Sebastian Inlet Pictures

What a pretty place this is. We continue to have absolutely gorgeous weather - I just can't believe this trip! We still haven't had a single "rain out" day, and almost no days of clouds and overcast skies. The last couple days have been pretty windy, but that doesn't really slow us down too much. Mostly, we've just been enjoying the park and doing things really close by. We've biked together a couple times, we made our first visit to the Sebastian Beach Inn (the "SBI") which we enjoyed last year, we've been into the town of Sebastian a couple times for groceries and to take Brandi to the exceptionally nice dog park there. I've done a lot of walking and Dave's done a lot of fishing and biking. And it's been just wonderful. Tomorrow's a big day - we're going into Melbourne (about 35 miles north of us) to go to the zoo. BIG adventure! But in the meanwhile, I wanted to post a few pictures and that'll pretty much be it for this post.

One quick comment on a much sadder note-maybe people back home have seen the stories on the national news about the horrific traffic accident down here in Florida. It happened Sunday morning, just south of Gainesville, on I-75. Apparently there was a brush fire in Payne's Prairie (which is a state park we stayed at last year and absolutely loved) and the visibility on I-75 was down to virtually zero, and cars and trucks and semis started piling into each other and exploding. Ten people were killed and another 18 or 20 injured. I think there was one RV involved also, at least according to one of the reports. When we see stories like this, especially involving roads we've traveled and places we've visited, it just makes us so very grateful for all of the safe miles we've put on and the traveling mercies we've received. It's a grim reminder that we all take our lives into our hands every time we venture out on the roads and makes us realize how fortunate we've been that (...knock on wood!) we've not had any bad experiences with all the thousands of miles we've traveled.

Whew-that was kind of grim- so let's just get back to the pretty pictures, OK?

On To Sebastian Inlet and the Ocean!

Well, I guess I only did one post while we were at Jonathon Dickinson State Park. So I'd better finish up with that quickly. I know I already talked about the AVA walk, so I'm trying to think what else we did while we were there. Well, one day we did something that we said we wouldn't do again-we went to another one of the Florida state fairs. I think we went to the Central Florida state fair last year and said one fair every five years was sufficient. And, what do you know, we actually went again - this time to the South Florida State Fair, which is held just outside of West Palm Beach. And, actually, it wasn't too bad.... there was some very "fair"-like entertainment - a local "Big Band" group of VERY senior citizens, a trained dog act, some little junior American Idol wannabees, etc. And we DO get a kick out of walking around the grounds and looking at things-lots of cute animals, lots of really big and/or weird-looking people (....you wish you could just whip out your camera and say "really???? would you mind if I just take a picture of you to share with folks back home???). I'm posting a couple of fair pictures just for kicks. But I think the best part of the day was the realization that Dave can actually walk around for three hours without his knees hurting him-what a treat for both of us (probably especially for him, right?).

On another day, one of our last ones in the park, we put our bikes onto the car and drove into downtown West Palm Beach, and rode around. There is a very nice bike/walking path along the water - this would be the intercoastal waterway, not the ocean. So we rode on the path, then over one of the bridges to Palm Beach itself, which is pretty staggering - FILTHY rich! Then we road back over one of the other bridges and stopped at a really cute bar just before we got back to the car. It was one of those great Florida bars where the majority of the place is outside under palm fronds for a roof-very cute. I think it was called Bradley's or something like that. Anyway, we had a couple drinks and shared some chips with three different dips and dropped almost $50, including tip - YIKES! Thank God we don't do THAT very often! But it was fun to get out and ride our bikes together.

And then it was time to move on. We like Jonathon Dickinson State Park-it is a really attractive park, and the site are huge (see picture - nice, huh?) but for some reason it just doesn't "grab" us like some of the other parks we visit - not sure why. Maybe because it doesn't have that "campground" feel-it's more like a place where bigger rigs park for a while on their way to other places.

