WICKED

 A friend saw a flock of turkeys in the field behind our RV the other morning, but we hadn't seen them. Then when eating lunch on Tuesday I saw a strange animal in the field and then realized it was a flock of large turkeys.

 This one got pretty close.

Tuesday night we went to the Bob Carr Performance Center in Orlando and saw the play Wicked. It was a great show. The story is really cute explaining what happened to make the witch wicked in the Wizard of OZ and the relationship between Galinda, the good witch, and Elphaba the wicked one.
The only problem we had with the evening was finding the Bob Carr Performance Center and a place to park. We drove around the area for 30 minutes, seeing signs for the center but never arriving. When we finally found it our nerves were a little rattled. We paid to park at the Sheraton right across the street from the center which worked out great when leaving. We were home in half an hour.

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

 On Friday we went to Clearwater to see the Phillies at their spring training field. It was a practice game with the Phillies playing each other. Parking was free and so was the game - good deal.

 We were parked nice and close to the stadium, maybe a little too close according to this sign behind our car.

 Now here are real Phillies fans! We really went to visit with Roberta and Bill who drove down for a week  of watching the Phillies train and to go to three of their games.

 You could sit anywhere in the park you wanted to. So of course we sat behind home base and in the shade. The temperature was in the 80's.

 Bill is an avid photographer and Phillies fan. He was hoping to get some balls autographed but he wasn't able to get any signatures today.

We enjoyed a good lunch at Chilis with Roberta and Bill, but we still had to stop at Plant City on our way home and get a strawberry sundae.

VAN FLEET TRAIL

 Friends told us about the Van Fleet state trail. It is 29 miles long and goes from Groveland to Polk City.  From TT you can get on the trail at the 9 mile mark.

   The bridges over the wet lands had this warning. Didn't see any.

 It is a nice tree lined, flat paved trail.  We biked from mile mark 8 to 14, an enjoyable ride.

ROCKING AND ROLLING

 We were up early (for us) on Tuesday morning for we were leaving at 8:30 for the Victory Casino Cruise. As we walked out our door to leave this hot air balloon landed in the field right behind our park.

 The package deal was a bus to Port Canaveral, $20.00 in Casino cash , lunch and a 6 hour cruise with entertainment, all for $36 a person.

 Larry ready to cruise.

 Boarding the ship.

 Rocky and the Rollers was the 50's band that entertained us in and out to sea. They were pretty good.

 The ship sailed at 11:00.On our way out to sea we passed this nice RV park and beach, we will have to check it out sometime.

 Kennedy Space center from sea.
We had to be three miles out to sea before the Casino was operational. Our promo money wasn't usable on the poker slots so we had to play ones we don't like. We were able to take our vouchers we won playing that slot and play the poker slot. Winning about $20.
We were scheduled to eat our lunch at 11:30, by now the boat was rocking pretty much. The food was served cafeteria style. It was OK but not Casino buffet we are use to. I spent a lot of the trip outside in the sun, wishing it would soon be over. The rocking got to me.

 Coming into port!! Glad to be back on land soon. We were on the bus and on our way home by 5 but due to traffic delay we didn't arrive back at TT until 7:30.  Our last food was at 11:30, we were hungry. Don't think we will do this again.

If we go on a cruise again it will have to be on a ship at least this size!

BACK IN BUSINESS

 I'm back in business. Never found the cord for my camera so we went to Best Buy and upgraded to this camera. With its cord I can also charge my other camera from my computer, so know I should be able to take lots of pictures.

 Larry surprised me at Valentines with this beautiful wedding band.

 I have a beautiful diamond set but we already have had to have it repaired.  I wanted a plain band so when I'm working I won't have to wear it. Also my golf glove didn't fit over the stone, so I was always having to take it off. The new band  looks nice with my original set or alone.

 On Friday there was a luncheon at the Life Enrichment Center in Fruitland Park for  the NOMADS here in Florida. This is where our first project was last March.

 142 NOMADS attended the luncheon and there are a lot more here in Florida.  Larry catching up with Sandy and Dave.

 The little lady in blue, and her husband behind her, are from Hawaii. They came to the mainland, purchased a small RV and started doing NOMAD projects. They did 13 last year, that's a lot! Plus not realizing how far apart one was from the next (Florida to Texas). They have slowed the pace down a little this year. It was nice meeting them.

Perry, who made our NOMADS sign, was the MC. It was amazing to hear how many volunteer hours we all have put in this year just in Florida. It was a nice luncheon and fun to see old friends and make some new.

FUN AND GAMES

 We camped with the Blue Herons at Tropical Palms RV resort from February 6 to the 10th.  We always enjoyed a get together in the afternoon.

 We were glad Jo and Cliff were camping with us again and that Lois and Jim stopped by for dinner.

 Our host for this camp out was Ken and Joyce. Dinner on Thursday night was hamburgers and beans. Delicious.

 Jan led the ladies in a craft on Friday morning. Now we will know who we are and have our keys with us.

 After our craft everyone went to play miniature golf. It was a very nice course and we had a good time.

 Jan, Jim, Tam and Chuck made up a fast moving team/

 Audrey, Marty, Nan and Don were a team.

 Dick, Roberta, Joyce and Ken played together.

 Dottie and Larry scampered around playing and taking pictures.

 All these players had a hole in one. If your hole in one was at a certain hole you won a free game. Good job guys. After this busy day we went out for dinner at the Columbia restaurant in Celebration.

 Saturday we had a good pancake breakfast and then  our business meeting.

For several hours Saturday afternoon we got our exercise playing corn hole.  I think my shoulder will feel it tomorrow, but we had lots of fun and were getting better.

I just found out I accidently threw away my cord to charge my camera yesterday. We think it was in the box from the case of water and didn't realize it. So until I can replace it or get a new camera my blog may be silent for awhile, sorry.

ANNIVERSARY

 We have been married 10 years already, so we wanted to do something a little special. We thought about a cruise but with the coach and cat it was going to take a lot of planning (which we hadn't done). So at the last minute we came up with going to Marco Island,FL.  When Larry sold insurance in the 70's this was the place they sent the high sellers  for their award. He never got here so he wanted to see what it was all about. We abandoned our coach at Wauchula TT and drove down on Wednesday afternoon. We stopped at the visitor center and they sent us to this motel. We had a great view of the river into the gulf.                                                                                                              We even saw porpoise.  

 Thursday was cloudy and a little cool.We took a walk on the beach and collected lots of pretty shells. We then went to the movies and saw Silver Lining Play list. It was a good movie and the theatre was one where they served food, so it was a different experience.

 Wednesday night we ate at Cafe de  Marco, which was in walking distance from our motel. Larry surprised me with having a vase of beautiful roses on the table. The meal was delicious and the service superb.  I even tried stone crab claw. It was a lovely way to celebrate our anniversary.

 On the way back on Friday we stopped at Corkscrew Swamp sanctuary.

 We only had two hours to spend, but we did walk the 2 and 1/2 mile boardwalk around it and saw some wildlife. We saw a family of three raccoons. Look for the tail by the leaf in the middle of the picture.

 Can you find the blue heron? Look up and little left of center.

A beautiful hawk. It is a great birding place. It was a nice three day two night trip.