Saturday February 27, 2010 Ft. Lauderdale

Yesterday was another lovely sunny day although cooler than before. Mike and I found our way to the coast and went on a River canal tour. It was a neat thing to do. The boat meanders along the canal system and describes all the houses where the "millionaires" live. There sure are a lot of wealthy people in this part of the country. Really beginning to wonder about capitalism.

From there we found our way to the Hard Rock Casino. That was lots of fun. We had hamburgers outside and there was a huge fountain in the lake. They played music and the water flowed to the music. Very cool. There were more shops.ugh. Walked around the casino, not putting my money in there either. The walls are decorated with memorabilia of various artists who have performed there so was interesting to see their costumes.

Got Deb at the end of the day and she and I did a little shopping. Then we went to the Country Club that is part of the complex where she lives. Deb had some dinner and we had some cocktails. They were playing Kareoke (sp?)and Deb was brave enough to get up and sing.

Feb 26, 2010 Ft Lauderdale/The Florida Keys

Well it has been a busy week. Deb had to work Monday but was off early enough that we went and did some shopping. Deb likes the 2nd hand stores too. Then it was off to the airport as she had to be in Orlando for Tue, Wed, and Thursday. Mike and I went out to dinner at the local area's restaurant noted to be the oldest "diner" in Florida. Way too much food. I will have to start a new regime when I get home.

Tuesday we went to the beach. I am still nervous to go in the water but can lap up the rays, no problem. Am being very careful not to get burnt. Out to dinner again to the local pub that Mike and Alex like to go to and had more too good food. Came back to watch Olympics.

Wednesday I set out on my own and drove all the way to the Florida Keys. It is about 300 miles I think straight driving and joins all the islands. Quite the site to see. I have read lots of stories about life in the islands in the olden days with the big plantations and boats from one to another. Quite the life style in those days.

There are all kinds of things to do there. It is very popular to rent scooters or bicycles. I spent part of the day looking in all the shops. Funny that they all have the same touristy stuff and yet we keep looking at all the stuff.

It was very, very crowded and very, very expensive to stay. I wasn't willing to pay $250 for a room so found a camp ground. They had motor homes for rent at $179. I don't think so. Ended up sleeping in my car at the KOA. That was fine but by the time I got there it had started to rain thus the car and not the tent became my room. The one good thing about the sun setting here so early is that I didn't feel like a freak being in my car.

At any rate there was a pub on premises and they had a band. So as my cousin Margaret would say "I put on my big girl panties" and went to the pub. It was all open with flaps down because of the wind. It was good for my ego, had a couple of glasses of wine purchased for me and actually had a couple of dances. By then it was getting cold so off to my accommodation for the night. It rained all night and was extremely windy. So by morning I decided to come back to Ft.Lauderdale.

We picked Deb up from the airport and went out for yet another meal. Mike and I are planning a river cruise today and hopefully can play with Deb Sat and Sun then I think I will start heading north. more later

Ft Lauderdale, Florida February 22, 2010

Here it is Tuesday already, I am in Ft Lauderdale and it rained this morning. Was mostly overcast all day. Went to have my car serviced again, sure doesn't take long to put on the miles. Well I am glad to do that. Went shopping in the local areas. Took Debbie to the airport and Mike and I went out for supper. I had crab cakes that were very good but am afraid my intake far outweighs burn off. Yikes when I get home it will be starvation.

There is a big tadoo on the news here that snakes are overpopulated and they are looking for hunters. Can you believe that!!!

more tomorrow

Ft Lauderdale, Florida February 20, 2010

The beach at Pensacola is wonderful. Miles and miles of the most beautiful white sand. They call it sugar sand. I drove the whole length of the island. It wasn't very warm. I almost took a picture of a woman so you cold see her in a down jacket, hat, scarf and mitts. It was a little overkill, but was not bathing suit weather. There is a nice board walk and I looked at all the shops. Had another lovely evening with Joan and Kerry and then was off bright and early in the morning? Before I left in the morning I had the pleasure of seeing their daughter Heather with her little one on their way to school.

