Traveling Home

While I try to blog about our primary stops and the places we visit, I usually don't post about our driving days. So I decided to talk a bit about the things we do getting from place to place. The cat photo is of a Siamese named Sweet Blue. I met her in one of the quilt shops I stopped at on the road. My spouse very generously stops when I find an interesting quilt shop entry in my Quilters' Travel Companion. Some of the entries lead to strange shops, but more often to lovely places with friendly people. That was the case this afternoon. Rachel's Quilt Patch in Staunton, Virginia, is a real quilter's home. 

The view is from my window last evening at our friends' home in northern North Carolina. They graciously hosted us and fed us fantastically! I love the hobby (cooking) that she has taken up in her retirement. 

The other night we stayed at an rv park in Lexington, SC. The host there directed us to a restaurant nearby for dinner. This is not a place we would have found on our own, as it was located in a house in a neighborhood, not in a commercial area. The name, Vegetable Medley, gave me pause. It turns out that it was a real Southern buffet with pulled pork, great fried chicken, and vegetable dishes that made me eat too much! The locals filled the place as soon as it opened for dinner. 

We will arrive home soon. We are going back to cold weather. Oh well, I guess I will get some quilting done. 

Cocoa Beach

We stopped in Cocoa Beach to visit with our friends DruAnne and Dave. We arrived in time to watch the Super Bowl. In spite of that inauspicious start to our visit, we had a terrific time! We had dinner at the local must go to spot, Coconuts. 

The highlight had to be our nature walk at the Viera Wetlands, a reclaimed marsh. We saw a huge variety of birds and lots of alligators. Some of my favorites were the great egrets, the blue herons, and the Sandhill cranes that I spotted as we were walking back to the car. Mike and I have decided that this was our nature trip to Florida. It has been spectacular! 

Sandhill cranes

Great Egret

Blue Heron

Another alligator. Almost becoming humdrum. Not! 

Orlando

We spent the last few days with our friends the Frames in Orlando. We were so busy that I did not get to posting. We played games and went to a neat state park - Blue Springs State Park - where the manatees come in the winter to stay warm. Manatees need to maintain their body temperature at 70 degrees or so to survive. The day we were there they had a current count of 400+ residents in the waterways. It was fascinating to  see them. 

On Friday we took an airboat ride with Marsh Landing Adventures to see alligators and birds. We were in the headwaters to the Florida Everglades. I did not know that the Everglades originated this far north. We saw Big John and many more gators. Olivia, a mother protecting her young, did not like us getting too close. 

We saw lots of birds, too, including the short-tailed hawk, an endangered bird. I caught him taking off from a tree. 

I also learned that the snowy egret is one of the alligators biggest predators, as they eat young gators almost as quickly as they hatch. 

Our airboat captain, Scott, was a very entertaining tour guide! 

We visited a neat farmers market and Downtown Kissemee, a throw back to the sixties. And we let the guys win all the games we played. Next time the women get to win.