So now we are about 100 miles further north, at Sebastian Inlet State Park. I'll probably post a LOT of pictures from this park - it's very scenic! The park is right on the side of the inlet that opens from the intercoastal out into the ocean (for anyone who followed my blog last year, this is the park where Dave and his kayak almost got swept out to the ocean by the outgoing tide!). Anyway, it's a HUGE fishing location - virtually everyone in the park is here to fish! And the marine life is actually pretty incredible - you can hardly walk along the edge of the water without seeing dolphins jumping. Very cool! Our site here is smaller, but still very nice. But there are a LOT of no-see-ums and mosquitos, especially in the morning and the evening, so not the best park for just sitting outside and reading. We got here on Tuesday and mostly just got set up and stuff. Yesterday we had a bunch of errands to run (ending up with buying a new table-top Weber grill to replace our old one) so most of the day got used up that way. But Dave and I did get out for a nice bike ride later in the afternoon. We rode over the bridge that goes from the south side of the inlet (where we are) over to the north side and then we walked out on the pier and watched the guys fishing and other guys surfing. Very "ocean"! It really is beautiful. Plus there is a great bike path that runs the full length of the island - all the way from Vero Beach up to Melbourne, which is a LOT of miles! So I'm still "training" for my big 5K - the Melbourne Tooth Trot - YAY! It's in a little over two weeks now, on February 11, but I'm doing the whole 5K distance each time I got out, mostly "running" (and believe me, I use the term loosely) with just a teensy bit of walking. So I'm beginning to feel kind of ready for the big event! I even went online to see the results from last year, and as far as I can tell there were only TWO female runners in the 60-64 age category and, since they give ribbons to the top three finalists in each category, I'm almost certain to win a ribbon - what a HOOT, huh? But it's kind of fun to have a goal and push myself a little - but wouldn't you THINK the weight would be just dropping off me like crazy (.....not!).

So that's a quick update... we'll be in this area for five weeks (two weeks in the state park, then three more across the bridge in the county park) so there'll be lots of Sebastian updates. For now, I'm just posting one ocean picture to get us started. But be ready for LOTS more.

AVA Walk #7 West Palm Beach

Gee, I feel like my last post was eons ago, even though it's only been a few days. We've moved on from Pine Island and are now at Jonathon Dickinson State Park just north of West Palm Beach. It's a beautiful park, but it's basically a "filler" that we used to bridge the gap between Pine Island and Sebastian Inlet. So we're only here for a "brief" eight days - we always chuckle when we say things like that because for most people eight days would be their entire vacation! Oh well.

But before I talk about our new park, I need to just finish up with Pine Island. We went over to Scott and Deb's on Saturday to attend a party they were throwing. Good food, lots of people, good fun - but we have to chuckle a little because so many of Scott and Deb's friends are "seniors" so they have to start their party at 2:00 in the afternoon, and by 5:00 most of the guests had left. They weren't being rude - it was just time to go home. But then the more serious partiers had the place to themselves. Having said that, we were actually home by 8:00 ourselves. We kind of laughed when we got home and realized we could still catch the last part of Jeopardy. Oh my! But Scott and Deb are wonderful hosts and had all kinds of yummy food, including a turkey in the smoker, fish on the grill, and some kind of wonderful kielbasa and veggies in a boiled-dinner dish. Very good. We stopped back over on Sunday just to say our final good-byes and drop off a couple bottles of rum as a "thank you" for all their hospitality during our stay.

So Monday we get up and are all ready to pack up and head over across the state to the ocean. We pulled up our jacks and some guy walking by stopped and said "gee, that tire looks kind of soft, doesn't it?" Yep, it did! So we were delayed about an hour in order to refill the tire with air (hoping it would hold), make a few phone calls, and take the rig down to "Carl's Repair Service". Well, he was great and found the problem within minutes (thank GOD!)-it turned out to be just a leak in the valve extension on the front tire. All he had to do was remove it and VOILA we were on our way - YAY!

