When we got up this morning we decided to do some sight seeing and to give out my Florida knitted wheelchair lap rope to a nursing home here is Eustis where we are now staying.  I got that done.  They were very interested in why I did them and how many states I given to so far. 

We also decided to visit "The Villages"  

The Villages is a master-planned age-restricted retirement community located in Florida,

Many come to The Villages for its amazing golf facilities. It’s said there are some 35,000 golf carts in The Villages. There are over 90,000 residence living here now.  It is a extremely large Del Webb like community.  Interesting since The Villages were modeled after them.  Residents enjoy “free golf” at over 20 executive golf courses.  Or, for a modest fee, they can use any of the eight champion golf courses.

Those who reside in The Villages, Florida are drawn to it because of it’s safety and ease of access to its facilities. Not only is it a beautiful gated community, but it also has very low crime rates making it one of the most comfortable places to live in Florida.

The Villages also has an ample supply in entertainment and recreational activities.  Given the fact that The Villages is widely known and extremely popular for its Golf activities, there have been special trails built specifically for golf carts. This residential development consists of over 40 recreation centers, over 20 executive golf courses, polo fields, fitness centers, and 8 champion golf courses that include country clubs.

With all the golf carts running around it reminded me of the Amish country with all the horse drawn buggies on the roads, (LOL) without the little piles of "stuff" on the roadways.

 The Villages Florida is one of the largest age-restricted active adult communities in Florida - as well as the world. What started as a small neighborhood in 1978 has blossomed into a sprawling community that will eventually be home to an estimated 75,000 households of people aged 55 and better. The Villages Florida spans three counties, three zip codes and over 20,000 acres. The entire community is connected by over 100 miles of golf cart legal streets and trails.
The Villages Florida is an entirely self-sustaining town complete with retail establishments, restaurants, banks, post offices and countless recreational amenities. Residents of The Villages, known as Villagers, have flocked to the community from every state and several countries to be a part of what is boasted as Florida's Friendliest Hometown. The community has drawn retirees from around the world with the lure of warm weather, quality ranch homes and free golf for life. The Villages in Florida has appealed to mature adults because it offers a lifestyle unmatched by any active adult community in the country. In fact, every week a 50-page newsletter and activity guide highlights all of the various clubs, activities and events for the week.


Brownwood Paddock Square is the third and final planned town square for The Villages. 
The theme of Brownwood (everything in The Villages has a theme…) is “Old World Florida” and takes residents back to a time in the 1800’s when Florida’s cattle hunters and cowboys roamed the state.

We spotted this interesting displays on the road so we had to stop and see what this was about.  You see the enormous bronze statues shipped in from Park City Utah depicting the "cracker" cattle and the cowboys that are bring the cattle in from the Florida scrub.  

 The Florida Cracker is a breed of cattle developed in the state of Florida, and named for the Florida Cracker culture in which it was kept.  Also known as the Florida Scrub or just as the Cracker cow.  Florida Crackers are one of the oldest and rarest breeds of cattle in United States.   Descended from Spanish stock imported to the continent in the 16th century, Florida Crackers are a small, horned breed that quickly adapted to the Florida landscape and have long been prized for their resistance to parasites and other hardy traits.   They weigh generally under 900 pounds, come in many colors, and are horned in both cows and bulls.  After 1949 the combination of new laws about free-roaming livestock and the introduction of larger beef breeds led to the rapid decline of the Florida Cracker.   Despite the continued work of the Florida state government and a breed association, the breed is still listed as critically endangered

You see here the cracker cowboy bringing in a calf with his trusted dog at his side.

 

The detail was unbelievable.  I did not take close ups of the behinds of the animals because of the detail, if you know what I mean.

They even had the cattle guard to the entry of the complex.

The detail was down to the hoof marks in the mud, but there were no little bronze cow pies anywhere to be seen????

 

 

This is the resort were we are currently residing.

 

We stayed home and rested from the manatee snorkel trip. LOL  No resting we just did not have any place to go today.  I worked on a cross stitch table cloth and finished it today.  That is a good feeling.  It has trees on the four corners that hang down.  This is done by using different colors of thread and needle.  I followed a pattern on the material. 

