Homeward bound

Day 2 on the road and we made it as far as Hershey, PA. It is still hot and sunny - hopefully it will be in Ottawa as well but somehow I have a feeling this will be our last day to wear shorts for a while.
It's been a frustrating journey- hundreds of factory outlets and not one square inch of room left in the car - so no shopping for us. Oh well, great excuse to come back this way again.
See y'all soon.

Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

On the offchance that there was some wildlife left in Florida we hadn't check out yet we headed off to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. There were not a lot of birds there today but we figured that was good news- they are on there way back north because the weather is getting better and we will be following them on Sunday.

We were luck enough to catch a couple of rare sightings - an American Bald Eagle (3rd picture) and a manatee (last picture).

So, this will be our last Blog entry from Florida. Thanks for following along on our adventure and for all your comments and e-mails.

We will try to keep in touch on our trip home.

Pass the Ace

One last night of playing cards with "The Gang". And oh yeah, that big pile of money on the table is my winnings- now that's a great send-off!

Gator on the move

Our Gator friend came out of the water today to give us tourists a great photo op. What a sport!

Tonight we got boar(ed)

Tonight was The Great Outdoors annual wild boar BBQ, a very popular event. We could smell the meat cooking in the smoker all day long and by the end of the day the meat was tender and the three cooks were pickled! All you could eat, including drinks and dessert was a great deal for 10 bucks.

Last few lazy days

Sadly, the last few days of this vacation - things are getting pretty lazy around here.

Mating season

All our loyal Blog readers (and I know you're out there) may recall me showing you a roadsign near our house about not feeding the aligators. Well, look what we saw when we passed by today. We are told it is now mating season so they are on the prowl everywhere.

We finally drank enough!

We needed 5 empty pop cans to make this cornish hen recipe. We filled the cans with beer (it didn't occur to us to just buy cans of beer) then spiced them up and BBQ'ed them- delicious!

Astronaut Hall of Fame

Today's outing was a trip to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. It is a great tribute to those dedicated to space travel and we finally had an answer to that age old question- "How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?"

P.S. You don't want to know!!!

Lunch was at Steak 'n Shake- great burgers and milkshakes

Kennedy Space Center

We spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center and really enjoyed it. The IMAX show in 3D was awesome.

Don't be fooled by the first picture- I would never become an astronaut. I need a work environment with a bit more atmosphere!!!

We all got crabs!

We went out for a seafood dinner last night at a popular hangout called Dixie Crossroads. We started out with free appetizers of crab balls and corn fritters. Most of us got combo plates which were great- Guy went for the 4 dozen rock shrimp (as well as everyone else's leftovers!) No doggie bags necessary when Guy's around!

Take me out to the ballgame

The weather was a little iffy today (overcast and windy) so we decided to go back to Viera to take in another baseball game. The L.A. Dodgers were in town to take on the Nationals. We ate some hot dogs for lunch and then I literally bought some peanuts and crackjacks so now I can't get that damn song out of my head.

We left after 5 innings because we were sure it was going to rain which wasn't great but as you can see we are adding to our wardrobes with every game.

Christmas in Florida

The little town next to Titusville is called Fort Christmas (don't ask me why) and this weekend was their Bluegrass Festival. If anyone was expecting Alison Krause and Ricky Skaggs they might have been disappointed but otherwise it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours.

This vacation is going to the dogs!

Last night the 5 of us went off to the dog races in Daytona Beach on a "get rich" scheme. We pooled our money together and took turns betting on the 15 races. After all was said and done we had parlayed are $100 into $107.40. We were so exited about our winnings that we drove up the road to the Krispie Kreme place to celebrate. Although I am not a big fan of those donuts myself, I must admit, the ones that come straight out of the oven do taste a lot better than the Toronto imports we are used to getting at the Orleans Walmart.

Tiger Guy

It didn't take Guy long to hit the links. I caught this view of him on the 17th tee from my backyard.

...and then there were 5

Joanne and Guy arrived on Friday. Joanne was happy to see she did not miss strawberry season. Chef Olivier cooked up some Brats and corn on the cob using a recipe he discovered on the Food Network 3 o'clock in the morning (that guys never sleeps!). The corn was delicious and we will never just boil corn on the cob again. If anyone is interested in the recipe just let him know - I'm sure he will share. Just make sure you have lots of jalepeno peppers!!

