Yesterday we took the motorhome for a little drive. No, we did not go to the location above…that view is from Crystal Beach, a small, somewhat secluded area in Palm Harbor near Tarpon Springs. The “beach” is not that type of beach one would want to sunbath on, and sometimes there are some swimmers and waders, but most people just go there to walk their dog, enjoy the view, or sit in the park.
Crystal Beach is a place where you can view a variety of birds. The large bird on the lawn is a Great Egret, from what I can tell. Egrets and Heron’s can be difficult to distinguish for us novice bird watcher when they are pure white like this. Below in the water are American White Ibis. We have gone to Crystal Beach many times and have posted pictures before…many times at sunset. We have seen Pelicans, Seagulls, and other varieties of Egrets, Ibis and even Heron there.
Where we did go was to Cracker Barrel in Lakeland, Florida. That is a 60 mile drive from where the RV is parked for the winter, but really 70 miles since we choose to not go through Tampa. Why Lakeland? Well, it is half way between where we live, and where Marcia’s brother Dean and wife Caryl live. We planned to meet there at 11 am. We pulled in at 10:35, called them and they were about five minutes away. So I walked Skruffy while Marcia went inside to secure us some seats. By the time I was done with Skruffy, they had pulled in and the three of us walked in together. Around 1:00 we got up from the table and sat out front…nice of them to have benches and rockers along their porch. Of course, I got Skruffy out of the motorhome for visit outside, which lasted another 90 minutes. Only thing bad all day, outside of Christmas traffic, it was landscaping day at Cracker Barrel…so we had to put up with gas grass blowers, gas sheers, and the noise of a lawn mower for about 45 minutes. But by 1:00 the restaurant was very busy…so it was definitely time to vacate the premises in there to the outside. It was nice taking the motorhome out for a spin. It is good for the motorhome too...sitting all the time is not good, and a 140 mile trip is a good workout compared to the 10 mile trips I take it on once a month to keep the seals from drying out.
After I dropped Marcia and Skruffy off at the Condo, I took the motorhome back to her winter storage. Stopped by the Post Office to check on the PO Box because my sister told me via email she had sent a package to the PO Box for the doggies Christmas Presents. Sure enough, in my box is a key to BOX 90. I go over to Box 90, open the door…and there is NOTHING in there. The key is automatically stuck in the door when you open it, so I have nothing to even show that key 90 was in my box. And, of course, the Post Office is closed. So that is where I am off to this morning…let’s hope that the package is found and is not “definitely lost”.
