Georgous Okeechobee Lake Sunset

Thursday, December 27, 2012

It's a little passed five in the afternoon and happy hour on 65th avenue in Ancient Oaks RV Resort just ended.  Not wanting to end a fun afternoon on the neighbor's porch so soon, we decided to head into Okeechobee for some Mexican food.  Kitty and I slipped into Pat and Ted's Yukon.  Pat was the designated driver this time so the gals were in the front seat and the guys were in the back seat.  With this crew, it doesn't matter who drives, the driver will have plenty of help from the back seat.  "Turn here, stop there", or, "Do the breaks work?"   "Where's the ejection button?!!"

As Pat turns out of Ancient Oaks on to highway 441, we all noticed the sun was beginning to set over Okeechobee Lake and the colors in the sky were spectacular.  So, with plenty of help from the back seat, Pat whips the Yukon into the nearest entrance to the rim that circles the Lake.  We got out and started taking pictures of the sun setting over the Lake from our vantage point on top of the rim.  It's always fun watching the sun set, but this was one of those special sun sets with a kaleidoscope of changing colors in the sky and simultaneously on the surface of the water.  These pictures were taken with our cell phones and didn't really do justice to the colorful scene we all witnessed.

Ted & Pat

Craig & Kitty

After shooting the sunset pictures, we turned and took these shots of the moon as it began its assent into the night sky.

Strange things begin to happen around here as the sun disappears beneath the lake.  I could hear an alarmed voice saying, "What's that sound?"  "It's a wild cat!  Maybe it's the growl of a wild dog, or a gator!"   "No you fool, that's my stomach!  Let's go get some food and feed this thing!"  In a split second all four of us opened the car doors and slid into our seats in unison.  It looked as if we practiced this maneuver hundreds of times.  In the snap of arthritic fingers, we were back on the highway heading for more fun and a great meal.

Plenty of laughs, a beautiful sunset, and great food and friends.  Hey!  It just doesn't get any better than that my friends!

In Search of a Beach

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Kitty and I decided to scout some Florida Treasure Coast beaches for future use.  So, we slipped into our car and drove from Okeechobee, Florida to Fort Pierce, Florida.  We made a stop along the way at Traditions Mall for some quick shopping.  Then headed our car east toward the Atlantic coast.

We managed to find our way to Fort Pierce, Florida and entered highway A1A heading south along the Ocean.  We found a public beach and parked the car. "Hey, we're on Florida's Treasure Coast, let's look for a treasure!"  We walked along the beach looking for a lost treasure, but had no luck finding any, but did find some shells.  Darn! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  I guess the shells and our time together will be our treasure. 

We took this photo of Fort Pierce Beach.

The walk on the beach stimulated our appetites, so we got back in the car and continued heading south along A1A until we got to Jensen Beach and crossed the intercoastal and got on US highway 1 looking for a place to eat.  We stopped at the Bone Fish Grill, but they had a long wait.  So, we headed farther up US 1 and ended up in downtown Stuart and we knew where to go for great Italian food.

We parked and made a quick short walk to Luna's.  We got right in and sat right down.  We had been here just a few days ago and had pizza, so this time we tried their pasta.  Just as we expected, the pasta was great, but loaded with garlic.  If our neighbors didn't hear us coming home, they certainly smelled the garlic.  Even our dog, Kallie, covered her nose when we got home.

Little did I know, but I had left my debit card at Luna's.  It was either a senior moment, or a test to see if these folks were honest.  A few days later I retrieved my debit card and was grateful that the folks at Luna's passed the honesty test.  Thank God for that!


Friday, December 21, 2012


Randy and Debbie were headed to West Palm Beach and asked if we would join them.  Randy needed to drop his mandolin off at a repair shop in West Palm Beach.  After that, we headed down town passing through the luxurious beach homes with their well manicured landscaping, beautiful ocean views, and a few Bentleys parked here and there.  We can see why Donald Trump lives here!