It has this center decoration with tree on each end with holly outlining.

These small decorations on the edge that hangs down.  There are eight of these.

This is the napkin.  There are four of these.

 
 This is the pre-stamped kit that I purchased many years ago and have been carrying it around with me for 3 years.  I say it is about time I got it done. 

 
thought this was interesting for you people with stationary homes.

Today we headed to Crystal River to swim with the manatees.  
While waiting to board the boat we looked around and spotted the kayak launching area.  The are really cool and easy to launch from.






Also on the way over we spotted a small herd of buffalo. 

Rog has donned his wet suit.  I do not like them so I just went in a la bathing suit.

On the boat on the way to the springs we spotted these turtles sunning on a log stick.

These pix were taken from the boat.

mom and baby

 West Indian manatees are large, gray aquatic mammals with bodies that taper to a flat, paddle-shaped tail. They have two forelimbs, called flippers, with three to four nails on each flipper. Their head and face are wrinkled with whiskers on the snout. The manatee's closest relatives are the elephant and the hyrax (a small, gopher-sized mammal). 

Manatees are gentle and slow-moving animals. Most of their time is spent eating, resting, and traveling. Manatee are mostly herbivorous, however small fish and invertebrates can sometimes be ingested along with a manatee’s normal vegetation diet.

The following are pix using our underwater camera. 


 
 

These are pix of us in the water.  We swam in the Crystal River then up into the Three Sisters Spring.  We were told more manatees here.  We did see manatees, but the best part was the spring was warmer, 72 degrees.

  baby closely following mom.

manatee tail

 


Coming up for air



Notice the fish feeding off the goodies on the manatee's back.

 
Sleeping on the bottom





So cute!  We had a wonderful day.  You should put this on your bucket list. 

lost pix dry t

There are only two ways to get to the top of an oak tree:

One is to sit on an acorn and wait.

The other is to start climbing...

...See you at the top!

We slept in today.  It was so cold during the night we turned on the heated mattress, pulled the covers up tight, and put the dogs on the bed and slept good.  We did not want to venture out in the cold so we just slept in.  It was so nice.  But getting old does make sleeping in a bit tougher because our bodies start aching way before we want to get up. LOL
This is the coldest Florida has been all winter, in the 30's this morning.  The cold is suppose to be done now.  It turned out to be a wonderful day.  We headed out and went to Sam's Club and Wal Mart.  I got some new shoes at Sam's.  They are grey and shocking pink.  Very pretty.

We dug out the underwater camera to take with us tomorrow.  Rog took the card out of it to see if it was empty and surprise "before unseen pix".

This first set of pix were taken on Jan 2012.  We were staying in the Keys and we had taken the 2 hour boat trip to the Dry Tortugas and the National Park there. 

 Almost 70 miles  west of Key West lies the remote Dry Tortugas National Park. The 100-square mile park is mostly open water with seven small islands.  Accessible only by boat or seaplane, the park is known the world over as the home of magnificent Fort Jefferson, picturesque blue waters, superlative coral reefs and marine life,  and the vast assortment of bird life that frequent the area.

The next to pix are from the National Park web site, go there and learn more about the park.  The first is a bird's eye view of the Dry Tortugas and the fort.   We learned that they were called Dry Tortugas because there is no drinking water on any of the islands.  At the fort they collected and stored rain water.

 We came in on the boat pictured here.

We got wet suits to snorkel in the Atlantic Ocean.

I can swim, but in the ocean it is so different.  In the ocean, because of the wave action one uses their feet to propel themselves in the water.  You can not swim like you would in a pool or lake with your arms.  Since I can not use my legs it was impossible for me to swim.  The wet suit did not help me either.  You can see the fort behind me.

 

I did get some underwater pix before I had to just call it a day.  I could not get out to the reef to take the pix of the neat fish and stuff.

 

Pix of the fort.

A seaplane that was there while we were there.  You can camp there, but you come over on boat or plane and pack in all your stuff.

new home place

There are only two ways to get to the top of an oak tree:

One is to sit on an acorn and wait.

The other is to start climbing...

...See you at the top!