At least lunch was good!

So, as I mentioned yesterday we went to play golf today at Sam's Executive Golf Course. I thought I did quite well shooting a 72 - but then Olivier told me I had to play the other 17 holes. It pretty much went downhill from there. Actually, it really wasn't that bad. I managed to hit a couple of riders. For those of you not familiar with this technical golf term, a rider is when you actually hit the ball far enough to make it worthwhile riding your golf cart to the ball.
Lunch was good though - Dogs "R" Us .

Downtown Titusville

We spent the morning walking through downtown Titusville, the "historic" part of the city. Not that much to see but we were right along the ocean so how bad could that be!

We did, however find a great place to have lunch called the Caffe Chocolat and as the name would imply it is a chocoholic's paradise. We are not worried though- apparently we are going to work it all off on the golf course tomorrow!

Shortcake anyone?

Believe it or not, it's strawberry season down here. I just finished cleaning the ones we bought at the outdoor market yesterday. Don't they look delicious! Guess what we're having for dessert tonight- if they last that long!

The Boys are Back in Town

We went to the home opening of the Washington Nationals training camp yesterday. The bad news, they lost 7-2 against the Orioles. The good news, they were giving out free tee shirts so now when Del, Olivier and I go play golf we will look great!

Slow traffic

We went for a nice leisurely afternoon drive in Del's golf cart which is a nice way to get around here but we had to stop to let this slowpoke through. Around here turles, snakes, aligators, armadillos and deer always have the right of way.

Our Jungle Adventure

We visited the Jungle Adventure in Titusville today where Olivier got up close and personal with a 7 foot boa constrictor, a baby aligator, a couple of Florida Panthers (no, not the hockey team) and lots of other "wild" things.

So, we now consider ourselves experts on aligators so feel free to ask us anything about them. We stopped short of actually eating gator meat but we were told it tastes just like (you guessed it) chicken. My response to that was, "If I wanted to east something that tastes just like chicken , I'll eat chicken"!

Cigars all around

Looks like our aligator had a baby. If you double click on this picture and look carefully you can see the baby on her Mom's back.

The King of Clubs (not golf clubs though)!

Del seemed to be having a little trouble reading the cards ( at least that is the excuse he gave for always losing) so I bought him the biggest cards I could find!

He still seems to be having a bit of trouble. Needless to say, the amber rum bottle won the contest

Spring!

For those of you who are sick and tired of the winter I have good news - Spring is just around the corner and I have proof- The Grapefruit League has started training.

Today we went to see the Washington Nationals (former Montreal Expos) train and next Saturday we will be going to a game.

If anyone wants to join us check out their schedule.

Cross border shopping

Those of you reading this blog who know me well will know that one of my most favorite activities is cross border shopping. But yesterday even I had to say "enough". We went to the Alafaya Shopping Mall in Orlando. To say HUGE would be a gross understatement. The Target Store alone had over 35 cash register. In addition, there was a Best Buy, a Home Depot, Pier 1 Imports , Ashley Furniture and hundreds of other stores and every one of them was bigger than anything I've ever seen. We didn't actually buy anything but we had a lot of fun. Olivier and I are going to turn Del into a shopper yet!

Better than golf

So what do you do when you are on vacation with 2 senior citizens - you play shuffleboard!

I actually managed to beat Del in one game so if my golf career does not take off soon, I know I have something to fall back on.

So many books - so little time

I've decided not to come home until I've exhausted the book supply! And since new books come in every day I could be here a while.

Happy President's Day

The last few days have been a little cool but after today we'll be back in the high 70's and 80's - not too shabby!

In the meantime we witnessed our first launch of an unmanned satelite which was pretty good. I am told the launch of the space shuttle March 15 will be awesome and we will definitely attend that one.

I tried my luck at golf again but nothing much to report there.

Olivier and Del cleaned up the backyard this weekend- those palm trees can be messy.

We are eating very well these days. Shrimp cocktails and pepper steak were on the menu Saturday night.