The beach we stopped at was definitely in the high rent district in West Palm!  We weren't sure we could afford the parking meter!  After feeding the meter with several quarters we had all of three minutes on the meter!  That would give us just enough time to run to the beach, snap a few pictures and beat the meter maid back to our parking spot before our time expired.  I was sure we would have to mortgage the farm if we had to pay a parking fine!  I noticed a man wearing a yellow caution shirt picking up trash along the curb, and I imagined his salary had to be six figures just to clean the street in this part of town!  It's a whole 'nother world here!

Here's some shots of West Palm Beach.

Kitty and Craig

L to R: Kitty, Craig, and Debbie

Did you notice the life guard station in this picture?  Being in this ritzy area, I imagined it was furnished with rich Corinthian leather, a hot tub, and satellite TV!  It probably has a hidden elevator so the life guards don't have to climb a ladder for heaven sakes!  Ha!

 By now, it was getting close to lunch, so we headed to the Gulf Stream Bristo on Dixie Highway.  They offer all types of fresh fish. The food is great and the prices are reasonable.  We probably spent less for lunch than we put in the parking meter at the beach!  Ha!

Even though we didn't have lunch with Donald Trump, we managed to have a great time.  We headed back to Okeechobee feeling like Donald missed a great time! 



Hey! Let's Go To Stuart!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

It was a quiet, peaceful Sunday morning in Ancient Oaks RV Resort in Lake Okeechobee.  But, it doesn't usually stay that way for long.  Someone says, "Hey, let's go to Stuart".  Someone else says, "Yea, we can do some shopping, and someone else says, "And we can get some pizza while we're there!" 

Boom! In a flash, six seniors are in Ted and Pat's Yukon heading East to Florida's Treasure Coast. We are heading for downtown Stuart where's there's a great Italian restaurant that sells pizza by the slice and it is oh, so good!  The Stuart downtown area is the older section of Stuart and is along the Intercoastal Waterway.  The trip is just under an hour, but seems to take only a few minutes with all of the conversations and laughs.  We turn into the square and hunt for a parking spot while our mouths begin salivating.  We know we are in for a treat!

"There's a parking spot!"  "Quick before someone else gets it!"  Ted wheels the Yukon masterfully into a really tight spot.  It was like driving a Cadillac into a keyhole, but he managed to squeeze the Yukon into a really tiny spot.  It was a miracle! However, we couldn't get the car doors open and the sign says "Motorcycles Only".  We back out and find anther spot and six seniors spring out as though they were late for dinner, or just found a great bargain at Wal-Mart!  We cross the street and walk a couple of blocks and hunger continues to build with each step, several break into a trot.  We gotta have some of this great pizza.  Now, we're only a 100 feet from the restaurant and folks are drooling all over themselves.  We are all yelling in unison, "Pizza!  Pizza!  Pizza!"  Now, only a few more feet and we'll be there.  We sprint the last few feet and skid to a sudden stop at the front door.

"Damn!" They don't open on Sundays until 4 PM.  "Damn!" That's over three hours away!  We'll all starve to death and wither away to nothing by then!  Who's idea was this anyway?  Alas, we notice that the restaurant is open, but only selling pizza through their outside serving window.  Darn! There's no outside tables available, they're all full.  Maybe we can stand next to a couple of tables and stare at them until they get up a leave.

We all gather on the sidewalk and decide on a plan.  "Let's go back up the street and get some ice cream!"  Well, you don't have to say ice cream twice to a group of hungry seniors.  "We'll have desert first, then pizza!"  "Great idea!"  In a flash (well...actually not exactly a flash.  We seniors don't do anything that fast anymore), we invaded the ice cream parlor. Using exceptional restraint , we all just get one or two scoops to hold us over knowing we'll be getting pizza later.

Ahhh!  That really hit the spot!  Having quelled our hunger for the time being, we walked around the downtown area looking at all of the stores and finally came to the waterfront.  There was a live band playing and some tents set up selling various works of arts and crafts.  The music was great and we stood there and listened to the band until they took a short break.

 

 

Here's a couple shots of the waterfront area in Stuart and the live band.

