After 3 months in Florida, we are ready to hit the road again. It has been a good winter. We didn’t do as much “site seeing” as I thought we would. We did spend lots of time with friends and extended family. That was great, catching up on life with people we don’t see that often.

This past month (March) we spent on the Gulf Coast.  We spent 10 days in the Lake Manatee State Campground near Brandenton.  It is a beautiful state park with bike,canoe,and small boat rental.  Because of the time of year, we had to split our 10 days on three different sites.  It sounded bad at first . But with only water and electric hookup, moving was a good option to visit the classic “dump” station.

While in the area we spent time with our dear friend Carol.  It was good to catch up on life with her.  We also went to our favorite beach restaurant on Anna Marie Island.  They have the best fish dinners.

Carol and Jackie pick out fabric

Another place we visited was The Ringling.  It was the winter home for the Ringling Barnam/Bailey Circus back in the late 1920s/30s.  It is now owned by the state of Florida and has a wonderful museum , art gallery (Mr Ringling’s extensive collection), and the beautiful estate home of the Ringlings.  If you are in the Sarasota area, this is a great place to visit.

Ringling Venetian Gothic style mansion built in 1926

Inside the “Big Top” Circus Museum

After leaving  the Bradenton area, we spent two weeks at Hide-away RV park near Ruskin (a small town near the Tampa Bay area).  Larrie’s cousin Don and Lori live there for the winter.  We had a great time again catching up on each other’s families.  Larrie even got a couple fishing trips in.

Don and Lori

We finished our Florida winter outside of Tallahassee, the states capital.  We spent a day visiting the local museum and the state’s old and new capital buildings.

Restored Old State Capitol of Florida

We are now on the road again.  We will take our time and make our way north to Michigan.  See you soon.

JKA

Where are the Austin’s?  Well, we are still in the sunshine state, which thankfully is now true to its name.  We are enjoying days in the high 70’s and low 80’s. Today, they say will be in the high 80’s.  Just can’t beat that Florida sun.

I haven’t written since January so I will give you an update on where we have been and what we have been doing.

January we spent in a park called Clerbrook in Clermont, Florida.  It is a large park with  1,250 sites in it.  They offer 3 swimming pools, a golf course, woodshop, softball teams, and every type of club you can think of.  We had some nice neighbors and a great site.  January weather was chilly for Florida.  And, the sun did not shine as much as we would have liked.  Still, we were not shoveling snow or having to wear winter coats.

We like the Clermont area.  Back in 1994, we lived there  for 2 1/2 years.  It was a quiet little town that had lots of rolling hills, open fields, and beautiful lakes.  We met many nice people that we still keep in touch with today.  Of course the area is nothing like it was 20 years ago.  Oh,the hills and lakes are still here.  But all those open fields are now filled with houses.  The town that only had 2 grocery stores and a K-Mart, now has every restaurant chain, clothing store and support businesses that any other large town has.  No more driving 45 minutes to get to a movie.  Of course with all the people comes all their cars.  Two lane roads are now 5 lane roads.  Add all the snow birds, and it makes for a lot of congestion. Still, it was good to be here long enough to see old friends more than one time.

Another plus for Larrie at Clerbrook was the 55 plus slow pitch softball teams.  After talking with the coaches, he decided he would give it a try.  Of course that meant we had to buy a glove (we lost his a couple years ago) and spikes .  Their season continues through March, but he only played for January and February.  He had “fun” in spite of the aching muscles and bruises.  I will say no more as I think he will want to blog on his experience himself.

In February we moved to Bushnell, Florida.  It is only about a 45 minute drive from the Clermont area.  This park is a lot smaller with only 100 sites.  Again, we have had great neighbors.  Because we are still so close to Clermont, we have continued to visit with Florida friends.  We also continued to worship at the Clermont church we went to in January.  Wonderful people with great ‘teaching” pastors .  It felt like home .

While in the Bushnell area, we visited the Dade Battlefield Historic State Park.  It is home to one of the battles of the Seminole Indian Wars.  They have a nice museum with a guide that was very informative.  We also spent a day at the Webster Flea Market.  You have never seen so much “stuff”!

We stopped at a Russell Stover Candy Outlet in Wildwood.  This was not a factory to tour although they did have a video you could watch to see how they make their delicious candies.  It was an outlet where you grab a basket, and walk through rows of candies that are “out of season”. At half-price or less there were boxes of chocolate Santa’s, bags of marshmallow turkeys and large decorated hearts full of delicious chocolate candy.  Of course they also had the “now” season candies (Easter eggs, bunnies, and chicks) at full price.

We took a tour of the Lakeridge Winery in Clermont.  They make about 12 different types of wine .  After the tour we stopped at the wine tasting counter.  It was fun to taste  the different type of wines.  They were having a big sale (surprise!-surprise!).  So we bought a few to enjoy.

I guess you could say our time in the past two months has mostly been spent with people. We have enjoyed numerous visits with our friends and neighbors from 20 years ago.  We went to a super bowl party at  Larrie’s cousins in Leesburg. We took a 4 week class on Wednesday nights at the Church at South Lake. We visited a wonderful German bakery in Yalaha.  We listened to a great jazz/blues band at the Clermont 1st Friday celebration.

Right now we are at Lake Manatee State Park.  It is a beautiful park with lots of trails and a lake.  They say there are bobcats and armadilla’s here.  We have seen the armadila’s but not a bobcat yet.  We are here for a few more days and then we move to a park on Tampa Bay for 2 weeks.  Larrie’s cousin lives there and I know they are planning on doing some fishing in the gulf.

After our Tampa Bay stop, we will start traveling back to Michigan.  We plan to be back by the end of April.  Our granddaughter Amber graduates this year .  We want to be back to celebrate her and all she’s accomplished.

Enjoy the rest of your winter, where ever you are staying.

JA

Winter is finally here.  Every morning Larrie looks to see what is happening in Kalamazoo.  “It’s 14 degrees,  50% chance of snow, and 0% of sun”.  OK.  Maybe that’s not the forecast for everyday.  But you have to admit, more days read like that than we want to.  Michigan can get lots of snow.  The roads can be icy .  And the schools do close for bad weather days. That’s Michigan in winter.  After all, Michigan is the Winter Wonderland state.

We are finally in Florida for the winter.  I never thought I would be the person who wanted to leave home and go south for the winter.  I do miss our kids, grandkids, and of course our church family too.  But, there is something about sunshine that just lifts your spirits.  And Florida is called the sunshine state. Right?

Well, I have to admit, it has been chilly for Florida weather.  And, even though we are not shoveling snow, the skies have been gray a lot this last week or so.  I really don’t mind that it is cold most mornings, if the sun will just shine. The locals say “this weather is so strange. Just wait and the sun will be back”.  I’m counting on it!

The weather men here are about as good as at home for predicting the weather.  So far, not one day has gotten as warm as they said it would.  And on days when the chance of sun is 60%, we have watched all day for it to show up.  Still, I know this is the sunshine state.  I know the sun and all it’s warmth will be here one day.

Today I woke up to a bright light shining in my window.  This is the second day in a row.  I LOVE IT!  It was in the low 60’s yesterday.  Today is to be the same or higher.  Even a cool day is ok  if that sun shines.

Sunrise in Clermont, Florida

The plan is to be in Florida for the next 3 months.  We are moving around , staying in 3 different areas of the state.  We want  to enjoy the people, scenery , and sunshine.  We’ll let you know how the sunshine part works out.

JA