Bok Tower Gardens

We left Kissimmee Prairie Preserve rather early in the morning to be at Bok Tower Gardens shortly after they opened. Mom told me I was there when I was six months old. That was the last time she had been there also. It is a popular place, with good reason. There was a great school program and three buses of kids and their teachers were taking advantage of it. I saw photographers both using the garden as a back drop and photographing the plants and flowers. It was very well maintained and there were a lot of flowers that were well labeled. I enjoyed walking the paths, taking a lot of pictures of the flowers and listening to the bell music coming from the tower. We ate in the cafe. They served really good sandwiches and spent time in the gift shop. We have been to three botanical gardens on our travels and were able to eat in two of their cafe's. Both were excellent. It is safe to say, we will be making a point of visiting more. I think the Ladybird Johnson Botanical Garden in Austin was my favorite of the three we have been to. Possibly because we took a tour with a volunteer who really loved the garden, possibly because it fit so well into it's surroundings. Here are pictures from Bok Tower Gardens...

Mystic day 2

Out of order post. This is from my sister's and my trip in December.

Our second day in Mystic, we woke up excited so didn't sleep late. We went to downtown Mystic and went shopping. They have really neat stores. A tea and spice store, clothing stores with different designers, both local and national, a surprisingly large book store, toy store, a really interesting men's store, a pet supply store, a couple coffee shops, bakeries, bars, and restaurants. We spent a couple hours shopping then went to a chain clothing store so my sister could get some thermal leggings to go under her clothes. Did I say it was cold? The temperature was 17 degrees and windy. We went to a place called the Mystic Knotworks. People make door mats, key chains, jewelry and other useful and decorative items out of rope. Then we went to a bakery for lunch and coffee. It was ok. We felt like we were interrupting the baker who has stuff ready to sell, but was making more.  At the appointed time, we drove to the navy base and parked back at the Nautilus museum. We waited with other excited family members for a van that had room for us.  While waiting, the submarine went under the bridge to enter the harbor. Oh goodness, Josh was almost there. We rode the shuttle onto base and to the dock the submarine would be arriving at. We waited with a couple hundred other very excited, noisy, cold family members for about an hour while the sub made it's way through the harbor, was maneuvered by tug boats to the dock, was tied off, and had border control and customs paperwork done. Then they had to take quarantined trash to the dumpster and haul it away. Then it was time! Nope, not yet. Brrrr. The families that live on base or in town get to earn privilege. The first sailor to get off and get the first kiss because his wife won the privilege by volunteering, then they had the first hug for another family who won that privilege. Then there was a gender reveal. The sailor didn't know the gender of his upcoming child, but his family did. I don't know how they kept it a secret until he got home. The timing was hopefully good. The sailors are at sea for 6 months then on shore for several months. Hopefully he gets to see his baby before he goes out again. Now it is time!! They opened the gates to the dock and we all rushed in, eagerly hunting for our sailor. So many people hugging and talking. Where is he? We saw him crossing the gangplank!! My sister, his mom, got a big hug and smiles. Everyone was standing around in 30 degree weather smiling, talking, hugging, kissing, and having happy reunions. We wound up out on the dock for about 30 minutes Josh, and all the other sailors were in dress uniforms. No jackets. We gave him our handwarmers.  Josh was able to grab his stuff and leave when we did. We had to take the shuttle back to the car, then drive onto base with my military identification (Thank you husband David). We met Josh at the bowling ally where he was on his laptop reactivating his phone service.  Mom and son hugged again and we drove him to his car which was parked in long term parking on base. One of the sailor's dad's was there with his truck jumping all the cars people were trying to start. I am not sure he intended to jump everyone's cars, but he happily did it. I stayed in our heated rental to stay out of the way. Mom stayed near her son. He stopped and got air in his tires then we went shopping with him at the navy exchange for a few groceries and other supplies. Our next stop was Lowe's to buy a Christmas tree. Josh has a nice BMW and he had the tree cut so it would fit in the trunk and into the back seat. It made the car smell really nice. He then picked up a pizza at his favorite pizza place and we made it to his apartment.  Josh's mom and I got to hang out at his house while he caught up with his life, got his internet on, woke up Alexa, fixed his heat, ate pizza and set up his Christmas tree. His house is really neat. He lives on the 2nd floor of a 3 story house that was built in the late 1800's. It is right across the street from the river. He can lay in bed, see the water, and watch the sailing ships go in and out. He has built a comfortable and cozy home. It was more cozy the following day after his landlord fixed the thermostat. The first night it would only get up to 60 degrees. Eventually we went back to the hotel and finally warmed up. 