We continued walking the downtown area and found ourselves back at the restaurant.  We found some empty tables outside & began feeding our pizza craving in earnest.  It was oohh, sooo good!

After a few brief shopping stops, we headed back to Lake Okeechobee.  Along the way, we decided to head to the lake and watch the sun set.  Ted wheeled the Yukon towards Port Mayaca where we could get a great view of the sun setting over Lake Okeechobee from atop the rim.

Here's four of the six of us watching the sun set.

 L to R: Susan, Ted, Pat, and Barry (Kitty and I are not shown)

 

 

These pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

Well folks, it was a beautiful ending to a beautiful day in South Florida.  Who knows what will happen next!

 

Three Bob Band Concert

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Our street in Ancient Oaks RV Resort has three guys that like to sing and play guitars.  They all live in Kentucky, but are only together during the winter months when they are here in Okeechobee, Florida.  They have been practicing in the "Man Cave" at Randy's house for the past few weeks and decided to have an open practice secession for the neighborhood.  So, they set up their equipment across the street from us on the porch of Larry and Carol.

Their music is mostly from the 60's and 70's and is a mixture of light rock and country.  Their concert was a real delight for all of us, and after the concert Henry and Barb has us all over to their place for home made biscuits and gravy with sausage.  Wow, great music, and excellent food all in the same day without leaving our street!  Where can you beat that! 

Here they are folks!  The Three Bob Band!

L to R: Teddy-Bob, Barry-Bob, and Randy-Bob with their Three Bob Band shirts in Kentucky Blue.

 

Here they are in action!

 

 

Here some shots of the neighbors enjoying the concert.

 

 

 

 

Another wonderful day in South Florida where we have fun in the sun and get silly in the shade!

 

 

 

The Murals of Lake Placid

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Our Okeechobee, Florida neighbors (Ted and Pat) invited us to see the murals in Lake Placid, Florida.  Lake Placid is the home of eight lakes and attracts thousands of vacationers yearly.  But, we were headed here to enjoy the murals scattered throughout the city.  Ok...ok, our real motivation was their famous bodacious banana split!

We arrived in Lake Placid late morning and began our tour at the Tour and Information Center located at the Chamber of Commerce building where we viewed a 10-minute video about the mural program.  There are 40 murals painted on various building around this small quaint town.  We did a walking tour viewing three or four murals.  Many of the murals have things hidden in the mural and we had fun trying to find them.  It wasn't long before we decided we needed to get something to eat.  It's hard to concentrate on murals where our stomachs are screaming "feed me, feed me!"  Knowing there was a great restaurant just a couple blocks away that has great food and great banana splits made the decision a no brain'r.

Main Street America restaurant is a great place to eat.  The food was great, the portions were big, and you won't leave hungry.  Most of the time we eat out, we try to save room for dessert.  However, here, we should have started with dessert and then order a sandwich if we had room.  We weren't smart enough to do it this way and ordered sandwiches and thought we had saved enough room for dessert.  Wrong!  The bodacious banana split could easily feed four people and we had two of them to split between three people.  I had apple pie alamode and that left Kitty with an entire banana spilt to eat.  We didn't realize it was so big until the waitress brought it our from the kitchen. An hour later, the three of us had to carry Kitty out of there while she was screaming "more ice cream"!  Ha.

 

After lunch, we gladly resumed the walking tour hoping to walk off the 10 pounds we just gained. 

The following pictures are a small sample of the 40 murals in Lake Placid along with a brief explanation about each mural.

 

 

Here's our tour group.  Ah... we are the ones in the front row!

Front row L to R: Ted,  Pat, Kitty, and me.

This mural is called Decades of Green Dragon Basketball.

Artist: Keith Goodson

Size 31 feet wide by 10 feet high.

The team was named Green Dragon in 1939.

They played all home games outdoors on a cement tennis court.

At night, automobiles would surround the court to provide light for the game.



 

 





Title: Caladium Fields

Artist: Tom Freeman

Size: 60 feet wide and 30 feet high

Lake Placid is the Caladium capital of the World where over 95% of the worlds caladiums grow.