We got up and out early. The trip here was interesting and easy.  Rog loves to take the road less traveled.  We traveled in some different country and we saw lots of pine trees on this trip.  I do miss the pine trees.  The weather was sunny and a bit breezy and cold.  With the wind and the chill, it was down right cold.  I think today is the last of the cold for a while.  My understanding is that the Arctic cold front dipped all the way down to the Keys, the very tip of Florida and that is why we got so cold here.   I am thinking I need to go farther south.

We have always wondered why Florida has so many roads with hair pin curves, and twists of all kinds.  In a state that is totally flat, elevation tops out at 300 ft, the roads should be straight as an arrow.  We now think we know why the curves.  Sink holes!  That's right, sink holes.  The roads have to go around sink holes that are already there.  They call them lakes and they have a lot of them here.  Sink holes that are starting, they are called depressions in the earth.  And sink holes that are thinking about being sink holes.  I am not sure what they call them.  Trying to build safe roads with all that going on I can see why the roads are so curvy. 

The park here is nice.  It is big and of course we are on the other side of the road from all the activities and pool and neat stuff.  They like to give those spaces to paying members, not step member as it were.  It is nice over here.  The spaces are a lot closer together than most of the Thousand Trail resorts, but all in all a nice place.  I will get out and about tomorrow and see more of the place.  

 

last day in Peace River, Florida

There are only two ways to get to the top of an oak tree:

One is to sit on an acorn and wait.

The other is to start climbing...

...See you at the top!

I think this will be my new motto to live by.

I must start out by saying I did not climb the oak tree today.  We did get the kayaks up on the car and all the stuff on the rack on the back of the car.  So we are ready to get up and unplug, slide in. and raise the jacks, hook-up the car, and start the engine to the rig and off we go.....oops lower the TV antenna.  That one step gets us a lot.  LOL

I must clear up some stuff I said on the blog about the sink hole tragedy here in Florida.  I said this is unrepresented because they have never had a sink hole form inside a home and swallow a man.  They have a lot of sink hole in Florida and that is why I said we have been lucky and we are thinking we need to leave soon before our luck runs out.  Can't win the lottery, but I will probably be the RVer than lands in one of these holes.  LOL

We ate out a Giovonie's  again tonight.  They are always so busy.  I know why the food is great.  We do not have sewer here so we use paper and plastic and eat out more than when we have full hook-ups.  I am liking this arrangement.  

Will let you know how the trip goes and what the new place is like in the next blog. 

 You're never too old to learn something stupid.

oak tree

.

There are only two ways to get to the top of an oak tree:

One is to sit on an acorn and wait.

The other is to start climbing...

...See you at the top! 

We are experiencing a cold snap here.  We have had two or five cold fronts go through so far.  It is sweater weather now.  61 or so for highs and solid clouds all day long.  We are not suppose to have a very good weekend.  We will have showers off and on.  We are leaving here Sunday.  We will be heading for a resort we have never been to.

They are experiencing a terrible disaster here in Florida.  A sink hole has formed in the bedroom of a home.  A man had just gone to bed and in a matter of seconds, now he is gone.  His younger brother tried to help, but was rescued by a responding police officer.  The ground, after 18 hours, is still not stable enough for a rescue to even begin.  They do not have any idea how big it is.  It is now 30 ft wide with very soft edges.  The depth is 50 to 60 feet.   The rescue and engineers are on tither lines as they are working in case the ground give way.  They have evacuated two houses on each side of this house for fear the ground will give away under them too.  Everyone is saying this is unprecedented happening.  California has it's earthquakes, but Florida has mysterious sink holes that appear out of nowhere at anytime,  and big hurricanes and tornadoes and big thunderstorms. It is also the state with the most lightning strikes.  hummmm I think I have just been lucky and I best get outa here!!!  LOL no serious!  Florida does have Micky Mouse, but so does California.
  

We took the kayak trailer apart today and put it in the car.  We did not feel like doing that job a the cold rain shower, that is predicted this weekend.  We also put all the outside stuff away.  The awnings up, lights away, rug in.  We need to put the kayaks on top of the car and the rack and stuff on the back, but they are outside stuff and we will just have to do that job between drops.