February 18 St. Augustine

Well, I made it to Ft. Lauderdale. I drive from Houston to St Augustine along route 10 across the top of Florida. It was a rather uninteresting drive on a long freeway with trees along both sides. St Augustine is the oldest community in Florida and really is a neat place. There are all kinds of touristy things to do. I went to a quilt shop there and it was almost comical to listen to the women speak. That southern drawl is something else.

Feb 19 - East coast someplace

I decided to drive the coast route to have something to see. Well it sure is a slow route. I don't think I ever went faster than 90km/hr and a lot of the time was much slower. It was like driving in suburbia the whole way. I wonder how many WalMart stores there are in the USA. It would seem that all they do here is go shopping but that can't be true because there sure is lots of traffic. I must say they are good on the freeways.

Feb 20th - Ft Lauderdale

I had phoned Debbie to let here know I was arriving in Ft. Lauderdale and she has been most gracious to have me here. She is also entertaining Mike, the brother of Alex whom I worked with in Calgary, and then just to make things confusing there is another young man here and his name is Alex. He works in a restaurant so is gone early afternoon and not home until late at night. He has given me his room for a few days.

Yesterday, Saturday Debbie took me to the beach and we walked the boardwalk. It was really fun, finally a lovely day. We took our shoes off and walked in the water. There were tons of tourists out for the day. All the "Canadians" and they are so brown, wonder what their skin is like? We had lunch at a cute little restaurant on the river side and it was neat to see boats drive up to the restaurant, tie up and come in the eat. From there we did the city sights and the river walk. It is really pretty to see all the green here. We had supper on the river and then came home. By then it was dark and we were quite tired. Mike was here waiting for us and we spent the evening watching Olympics and visiting.

Very nice day.

Houston/Pensacola Feb 16

February 12/13 Houston

What a delightful welcome I had in Houston, met with Dianna Bennett from Canada. Dianna is the daughter of my swim buddy in Sundre and Marilyn suggested I call her while I was in the area. I am so glad I did. We watched the Olympic opening ceremonies, had a lovely dinner and drank wine. The next day Dianna drove me to the Houston Space Centre. Neither of us was very impressed, and again it was cold. We found another attraction called Orange Festival and it was absolutely bazzar in the middle of a questionable neighborhood so we didn't stay.

Feb 14th Happy Valentines Day

I left bright and early in the morning heading to Pensacola. Expected it to be a 12 to 14 hour trip but in fact took about 9 hours. The drive was long and uneventful. Think perhaps I should have taken the coast road instead but kept hearing how dangerous it is in Louisana and Alabama so kind of just wanted to push through.

Got to Pensacola to meet Joan and Kerry Muir, Canadians that have been living here for a number of years. We had a great dinner and fun catching up on each others lives. Their son Scott has just moved back home so he is here too.

Joan and Kerry had plans to be out of town on Monday so I was on my own for the day. I needed some time to do laundry and clean up the car, getting to smell like a locker room.

Today everybody is at work so I am on my own - off to find the beach and this white sand that they describe as sugar. more later...

Corpus Christi February 12

Well I survived Ozona and $700 later. Had new wheel bearings and brakes done. Sounds better and feels much better. It was about 5:30 p.m. when all was said and done and there was a forecast for freezing rain in the morning so I decided to push on that night and get to San Antonio.

San Antonio

Arrived late at night but had made a reservation so got in and straight to bed. Got up bright and early and found my way to the Alamo. Brought back memories of my brother and I going to see the movie when we were kids. They have audio tapes there for a self guided tour. I really enjoyed it. But again it is raining and cold. I found my way to the river walk and wandered around there for several hours but was not a fun activity in the cold. Not many people out and all the restaurants were shrouded in plastic to keep the cold out. Stayed another night there so I could leave early in the morning.

Corpus Christie

Only 2 hours from San Antonio and it rained the whole way. Found my way here and had in my mind that I might stay for a week or so. I found my way to Padre Island and Mustang Island. They are resort areas along the coast. There sure are a lot of motor homes in the south. Wonder who is left to mind the store up north. Went to Rockport which is the artisan area. Once again the weather is threatening. Did a couple of beach shops Meagan but I think you would have the same "stuff" in your shops.

