The Greatest Show on Earth!!

One of the greatest joys of this lifestyle is the ability to visit good friends some of which live in the Sarasota/Bradenton area: Jay’s high school friend, Darrel Wade and his wife Alberta, and Jay’s favorite Boatswain’s Mate (besides Jessica) Phil Bucci and his wife Diane. The Buccis offered to let us park our rig in their yard and we did so for a week. Due to their busy daytime schedules, we enjoyed spending time with them and sharing stories in the evenings over dinner.

All of the RV parks require pets to be on a leash at all times. They cannot even be outside on a short lead attached to your RV if you are not in attendance. We were ecstatic to be able to let Max run loose in the Bucci’s fenced in yard while we occupied ourselves inside the trailer! Max didn’t share our enthusiasm and in a short time began whimpering and barking. We surmised that he was too used to being around people all the time. He’d never really been able to run freely, (except when he chased his tennis balls), as Jessica always had him confined inside her condo or on a lead outside her house when she lived in Oregon. When we were out of sight he just didn’t know what to do with himself, except dig holes to lie in and stay cool, that is.

Although Jay’s back had improved, since his Thanksgiving weekend ordeal, it still caused him discomfort and he longed for a pain-free existence. Back home he was treated by a chiropractor that used the ART (Active Release Technique) which releases spasms and stretches the muscles providing instantaneous relief. Practitioners were not to be found in the Miami area but he struck gold in Sarasota. We went to an appointment the day after we arrived.

The procedure is not exactly a walk in the park for the patient, as the muscle manipulation required can exceed the pain you want it to relieve, but you know what they say, “No pain, no gain”. Chris was in attendance and took notes so that she could continue the therapy while on the road and she again witnessed Jay’s facial and audible responses to the taxing treatment. The good news is when he rose from the bench he was a new man. Like we said, the relief is instantaneous.

Unbeknownst to us, Alberta Wade is football fanatic, whereas Darrell couldn’t care less. Kind of like the reverse of Jay and Chris. But, it gave us a good excuse to get together and we did so for the NFL playoffs on January 24^th.

The following day Darrell took us to the Mote Aquarium in Sarasota. The aquarium displays had a wonderful variety of Florida marine life from the rivers to the bays to the reefs. A huge, two-story high tank housed Hugh and Buffett, two manatees that were born in captivity and have lived at Mote since 1996. One of them was swimming laps around the tank at a surprisingly brisk speed. Other low, open tanks allowed us to be up close and personal (but couldn’t touch) a variety of sea turtles that had come there for medical treatment years before and stayed on. Experiencing the size and beauty of these sea creatures that close was truly a special treat.

Max seemed content to stay in the RV when we went out but, Darrell enjoyed him so much that he offered to babysit while we visited the Ringling Museum. It was the residence of John and Mable Ringling while the Ringling Brothers Circus wintered in the Sarasota area early in the 20^th century. The 66 acre grounds contained Ca d’Zan, their 56 room, Venetian style waterfront home, that overlooks Sarasota Bay, the last of the Gilded Age mansions. Chris wished she had her tripod and more time to photograph its intricately ornate architectural features, one of her favorite subjects.

The Ringling’s winter home, Ca d’Zan.

Detail of the roofline of Ca d’Zan.

Detail of an interior ceiling in the Ringling home.

The Ringlings traveled extensively in Europe and developed a passion for collecting art. They amassed an impressive trove of paintings from masters such as Rubens, Titian and Velázquez and antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. John built the palatial, U-shaped, Italian style Museum of Art to display all of their precious acquisitions under one roof. Each elegant gallery is uniquely decorated and seems to compete with the priceless artwork for your attention. A replica of Michelangelo’s David watches over the central courtyard and its fountains, reproductions from Rome and Florence, and the casts of renaissance sculptures. We felt as though we were guests of some royal personage and had free reign of their palace and grounds as we progressed through the day.