The trip across the state only took about three hours but is kind of interesting because the road (highway 80) goes below Lake Okeechobee, through some small and kind of scary little towns, and then through miles and miles and miles of sugar cane with no houses AT ALL-just refineries and these huge, huge fields. And then, all of a sudden, you're in West Palm Beach, almost literally from one minute to the next. From there, we had a short drive north on Interstate 95 and arrived at Jonathon Dickinson State Park, which is very nice. The campground is very new so the sites are really big with gravel pads and full hook-ups, and very clean and shiny tiled bathrooms (which is SO nice after the fairly nasty bathrooms at the KOA on Pine Island). There are tons of things to do here: you can throw your kayaks in the river, fish in the river or a little lake (called the Gator Hole), tons of hiking trails, long smooth roads for biking, plus a very nice bike trail for a mile or so. This year they've added an equestrian area and there are about 20 or so horses available for riding. There's a large nature center with exhibits and films, and quite a few ranger-led activities.

esides the actual park activities, the outlying area itself is nice with lots to do. The park is located between Hobe Sound and Jupiter Beach, maybe 20 or so miles north of West Palm Beach. And, guess what - there are some AVA walks in the area! So yesterday I did my seventh AVA walk of the trip - bringing my total up to 49 - one more and I can send in my little stamped book and get my next certificate! OK - I KNOW it's stupid, but I really do love this whole thing! Anyway, I did the West Palm Beach walk last year, so this time it was a repeat. I don't mind doing a repeat if that's all that's available, and it has been a whole year. The weather this time was SO much nicer than when I did the walk a year ago, so it was a much more pleasant experience. I'm attaching a few pictures just to convey a sense of the town. West Palm Beach is very nice, but not too "over the top", as opposed to when you cross over the intercoastal waterway and go to Palm Beach, which is CRAZY rich! When I was walking along the waterway I could see over the intercoastal to the back side of some of the mansions on the island, with these monstrously HUGE yachts moored to the docks behind their houses. I'm telling you-there is SERIOUS money out there on Palm Beach. But we laugh a little because last year when we were down here there was a story on the news about the 10 most unhappy cities in the country, and Miami was #1 and Palm Beach was #2 - can you explain that???? Anyway, I can tell I'm getting stronger (...training for that big 5K on Feb 18, you know!) because I can do a 10K walk without even the very slightest bit of effort - THEN I came home and did about an 8 mile bike ride in the park afterward. SUPER WOMAN!

One last thing - Monday afternoon Dave and I took a little ride (in the car) through the park to re-aquaint ourselves with the layout and we had just pulled out of the boat ramp area when all of a sudden we stopped dead - there was a REALLY BIG snake in the middle of the road. And when we took a good look at it we realized it was a RATTLE snake - probably 5 or 6 foot long, stretched out. That was a first for us. I'm sticking a picture of it in here just for my good friend Glennda!!!!

(PS-this is just for us-we go crazy when we try to remember the names of people we meet along the road, so I'm listing some names so Dave and I can come back to this blog in a few months when we're desperately searching for the name of that one couple. Paul & Mary (SO nice!!!), Betty & John, Kitty & Ken (the bikers from Punta Gorda), Phil "the fireman", Linda & "Tommy Tugboat", Kirk & Judy (the neighbors), Barb, Shelly & Matt (Betty's daughter), Betty & Candy & Jim, Jim & Lynnay (Sue's brother), Ronny & Tommy & Jimmy (...I know-REALLY?), Aunt Sissy, and others that I already can't remember. It was great!)

And, finally - hurray for FaceTime - Tessa got an I-Phone so I was able to FaceTime with Emma, my sweet little great-granddaughter. What fun!