Tampa

I figured I better go back to Tampa before I leave the state of Florida. We went to Tampa after staying at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve state park to make our first attempt at a teacup agility trial. We were late (as in 3 months ahead of time) trying to get reservations at a state park or campground and all were full. We were able to stay at the famcamp at McDill Air Force base. That was an experience. I drove through downtown Tampa with no anxiety with mom's calm navigation. It was really nice to do that without panicking. Of course, I avoided I-4. Our GPSs (both of them) sent us to a gate that was closed. We called the famcamp office, got the address and found the way to the main gate which was open. To leave the closed gate, I got to turn around by pulling into a driveway of an empty lot and backing out. I am starting to look forward to practicing and seeing how good I can get at backing where I want to go. McDill Air Force base is on a peninsula off of Tampa and overlooking St. Petersburg. It is a beautiful location. FamCamp is right on the bay, but took over 30 minutes to check in. They had to copy my dogs shot records, vehicle registration, vehicle insurance, identification and reboot the scanner twice while they did that. They assumed I knew the procedures even though I told them that this was my first famcamp. Eventually she explained we got to boondock (no hookups at all) in the over flow area for $15 per night. The bathrooms and showers were in the campground. We pulled into the grass parking area, with rigs about 10 feet apart, but found a pretty good space for us. I unhitched and hunted for the bathrooms. They were about 1/4 mile away. I hooked up the blueboy (portable sewer tank) and we went to the commissary for water and snacks. We had to buy distilled water to flush the toilet with, for some reason most of the bottled water was sold out. Pricey toilet flushing. We went to the beachside bar and grill for dinner. After we figured out the ordering process, we got fish and chips and sat at a table overlooking the beach to eat. It was surprisingly good. We got back in time to be able to take the dogs for a walk on the beach at sunset. That was beautiful. There is a fenced in dog beach so people could let their dogs off leash and play fetch in the water, let them dig and have fun. Of course, Tippy tried to go under the fence to chase the birds. Peanut got to go off leash, she follows me great. We walked back to the camper just before dark. I hooked up the lamps to the inverter, whose batteries I had charged before I left Texas. They lasted about 20 minutes. I think I need new batteries, they are about 3 years old. Fortunately we had flashlight lanterns which we wound up using both nights we were there and we were able to charge our phones in the van. The next morning, we left early to get to the agility trial. We were the first to arrive while they were still setting up. It was a very small trial with 8 dogs. There were too many trials in the area. The people were friendly and explained trial procedures well to me. Tippy had fun. The first run, we looked like we had never practiced. By the end of the day we were starting to look like a team. We actually got a qualifying score in one of the games that just involved jumps and tunnels (his favorites). We have to work on getting Tippy comfortable with the teeter totter. It upset him when he did it the first time, so after that he refused the dog walk and teeter, but would do the A frame. I didn't make him do what he didn't want to do. He was supposed to have fun at this, and he did. We went out to dinner at an Irish Pub with friends who met us at the trial. We had 4 people and 4 dogs. They had a huge, very dog friendly patio and great service and really good food. I will definitely be looking for more Irish Pubs when we travel. We had more neighbors when we got back and I spent quite a while on the beach, just sitting, watching the ocean, the birds, and people. I got the bright idea to take a shower before bed to get the sand off. It was jacket weather so I drove to the bathrooms and had to loop around 3 times before I found a parking space. The bathrooms and laundrymat are connected. Most of the shower stalls had broken curtains, no place to put your dry clothes or towel, but I found one with intact curtains and a bench to put stuff on. I waited forever for the water to get hot, it didn't happen. So cold, very cold shower it was. After I finished and went to brush my teeth at the sink, I read the sign. Their new hot water heater was too small and couldn't power both the laundry and showers so there was limited hot water. Great. I hope they treat the air force soldiers better. The next morning as we got ready to go, we met our neighbors. The kids on one side of us really liked Tippy. The older girl also really liked the Welcome horseshoe on the door and asked all about it. (Thank you Holly). The other side was a new full timer with a fancy popup she hadn't towed before. She had a lot of problems setting up but other more experienced and mechanically inclined people in the overflow area helped her out. She is a smart and capable lady and will be able to address all the problems new fulltimers face and do well. We went to breakfast at a golf club on base. Delicious breakfast. They were having a golf tournament so we watched all the golfers getting ready and lining up the golf cart train to tee off. We headed out, through downtown Tampa and onto the highway. 