So today I am on my way to Houston to see Marilyn Scott's daughter. ttfn

Feb 8 2010 Ozona, Texas

Love, love, loved the Frank Lloyd Write tour. What a clever man. The tour was excellent. They said he was a very difficult man to work with and apparently to live with too, had 3 wives and many girl friends. He had a movie theatre on the complex and hated latecomers using flahslights so invented isle lighting. Today it is required by law to have isle lighting. He invented the pivotal door, and glass doors and glass mitered corners for glass walls. WOW

From there I went to Ron and Helen's and together went to the James' for happy hour. It was great to visit with them has been many years.

Friday I got ready to be on the road again.

Was up bright and early Saturday and drove from Phoenix to ElPaso, TX. I have been a little concerned about this portion of the trip. At ElPaso there is a boarder crossing into Mexico, that is how close it is and then the main highway follows the boarder south and east for quite some distance. There are all kinds of warnings about hitchhikers. Needless to say I just wanted to get away from the area as quick as possible.

I must say I was amazed that the highway speed is 80 mph which I think is very fast. The other comment I want to make about the highway is how easy they make it to follow instructions when changing freeways. If leaving route 10 to go on to route 5 they actually have the numbers in the pavement so you can't help but know you are in the right lane.

Ozana is about half way from ElPaso to San Antonio. I entertained the idea of just going this far but was still early in the day so thought I would go the whoe stretch. I guess my first thought was the right one as I had stopped at a rest area nearby to discover a problem with the car. Making very strange noise from the back end. So I got into Ozana and have found a repair shop. Ends up it is the wheel bearings so they have ordered parts and I get to stay here 2 nights. This is a little nothing town 5,000 people, no sights, no shopping. Oh well lets me catch up with the computer.

More tomorrow

Feb 2,3,4 Phoenix

Feb 2. Tuesday Phoenix

A lovely sunny day. Was delighted to hear from Frank. The GPS is great. Just plugged in his address and let the car do the driving. He and his lady Patty are renting a fabulous adobe in Phoenix. Quite far from Mesa but I have all the time in the world right. We went to a lovely place for lunch. Frank is quite a character and friendly. Talks to everybody. From there we went into Scottsdale to see another school chum Danny Rooney. Haven't seen hime since high school. He has been living in Las Vegas and recently came to Arizona. He flips houses so we went to see the current one. It is a simple 3 bedroom bungalow and he has done a lovely job updating it. Hope he makes lots of money on the flip.

Found my way back to the hotel but stopped first and got the oil changed at a Firestone place. Felt better that it is a nationally know shop to have some reputation. So should be good for another 5,000.

Wednesday Feb 3 Phoenix

Met with Carol again in the morning. I had researched many quilt shops to go explore so that was our game plan. The first place we met at was far east Mesa closer to Carol's neck of the woods. When I got there Carol was waiting but the shop was no longer there. Thanks internet. Abyway off to the next one. Nothing of any note. We went to several more. Saw some lovely fabrics and it is pretty easy to resist purchasing that (have plenty at home). We attempted another place in the north only to discover the building wasn't even there. We were close to a big shopping centre and stopped for lunch. Good food. We went looking for a 2nd hand store but no luck in finding that either. Had a lovely day with Carol. We said out goodbyes and will meet again in Sundre. I checked out a couple more 2nd hand stores and came back to the hotel.

Feb 4 Thursday

I am off to the Frank Lloyd Wright Centre this morning.

Monday, Feb 1 2010 Phoenix

Was up bright and early this morning and arranged to stay here for the rest of the week. It is forecast to be stormy in northern Arizona and New Mexico which is just north of the path I will be on and from there I go south into Texas where it is raining. So I decided while there are people for me to visit here I should stay for a few more days and then the weather may get better.

Went and made an appointment for the car to have an oil change on Wednesday and then went and spent the afternoon with Helen and Ron Smith from Calgary/Sundre. While at their place we walked around the complex and saw Del and Charlie James from Calgary/Coal Camp. They invited me to come Thursday for Happy Hour.

Tomorrow I am going to meet Frank Lawson at his Phoenix place and then we will go for lunch so life is good.

Still trying to each sensibly. Haven't been on a scale for weeks!