Munday's the Arizona Roadrunners

There is nothing quite like the last day of another year.  They seem to just fly by and when it's done we are always glad and yet although there have been so many terrible disasters in 2011; we have so much to be thankful for.  2011 has been fairly good to us as we have traveled over the eastern end of the good ol' US of A.  Our children and grandchildren are all ok (although we have one in NYC as I write this) who we can't help but worry a little bit about - ha!!!  No major breakdowns or illnessess or natural disasters to have hit us personally so we feel very fortunate and can only hope 2012 is a better year!  We have plans to head west in the spring and will traveling right through the heart of tornado alley and after having dodged a few last spring know how chancy it can be. Anyway, here's to all - we wish only the very best for you!! Isn't this guy cute.  He is perfect symbol for this park.

What a picture perfect day!!! Not only was the sun shining but we had Scarlett's smile to brighten the day as well!  Scarlett and Kenny are heading up to NYC to celebrate their 2nd wedding anniversary but stopped by Florida to see us.  We drove down from Wauchula to Miami for the day (7 hours round trip) but we watched the sunrise and that was perfectly lovely and had a marvelous day with them.  We took a little tour of the Anhinga trail at the Everglades Nat'l Park and were able to have dinner together before starting our trek home.  Scarlett is such a sweet person and was so great to see them again. 

A little note to say we were so thrilled last evening when a group of young carolers came by to wish us a Merry Christmas and left us with treats to top off the joy of their sweet young voices.  No clue as to where these children came from or where they went but oh my, the delightful surprise of being sung to when least expected!  Their little voices were very sweet music to us!

Another lovely day here at Peace River!  I have never seen it so bare of campers!  A perfectly lovely day and expecting the "crowd" any day now. ha!  Love being here though and seeing the "regular" snowbirds.  Fun out at pickle ball and even enjoyed a Christmas dinner here with over 100 in the clubhouse!  We have never been here for the holidays before so a treat for us. 

This year the Christmas party was held a little early here at Thousand Trails in Orlando but oh my, what a treat!  Trevor Drener was here for the entertainment and this guy is so GOOD!  He has been world champion lasso artist and works part time for Disney.  We were fortunate enough to see him last season when we were here and although we will not be here for the holidays we lucked out and were able to get to see him again this season.  Love his show.  He is a good singer and friendly performer and knows how to lasso and twist and twirl ropes like you haven't seen before.  Truly amazing and fun to see.  The dinner was very good and so glad we were able to participate.  Rain was threatening all day but waited until everyone was safe back at home before opening up and dumping on us. ha!  A good short soaking that was needed.  Never did cool off too much though as the overnight low was only in low 60's.!

A special treat for us this year was being invited to join some of our good friends for an afternoon at Disney's Animal Kingdom park.  This park is unique and all based on african type animals.  One of the special features is a "Safari ride" where you get to see the real animals grazing outside.  Elephants, rhinos, giraffe; warthogs and a lot more.  Fun - the big show of the park is a Lion King floor show.  Wow!  It is one of the most elaborate shows I've ever seen and the talent is unbelieveable.  Disney knows how to cover ever little detail and they do an excellent job at this park as they do at them all.  The "Tree of LIfe" is another wonder and fun to see.  A special thanks to our friends who have given us this very special memory to treasure!

Took a ride over to Webster for their Monday market and afterwards took ride over to Bayport Park on gulf!  Talk about lovely... 82 and breezy but very nice.  There were a few kayakers and the parking lot had a number of boat trailers but no beach so just walked along the canal and boardwalk.  Fun watching the fishermen off the pier.  One girl caught a baby blue crab and a grackle took off with some of their shrimp which was hilarious to watch.  Just like a naughty child getting caught red handed. funny

We are back in the "sunshine" state and happy to be here after watching the weather report and looking at the rest of the country! ha!  Sunshine and some clouds and a little much needed rain but otherwise fairly nice.  Will update later when I get pictures added to computer but wanted to say we are here.  All good here...  Here is picture of our Lake Hancock which I love to walk out to and Myrtle the turtle.  These wonderful turtles can be seen occasionally here at this park.  This one has a stump for a hind leg (did an alligator try to get it? - don't know) ha!  In any event, wonderful to see some different wildlife.

