Christmas has come and gone....we celebrated with my daughter, Amy, while she was with us for about 12 days, and we had all the joys of seeing amazing light shows and going on super Disney rides, seeing all that is wonderful in Epcot, catching the fabulous Christmas Processional show with Sigourney Weaver narrating the Christmas Story with a wonderful choir and orchestra accompanying her.....eating at the German Bavarian Restaurant first.....where half the experience was watching Ken "do" the buffet. He can sure pack it in! We also had a lovely meal at a Mexican restaurant ... well, as usual, there we are, recounting our food expeditions!
And one day, we all sat in the motorhome and opened our gifts in our stockings....only this year that would be in our mittens -- yes, during one of our shopping excursions in Indiana , I came upon a crafts booth at an Amish store, and someone had created big wonderfully decorated mittens using old sweaters ... and since we had not thought to bring our usual Xmas stockings with us, I thought how fun these would be...and they were! The three of us had obviously had waay too much time to think about it....the mittens were stuffed with fun things, yummy things (food again), really nice things....and there were a few other packages lying about to open, too! Great fun.
Since then, we have been in southern Florida.....my first experience here. The Everglades....nothing like I had pictured them....they are lovely, have pretty lakes in which you can canoe or kayak....picnic areas, a terrific campground, marina....and oh, the friendly mosquitos! Seems you can find out how the rangers rate their numbers....from tolerable up to unbelievable! I am sure they were sorry to see us leave.....I lured all the mosquitos away from anyone else hoping to catch those charmers, and I gave them a real good meal! How they love me. Next time, if there is one, I will put on a goopy layer of bug stuff and let them have a good meal of that! HA!
But, we also discovered a wonderful Cuban restaurant in the area of our campground (or, rather, Ken did), and surprise of all surprises! The special of the day when we went was lamb shank in rosemary/garlic sauce with roasted potatoes and rice and fried plantains....ahhhhh. Sigh. What is one to do? Of course I had that....shockingly delicious. (And, P.S. --- I did bring half of it home!)
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The campgrounds have been interesting....from Disney's Fort Wilderness - which one would love to go back to and have some down time to investigate the swimming pools, trails, lakes and rivers and kayak....to the nice Larry and Penny Thompson Park Campground near the Everglades....large, pretty full, sites arranged in "pods" -- some sites spacious and level, some not so much.....a few sites with Xmas decorations....versus Disney where folks go ALL out. You felt like a Grinch if you didn't at least put up a wreath or a few lights.
The area around south Miami....crazy traffic, lots of people, mostly Spanish spoken.....you take your life in your hands just driving. There doesn't seem to be anyone adhering to traffic rules!
We said good bye to that area this morning and have driven up to the Big Cypress Rv Park, on the Seminole Indian reservation near Clewiston.....what a change! We are about 20+ miles away from any highway, no traffic noise, no noise at all other than what a camper may make, or a dog in the area.....where alligators seem to rest nearby, a Florida panther has been spotted .... the sites are really big, really nice...and the campground folks very nice and very friendly. A dance is being put on at their community center tonight.....just a spontaneous gathering of fun people. We have been urged to join them. Ken is still coughing a good bit, so not sure we will go....but we are attending their New Year's Day pot luck tomorrow evening....pulled pork sloppy joe's and lots of dishes to accompany them! Ken couldn't say yes! fast enough. Free food and plenty of it....his kind of nirvana!! I have to scour the pantry to figure out what to make and take.
Would I care to return to the southern end of Florida anytime soon? I don't think so....saw wonderful things and enjoyed our time there.....was disappointed that Key West is so commercial and crowded -- I mean CROWDED!, but liked Marathon Key and some of the other smaller ones. Miami area itself...no sirree, not my cup of tea. And can be waaayyyy too humid. Glad to have seen the interesting places we saw, such as the gorgeous Deering Estate and Biscayne National Park....but am ready to move on. 2013 has been full -- very full....and we look forward to 2014 and continuing our travel adventures. Wishing everyone of you a fun, safe New Year's Eve....and most definitely, a healthy, happy 2014.
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