Sunny Delights :)

No making you wait another month for another drowsy four-page post, faithful ones. Thought I'd make this one shorter-- Florida hasn't been bad to us at all since we've been here. We've had peaceful nights, in that we haven't been asked to leave anywhere in quite awhile. Yay! But we have had some loud firecrackers, and some crazy mysterious creature lurking outside the Dolphin in the pre-dawn hours, only to discover that our noisemaker was actually only a twig brushing against the window. Oh, disappointments.

Ocala National Forest, in central Florida, afforded us some nice, mostly private nights parked at public piers and boat launches, where we thought to ourselves, gee, haven't we been sedentary lately. So we started throwing the frisbee around more and doing assorted strength training, wheee. The brochure for the forest warned us of the possibility of black bear, manatee and bobcat, but I'm sorry to report that the most unusual wildlife we've been encountering lately has been the assortment of birds, which can be quite entertaining.

The two of New Smyrna Beach was next, our first ocean stop since South Carolina in early December. Hello again, Atlantic! The water's still quite chilly, but some splashing around barefoot was still in order. Andy and I were the youngest ones on the beach here, walking amidst one gray-haired couple after another, and trying to dodge the cars that are permitted to drive on the sand. Cars on the beach! What's the world coming to? Complete with a speed limit and traffic lanes...who wants to have their beach become a roadway? Plus, this means no parking lots to hide away in, except for the large "Unregulated, park at your own risk" lot with the blaring radio from the nearby barbecue restaurant. At least it was free.

Culinary specialties by yours truly have lately included such things as Mexican stew (hey, leftovers cooked with rice and cheese can be yummy!), baked ziti (baked cheese with some pasta thrown in is more like it :), and the old favorite, eggplant parmesan. Of course, now that we're in the final stretch, much more budgeting will be under way and it'll be back to plain old rice and beans and the like.

The Daytona Beach area is where we are presently, being hosted by Jim, of the 2007 Omega Cafe, his very nice friend Judy, and her dog, Dexter. Jim thought he'd take us our for drinks by the shore the other night, only to be bombarded by a Daytona-style Mardi Gras parade down Main Street, complete with the tiniest taste of what Bike Week is like down here. We're so grateful for your generosity and wonderful tour-guide manner, Jim, and certainly glad to act as drinking buddies for a couple nights :) Also of note in the area was a huge flea/farmer's market, and of course the Daytona International Speedway. We could hear the cars racing around the track while sitting here in the backyard, but of course when were just on the other side of the stands, nothing was going on.

We're hoping to view the upcoming shuttle launch from the nearby town of Titusville, and visit with some more Omegans as we make our way down Florida. And of course, yay sun!