December 28, 2006: St. Petersburg, Florida.

Joe and Mikyoung decided to leave Virginia for the holidays in favor of sunny Florida. We met them at Fort De Soto county park. It was like the early days of our trip when we camped in the national parks and stayed up late by the campfire and made s'mores. No firepit in the ground this time, so we settled for grilled pineapple a la portable grill instead.

We spent our time together fishing, kayaking and lounging on the beach. Joe and Mikyoung are moving to Baltimore in a few months so that Mikyoung can study nursing at Johns Hopkins. You can bet we'll be camping with them in Maryland next year.

December 25, 2006: Avon Park, Florida.

We spent Xmas with the Widger side of the family at Sue and Gerry Page's home. Thom had not seen his grandparents or his Aunts Michelle and Candy and Uncle Kerry in 6 years, and I had never met them. Gerry took us on the golf cart for a tour of the course they live on to show us the alligators and sandhill cranes living in the hazards and a bald eagle nesting on a nearby telephone poll. Were it not for the heat and humidity, we would have thought we were back in the Midwest. We ate and ate and ate, without ever touching a veggie.

Grandma Lois and Grandpa Jerry are in their 90s, but wisecrack like they were 30. We went to church with them and Grandpa stood up in the middle of the sermon and interupted the pastor for 15 minutes to introduce us and to tell everyone how wonderful they thought it was that we had come to visit (and to chide the parishioners for failing to attend bible study during the previous week). That was a riot.

December 22, 2006: Fort Myers Beach, Florida.

We crossed over to the Gulf side to stay for a while. Florida is lacking in points of interest, but its beaches are enough to keep us occupied. It seems half of the country's population comes down here in their RVs for the winter. At least, half of the country's seniors.

December 13, 2006: Key Largo, Florida.




... you get the idea.

December 2, 2006: Miami, Florida.

We met Janis, of Minneapolis fame, here while she was in town on business. We sat at the beach during the day and had cocktails on the famed Vegas-meets-Venice-Beach Ocean Blvd. in the evening. The table service here is comically poor. Suffice it to say that they don't do substitutions.

It was about 85 deg. and 90% humidity out, yet we saw this guy running (always either backwards or sideways - and barefooted) up and down the middle of Ocean Blvd. everyday. He was our favorite of the many showy people in the neighborhood.

December 1, 2006: Sebastian Inlet, Florida.

It's amazing what driving a few hours southward will do for your climate. We've entered a new phase to our trip: Winter in Florida.

Birding is a hobby we anticipate taking up during the weeks of our escape from the cold rain and snow. Check out these rare wood storks. We are also considering investing in an inflatable kayak.

November 26, 2006: Savannah, Georgia.

The four of us drove two hours south to see more old "homes of fat evil men," as we have heard them described. Here Harvey and Lauren rest in the park in front of the Johnny Mercer home. Mercer was not fat, nor evil as far as I know. The home is, however, the subject of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is referred to here as 'the book.' We thought they were talking about the bible, but no.

We stayed on an island across the river and went to and fro via city ferry.