AVA Walk #6 Sanibel Island Lighthouse

Hello from Pine Island! So-let's see-on Tuesday I did my last AVA walk in this part of Florida. We leave the island this Monday so there's no way I'll get any more in before then - but the good news is there are AVA walks on the ocean side too! The Sanibel walk was very nice-actually, there are two walks on Sanibel-one is primarily on the beach and the second one is more along streets on the island, ending at the lighthouse on the far southern tip. I did that one because I wanted to take Brandi with me and I was pretty sure she wouldn't be allowed on the beach. I think I made the right decision because she did fine on the walk and there wasn't anyplace she couldn't go. But it is LOT of work to take her on a 6.2 mile walk, primarily because she wants to smell EVERYTHING and stop at EVERY little bush and tree (to pee), so I'm constantly having to "reel" her back in on her leash or pull her to keep going or whatever! But she seems to be having SO much fun that I actually didn't mind at all. And we had LOTS of chances for her to practice her "stop-sit-stay" routine because there were about a million bikes on the bike trail/sidewalk route and I always make her stop and sit when a bike passes us in either direction. But she got lots of "good dog!" comments and I got lots of "thank you"'s from the bicyclists so we both felt pretty special. The walk itself wasn't the most exciting one because it was primarily just walking along residential and resort-lined streets, without really any views of the water or the beach. At the end of the island there is a nice park with a beach and an old lighthouse-and then you turn around and pretty much come back the same way. But the causeway going over to the island is very pretty, with a beutiful view of the bay, and the parts of the island that I saw were very nice. I did take a minute and drive past the resort where my friends Cindi and Glennda are going to be staying when they come down in March, so that was another benefit of being on Sanibel. I'm SO excited because I'm going to drive down and spend a few days with them when they come-YAY! We'll be camped at Wekiva State Park, which is just a little north of Orlando. It's a nice park-we've been there before-and Dave likes it and will be fine on his own for a few days. It'll be great to see them and now that I've seen where they (....we!) will be staying it makes it even more fun to look forward to!

On Monday we did another "last time" thing-we went to the 4th of the FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast University) basketball games-all double-headers so eight games in total. I'm posting a couple pictures of their arena. Honestly, if I was a kid I'd look into this school because it is so gorgeous and new and pretty and in such a great area-what a wonderful place to attend college all winter. I don't even know what KIND of a college it is, but I don't care! We've had a LOT of fun coming to these games and are already looking forward to being down here next year and returning to the arena! Go Eagles!

Wednesday and Thursday were kind of quiet days for us-the weather was a TEENSY bit less wonderful. There was a very brief cold front and it got kind of windy, so we mostly just hung out on Wednesday. But there was an "Italian night" here in the park, so we went to that. These types of things are pretty hoaky and we kind of roll our eyes just a little, but it actually was kind of fun. We had an all-you-can-eat "Italian" dinner (OK-not GREAT, but it's the thought that counts!) and met a few more of our fellow RVers. That part was kind of fun because there were six of us together at a table and we all swapped RV mishap stories- kind of like war stories except that awnings figure predominantly in the plots. It's actually always fun to talk to other RVers because it helps remind you that EVERYONE who RV's deals with the same types of problems and emergencies and misadventures. Then on Thursday Dave put the kayak in and fished all afternoon, while I took Brandi up to the dog park in Punta Gorda. There were some slightly rougher dogs there and she did a lot of running, and then last night all of a sudden she started limping and not wanting to put any weight onto one of her hind legs. It's always scary when something happens to your pet while you're on the road, because you have NO idea how to find the best possible vet in the area. Thankfully, by this morning she was putting a teensy bit of weight onto her leg, and tonight she is ALMOST back to herself. Whew-dodged another bullet!

Today we went up to the American Legion and had lunch with Scott and Deb and-I don't know-five or so of their friends. I swear they are the MOST social people we've ever met! They just LOVE having people around them ALL the time. In fact, tomorrow (Saturday) they are having a party at their house-only 50 or 60 people expected! THAT should be interesting! We love them to death, but honestly I could NEVER live this way. For one thing, we eat and drink WAY more than we would normally, so even though I'm exercising a LOT I can't seem to lose an ounce. And Dave and I are just more "private" people-we like to socialize but could never do it like this-every single solitary day! I don't know HOW they do it. But they've been wonderful to us during our visit so, in our case we're glad they're so sociable. We've had a great time here on Pine Island and the next two days should be fun, but five weeks in one place is plenty long enough and I think Dave and I are both VERY ready to move on to our next destination. And that's the beauty of RVing-you just pick up and move on and you get a fresh new start and new things to see and do, over and over and over. So my next post will be from Jonathon Dickinson State Park over by West Palm!!

