Day 17-20: Flamingo Garden, Bonnet House, Ocean 2009-2-26 thru 28

I need to think back a bit and I hope I remember it all.
Day 17: We spent the day doing laundry and just going to the pool for a swim, nothing real interesting. The only thing of interest is that we where approved by the park and we went to the Rose’s to tell them that and to setup a date and time to go transfer the title to us. We will officially own the trailer Monday afternoon. We also went to Lil and Occie's house, older cousins of Barbara's, for dinner. Their son Bob and his wife Nancy where there visiting from Kansas. George and Pat (Barbara's Brother and his wife) and Flo (Barbara's step mom) also went over for dinner. We had a very enjoyable visit.
Day 18: Barbara and I went down to Fort Lauderdale to a place called Flamingo Garden (http://www.flamingogardens.org/ ). On the way we followed our GPS and got on the Florida Turnpike which is a toll road. I went to a booth with a person to ask if my EZ-Pass would be good or not and the gate went up as soon as I approached it so I assumed (a bad thing to do) it worked, their system is called Sun Pass. During the long ride down the turnpike I went through three high speed tolls with signs that there was a $100 fine for avoiding the tolls. When we got to the Motel that evening I called Sun Pass and found out that my EZ-Pass was not good on their system, but I could pay the tolls and after telling them where I got on and off they told me I owed them $6.95. I also got the information on where to send the check, this will be done first thing Monday morning. Back to Flamingo Garden, it really is more of an animal rescue and sanctuary then a garden. They have a large aviary you can walk into where the birds are all lose and you are walking among them. They also have many birds that are free to come and go, including several Peacocks and Peahens. This is their mating season so I got some good pictures of the males displaying for the ladies. The short animal talk was on raptors and we saw a Red Shoulder Hawk and a Red Tailed Hawk both that had damage to their left wing and they can not fly, so they will live out their lives at the sanctuary. When we left there we went to our hotel where Barbara had reserved a room with a Jacuzzi tub, she does enjoy a good tub.
Day 19: We started our day with a nice breakfast at the hotel, what they called extended continental. After leaving the hotel we went to Bonnet House Museum & Gardens (http://www.bonnethouse.org/ ). The house was designed and built by Frederic Clay Bartlett, an artist and want to be architect. We learned that the whole Fort Lauderdale area is all reclaimed swamp land and the canals all through Fort Lauderdale are to manage the water due to the high water table.
Day 20: Well I went for a long bike ride this morning, I do not know how long because the batteries in my bike computer (it just does distance and time) died. I will have to do the same ride next week so I know how far I went. After lunch Barbara and I finally went to the ocean. The water temperature was 68 Fahrenheit. Barbara got wet up to her knees; I went in over my head when the waves came. We then sat on the beach and watched all the other people for about an hour. When we came back to the park we went in the pool for a quick swim and then back to the trailer.
That is all for now, I know this is a long post but I missed doing this for a few days. I will be posting the pictures from our adventures tonight or tomorrow so come back and check them out.

Day 16: McLarty Treasure Museum 2009-02-23

Today Barbara and I went out for the afternoon. We started with returning some items we bought last week at Bealls Outlet. Then lunch at McDonalds, first lunch out this whole trip. Then we drove out to A1A, the main road on the barrier island, up to the Sebastian Inlet State Park and the McLarty Treasure Museum ( http://www.floridastateparks.org/sebastianinlet/Info.cfm ). Treasure Coast, the name for this section of coast line, is not because of the weather but in 1715 a fleet of Spanish treasure ships sunk off the coast. It turns out treasure hunters have been finding millions of dollars worth of gold and silver since the 1960’s. The museum highlights the hunt for and discovery of the treasures that where being transported back to Spain. The fact that the main treasure, the Queens dowry, still has not been found makes it even more interesting.