A fountain in the Ringling Museum of Art courtyard

Jay before some of the incredibly beautiful artwork in the Museum

One of the elaborately decorated rooms in the Museum

Although we were awed by the splendor of the house and museum one of the most amazing things we encountered was the Howard Bros. Circus Model, a replica of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus from 1919-1938. Howard Tibbals spent over 50 years creating this ¾ inch scale model that occupies 3800 square feet. It consists of eight main tents, thousands of hand-made pieces including 1,300 circus performers and workers, 800 animals and a 59-car train and is the world’s largest miniature circus. We were awestruck by the intricate detail as we viewed it through ceiling high Plexiglas windows and walked completely around the display enabling us to absorb the entire scope of the model. One could visit it weekly and still find something they hadn’t seen before.

An idea of the scope of the Howard Bros. Circus model.

Detail of the train section of the model.

Detail of one of the scenes in the model.

The Side Show section of the model.

Detail of the Big Top interior.

The Circus Museum building contained some of the original, completely restored circus wagons in all their gilded glory, the human cannonball vehicle and John Ringling’s private Rail car. Mannequins on tall platforms wore brightly colored, heavily beaded and sequined costumes adorned with feathers and ruffles. A special display housed the clown, Emmett Kelly’s costume, complete with his broom, hat and big floppy shoes. They even had the 1952 Academy Award winning movie, The Greatest Show on Earth playing all day. (When we returned home, we immediately put the movie in our Netflix queue so that we could watch it.) There was so much more to see and experience that we really needed at least another day, but other commitments took priority.

The Band Wagon, sometimes pulled by as many as 40 horses during the entry parade.

The Human Cannonball truck.

Emmett Kelly’s costume.

One of the elaborate beaded and sequined costumes.

Freezing at the Lake

We left Miami on January 6th and returned to Lake Okeechobee but stayed at the North Lake Estates RV Resort in Moore Haven on the west side of the lake. Although there are probably many RV resorts of this type, it was the first we’d been exposed to. Most of the residents come for the winter and live in prefab single or double-wide homes. Some have screened or glassed-in porches that stretch down the side; others have large paved drives across the front where golf carts fit snugly under roof extensions. And all sit within miniscule lots sprinkled with trees.

A long, low building toward the rear of the complex houses a library, gym, craft/game room and a restaurant. Across a broad avenue from it are two other large buildings that house a wood working shop and several apartments. The resort centerpiece is a multi-acre lake bisected by a wooden bridge with an adjoining pool, outdoor barbeque and activities building. Everything is kept as neat as a pin by residents who take turns attending to the community areas.

The main reason for our return was to rendezvous with Chris’ friend, Clyde Sanda, whom she hadn’t seen since the early 90’s when they met while cruising the Caribbean; she with her family and he with his son. He and his girlfriend, Jan, live in Oregon but keep a sailboat near the lake and were coming for their annual vacation of sailing down the west coast of Florida. They weren’t due to arrive until the 3rd week of the month, so Chris took daily advantage of the gym facilities and we hung out in the RV working on projects, editing photos and generally catching our breath after the whirlwind month we’d had in Miami.

Chris has always worked out, in some form, for many years, incorporating TV exercise shows, yoga, Pilates and barbells. Working in her home garden was not only mentally therapeutic but kept her in shape. The RV lifestyle does not attract the fittest of America’s citizens and the parks normally have very limited to no fitness equipment or programs in which one can participate. So, with a fully equipped gym including four universal weight bearing machines, half a dozen aerobic machines consisting of treadmills and cycles, and a library of at least 30 VHS exercise/aerobic/yoga tapes that could be played on one of two wall-mounted TVs positioned in the floor exercise area at her disposal, Chris thought she’d died and gone to heaven. She averaged a 1 ½ hour workout most every day and was pleased with the considerable results achieved during their 17-day stay.

On the other hand, Jay likes to stay in shape by walking and doing all the RV and truck maintenance. When at home in MD, he and Chris had a two-mile circuit around the community that they tried to walk every day. With Chris working out at the gym so much, Jay didn’t have his walking partner and would trek out on his own. In true Jay form, he would chat with the residents along the way, and by the time he reached home he had all kinds of stories to tell about who he’d just met.

