Tallahassee

We finally got to Florida on the 9th of January. Aaaahhhhh Florida - the land of warm sunshine and palm trees where we can trade our winter wear for t-shirts and flip-flops. NOT THIS YEAR!!! We must have brought the frigid weather down with us because it became too cold to enjoy the out-of-doors just after our arrival.

Talle is where Jay’s daughter, Lori, lives and is a courier for FedEx. Since she has to apply for her vacation time in May for the whole year, we had planned this week together for many months – which is why we left the cat in North Carolina. We hoped that someone would find her and we would return to pick her up after our visit with Lori.

Lori and Sue just moved into a new house with all the fix-up, make-a-house-a-home projects required by this transition. They found time to take us dancing and to a Florida State University women’s basketball game. It’s been years since we’ve taken the time to go dancing and Jay had not been to a basketball game since high school. Yes, basketball had been invented then . . . we thoroughly enjoyed both.

We shared several meals together (at their place and ours), caught up on lots of stuff and, since it was the first time we’d stopped anywhere for more than three days, it gave us a chance to get a few projects done on Sonny. Unfortunately it was way too chilly for Jay to install some upgrades to the water system. Perhaps one day we’ll actually find t-shirt weather.

The week went all too quickly and Chris refused to leave before she saw some of the Tallahassee area. We spent some time doing a walking tour of the city complete with restored State House and historic homes. There are four driving tours and as smitten as Chris was with the number of ancient Live Oak trees and Spanish Moss, we chose the Canopy Roads driving tour. Go to this link http://www.imagesbychristine.com/Odyssey/TallahasseeFL_TrailGuide.pdf to view the four driving tours and explanations about what lies along them if you are interested.

This link www.imagesbychristine.com/Odyssey/Tallahassee/index.htm will take you to a gallery of Tallahassee photos beginning with the restored State House and the inside of the dome, which is now a museum. The photos of trees and homes line a seven-block long park on Park Avenue in the heart of the city. Most of the homes are now offices for attorneys and other professionals. Old Magnolia Road, the tree-lined dirt road, is part of the Cotton Trail we drove as is the old, Bradley’s Country Store which has been family owned and managed for over 50 years.

After an enjoyable, relaxing ten days, we said our goodbyes and headed . . . . . . . . . . . back to the cat!!