Christmas in Florida, 2013

Way overdue in posting these pics from our trip down to Florida this past Christmas!

 Fanning Springs.  I think it's my favorite spring so far.

We also checked out Rainbow Springs.  Pretty, but I don't like it as much as Fanning or Manatee.

Stopped at the 4 E's boat ramp to grab a cache.

I like this picture...can you see George?

We spotted this cutie in Okeechobee heading over to Platt's Bluff.

 I think he's adorable!

One of the trailheads for the FT, near Platt's Bluff.

I only got a couple pictures of Christmas morning in Okeechobee :(

The gorgeous Pandora that Sam got me.  I am still in shock over it!

The lock at Taylor Creek and Lake Okeechobee.

George had to do a little yakking on Lake Francis.

The day Sam was getting ready to drive back to Miami, he checked and his car was totally out of oil and one of his tires has TWO screws in it!  So, he called work and told them he wouldn't be making it back.  Mom followed him to Sebring to have it checked out....

The cost of repairs was way too much...more wrong than we even imagined, so his Grandma decided to just buy him another car.  Merry Christmas, Sam!!!

Before we drove back to PA, we found some palmettos to plant in the front yard at Lake Placid.

I think the yard is going to look awesome when they grow and start to fill in.  I love planting native!

Trailer Trash?  Maybe to some, but we love this little place!  It's been in the family since about '71 and I hope it always stays in the family :)

Doing a little caching in Okeechobee.  We had a DNF, but it was still neat to see this old Tantie Schoolhouse.

So that was our Christmas.  As always, I swear to post here more often!

Mother's Day Adventures

I spent this Mother's Day in Lake Placid with the guy I love doing some of the things I love...like hiking in the scrub (caching of course!)...

...stopping at Gatorama...

...a little swimming in Lake Francis...

...walking through the cypress swamp in Highland's Hammock State Park...

...FLYING!...(Archbold Biological Station)

Fisheating Creek......The Caloosahatchee River bridge and locks in Moorehaven

buzzing some airboaters...

The Kissimmee River and coming in for a landing...

..and it all finished off with an awesome dinner of BBQ'd shrimp, venison, garlic bread, corn on the cob, cole slaw and Key Lime pie for dessert!

All in all it was a fine weekend that went too fast and was too hectic, but still loads of fun.  Just wish my oldest had gotten to be there, but he had to stay home to dog sit (poor old girl can't make the trip anymore).

Hope all the other Moms out there had a great weekend, too!

P.S.  Foursquare is bizzare...I'm not doing it.  I am also refusing Pandoras and iPhones.

There and Back

Our drive to Lake Placid and back. Be warned - these are bad pictures. My husband can't drive below 120mph and refuses to slow down for anything.

This is something you'd see alot of it you were to drive from Miami to US 27 via Krome Avenue. Melaleuca. Lots and lots of melaleuca. It's brown and dried up here because they've been slowly killing it. Kind of creepy to walk back in a dead melaleuca forest...everything looks the same and very easy to get turned around. Anyway, it's non-native (from Australia) and extremely invasive. Bad, bad trees!

Looking across this small pasture, you can see what a living stand of melaleucas looks like. Kind of pretty. The bark is flaky and peels like paper.

Development's getting closer and closer to the Everglades. Makes me sick.

As we got futher down the road, an old familiar aroma began to fill the air. My baby said, "What dat smell?" The hub asked, "Did you stinky???" No, no, no.... the sugarcane was being burned. If you've never smelled it before, you're lucky! It's kind of like...um, imagine a field full of pig poop set on fire. It'd be kind of like that. Oh, it's very special... Okeelanta was buring on our return trip, so we were lucky enough to get to enjoy it two days in a row.

On our way to Okeechobee to give my mom her Mother's Day present. Going down US98, we pass Jim's Pistolarrow. I just like the name. And next door is a place that sells frog legs and gator tail. YUM!

This way to the Sebring International Raceway! Home of the 12 Hours of Sebring!

Yeah, not a very exciting drive, huh? Though we did see what my sister said were probably Meadow Larks. Very pretty, but trying to take a picture of them out the truck window doing 120 mph just doesn't cut it.

We got to Okeechobee and unloaded my Mom's present. That old Domestic sewing maching I already told you about. She loved it! Yes, she loved it despite the fact that anyone who walks through her front door has to pass her antique vibrator. Hehehehe!!!

My sister and my little squirt.

Leaving Okeechobee and heading back home now...instead of going through the Brighton Indian Reservation like I wanted to, the hub decided to go around the north and eastern edge of Lake Okeechobee. So, here are a few shot I took in town.

"Downtown" Okeechobee.

This is in a park that's right on the main road that runs through town. There are torpedoes, a tank and various other WWII memorabilia there. Interesting to stop and look at...if you can get your hub to stop!

Okee's one and only movie theater.

Ok, we're out of Okeechobee and are now at the Port Mayaca Lock. This is where we stopped to eat our greasy KFC and to take some pics of the sunset over the lake. This shot is with my back to the Big O, facing 441. It's a cool place to park at sunset. You feel like you're sitting by the seashore, NOT on a lake. The wind is usually whipping just like at the beach. The only difference is you don't have salt spray on your skin and instead of washed up seaweed on the shore, you may see gators on the shore! We didn't though.

From there on, it's a pretty boring trip, especially at night. We drove through the towns of Canal Point, Pahokee, Belle Glade and South Bay before getting back onto US 27 for the yuckiest stretch of the trip back home.

Once we get back on Krome we both keep waiting to see the glow in the distance of the Miccosukee casino. Seeing that bit of neon civilization means we are just about home. Some would call it a disturbing intrusion on the edge of the 'Glades, but I always love seeing it when we're heading home. Besides, I give a big thumbs up to the Miccosukees! It's their land! Let them do what they want! And if they make money off of drunk, gambling-addicted white folks, let 'em! (I respect the Miccosukees ALOT more than the Seminoles, but that's a topic for another day).

So, there you have it. Crappy pictures from a pretty uneventful trip. Very boring, I know.

Wait, not totally uneventful!!! We DID manage to get 5, yes FIVE FTF's! WooHoo!!!!! Not without the guidance of Shade's Brigade, though! (Thanks!) And we also had a nice lunch at Hungry Howie's...not a bad place at all.

If you know not of what I speak, check out http://www.geocaching.com/