It was a good thing that we were still in Florida as Chris’ daughter, Jessica, got orders to attend a Search and Rescue (SAR) school in Yorktown, VA for four weeks. Boarding her pets was a cost prohibitive option she would rather avoid, so we volunteered to care for Little Miss and Max. On January 15th we met at a convenient crossroads and she loaded us up with cat and dog food, litter box, pet toys, and bags of perishable foods she didn’t want to spoil in her refrigerator. Wow, it was like going grocery shopping for free and just happening to come home with a couple of new pets!! On the way home we stopped at the Goodwill and for $10 bought a spread to serve as a bed for Max. What a deal and now Jay had a walking partner to boot!

Although we’d seen this strange phenomenon in Melbourne, we noticed it again immediately behind our RV!! The back of our home faced the fence surrounding the resort and between it and the highway was an expanse of lawn about 40 feet deep. While sitting at our computers and looking through the back window, we would see the tops of golf carts zipping by. Curious as to what they were doing in this particular area we investigated further. Now, we’ve seen people walk their dogs on a leash, we’ve even seen people walk their dogs while riding their bikes, but we really have trouble wrapping our heads around rotund residents walking/running their dogs with their golf carts.

Clyde and Jan arrived on the 18th but our visits with them were way too short as most of their time was spent working on the boat to prepare it for their sailing vacation. It was dry docked at a nearby storage facility and they experienced battery and other “a boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money” problems that kept them from launching at the appointed time. Nevertheless, we had a great time catching up on what we’ve been doing over the last 15 years and meeting our respective life loves.

Clyde and Jan – we finally meet again!

The average temperatures for the Lake Okeechobee area during February are highs of 75 degrees and lows of 55 degrees. We all know what kind of a 2010 winter the entire country experienced and Florida had its difficulties too. The thermometer read multiple daytime highs in the 60s with strong, biting winds requiring jackets and long pants for any outing. Nights dropped into the 30s repeatedly and the first hard freeze hit the crops destroying millions of dollars worth of tomatoes, citrus and other produce throughout Central and Northern Florida. We have a propane furnace in the RV but primarily use a tower space heater since we don’t pay extra for electricity at most RV parks. It ran non-stop day and night with the furnace kicking on throughout the nights. So, if you noticed a price increase in tomatoes, orange juice and strawberries over the winter, that’s why.

This region has huge tracts of land dedicated to sugar cane and we don’t believe it was affected as we saw an unending stream of tractor trailers loaded with the scorched stalks. Scorched, because before they are harvested, the fields are burned to sear the stalks and seal in the juices. Kind of like searing a steak on the grill to do the same. We’d never heard of this being done before but it explained the massive amounts of smoke we saw billowing from the fields when we first arrived at North Lake. Read more about the sugar cane industry in Florida here.

We had reservations with campgrounds to gradually move north through the beginning of April so, with trepidation, on January 22nd, we moved on to the Sarasota/Bradenton area to visit with more of Jay’s Coast Guard and high school friends, hoping that the cold snap was behind us.

The Start of the New Year in Key West!!

Jessica’s Christmas gift to us was three days in Key West. Thank you, Jessica!!! We headed south on January 3^rd and arrived in enough time to check into our hotel, and walk around the heart of the downtown area. It was again a frigid, cloudy, blustery day but we were dressed for it and strolled to the waterfront area of Mallory Square. Similar to the Baltimore Harbor Place it is paved entirely in decorative brick and street performers mark out a territory and draw people in to watch their show. The more they draw in the greater the potential for mucho monetary offerings at its completion.

Welcome sign at Mallory Square.

We were sucked in by the humor of a tall, lanky, raspy voiced unicyclist with a pierced earring in one lobe. One had to wonder if his voice was naturally that way or if it was a result of the days he spent attracting audiences to his act. While calling to the passersby to come close, he was creating a huge semi-circle on the pavement with a fluid from what appeared to be a patio grill lighter fluid bottle. Chris was wondering if it would be lit as a part of his show until he assured the gathering crowd, by putting a flame to it, that it was only water. With audience in place, he humored us while balancing on top of a free-standing ladder and eventually atop his unicycle where he proceeded to catch, with his foot, a bowler style hat he’d pushed off his shaved head as his finale. We tossed him a greenback reward and were immediately sucked into another show, beginning right next to him, featuring dog tricks. This performer wasn’t as entertaining and one poor dog was so cold she was visibly shivering. Jessica had brought Max with her and they were standing quietly amongst the audience, when one of the performer’s dogs began barking at him. Poor Max wasn’t doing anything to provoke her and Jessica was so embarrassed that she pulled him away from the show and wandered over to check out the jewelry at the nearby vendor tables. We think the “bitch” was overcome by Max’s manliness.