PS-a quick word on technology. I am LOVING having my I-phone on this trip. I've used the map feature about a million times, plus lots and lots of odds and ends like the Dog Park Finder, the Sam's Club app, the "Couch to 5-K" training schedule; I've put lots of music onto the I-pod app and am gradually building up a running playlist for my upcoming "5K Tooth Trot"! And best of all, I'm getting pictures and videos from home, which are absolutely wonderful. I'm also really enjoying having my Nook-I've downloaded lots of library books and am getting lots of the "Free Friday" selections from Barnes and Noble. And I think we FINALLY have the right TV solution-we got the Winegard Carryout Portable satellite dish. It's primarily earmarked for sale to RVers and tailgaters and other "outdoor" customers, but (knock on wood) it seems to be the perfect solution for us...FINALLY! It continues to amaze me how the technology available to those of us who spend so much time traveling has changed and improved over the 7 years we've been doing this. VERY cool stuff!

AVA Walk #5 Fort Myers Beach

After almost four weeks here on Pine Island, we are starting our very last week before we head over to the ocean side. It's been really nice and peaceful during our time here; the weather's been fabulous and it's been great to spend time with Scott and Deb. I think we've been fairly lowkey during our time here, because we knew we had almost FIVE WHOLE weeks to do everything we wanted to do-and now that time is almost up. Amazing how quickly it's gone! The KOA here is pretty nice (although, frankly, the bathrooms leave a LOT to be desired!) and the bike path that runs the full length of the island is absolutely great! Dave has biked on the path almost every day, and I've done my runs 3-4 times per week, and I've taken Brandi on I-can't-even-begin-to-count-how-many walks. Also, there is a very nice pool here at the park (although I have to be honest and admit I've only been in it 2 or 3 times!), nice neighbors, and plenty of activities if you're so inclined (which we normally aren't).

We are just wrapping up another week and it's kind of hard to remember exactly what we did all week! But working backwards: today we put the kayaks in at the community canoe/kayak launch in Matlacha and paddled around for about 3-1/2 hours. Dave caught a number of flounders, but wasn't sure of the legal size so he threw them all back-but I did get a couple of pictures of him with one of them. One picture shows his smiling face, but the fish is turned sideways and is almost invisible. The second picture is not so good of him, but is better of the fish. While he fished, I paddled around and found a couple of the markers along the Great Calusa Blueway. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but the Blueway is a "Lee County Paddling Trail" for kayaks and canoes. There is a nice map that you can pick up almost anyplace and there are markers in the water to tell you that you are on the trail. I'm posting a picture of one of the markers; but it is really hard (for me, at least) to spot them and actually FOLLOW the trail-they're pretty far apart from each other so it's hard to find the next one. I THINK you can go online and get more detailed maps of the individual markers, and also the GPS locations so you can find them with a GPS (or smart phone) in your boat. The entire trail covers a huge area and includes 97 miles of marked trails-so someone like me is only going to hit a few of the markers. But it is kind of fun to hit one, even though it's a teensy, tiny portion of the whole trail. I think it is extremely "cool" that the county has put together this trail for people who are seriously into kayaking and canoeing, and I hope to hit additional parts of the trail, if not this year, then maybe next year. Either way, it was really fun and peaceful and pretty to be out on the water this afternoon -high 70's and perfect weather. After we pulled the boats out of the water, we drove about a mile and had a late lunch at Berts, the bar/grill I mentioned in my last post. Dave had a pound of peel-and-eat shrimp, and I had a shrimp platter with broiled shrimp, a salad and homemade clam chowder. YUMMY!

