINGO, and ate donuts. We have lots of last minute errands and jobs to do before our early start tomorrow. 

Baby tucked into her site at Santa Rosa right on the beach and next to the heated pool and clubhouse.

We're heading north quickly for two days: Saturday it's 6 Google hours to Madison, GA and then Sunday about the same up to our friends Walt & Honorees' in Carthage, NC.  On Tuesday they are driving us up to a hotel near the airport in Raleigh and the next morning, very early, we fly out to San Francisco to visit our daughter Zoë and family. After 4 nights there we fly to Fiji on Sunday. It still seems a bit unreal to me! 

We're playing "Pass the Ace" at the Clubhouse. It's totally easy and leaves plenty of time for laughter!

The rule book for "How to Screw Your
Neighbor" also known as "Pass the
Ace" we play here once a week.

FUN in the Sun!

We do Water Aerobics twice a week. There were so many people this day that Kerri, our amazing Activities Director gave two sessions after that. It's a full hour and a real workout - but lots of fun.

We're two weeks into our 3 weeks here at the Santa Rosa RV Resort and it's going all too fast! It's hard to believe that in just over two weeks we'll be in Fiji. Now if we could only keep up this exercise routine after we leave here. It's hard to do on our own and having the pool makes a big difference to me. The water aerobics class and doing laps is my favorite form of exercise. I walk a half mile to a mile in the morning but the group does 2 - 3 miles. They are really too fast for me. And I used to be thought a fast walker! But I'm a lot older than the others - and Scott has a much larger lung capacity.  We also have two exercise classes a week - weights and stretching. I hope that we'll have those activates available on our 33 day cruise back from Australia.

And wore them for the picture taking
session after the Valentine's Day
Brunch!

We decorated Valentine t-shirts at
one craft session.

Kerri decorated the palm trees near the pool 
and everyone got their photos taken - people
and dogs. 

We're also enjoying the games and crafts. We play BINGO once a week and a card game called Pass the Aces another night. It's mostly a social occasion. As are the craft classes. We made Valentine t-shirts one day and I made a felted soap another (see photos here and at the bottom). Next week we're making Carnival t-shirts and decorated towels. Living in the small trailer, it's nice to have things to do in the evening. And when we stay in, there is good cable service so we can occasionally watch a movie. Recent ones: Hunt for Red October, Waitress the Musical, Mansfield Park and North by Northwest.  And there are Pancake & Sausage Breakfasts, Donuts & Coffee, Ice Cream Socials and a few days ago Super Bowl Night.  The pot luck food at the Super Bowl and the Valentine Brunch was amazing - there are a lot of excellent cooks here!

Watching the Super Bowl - there were 3
huge TVs set up - two outdoors.

The Chiefs Cheerleading Team

And the Eagles one!

We're also in a beautiful area, close to the National Seashore and limitless beaches. We've been up to Pensacola several times to explore and eat. One night we saw Riverdance at the theater - wonderful! And last Saturday we went to Joe Patti's where the boats bring in tons of fresh fish and seafood - a huge selection. It's packed with people and staff. But there is no place to sit down and eat - everything is take out or retail. We bought flounder, catfish, shrimp, scallops and soft shell crabs. Then we went out to a great lunch overlooking the water at Nick's close by. 

Riverdance in Pensacola

And this is only half of the seafood line up!

Staff lined up to serve at Joe Patti's

We have already booked the month of February for next year - right in in our favorite spot, on the beach and next to the pool

The group photo from the Soap Felting Class - lots of kidding around but we also got the project done!

A few of the towels from that class.

And the "felted soaps"

Just one of the tables at the Valentine's 
Brunch.

The sunset from in the beach in front of our RV site!

Westward Ho!

Getting ready to take off down river. 

Turtles and birds sharing a log

This blue heron struck a lovely pose.

We followed a family of manatees as we both
drifted with the current.

 

But not far with Baby this year. For three years we've driven as far as California, but this year Baby stays in the East while we will fly westward. From Winter Park we drove a short distance to Silver Springs State Park for two nights. We stayed there for one night last year and really liked it. The short canoe trip we took then wet our taste for a longer trip, so we booked the 5.2 mile trip down the Silver River. It's a one way paddle, and downstream, so totally relaxing. In fact we had no trouble paddling most of the way but had more challenge with sitting on the canoe seats for hours! This trip can take from 2 to 5 hours - it took us 2.5. The fellow who picked us up was impressed by these old folks - very satisfying.  On the way we saw a lot of manatees, turtles and fish, one alligator, and no monkeys. The latter was disappointing as we saw a lot of them last year. There are over a thousand in the area!

Our first day we went over to Navarre beach and walked before having dinner there. Here's our view of the sunset!

And the view from our RV "Baby" the next morning! That's Santa Rosa island in the distance where we had dunner the night before.

We split up the trip from there to Santa Rosa RV Resort by staying one night in Tallahassee. The weather was rainy so we went out for dinner - at another BJ's Brewhouse - and it was good deal again. But we were off early for the 4 hours drive. Our favorite RV park welcomed us with it's beautiful beach, friendly folks and heated swimming pool.  We were in that pool within an hour of settling into our site - which is right on the beach.  And that night we had dinner on the beach overlooking the Gulf. 

But more on our stay at Santa Rosa in my next post!

Lots of Art in St. Pete!

 

Scott at the Annual Art Festival admiring 
some beautiful wooden bowls. We were not
tempted to buy anything as we didn't see
any item priced less than $500. 

Our next stop was 3 nights at my cousin Joanie & husband Kent's home in the historic section of St. Pete. We arrived in time to help set up the Preservation Society's event that night at their home. Sixty people had bought tickets to tour their home, enjoy refreshments and learn the history of their house. It's also famous around town for being the site of the 2021 movie "Fear of Rain" with Harry Connick, Jr. and Katherine Heigl. Joanie & Kent were living in the house while it was being filmed and really enjoyed an upfront look at the process. They also praised the two stars who were very down to earth and friendly. 

My cousin Joanie - our mothers were
sisters. 

We spent a lot of time the next day seeing the Annual Art Festival Beth-El. The entire temple and grounds were packed with artists in every medium. It's a curated judged show so the quality was very high. What fun. And then we had drinks and appetizers up on the roof of a hotel right on St. Pete beach. The day was gorgeous as you can see from the photos. 

The Dali Museum St. Petersburg

Our second day we spent at the Dali Museum down town. Designed by Yann Weymouth, the chief of design for I.M. Pei for the Grand Louvre Pyramid, it cost $30 million and is a surrealism-inspired structure made of glass and poured concrete. The entryway is 75 feet tall and encompasses a spiral staircase. It is spectacular and so is the collection. Reynolds and Muriel Morse started collecting Dali in 1943 and they were friends and patrons of Dali for over 40 years. Scott and I had only seen a few of Dali's works in other museums so were very impressed with the quality of his craftsmanship and the range of his subjects and styles. We also loved learning about his life and spending time with him (you can ask him questions on the famous lobster phone and he'll give relative answers - it must be an AI thing!). 

Enjoying drinks and appetizers overlooking St. Petersburg beach.

Our time went by so quickly and all too soon we were off again. This time back for only one night with Harpal and Jeannie before heading west. That was a fun night out for dinner at BJ's Restaurant, a chain we hadn't experienced before, but that Scott particularly loved and in fact joined their club the next day! Next stop two nights at the Silver Springs State Park and then one night in Tallahassee before we check in to the Santa Rosa RV Resort for a three week stay.