Jay holding the street performer’s ladder as he jumps to his unicycle.

Released from the spell of the street performers we wandered around and encountered an older gentleman with one of those musical rigs that have just about every instrument you can think of hanging off of him. You know, the ones that have a big round drum with cymbals on top, a horn with a big, black rubber bulb on the end and a harmonica hanging around his neck, you name it he’s got it kind of musical menagerie. He’d finished his show so we didn’t get to see him in action, but it was the last thing Chris expected to see as she thought the “craft” had died out long ago. It just goes to show you that you should expect the unexpected at Key West.

This guy can play most anything. We just don’t know how many he can play at one time.

With dark closing in we made our way to the town center area to see its offerings and formulated a plan for what we wanted to do the next day. Then we found a nice, warm, cozy Thai restaurant.

We could hardly get that far south and not have a picture taken at the Southernmost Point buoy. Our first stop the next day was exactly that. We couldn’t believe the line of a score of people waiting for their opportunity to “capture the photo”.

Chris, Jessica and Max at the Southernmost point buoy.

Next stop was the Mel Fisher Museum which housed the bounteous treasure from the Atocha, a 17^th century Spanish galleon that sank, during a hurricane, about 50 miles off the coast of Key West. When it sank, on September 6, 1622 it was burgeoning with gold and silver bars, dozens of feet of heavy, gold chain, thousands of silver doubloons and countless gemstones totaling a fortune in excess of $450 million today. These riches had been harvested in Central America and were on their way to the coffers of Philip IV in Spain. Read more about Mel Fisher at this link.

Chris and Jay at the Mel Fisher Museum.

A display of gold chains and an ornate gold necklace recovered from the wreck.

True to form, Jay and Chris took their time and read all the information in the exhibit from the story of the conception of the search, the discovery of the mother lode, information about the artifacts found, which reflect life during that time, to the court case Fisher fought to defend his ownership of the treasure. There is a secure Plexiglas display which allows you to lift a gold bar and experience its texture and heft. It is surprising how dense and heavy it is. The gold, silver and doubloons have been crafted into fine jewelry and are sold in the museum’s gift shop – for a hefty price. Divers continue to retrieve treasure from the site even today. In the museum it was easy to imagine being a part of such an adventure. It is a good feeling to know that even the largest and most far out dreams can be fulfilled.

We’d love to have the value of these beauties in our bank account.

Silver bells – oh no, it’s bars.

A walking tour ate up the rest of our day and we learned about the founding fathers of the Conch Republic, as Key West was once known, the location of the actress Kelly McGillis’ restaurant, and found a unique fixer-upper for a mere $4 million that was nowhere near the waterfront. Walking off the main drag was pleasant as we didn’t have to dodge the unending stream of tourists occupying the downtown district and the icy wind was blocked by the assortment of 18^th and 19^th century homes.

A real cheap fixer-upper.

A true Conch Republican hood ornament.

Route 1 Mile 0. It all starts or ends here.

No visit to Key West is complete without a meal at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, where we dined that night. Jessica was surprised and pleased to get carded before being served and the food was quite good. On one wall a large screen continuously played videos of Jimmy in concerts where attendees are still very much into the “it’s 5 o’clock somewhere” mentality. But, of course, that’s how he got so popular.

Jimmy Buffet – the original Parrot Head.

We made one stop on the drive home at the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key. This was the home of Flipper in the 1960s and where his grandchildren still reside. A small, covered causeway extends out into the Gulf, about 200’, and is bordered on each side by watery pens that house the dolphins. Floating platforms in the pens allow the researchers, trainers and paying patrons to interact with them on a variety of levels depending on the package for which they paid. You could let one glide under your hands for $25, spend 20 minutes swimming in the water with them for $189 or spend a whole day with a trainer for a mere $650!! All of these opportunities were in addition to the basic entrance fee.