Yesterday was fun for us too-we went to another of the FGCU basketball games. Actually, two games: the men played first (and lost in overtime) and the women played second and KILLED their opponents. We very much enjoy going to these games and have another double-header tomorrow-then we're done with these games because there are no more home games before we leave. While we were at the game, we got a text message from our friend Mary, telling us that she and Brian were at the Hope game back home in Holland, so we texted back and forth a few times, updating each other on scores and stuff. I told Mary it was ALMOST like being at a game WITH them, but not quite the same!

Ealier in the week (was it Tuesday? Wednesday? who knows....) I did my fifth AVA walk of the trip-this time to Fort Myers Beach. I don't have a lot of pictures, because I did this same walk a year ago and put in some pictures then, and didn't want to repeat myself. But I am sticking in a couple that I took from the bridge that I walked over (and Dave biked over) to get from Fort Myers over to Fort Myers Beach, which is on Estero Island. At the foot of the bridge, on the mainland side, is a bar we liked from last year, called Bonita Bill's. I'm including one picture taken from the top of the bridge and looking down into the bar-we love these quaint waterfront bars with boats "parked" in front. The other picture was taken as I was walking up toward the peak of the bridge and shows the parking lot in back of Bonita Bill's, with my TINY little Toyota Camry sitting in the first parking spot with it's kayak cradles on top and the bike rack on the back. The AVA walk itself was nice, but I've learned that it's probably not a good idea to repeat the same walk two years in a row (unless it was an especially nice walk OR if there aren't any other AVA walks in the area). It just wasn't quite as much fun nor quite as interesting to go back and repeat the same walk-I think it would be better to skip it for a couple years and THEN do it again. But it was a beautiful day and we both enjoyed the afternoon. When we were done, we met back at Bonita Bill's and had a great conversation with a nice couple named Bob and Carol (so of course we had to say our names were Ted and Alice, which of course they've only heard a MILLION times-they said people our age recognize the reference but younger people don't). Anyway, it's always fun to talk to people who are RVing like us and moving from spot to spot over the winter, primarily staying at state parks like we do. They were from Indianapolis and were both retired teachers and this is only their second year of retirement traveling-and they are LOVING it. We were able to refer them to a couple of our favorite parks, which is always kind of fun for us. After seven years down here, we feel like true "gurus!"

The rest of the week was just filled with this and that-biking, fishing, going into town to the different bar and clubs, eating WAY too much, drinking too much, but loving every minute of it. But when we leave the "island" it will definitely be time to return to doing more of our own cooking and getting used to just "hanging out" with each other. In the meanwhile, we fully intend to enjoy every day of this last week on the Gulf.

Happy 2012!

Gee, I guess it's been a little while since I've updated my blog. My last post was just before Christmas, and now it's already January 1 of the new year. Hope everyone who follows us had a wonderful holiday season. But unfortunately, for most of you it's back to work (or school)!!!!! Too bad!

Anyway, we had a nice holiday time, considering the fact that we're away from home. This week is always a little tough for us "travel orphans." But it's been great to be down here on Pine Island with Scott and Deb, because they are such good hosts and kind people!!!!! They were gone over Christmas, visiting their son up in the Tampa area, but we went to the Legion by ourselves and took part in the Christmas Day potluck-Yummy! Lots of great homemade foods and fabulous desserts. Dave ate so much he was in bed by about 8:00 that night-talk about self-control :-) And I had a chance to telephone almost everyone at home, which was really nice.

This week (between Christmas and New Year's) has been kind of quiet. The KOA was pretty busy because a LOT of families came in for the one week period, but most of them are gone now. It just amazes us that families will drive from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, even Canada, just to spend one week down here. But we have to remember that working families have only a few weeks a year for vacation, so they have to take advantage of the time they have. It was kind of fun to have kids around, riding their bikes and playing ball and stuff. All very nice kids. A lot of rigs pulled out yesterday and today, but now we're starting to see an inflow of people who are signed up for "calendar" months, i.e. all of January, January plus February, etc. These are the "serious" snowbirds.