Day 15: Mardi Gras 2009-2-22

Had a good nights sleep and woke around 6:30. Barbara fixed me a good breakfast of sausage patties and French toast, it was yummy. I went for a bike ride around the park I went around the park 3 times for a total of 11.75 miles. Around 10 am we put on our bathing suits and went for a swim. The water was the same temperature as the air (having a heated pool is wonderful). I did 18 laps of the pool in just under 10 minutes, getting better.
Today is Mardi Gras in Whispering Palms so at 1:30 there was a parade through the park. People decorated their golf carts, bicycles (2 and 3 wheels) even one electric cart. After the parade there was a desert party in the main hall. After I took the pictures I printed out about a dozen and brought them down to show. They give out prizes for three different categories, Golf Cart, Bicycle and Marcher (I think that was it). It was great fun.

Day 14: McKee Botanical Garden 2009-02-21

I had a hard time sleeping last night, maybe I was more worried about buying the trailer then I thought I was (I think it was too much caffeine), and after getting up late Barbara and I packed a lunch and headed to McKee Botanical Garden ( http://www.mckeegarden.org/ ). We where pleasantly surprised to find out they where having the Frabel’s Reflection of Glass on Water exhibit. Hans Godo Frabel (http://mckeegarden.org/frabel/abouttheartist.htm ) is an artist who works in glass. He takes his inspiration from nature and it is just fabulous, see picture album. Some of the pictures do not show the detail. I am going to work on them to see if I can improve the detail, if I do I will repost those pictures.
After we left the garden we drove out to SR A1A to go look at the ocean. I walked out onto the beach and took some pictures while Barbara sat in the car, she was tired.
Then we went to Wal-Mart to get some things like milk and such. We bought some steaks that I cooked on the small charcoal grill I bought when we got here. They where delicious.

Day 13: Home Owners 2009-02-20

Barbara and I got up to a cool day; it only got into the low 70’s. I went to for a bike ride and did one and a half trips around the park when I decided it was just a little too windy. After getting a shower Barbara and I talked more about if we should buy a place down here or not. We came to the conclusion that we would use the place for three winters and if after that we could sell it again. So Barbara filled out the application for the park. Then we went to the trailer we wanted to buy and gave the owners a deposit. Then we went to the weekly Whispering Jammers session. Then it was time to get home to the trailer and go do the laundry. Barbara had to cook dinner for us and Flo, Barbara’s stepmom. So I went to the laundry mat across from our trailer to do the laundry while she cooked. After dinner we played Aggravation Rummy, Barbara won. All in all it was a good day.

Day 11 & 12: Ormond Beach 2009-02-18&19

Well yesterday Barbara and I went to Ormond Beach to visit with her cousin Marge and Marge’s husband Joe. We had a very nice lunch and then Marge and Joe took us to see some sites. Our first stop was Memorial Gardens Park. They have lovely walks through a small park with many types of Palms and flowers. They also have two turtle ponds. The first one we came across there where many turtles sitting on the rocks sunning themselves and what we believe was a Snowy Egret. In the second pool that had a sculpture of two peacocks there where more turtles sunning themselves, some of the smaller turtles where sitting on top of the bigger turtles. These turtles are not native to Florida but come from Long Island New York; they are an invasive species that they have tried to get rid of without much success. We went down the road to The Casements the Florida home of John D. Rockefeller. He bought this house after he was in his 70’s and only lived in it for 20 some odd years. We went on the tour and learned a lot about his life in Florida. After that they took us to the Bicentennial Park where Joe and I walked to the river on a nature path and then back to the ocean side where we found the ladies sitting and talking. The walk was only ¼ mile long so total Joe and I walked ½ mile. It was very interesting there was a point in the walk where you could see the change in the vegetation from small trees and bushes to tall pines and oaks see pictures. We then went back to Marge and Joe’s for a lovely chicken dinner. We left there after more talking and got home (to the trailer) around 9:30PM.
Today we got one step closer to deciding to buy a place in the park. We went to the people of the trailer we looked at earlier and asked a bunch of questions, and took a real careful look around for leaks and other things. Then we went to the park office and asked more questions of the manager. We also got a copy of the rules and a resident application. We will need to fill it out and turn it in and pay $50.00 for a background check. I think we might finalize this by early next week, one way or the other.