A family copping a feel at the Dolphin Research Center.

Although sunny, this particular day was cold and the wind was blowing at least 15 mph. Standing on the causeway was a brisk experience which necessitated us employing all sweaters, jackets and windbreakers we’d packed. We warmed up a couple of times by attending two different talks in a small, concrete block building where we learned about baby dolphins and general behavior. The rest of our afternoon stay encompassed watching several shows where the beaked whales caught and tossed back rings and balls, stood on their tails and leapt 20’ out of the water. It was surprising how many people braved the frosty temperatures to be in the water with these critters. Granted they had donned full or partial wetsuits and maybe the water was actually warmer than the air, but it is likely they paid for it in goose bumps on their way back to the changing room.

As much as we would have liked to extend our stay in Miami, we were kicked out of the RV Park the following day on January 6^th. We knew it was coming as when we originally made our reservations they had no space available after that date, but we liked the Park and seeing Jessica and would like to have stayed longer - although we certainly wouldn’t miss the Miami traffic.

Friends, Peacocks and Parks

It seems most everywhere we go Jay knows someone he served with in the Coast Guard and south Florida was no exception. We took a couple of days, headed to The Keys and visited with Gary and Jane Nelson whom Jay knew from when he lived on his sailboat in the Virgin Islands. They live in a comfortable home on a canal where Gary keeps his powerboat, for his fishing forays, in the town of Tavernier located just south of Key Largo on Plantation Key. Jane told Chris about lots of places to visit, both in Florida and other parts of the country, one of which was the Miami Zoo. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local seafood restaurant, visited with some of their colorful neighbors, one of whom lives in the community across the street that has a grass, aircraft landing strip. The Nelsons recommended we feed the Tarpon fish at Robbie’s Marine and Geological Park, so we headed a little further south and pulled into their parking lot. Unfortunately we were unimpressed with both the food offered at their waterside restaurant and with the fact that we had to pay extra just to walk out on the pier where the Tarpon were fed much less pay for the fish to feed them. So, we said “No thank you” and headed back to the RV Park.

These ladies used their fish to feed the tarpon and the multitude of pelicans that were permanent fixtures on the dock.

On another trip to The Keys we enjoyed spending time with Jay’s friend from St. Thomas, Larry Connor, and his wife Sharon. On the way to their home, we stopped at the gallery of underwater photographer, Stephen Frink. He travels around the globe on assignment for national scuba diving magazines taking photographs for their covers and feature articles. Most of the photos in The Keys Visitor Center magazine were taken by him. Browse bins scattered throughout the gallery contained mounted prints and we were mesmerized by the slide show of his brightly colored images playing on a 42”, wall-mounted TV.

All homes and boats require a certain amount of ongoing maintenance and RVs are no different. We discovered the trees in Savannah not only poked a hole in our roof, but also bent a rod on an awning assembly that covers the kitchen slide. A couple of trips to the RV store for parts and a few hours later we had it repaired. We considered filling the roof cavity with a ship deck prism and the search was on. After Chris scoured the web for one more affordable than $250 and coming up empty, we conned Jessica into driving us to Fort Lauderdale so that we could rummage around the chandleries. We did come across some, but they were either strictly decorative, rectangular and too big, or mounting hardware was not available. The duct tape was holding, so we abandoned the search for the time being.

This resident, RV Park peacock insisted on digging in Chris’ pots of herbs and salad greens.

While in Fort Lauderdale, we dined with Quinn Corbett, a former Virgin Island drinking buddy of Jay’s. Quinn is a cook on a 100’ charter boat that was having the finishing touches completed of adding an additional 12’ to the stern and a complete interior remodeling. He showed us how his brand new magnetic stove top and flush, wall mounted steamer worked. We’d never seen anything like it in an upscale home, much less a boat. The ship chartered for about $50k per week and clients included Matthew McConaughey and other notable celebrities. We went to dinner at a haunt Jay used to frequent in his boating days, of which he raved about the food. Afterward it was obvious to us that it had changed management or at least cook staff because the fare paled in comparison to its former glory.