Black Friday this year turned out to be a very enlightening and joyous day for sister Karen and I.  We took off and went to the Carter Center (Presidential Library) in Atlanta.  Jimmy Carter has taken a lot of bad press for his presidentcy but this guy is a tough one to beat when it comes to being honest and a wonderful humanitarian. Spent hours in this museum and am sure we did not see it all although we tried including his Nobel Peace Prize!  What an honor to one who so deserves it!  The grounds are worth seeing just by themselves.. lovely and a perfect place for a picnic lunch.. Loved this little donkey on his replica of the Oval Office and the carved desk.  Pretty nice.  Had a great time there and recommend highly.  We think it's bad now but boy this man had some really tough times during his administration too.  Fun to see the history timeline and remember back on all the news from the 1970's. ha!  Goodness.. 1st test tube baby and Iran terrorists.. One thing I enjoyed wa

We have been so very blessed this year and it was so great to meet up with sister Karen and Jeff for Thanksgiving!  She prepared a meal that left us feeling as if we had more than enough to eat!  So good to be able to see family for the holiday.  

Traveling south we again found ourselves at High Falls State Park in lovely Georgia!  This carpet of leaves was so pretty and we enjoyed our stay here.  Of course it helps to see old friends like Peggy and Joe who came out to greet us.  They took their "maiden" long voyage in their coach this year and had a marvelous time visiting places like Zion National Park and Yellowstone!  Who would not enjoy that.. so good to see them and catch up on all the news.  Might add Peggy and I have been mates since Jr. High school so a good many years...

This is our 2nd trip to this wonderful state park in the lovely state of Georgia.  Picked a cold, clear day and a good thing too.  There are over 1200 stairs to climb in and out of this gorge and it's a work out!  Loved it before and enjoyed it this time too.  Most of the colorful leaves were down because of the last storm that passed thru this area the other day!  Packed a picnic lunch and off we went for the day.  Our 1st stop was in Toccoa Falls then over to here.  My legs were near like jelly climbing all those stairs but we did fine and although I thought being so out of condition my legs would cramp up and be a cripple for the next few days; not so.. am doing find.  In better shape than I thought. ha!   Great place to visit and so glad we did - not too far from our park in SC.   Bet is gorgeous in the spring when the rhoddies are in bloom along with the other wild flowers...

Once upon a time many moons ago there was beautiful valley with a lovely Cherokee princess named Toccoa.  There is more to the story however the legend is not sure if these beautiful falls are named for the lovely Toccoa or because of it's own beauty.  In any event, these falls are now on the grounds of a Christian college in the town of Toccoa and the only access is through their gift shop where they charge a nominal fee ($1.00 each) to take the little walk up to the falls.  Well worth the stop.  The grounds are lovely even at this time of year and we did choose a pretty day even if it was rather on the cool side.  Good for hiking.  We were a bit surprised by all the water considering the dry summer here but they recently had some rain so that helped!

The last time we were here at this park in SC there was quite a bit of working being done and we had high hopes of seeing all the changes.  Unfortunately they didn't come to much and this park has not been kept up as we'd like to see.  The tennis/pickleball courts are now a parking area for boats!  What a disappointment.  Nice area and large park so hate to see it not being kept up.  Lovely walk to the lake front - all up and down hills but excellent for walking - ha!  They do have nice cabins and we walked down to Bubba's about 1/2 mile down the road one day for breakfast.  Wasn't quite like Tarheel Q but the southern hospitality can't be beat! ha!  Love all the attention from the waitress and the endless coffee.. ha! 

Quite a view of beautiful Hartwell Lake here on the border of South Carolina and Georgia!  This is a HUGE lake.  Came into State on a fairly nice day and had a few rather warm days.

Found a brochure when we first arrived here in NC on this gallery in Welcome, NC.  Wanted to see this giant hummingbird so off to Welcome we went (not far from our campground).  Dempsy Essick is an artist who was inspired when his daughter held a hummingbird in her hand.  Looks to be a cute little shop however we chose the wrong day to visit and found them closed.  Since then have been to their site dempseyessick.com.  Very cool.  Part of traveling like this is to see little places like this and see that even in these hard times at least someone is able to eek out a living with their own special talent.  Very cool.

