The Villages, Florida

This, being the third Saturday of the month, was the monthly antique automobile show in a part of The Villages called Spanish Springs. This is one of two town areas and is entirely decorated in a Spanish motif. Today there were hundreds of antique automobiles on display in and around the main square of the town. The roads were blocked off and there was live music (mainly rock and roll) in the square from 4:00 until about 8:00 and happy hour ran from 5:00 until 7:00 so there were a lot of folks dancing and walking around and checking out the fascinating cars on display. At 7:00, all the cars started up and drove through Spanish Springs like a parade. Chuga, chuga, vroom, vroom, vroom! What a lovely 70 degree plus day in Florida!

St. Petersburg, Florida

On Thursday, 2/11, we moved our RV about 30 miles south to Clermont, FL where another RV friend is camping. On Saturday, we drove over to St Petersburg to visit the Salvadore Dali Museum which houses a wide collection of his very unique art and paintings. They had a narrated tour of some of his more complex works that really helped us understand the nuances of his art. Then we went to another local attraction called The Pier where we had lunch while watching dozens of sailboats race in Tampa Bay. Talk about a classy way to have lunch. . .

Summerfield, Florida

After finally having our kitchen remodel completed, we decided to get in the RV and head South for warmer weather. We have some friends who live in a place called The Villages in central Florida, so we chose that area as our destination. We left our 20-30 degree snow & ice covered home on Wednesday, Feb 3rd, and arrived in Florida on Thursday. It was cold (by Floridian standards), but 50-60 degree daily highs are a whole lot nicer than what we've had at home.

We've spent most of our time visiting our friends and being introduced to The Villages, which is a very large and unique retirement community. We've explored the two main downtown areas (Spanish Springs with its spanish styled buildings and Sumpter Landing that is located on a large lake), seen many of the 29 golf courses (free to residents) that weave through the many neighborhoods, and have toured several of the different home styles offered for sale. Each neighborhood has its own recreation center offering a wide variety of special-interest clubs, a swimming pool, plus a variety of outdoor shuffle ball, tennis and boccie ball courts. There are probably more golf carts than cars on the road around here. Our friends got us a guest card that gives us access to almost everything while we are here. Susan commented that The Villages seems like Disney World for adults. We won't get bored here, that's for sure.

Cruising Back to Miami

Saturday was another leisurely day at sea as we sailed back to Miami. Tomorrow begins the long drive home. We have enjoyed our week of exploration, relaxation and dining aboard the Carnival Valor with our friends. We are looking forward to this coming October when, once again, we'll be cruising with these same couples - this time from Rome to Florida. Until then, we're looking forward to heading out to continue exploring the good old USA in our RV. Stay tuned...

Cozumel

It's Friday, and our last stop of the cruise lands us in Cozumel, Mexico - another place we know well from dive trips and other cruises. We took a taxi downtown with a few of our friends and went on a shopping mission. My goal was to buy some Kahluha at a good price and I saved $5/bottle over ship pricing. We walked around a beautiful old plaza that had giant iguana lizards living in the trees. What a nice way to end the land part of our cruise. The first rain storm during our trip took place as we were preparing to leave port. Excellent timing!

Belize

It's Thursday morning and we find ourselves in Belize - another location that we know well from our past diving trips. Susan spent the day relaxing on the ship while I went off to walk around the old town with some of our friends. Once we got past all of the pier shops (with free tastings of local spirits offered everywhere) and worked our way outside the 'tourist wall', we explored some of the old town and looked at the wide variety of local arts and crafts on display everywhere. Fortunately, none of us are collectors, so all we did was look. The weather was warm, the beer was cold and it was an enjoyable day with friends. Life is good!

Roatan

Around noon on Wednesday, we docked on the Island of Roatan at a little 'town' called Mahogany Bay (e.g. a community of shops built by Carnival that mainly sold the same old touristy stuff that they sold on the ship). We took an island tour that took us to beautiful Carambola Gardens where we viewed a lot of the local flora and even watched a group of worker ants walking along carrying bits of leaves. Our next stop was the Roatan Butterfly Garden where we saw some colorful butterflies and exotic birds. We even got to hold some of the birds. Our tour ended with a stop at the little town of West End where the roads were so muddy that we spent our shopping time at a bar on the end of a pier sipping the usual 'beverage of choice' and watching a local band with native dancers perform. Quite nice.