Where had the month gone? New Years was a few days away and we hadn’t even visited the Everglades, Key West and other attractions in the area. It seemed there was always something else to be done and the month flew by. We knew we could not extend our stay at the RV Park, so we had to start scheduling more fun days.

Jane Nelson had highly recommended visiting the gallery of Clyde Butcher, an internationally acclaimed photographer best known for his Ansel Adams-like black and white, large format photos of the Everglades and the Big Cypress National Preserve. His gallery is less than a mile from the Visitor Center of Big Cypress and we stopped on our way there. Chris was amazed to see photographs of him in the field with his cameras, one of which holds a 14” x 20” negative. The gallery’s walls are covered with dozens of framed 24” x 48” black and white prints of stunning images. Surprisingly they are not giclee prints, but created with traditional darkroom techniques by exposing the negative onto photo paper and processing it just like in the old black and white film days. We saw a photograph of Butcher in his lab doing just that. These spectacular images sold for thousands of dollars each and would be too large for the walls in the average home – at least in ours. Smaller prints were available for sale in both giclee and traditional film processing but the difference in quality was vividly apparent in favor of the film technique.

Big Cypress Preserve is essentially a huge cypress swamp and was fairly anti-climactic for us. We arrived about mid-afternoon, toured the miniscule Visitor Center, and listened to a Ranger talk about alligators, given by a young girl originally from Maryland, as we gazed at several of them sunning themselves on the bank of a small canal below the deck on which we stood. Then we hiked the first few hundred yards of a trail before it was covered by water. Unbeknownst to us there are few roads into the swamp, they are heavily pocked and, unless you don’t care about replacing your suspension, the rangers advise avoiding them. We were told the best way to experience it is by boat. Well, maybe next time….

Some of the alligators as seen from the Preserve deck.

A view of the Preserve from the trail. All that you see stands in shallow water.

We visited Big Cypress and the Butcher Gallery on New Year’s Eve and got home in time to attend the scheduled Beach Party celebration at the RV Park, but being the old fogies that we have become, and feeling a little tired from our day trip, we stayed home New Years Eve and enjoyed a movie. Big finish to 2009, huh?

After the New Year we squeezed in a ranger guided canoe trip before leaving for a few days in Key West with Jessica. So, on a sunny, blustery, unusually chilly day (actually this was beginning to be the norm) we headed to the launch site at Nine Mile Pond in the Everglades. An interesting mixture of a family with two teen-age children, middle-aged and older couples, and single men and women occupied the half dozen canoes of our excursion. Not far into the narrow, twisting channels winding through stands of mangrove, we felt blessed that we’d volunteered to bring up the rear and make sure no one got left behind, as the occupants ahead of us mistakenly thought they were paddling bumper cars. It seemed at every bend in the trail, and there were many, several canoes were engaged in a traffic pileup. There was much laughter associated with these gatherings but, we, being the sailors and boat handlers that we are, failed to be quite as amused as they. After a while we did lighten up and laughed at the absurdity of it all and enjoyed the day immensely.

A pileup trying to enter a narrow channel in the mangrove trail.

Mangroves along the canoe trail.

Small cypress trees growing in the grassy wetlands of the Everglades.

Next stop – Key West!!

Christmas in Miami

Jessica had not intended to get a Christmas tree since she lived alone in her condo but after a few days she decided otherwise and we found an adorable little tabletop tree. She dragged out the boxes of Christmas decorations and Jay joined us to spend an evening decorating it and her condo. On the tree we used the hand-made fan coral and seashell ornaments created during our family’s year-long sailing cruise through the Caribbean Islands in the early 90s. Chris, Jessica and Kevin had collected scraps of fan coral and small shells along the beaches they visited. They tore the coral into various shapes, glued tiny shells to them, and then hung them with colorful embroidery floss. It brought back some very fond memories of our wonderful experience on the boat as we decorated the tree.

