Solomons Castle

  

I think this place should be posted under the "weirdly interesting" catagory.  It is really hard to even explain a tin covered castle with a boat in a moat, museum/hotel/restaurant/private residence.  If you are interested google Solomons castle.  Here are the pics

The boat/restaurant

He also built a "replica" of the 

Alamo

And he built a lighthouse

Like i said "just weird"

The man in the captains hat is Solomon. He is smiling because he is making a fortune from his swamp land!

Happy Birthday to Me

Nothing like spending your bithday in a laundry room with a couple dozen people and wet dogs and a migraine!   We were under several tornado warnings, so we spent almost 2 hrs in the laundry. Two tornados touched down within a half mile of the campround.

A Day at the Beach

This morning the weather forecast was good so we ate breakfast then loaded up the kayaks and headed for the launch to Don Pedro State park.  This park can only be reached by boat so it isn't very crowded.  They have a kayak launch area on the mainland.  You must then navigate across the intercostal waterway which has some pretty big boats in it. But we saw lots of dolphins and the shells were beautiful

It was a great day!

Bling, bling

I got this beautiful fitbit bracelet in the mail!  Our first piece of mail down here!  I love it and the bonus bracelet that came with it! Thanks Paige and family!

Today we went to church and afterwards our friend Jenn came over and we went to Punta Gorda for lunch. It was really crowded. We wanted to eat at Fishermans village but it was too crowded so we ate at Ricks. The food wasnt great so i wouldnt eat there again

My crabcake sandwich

They were having a craft show. Jenn and I bought a few things.  Jenn is staying at a campground a few miles from ours. 

We topped off the night with a wicked shuffleboard match.

Taking care of business

Today we just did chores. I washed clothes and Hiawatha washed the truck. We did manage to get our steps in. Hiawatha got over 13,000. We did find some time for a shuffleboard match. 

Today was the fruit and veggies stand in the park. They had green tomatoes!!  Yum, we had a good dinner!

Tomorrow is craft day/yard sale at the campground!  We gotta get there early to get the good stuff!

A Day At The Beach

Since Hiawatha had oral surgery yesterday, the Dr told him to take it easy today.  The weather wad beautiful so a trip to Englewood Beach was in order.  Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea....it was crowded.  The beach was covered with beautiful shells. I love to look for shells.  Most people had these strange looking sifters and were looking for sharks teeth.

On the way home we stopped at Landrys to eat. It was so good!  We were stuffef!

We are back at the trailer all showered and ready for Bingo!  Hope we win!

Poor, Poor Hiawatha

A trip to the dentist was in order today.  Hiawatha had a tooth break off last week.  He went to a local dentist and they had to cut the rest of the tooth out and it was abcessed....not good.  So he was at the dentist almost all morning.  It took a while for them to get his blood pressure down enough to remove the tooth.  He has several stitches that have to be removed next week.  He really liked this dentist, so that is a good thing.  He can only eat cold food for the next 24 hrs, so seafood salad, key lime pie and ice cream are on the dinner menu!  Needless to say the tooth will have to be replaced since it is a front tooth, so we will leave Florida with much lighter pockets!

Happy Valentines Day

We wen to a valentines dinner and dance in the campground last night. They had a doowop band called the Goldtones. They were pretty good. Hiawatha doesn't dance so we left right after the door prizes were given out. We didn't win but had a good time.  Hiawatha got a headache because our table was close to the speakers.

Today we cleaned the camper and truck, took a walk and a bike ride. Them we had a couple of matches at the shuffleboard courts.

I live the tv channels down here. It is antenna tv but we get 30 channels most od which are old shows, movies, several public tv channels. There is even a channel that has operas. I love it

Drew and Lindsay arrived safely in Punta Cana!  I hope that they have a wonderful time!

Kayaking with the Alligators

First thing this morning I ran to the store to get my ingredients for my appetizer for the valentines dance tomorrow.

After I got back we put the wheels under the kayaks and headed to the river. We paddled up the river and just floated back to the campground. It was a beautiful day and an easy ride!  Just saw one gator; but I feel certain there were many more. I think that anytime you get in the water in sw Florida you can bet there is an alligator close.

Hiawatha has an appointment Tuesday to  see what can be done about the tooth that crumbled yesterday.

Manatees to Commune

We took a road trip to Manatee springs Lee Co Park. This park has water runoff from a power plant so it is warm and the manatees love it in the winter. There are hundreds of manatees. We are anxious to take the kayaks to the park!

The park is packed with people coming to see the manatees

After this we rode on down the road to the Koreshan State Historic Site. What a neat place!

Basically Dr Cyrus Teed thought that the universe existed in a hollow sphere and he started a commune settlement of followers to his New Jerusalem. Read about it when you get a chance

I don't know how these trees keep from falling over!

This flower is from the African Tulip Tree

And we ended the road trip with a great meal at Cracker Barrel

Cheap, Cheap

We have really been surprised at how cheap everything is down here. We went for breakfast at The Little Diner and got this

That is 2 eggs, sausage and hashbrowns and toast for $3.85. All the groceries are cheaper.   

We went shopping to get me something red to wear to the valentines dance that is this saturday night.   Been a long time since we have been to a dance. 

After that big breakfast we walked and rode bikes, got in a close game of shiffleboard and a game of bocce ball

Tonight we didnt win at bingo. I came within one number of winning the $250 jackpot....oh well, maybe next week!

Happy Fat Tuesday

Today there was a Mardi Gras parade thru the campground!  It was funny!

It was really windy here again today. We got our steps in at Sams club!

We played shuffleboard with our friends across the street. They are a nice couple from Illinois. We have met so many nice people and made some good friends since we got here.  It is a good thing that we wear nametags!

They are really helpful for remembering our names!