We just did odds and ends this week-the weather was beautiful (80 most days) so we tried to find outdoor things to do. We put the kayaks in one day, and Dave went out fishing by himself in his kayak a couple of other afternoons. We did a little day-trip up to Punta Gorda one day, got together with Scott and Deb a couple times, went to the Legion one night, went on a bike ride together, etc., etc., etc. One thing that gets kind of weird when you travel like we do is that it really isn't five months of "vacation" activities - some days you just hang out, you read, you do the laundry, you go to the store and run some errands, and so on. It seems like we did quite a bit of that over the past few days. I know-boring, right? But, on the other hand, it IS 80 degrees and sunny EVERY SINGLE DAY, so how boring can it BE?

We did spend one day walking around in Matlacha, which was kind of fun. When you come out to Pine Island, you drive through a small "island" (I guess...) that kind of hooks the Fort Myers mainland to Pine Island. The only two things on this little island are a Florida scrub preserve and this little teensy town of Matlacha (pronounced mat-luh-SHAY). Matlacha is an old fishing community, with a couple of neat restaurants and bars and some funky little gift shops and stuff-very "Jimmy Buffett" looking. We parked in the tiny little community park (where we found a very nice kayak launch, which we hope to use sometime this week) and then walked past the little shops (kind of cute-I'm posting a couple pictures of some of them) and down to Bert's Bar, which is like seventy years old. It's one of those neat Florida bars that's all kind of rundown with the majority of the seating out in the open air and looking over the water. I'm posting a couple pictures I snapped when we stopped there for a couple beers and an order of "beach bread"-sort of a bruschetta made with blue cheese dressing, tomatoes, cheese and shrimp-YUMMY! (One of the pictures is of Dave and me-a terrible picture of him, but since he ALWAYS takes a good picture it's only fair to include one less-than-flattering picture of him!)

We visited Matlacha on New Year's Eve day, and then went to the VFW to join Scott and Deb and about six of their friends. They had gone there for an early dinner, but we just joined them for a couple drinks. While we were there, this cute Jamaican (did I spell that right?) guy named "Clive" was singing - and he was SO good and such an entertaining performer. Scott and Deb told us that he is going to be on X-Factor this season so we should watch for him (I have NO idea how they actually know that-I know these things film way before we see them on TV, but does he actually KNOW that he's going to be on????? Hmmm, I guess we'll just have to watch and see...) After the VFW, we all moved down the road to the Legion for a while, and then the rest of them continued on to the Low Key Tiki but Dave and I headed for home. We've gotten into the habit of buying a special little dinner "treat" for New Year's Eve - steak for Dave and crab cakes for me this year - and spending the majority of the evening at home alone. It just seems like we don't really get into the whole New Year's Eve thing anymore, at least not like we both used to when we partied a little more than we do now. But it was nice to spend at least part of the evening with friends, and then finish the night by ourselves. All in all, it was a nice New Year's Eve and now we're anxious to get on the with the rest of our trip. I'm always kind of relieved when the holidays are over-these are always the hardest days for being away from my family. We're looking forward to 2012 and anxious to see what the new year brings. I hope only good things come for us, and all our friends and family!

PS-I'm sure all of you made New Year's resolutions today, so I'll share one of mine. I've been doing some walking/jogging for the past few weeks, with the intent of doing a 5K run while we're down here - so I've picked out the one I want to do. It's on February 18th in Melbourne-it should be a very low-key, family-oriented run since it's in support of dental health or some such thing and is called the "Tooth Trot" - do you LOVE it or WHAT? Anyway-I don't think I can possibly come up with a less intimidating event for my first "official" (i.e. timed) 5K run, do you? Of course, I can WALK a 5K in my sleep-I do the 10K AVA walks with no problem at all-but it's different when you try to "run" (or should I say "jog" or possibly "shuffle"....) and when you are doing it in a group. So-NOW-I have offically announced my intention of running in the Melbourne 5K Tooth Trot so now I'm committed-I'll either have to do it or face the humiliation of admitting that I backed down.... More on that LATER.