Preparing to head home

On Monday, November 24th, Bob and I went to the Kennedy Space Center. It was about a 60 mile drive from where we are staying so we left early in the morning. When we arrived it was not very crowded. Besides viewing all the different displays, they offer a bus tour which takes you to various other locations on the grounds. We got to see the building where the shuttle is assembled, drove by the crawler (which carries the shuttle to the launch area), and also saw the tower that holds the shuttle for launch.
We saw all of the Apollo displays, watched a 3D movie in the IMAX theatre, and took a simulated shuttle ride. We had a great time. This definitely should be a stop if you are in the area.
We have kept up with all of our routine chores, groceries, exercise (by the way, I am now riding 10 miles on my bike-which is every other day), (we walk on non-bike days), and cleaning the motor home. Also, I have been Christmas shopping via the internet and having the items shipped to Steffanie's. My Christmas cards are almost ready for mailing! Retirement does have benefits.
Tomorrow, Thanksgiving, we will be dining with my dad and Virginia. But no turkey in Whoville. Dad doesn't like it, so we will feast on ham and all the trimmings. But being with family is the best.
We will wrap up the week by preparing to leave Daytona Beach on Monday. We will travel to Tarpon Springs, Florida and visit with our friend. Our motor home will stay in Florida and we will drive home, hoping to be there on December 11th. I think we will be home for about 3 weeks.
Happy Thanksgving-do you see the turkey?
As always, we appreciate our family and friends and miss them very much.
Mary, Bob, and Miles, too!

Florida Retirees (for a month)

After setting up our home at Harris RV park in Ormond Beach, Florida, we have been busy. One of our first items on our to do list was to visit with my dad. I was so glad to see him and his friend , Virginia. They live in Daytona Beach and are about 7 miles from where we are staying. Dad looks good and seems to be recovering nicely from his 6 bypass surgery last July. He is 80 years old. I can't believe it. He has kept us busy with checking out the surrounding sights. He plans our itinerary and calls us with the day's outings. He doesn't always go with us just plans it. He knows EVERY restaurant and bakery within about 100 mile radius and I am not kidding.
Since we have arrived the weather has been awesome. The first 2 days were rainy but other than that mid 80's, slight breeze, just beautiful. Of course, Bob keeps track of the weather at home and laughs at the comparison. I told him that he is not being very nice.
Ormond Beach is known as the birthplace of speed. Referring to the beaches where races were held. The beaches were the flattest areas. And motorcycles-they are everywhere. We did go the Daytona 500 Speedway and toured the welcome area. We decided not to tour the speedway itself. Bob and I aren't big Nascar fans. We did stop in the gift shop and picked up a gift for son-in-law Mike (car lover).
We have gone to several restaurants with Dad and Virginia and one of them was Ponce Inlet. It was very good. It is situated on the water and you can see the boats and watch the dolphins. We did see one while we were there.
We went back 2 days later to visit the light house and museum. Bob climbed to the top of the light house. We also toured the refurbished light keepers' homes. Quite interesting.
We have really enjoyed the long term stay because it has enabled us to take our time to sight see and relax. There is a park about 1 mile from our home and we go there everyday to exercise-either bike ride or walk. Bob makes sure of that. There is a pier that we walk on out into the intracoastal waterways. It's hard to believe that it is November and we are wearing t-shirts and shorts. On that note, we can't believe that we have been gone from home almost 6 months. The time is flying by.
On Friday we went to Daytona Beach to watch the space shuttle fly over. It was spectacular. There were quite a few people there. Apparently this is a big event with the people here. In some towns, people were getting ready as early as noon and staking out a spot on the beach.
We also went to the large flea market by the speedway. There were tons of vendors and people. Here is an amazing coincidence-when we headed to our car I saw a truck with an Iowa licence plate and there was a bumper sticker on the truck-"follow me to the Pevely Flea Market"! The significance of that is: Pevely is my hometown.
We are caught up on our grocery shopping, laundry, and housecleaning. So after lunch today, we are going to the park to bike ride.
As always, we miss our family and friends and appreciate them very much.
Mary, Bob, and Miles, too!

The Sunshine State

We arrived at our campground in Ormond Beach today, Saturday, November 1st. The drive from Georgia was fine and the weather was great. Our site is a full hook up with wi-fi and cable. There are about 20 sites in this campground. After getting the motor home set up we rested for a bit and then went out to dinner at Appleby's. We are low on groceries so we will go tomorrow to shop. Steff and the kids called us this evening. It was nice to hear from them. We also got a call from our niece Danielle. So all is well here. Joe is supposed to call us tomorrow and let us know how the trivia contest went at school tonight. We always participate every year but not this year. We miss it. So we have to get the lowdown on who came in first!
As always, we miss our family and friends and appreciate them very much.
Mary, Bob, and Miles, too!