George Johnson, a former Coast guard buddy of Jay’s, and his wife Caroline, invited us, and Jessica, to their family Christmas dinner. Chris concocted a dish to share and off we went. Caroline had been cooking for a couple of days and we enjoyed a truly a sumptuous feast with all the trimmings, seasonal decorations, candles, fine china, silver and lace tablecloth in, of course, the formal dining room; just like Chris’s Mom used to do. We were right at home and enjoyed seeing them and meeting more of their family and friends.

Fortunately they served the meal in the early afternoon and Jessica could attend before she had to leave for her night shift at Headquarters. She came in civilian attire and brought her uniform expecting to change when she got to work. Caroline would have nothing of it and insisted Jessica change there so that she could see her in uniform. Caroline ooohed and aaaahed and told her how wonderful she looked and how she loved to see a young person in uniform.

The next night we had our own Christmas celebration at Jessica’s condo. We fixed a simple, but tasty dinner, opened gifts and relaxed in front of the TV viewing a cute movie. The night of the 27^th, she insisted that we see the new movie, Avatar. We had no knowledge of its existence but agreed to go and had no regrets despite our late start to catch the 10:45 p.m. movie. The entire 3-D film is chocked full of special effects that are pure eye candy and we really enjoyed it despite its somewhat predictable storyline. We found the theme to be very spiritual in nature which is in line with a lot of the books that Chris has been studying over the last 13 years.

Experiencing Miami

On December 6^th we arrived at the Larry and Penny Thompson RV Park in Miami. It was the nicest RV Park we had found thus far. The County facility had a serpentine road from which eleven cul-de-sac-like pods branched. The RVs were radially arranged around the perimeter of the pods that were separated by large open areas dotted with Live Oaks. The weather was warm and sunny and we were in heaven. Our first order of business was to call Chris’ daughter, Jessica, since that was the reason we were in Miami.

Coordinating with Jessica’s schedule was a bit tricky as she was working 12-hour night shifts at the Coast Guard District 7 Command Headquarters from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. On her days off she liked to conform her awake and sleep times to her work schedule so that her body clock would stay in sync. Fortunately we are relatively late sleepers and arranged to visit her in the afternoons and evenings on her days off and did our shopping, sightseeing and visiting on her work days during our five-week stay in the area.

Chris stayed a couple of days at Jessica’s condo and they spent a day at a monstrous mall doing their Christmas shopping. Chris had been searching online for some tall rubber boots to use when she photographed in marshy areas and had found a pair of red, Wellington, Hunter boots. To her surprise and delight the ladies shoe department at Nordstrom’s carried the boots – but not in red. So, she tried what they had on for size and ordered them in red. The rest of their shopping was fruitful and they got all their Christmas shopping done in time to wrap and mail the gifts.

No visit to Miami is complete without a stroll through South Beach. The broad sidewalks are lined with restaurants of every culinary cuisine. Many display a large, poster-sized copy of their menu and have sample dishes of the meals they offer immaculately arranged on an adjacent table. The hosts/hostesses are like vendors at a carnival, hawking sales pitches to all passing by as to why you need to eat there - they have the best food, food you won’t get anywhere else - you name it they’ve thought of every con possible to lure you into their lairs. The fact is they all seemed pretty much the same.

The infamous South Beach complete with palm trees.

Didn’t spend much time on it but here it is - Miami Beach!

A stroll down a main shopping area in Miami Beach, Lincoln Road, was an interesting experience. A large portion of the road is for pedestrian traffic only and lined with restaurants, art galleries, clothing boutiques, shoe stores, high end candy shops, and just about any other kind of store you can think of. Chris and Jess stopped in dress and shoe shops just to see if they had any affordable, items for Jessica to wear when she went out on the town. Evidently the night scene in Miami is pretty upscale and she wants to at least make an effort to fit in. Mostly she finds name brand dresses online at a fraction of the cost at brick and mortars but it is always fun to look and laugh at the prices. Just an example of what we found in one store was a tiny – imagine postage stamp size- lime green skirt embellished with metallic gold and copper thread embroidery, sequins and beads. The skirt was so short and petite in circumference that a fraction of 1% of women would even be able to wear it. And a fraction of one percent of those women would be able to afford it at the – brace yourself - $1,200 price tag. Cute, but not that cute.

Miami Beach’s main shopping district on Lincoln Road.