Mystic Connecticut, Day 1

I am moving some posts from my first blog, which was just as easy to post in but I could not figure out how to let people follow it nor could I link it on my website to this blog so the posts are not chronological, nor did I travel multiple trips at the same time. That may be fun for some people but I like to immerse myself in one location at a time. Here is post one of my sister's and my trip to Mystic Connecticut. Ha, I learned to spell Connecticut without spell check.

We left Livingston at 3:30 am on December 19, 2019 to get to the airport in Houston on time. We got there at 5, expecting few people to be there. The place was packed. The security line was surprisingly long, but they added a dog to sniff people going through so we didn't have to take off shoes, removes liquids or food from our bags, or take off belts. We only had to separate out large electronics and take off our jackets. It was like a race though. The security guards lined us up two by two. When they said go, we had to walk without stopping parallel to our partner from one gate to the conveyor belt that x-rayed our carry-ons. I was one of those odd people who cracked jokes that no one laughed at. They were very efficient. We got through security in about 30 minutes and had plenty of time to relax at our crowded gate and people watch before we boarded. Flying was predictably crowded, but not stressful. We got to Providence Rhode Island via Charlotte North Carolina. There was icy snow on roofs and on the ground, but most of the roads were clear. We got to the rental cars via a very long motorized sidewalk, called a skyway and got to see a lot of city views on the way to the rental cars while walking on the moving sidewalks.  We did the paperwork for the car they had ready and walked out into the parking garage to get it. I took a breath and started choking. Don't breathe deep when it is 17 degrees. My gosh it was cold. We scurried to the car, got in and started it. My sister let it warm up while she got acquainted with the controls and we pulled up our route on GPS. On the way out, the security officer checked our contract and our car. I hope he had a heater in his booth. The drive through Providence and on the highway was amazing. I was taking pictures and video and watching the GPS while Tammy was watching traffic, driving, and pointing left and right..."Look at that, Oh wow."

We got to our hotel, which was Day's Inn and Suites. We were a bit concerned because it wasn't in the best maintained condition, But the man at the desk was friendly and efficient and the room was pretty clean and didn't stink.  The hotel has proven to be just right for our stay so we did extend our room for our entire stay. It was clean, quiet, a perfect location for us, and very cost effective. The heater was noisy, but warm, the beds were comfortable, but the hotel did not seem to have any maintenance staff. No real repairs had been done for a long time.

We googled for a place for dinner, and wound up in downtown Mystic at Mystic Pizza. It is a pizza restaurant right on the main street of Mystic. We found street parking right in front of the restaurant door. (We were early for dinner). Their pizza was delicious. nice and crunchy crust and generous toppings in a restaurant full of memorabilia from the movie. Downtown Mystic was beautiful when the lights came on. Every store was decorated and the entire street was lit. We had to eat rather quickly, because we were due to attend a meet and greet at the Nautilus Museum to get the details of my nephew's submarine homecoming the following day. After we got the details of where to park, how cold it would be, security measures, and what we could video and photograph, and most important, the timing, we were able to go to the motel and relax.

