Mercy me, I don't know where time gets to!  Seems like I was just so excited to see Dawn...and now we have had to say goodbye :( 

She came over to the motorhome today and we went to the Citrus Mall shopping, and she was pleased to find several gifts she wanted for the family - David stayed home with Cinder, so we had lots of 'girl' time! 

We came back and got David and headed for a Mongolian BBQ - which was a blast and the food was healthy and delicious! 

Dawn is now headed back to her hotel to get some rest before she gets back on a plane and heads to Okinawa...sigh! 

Nov 30, 2011 Good Times

We have been having SO much fun!  On Tuesday evening we went to PF Changs for dinner, where we thoroughly enjoyed our daughter, Dawn, and the marine assigned to keep her safe in Afghanistan, Fred (didn't catch his last name, my bad)!  We had exquisite food, then walked around the WestShore Mall, where I visited the Hickory Farms store for a few goodies for our 'happy hours', David got prescription sunglasses for driving down the road, and I got my 'shopping with daughter' fix in!

Wednesday we got up and headed for Venice, FL, my old stompin' ground!  It was so great to be able to show David where I used to live, some of the special places, and we had a fantastic lunch at the Crow's Nest - Oh man, the seafood bisque with the sherry topper was out of this world - creamy and just loaded with shrimp, scallops and crab meat...and then the fresh grilled grouper sandwich - it simply does not get any better than that!

Venice beach was great, although the wind was howling, and as you can see from the pics there were real waves, highly unusual for the gulf! 

OK - internet connection too slow to add more pics...maybe later :)
I drove over the skyway bridge twice, I'm proud to say, and it was spectacular as always. 

We came home and settled in before dark - and I got involved in a good book and read until 2 am...but I finished it!!! 

Tomorrow will be our last full day here in the Tampa area...on the road again :)

Nov 28, 2011 Dawn's here!

So...we waited all day - we went to Wally World and got a few groceries, made Dawn a goodie bag (fruit, oatmeal, chocolate, chips), then did some cleaning, dropped a fedex pkg off for the Grand Junction girls, then got naps...all leading up to:

Yep, two very happy girls!  You can tell that I was overdressed, my face is red from the heat, but the smiles are genuine!  We had a fantastic dinner, and over 2 hours of excited chatter! 

I don't know what else this week will hold, but I know we will have a great time, and I plan to enjoy every moment possible.

Nov 27, 2011 Bay Bayou Tampa FL

We are SO enjoying our time here in Tampa!  On black Friday we shopped - very discriminately :)  We found the camera that David wanted, a Canon Ti3 Rebel which was advertised at Best Buy, Target, Walmart - however it was also advertised at North Tampa Photography, Inc., at 1020 W Busch Boulevard - which is an owner operated camera shop.  We bought the camera with an additional lens for less than we would have at the big box stores.  David is a happy camper...ha!

Here are a couple pics he took with the new camera...looking behind our site!

This is the view in front of our site :)

We did some domestic stuff (cleaned out the car, the MH and laundry) and yesterday Cinder went to the groomer, and while she was there I got a haircut, manicure and shopped at Target, Michaels and Best Buy...scored a 600 thread count sheet set (the set on the bed is 4 years old and pretty threadbare) for $35.00, and a faux leather jacket for cool mornings for $15.00.  Felt pretty good about those buys!

Last evening we went to a place called Cody's  Original Roadhouse for dinner - holy moly, we got queso and chips for an appetizer, followed by the early bird special of prime rib with baked sweet potato, salad and yeasty rolls...OMG it was so good!  We haven't had prime rib since we were in Hudson WY back in May!  They serve the salad in these huge stainless steel bowls, and you put it on your plates...it was wonderful!  The prime rib was tender, flavorful and NOT all fat!  Here are a couple pics...yes, the prime rib was mine and it WAS med rare :)

Today is a new adventure - I'll try to take some pics and put 'em up -we're gonna have a blast!!!





Bay Bayou RV Park, Tampa FL

We arrived yesterday, Nov 23 here at Bay Bayou RV Resort - and don't get me wrong, it is a lovely place!  Couple hundred sites, 3 laundry/shower buildings, several ponds, dog park, heated (85) pool, etc, etc.  However, the price is simply outrageous!  The only reason we picked this park is because of the proximity to downtown Tampa so we could spend as much time with our daughter as possible.  With our good sam discount, and an 'early bird week special' it was $483 for 10 days!!!  Whew, we won't be back here again! 

On the good side :)  we are within 10 miles of any shopping you could possibly want - we plan on going out at 10 tonight to Wal-Mart, there are a couple things I want from there, and tomorrow we will go to a wonderful Mall, called Citrus Mall, that has tons of stores - not really to shop, mostly to watch the crowds! 

Today we had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast at the social hall - the park furnished Turkey and gravy, and everyone brought dishes to share.  Surprisingly enough there were NO stuffing dishes, and only 1 mashed potatoes that disappeared long before we got there in line - but there was plenty of sweet potato dishes, I made my slow cooker corn dish, there were even saurkraut balls!  David was in charge of pictures and he didn't take any :(  Anyway, it was a good time with great people and lots of good food! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all - and David, thanks for agreeing to this lifestyle - I wouldn't have it any other way!

Nov 21, 2011 Bushnell FL Escapees Park

We were on the road by 9:45 today, filled up with propane and gas, and headed down the road to Bushnell, home of Sumter Oaks RV Park.  We had 1 pitstop and pulled into the park at 12:05 pm.  What a lovely place!  They have an indoor heated pool (that is pretty cold!), pool table, lending library, craft room, movie room :)


We settled into our spot (right by the activity center so David doesn't have to walk too much), and headed out to Sonny's BBQ pit...Oh man, I so missed their baby back ribs!  We pigged out big time (brought 1/2 of everything home for dinner tomorrow night) and then we just drove around Bushnell, giving it a look see.  We made the mandatory Wal-Mart stop, got very few things but had a good time walking around and looking at all the people shopping like mad!

We talked a bit about staying here and not going to Tampa until Sat or Sun, but I want to go shopping on Black Friday, and really there is nothing here!  So, we will keep to our original schedule and leave Wed morning. 

We came back to the park and started out to 'social hour'.  For those of you who are NOT Escapee's, all Escapee parks have social hour at 4 (except LSC who has social hour Mon - Wed - Fri).  Well there were only 5 other people there, and they were all new like us!  They tell me that they have a 10 am coffee every morning and that is when everyone gathers to chat - we shall see tomorrow morning! 

When we came back to the MH, there were 3 beautiful Sandhill Cranes (per a park member) who put on quite a show for us - they were literally 6 feet from us.  They began to dance, with 1 at a time jumping into the air and waving their wings, each taking a turn - it was fascinating!  We felt very privledged to see the show! 

We're in for the night now - see ya'll tomorrow (I'm back in the south, I can talk like that now:)