Thursday, November 19, 2015

LOVE IN ALL THE RIGHT PLACES

 Mid October we were kayaking five and a half miles down a beautiful crystal clear river with members of Vickie's family in temperatures in the mid 80's.  Water temp in the river is at 74 degrees year-around and the bottom of the river is pure white sand.

A couple weeks later we were in the air on our way to Colorado to see the newest addition of our family, a new grandson.  Of course the temperature was not in the mid 80's but was a perfect upper 60's - low 70's which provided the perfect break from the Florida heat.  There was fresh snow on the mountains and still some beautiful color in the trees.  We were there for a week and then headed back to Florida where we will be until the end of December.

On our return to Florida we made a short trip south of our RV park to do a little Christmas shopping.  What a strange feeling doing that kind of shopping with the thermometer reaching 91 degrees.  There was a nice breeze off the gulf but very little chance of snow.  Some stores were playing Christmas songs and had very nice holiday decorations but still seemed a bit out of place for us northerners.

Our Christmas shopping trip took us to Dunedin, FL where we found their version of our Loveland, CO hearts, dolphins.  They were purchased by different merchants and groups and were scattered around the city just like our hearts.  We did stop for lunch while we were there but as you can tell by the picture of Vickie and I we could still both easily fit in our "small lawn chair".


As we hit the road to head back north we noticed a sign posted, "Clearwater 3 miles"so we decided to take a short side trip.  Many years ago Vickie and I stayed in a hotel at Clearwater Beach while I was in Florida for a tradeshow for Duke Communication.  It was nice to go back and see where we had spent time but of course we had to do a little hunting as a few things had changed over the years.  We did find the expansive white sand beach and the old seaside restaurant where we sipped a glass of wine while watching the sun fall into the ocean.  The one thing that will never change is the feel of the sand on your toes, the smell of the salt air and the sense the whole world is at peace - if only that were true.

All-in-all the past few weeks have been wonderful as we enjoyed the birth of a new grandson, the beauty of the Colorado mountains
with family and friends and the warmth and beauty of sand and surf with family and friends far south.

We will be spending Thanksgiving with Vickie's family in New Port Richey, FL so we will raise a glass to all of you who we will be with in spirit.  Happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to remove the meat from the B-Side of the turkey and unplug the crock pot.