We are back in the "good" bbq country!  This is our 4th trip here to the Thousand trails park in Advance, NC and right down the street is the cutest little place with the best darn BBQ!  Tarheel not only has the best food but they are reasonably priced and have the best service you could ever ask for.  Real southern hospitality!  Love this place and glad to be back...  We are even planning on ordering extra to take back to the freezer with us so we can extend the good eats!!

Needless to say perhaps this is a lovely home.  Enjoyed the visit very much and felt well worth the day!  Of course it helps to have a picture perfect day too. ha!  Loved the new visitor center; gift shop, cafe and museum but most of all the tour of the home and the beautiful grounds.  It took Tom 40 years to get this house to his liking and left him terribly in debt upon his death on the 50th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  Quite a man.  I can't help but wonder though with as beautiful as this home is what it must have been like to live in it back then... let's see; no electricity, no plumbing and those huge dresses women had to wear; let's not forget the wigs and privy's they had to use.  When ever I feel bad I just conjur up those sorts of thoughts and realize every day we should just be grateful we didn't have to live back then. ha!  As romantic as it seems now not sure the practical part of really living was all that glamorous.

Although these pictures do not show all the color; the parkway was beautiful.  Painted as only nature can do with trees of every color from deep reds to bright yellows with all sorts of gold and peach and greens intermixed.  Stopped along the drive at a visitor center and found this old lock on a canal leading into the James River.  This thing was built in early 1800's and very narrow.  The thing is still there!  They really knew how to build in those days - ha!  Enjoyed the drive very much but alas day was cut short.  Proceeded up the skyway when we came to road closed barricade.  Wondering what was wrong we returned to the visitor center to learn #1 we had a flat tire?? and #2 the road had been closed partially due to ice and trees down from recent storm.  Ok, so Early fixed tire and off we went for 2 new ones (he doesn't mess around).  We did manage to take another drive on another day to try to capture some of what we had missed. 

Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park, Natural Bridge, VA.  What is not to like.  A lovely park on a the James River here in the perfectly beautiful state of Virginia!  This has been a good location tucked away in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Parkway with color bursting on the hills all around us.  Of course the James river is a main artery here in Virginia too.  This park is quite large and was quite full the day we arrived but has really cleared out after a few days although new folks keep coming in too. 

The weather turned ugly and we left Greenbelt early Saturday morning thinking we would beat the rush onto the roads. Wrong; we stopped at a Costco in Manassas which was on the way and you would have thought it was the week before Christmas; goodness the entire parking lot was full.  Found an area in back alongside the parking spots and stopped for an hour or so. Terrible on roads but then off to a Walmart in Culpepper.  Had originally planned to go to West Virginia but with weather turning so bad decided against.  Let it be known, we can make last minute changes; ha!  Drove up and over the Parkway in Virginia and did see some of the nasty white stuff along side the road but not on it so that was good.  This state is so darn pretty; especially this time of year.  Happy to be back even if we are only passing thru..

Friday morning we awoke to a perfectly picture perfect day and headed out to finally get to Teddy Roosevelt Island on the Potomac River.  Beautiful day although a bit cool.  We took subway and walked thru town and over the river and thru the woods.  Very wooded and no visitor center so we trudged back to subway to go back into town.  This is our 5th visit to the DC area and you know, we still could not get into see Ford's theater.  always it has been under renovation or some such thing and this time it was just plain closed for the afternoon.  Ok, but the gift shop was open and it was sad.  I mean you know, what could be uplifting about the assisinationa of a President?  It's sad, so off we trudged across town; clouds are building now, and over to the botanical gardens.  That is the coolest place if you have never been.  Of course, it helps to be appreciative of plans and flowers.  Love that place and enjoyed all the variouis plants and unsual flowers especially the orchids but

Freedom Hill overlooks town of Baltimore and looks right down on waterfront.  This place was recommended to us by the National Parks service so we came for a looksee and so glad we did.  Lovely view from there. Helps it was a nice clear day but oh so lovely  - there were quite a number of folks enjoying the day and dogs romping and playing.  Nice to have a place like this to go to near a big city.   If you could count the stars on this flag you would see there are only 18.  It is modeled after the flag at Fort McHenry (number of states at time of War of 1812 more stripes too). fun