Perry, GA

Spring is here, so it's time for us to hit the road again. Our first stop on this trip is Perry, GA, where we attended a big, week-long RV Rally at the Georgia Fairgrounds with about 3,000 rigs in attendance. Now, we're staying an extra week with some RV friends from The Villages at a smaller RV rally and lots of socializing.

Last Saturday, we drove to Warm Springs, GA to visit Franklin D. Roosevelt's Little White House. Roosevelt came to Warm Springs in 1924 in hopes of recovering from polio. He had this house built in 1932 while he was Governor of NY and visited it many times while he was our President. It was neither large nor pretentious as many Presidential homes are, but more like a nice, comfortable rural retreat overlooking a small valley. He died here in this bedroom in 1945 after suffering a massive stroke while sitting for a portrait.

From there, we paid a visit to Callaway Gardens. It was a bit too early in the season for the gardens to be in bloom, so we spent most of our time there walking around the beautiful Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center and seeing a variety of local butterflys emerge from their cocoons and fly around inside the center.We'll have to return here when everything is in bloom.

Weeki Wachee Springs, FL

While attending the South Eastern Area RV Rally in Brooksville, FL, we took a little side trip to check out Weeki Wachee Springs. It is the largest fresh water spring in the US with more than 117 million gallons of 72-degree fresh water bubbling up every day. An underwater theater was built in 1947 so tourists could watch women dressed up as mermaids swim and perform shows underwater while breathing out of air hoses. Today, it is as popular as ever for its mermaid shows. We enjoyed watching two of the mermaid shows. It was amazing to see what those gals can do under water. In between shows, we took a boat ride down the river that flows out of the springs. A very scenic place indeed.

Mediterranean Cruise 2010

So much for staying at home. We flew to Rome, Italy for a 3-week land/sea cruise with eight friends of ours on the Navigator of the Seas. To see the details, click on our cruise blog at http://navigatoroftheseas2010.blogspot.com.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

We awoke at 4:30 AM this morning to get over to the Balloon Fiesta Park in time to see the Mass Ascension where about 500 hot air balloons from 17 different countries were scheduled to launch into the morning sky over a period of an hour or two. This is THE event to see at the Fiesta! The sun began rising, the sky was clear, the wind was light, and then, almost like magic, you would see balloons begin to inflate all around you. At first, only a few... then a few dozen... then as others began to grow, some began floating into the sky. Before you knew it, the sky was lit up as the morning light illuminated all the balloons and the sky filled with color.

Some of the more unique special shaped balloons (87 of them in total) included a giant cow (not jumping over the moon), Darth Vader, a swarm of bees, a witch and Spongebob Squarepants. What a fantastic way to spend a morning!

Albuquerque, NM

Today, after our ship's memorial service in the Chapel of Kirtland Air Force Base, our group toured the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History where we learned a lot about how atomic energy has been used to develop everything from the fluoroscope x-ray machines to the atomic and hydrogen bombs. Then, in the early evening, we went to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta to observe their Special Shape Glowdio where all of the special shaped balloons were inflated while tethered to the ground, then lit using the gas flames that are used to heat the balloon. We were allowed to walk among them and observe the event really close up and we did so with smiles on our faces the whole time. What an awesomely beautiful jaw-dropping experience!!

Santa Fe, NM

 We are now in Albuquerque, NM to attend my Navy ship's annual reunion. Today, we took a side trip up to Santa Fe to explore some of the southwest's history and culture. The architecture of this area is very unique. This building is one of the museums that surround the town square. In the square proper are many booths manned by the local Native Americans selling their jewelry and other local art. We visited Loretto Chapel which contains the Miraculous Stairway that was built by hand in 1873 and has no visible means of support, yet still stands strong after all these years of use. Simply amazing.

NC Good Sam Samboree in Marion, NC

Our last stop before heading back to Florida was at the NC Good Sam Samboree that was held in Marion, NC. We camped with five other RVs from our Sams-O-Wake club (plus about 275 other RVs from all over) for the week and took part in the many activities these gatherings offer - like playing bean-bag baseball, ring toss, bingo, hide and seek (only kidding on this one!), shopping at vendor booths, enjoying to the evening music performances and waiting to see if we won anything at the Chinese Auction - and we did!

We also took a few side trips early in the week. On Tuesday, our friends Art & Sandy took us to the mountains where we visited Cherokee, NC. This is a touristy area mainly populated by the Cherokee Indian Tribe with most stores and decorations depicting their lifestyle. While there, we went into their humongous casino and spent some time playing the penny slot machines (we're not big gamblers). I didn't win anything but Susan came out over $6.00 ahead. Wow! The next day, we drove up to visit Little Switzerland up in the mountains. It was a beautiful drive but there wasn't much to see in the town itself - especially since the fog was so thick on the mountain tops that we almost missed the town when we got there. Tomorrow, we'll drive home to Florida and prepare for our next big adventure.