Falling Waters State Park, Florida

On the way back to Texas, our Florida panhandle stop was Falling Water State Park. This park has now moved into one of my favorites in Florida. It seemed small when we drove in and the poor van worked hard to get up the big hill to the campground. The campground is small and seems to stay full, so you do have to make reservations. They lost a lot during hurricane Michael, but unlike Torreya State park, the trails had been mostly cleared, boardwalks rebuilt, and they were well maintained, clean, and fully operational. The trial from the campground to the lake was all downhill and a bit rough, but once you got to the lake and swimming area, everything was wheelchair accessible or stairs depending on which route you took. There are a lot of trails in the lower area of the park and they are all beautiful. I took all but 1 before we got tired. The waterfall is amazing. And a surprise. I didn't expect to see that in Florida. There were lots of wildflowers lining the trails, including dog wood and wild azelas. The people in the campground and the employees were friendly. I could tell as I walked by the lake bathroom that the employees were cleaning that they enjoyed their jobs and liked working together. It is a happy and beautiful park.

I did skip our stay in Tampa and our visit to Bok Tower Gardens. I guess I was eager to get to Falling Water State park. The photos are from my phone, the battery on my camera was dead for some reason. It is doing that, I need to get that figured out, by remembering to turn off my camera.

Vegetable Sandwich or cracker spread

This is a combination of several recipes plus my own modifications. It came out really good and I will be making it again. I used 3 blocks of cream cheese and it made about 24 sandwiches. I scaled the recipe down to 1 block which will make 6 to 8 sandwiches. You could use half a block, which is what I did to test it out before the big batch. The quantities are not exact, you can play with it.  I didn't take any pictures of it, I need to remember to do more food photos. 

1 block cream cheese at room temperature

1 heaping tablespoon Miracle Whip Salad dressing (mayonnaise will probably be too heavy, but I am not a mayo fan)

1 Tablespoon Ranch dressing mix or seasoning mix

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

Combine well in a large bowl, mix, mix, get a workout with this part

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint

1/2 stalk finely chopped celery

abut 1 cup shredded carrots (I bought matchstick cut carrots, but grated would work, it would change the texture). Here you can use any shredded vegetable the people you are feeding like.

You want a little less vegetables than cream cheese mixture

Mix in well, you may have to use your hands to do a good job. 

Cover and refrigerate a couple hours to overnight to let the flavors mix

1 finely chopped tomato or 2 finely chopped plum tomatoes, let sit in a bowl for excess liquid to drain out

Make the sandwiches or top the crackers and top either with the chopped tomatoes, the tomatoes make it delicious

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Florida

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve ranks up in my favorite state parks. It doesn't for everyone, but I enjoy the prairie, the flowers, the sunsets, the stars, the birds and the campground. It doesn't have much trails, they are mostly open and straight, but you can see a lot of birds on them. It is one of the dark sky areas so when it is not cloudy, you see a lot of stars. I was trying  to take star photos when we were there, but I have not learned how to do it well yet. I got cold after about 30 minutes of trying. The sky was beautiful though with Venus and the moon looking like they were visiting each other. I enjoy the early morning the best and can't wait to get up and walk as dawn appearing and the world is waking up. Most of the people are still inside so the world belongs to me and the birds. This visit I didn't see the deer, I don't know where they were. The rangers had just done a controlled burn on part of the prairie so they must have moved elsewhere temporarily. I took 3 trails in the park. 2 with the dogs, and 1 with mom. Mom and I took the trail by the campground dogs were not allowed on. I still haven't figured out why they don't let dogs on that trail. It is woody and watery because it goes through the hammock the campground is in. In the morning after enjoying coffee and the early morning, we headed out to Tampa. We left early so we would be able to visit Bok Tower Gardens on the way. I did my very slow drive on the dirt roads through the prairie to the entrance of the park. We got to see lots of little birds and a couple of larger ones doing all their morning bird chores. One day I will learn some of their names.