Annual Caladium Festivals draws thousands of people.

Most caladiums grow in 1,500 acres of black bottom muck. 

 

 

 

Title: Birding

Artist: Thomas Brooks and Terry Smith

Size: 67 feet wide and 12 feet high

Florida has the third greatest number of different bird species of any state in the nation.

Thirty-six species of birds are officially listed as endangered in Florida.

 

 

 

The two pictures above are titled: Cracker Trail Cattle Drive.

Artist: Keith Goodson

Size: Too large for one picture (175 feet wide by 30 feet high)

Cracker Trail drives traveled just north of Lake Placid on what is now Rout 66 and 98.

Cattle would loose 200 to 300 pounds on a drive.

 

 

 

Title: Eddie Mae Henderson - Sharing and Caring.

Artist: Charles Peck

Size: 22 feet wide and 13 feet high.

For over 20 years, Eddie Mae Henderson cooked Christmas dinner for the less fortunate.

Eddie Mae and over 25 volunteers serve over 700 dinners each Christmas.

 

 

Title: Layers of Time (no, Ted is not part of this mural! Ha!)

Artist: Dean Quigley

Size: 89 feet wide by 16 feet high.

This mural takes us back 10,000 years when Mastodons roamed this area.

 

This is a pond at the entrance to the Layers of Time Mural

 

 

 

Title: Dr. Melvil Dewey



 Artist: Roy Hampton and Terry Smith

Size: 35 feet wide and 18 feet high

Dr. Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal system at the age of 21

In 1927 he convinced the Florida legislature to change the name of the town from Lake Stearns to Lake Placid, Florida.

 

 

Title: Tea At Southwinds

Artist: Thomas freeman

Size: 60 feet wide and 30 feet high

This was the first mural dedicated on May 15, 1993.

These were the glory days of Lake Placid where the rich and famous came to play.

 

 

Title: Turpentine Industry

Artist: John Gutcher

Size: 62 feet wide by 14 feet high

In camps scattered throughout this area, workers collected gum that was distilled into turpentine.  The extraction process is shown in the above mural.

 

 

We had a lot of fun walking around town looking at these beautiful murals and trying to find the hidden items in the murals.  We will return to see more murals and have more banana splits.  But, we have to be sure Ted is with us.  He is a master at find the hidden objects in these murals.  We'd still be there if he wasn't along to find those tricky little devils!

Rim Ride to Taylor Creek

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Our friend and neighbor, Barry, stopped by today to see if I would like to join him on a bike ride to Taylor Creek today.  I said sure, and we departed under sunny sky's and perfect temperatures in the low 70's.  From Ancient Oaks RV Resort to Taylor Creek is about 4 miles each way along the rim trail on Lake Okeechobee, Florida. 

This would be my first ride on my new bike outside of the park and a chance to see Lake Okeechobee from the top of the rim.  The rim was made to hold addition water when tropical storms and hurricanes pass through south Florida.  There is a bike trail along most of the rim that encircles the lake.

Lake Okeechobee is the largest fresh water lake in Florida and covers 730 square miles which is about half the size of the state of Rhode Island.  The name Okeechobee means "big water" and was formed in the wetlands of South Florida about 4000-6000 years ago.

 

As we headed North, Lake Okeechobee is on our left.

 

The canal is running along our right side.

 

More shots of the Lake Okeechobee 

 

 

Here we are at Taylor Creek where a new flood control gate is under construction on the left.  To the right is where Taylor Creek joins the canal and looking straight ahead is the continuation of the canal around the lake.

 

The pontoon boat is on Taylor Creek heading to the construction site.  There is a Blue Heron in the center of the spit of land in this picture.

 

Barry is enjoying the views while standing on a bridge that crosses the canal at Taylor Creek.

 

Returning back we spotted these Ibis and Egrets feeding along the path.

 

The large birds on the post in the center of this picture are vultures.  We didn't want to stand still here too long, they might think we were their next meal! Ha!

 

 

Back to the park we headed.  It was a great ride and another beautiful day in south Florida.