My Sister Andrea and David at Her Birthday Dinner.

We surprised my sister for her birthday by just showing up.  She didn’t know we were in Florida, let alone in her neck of the woods.  My mother also was surprised.  She flew down, from Rochester, for a vacation and to catch up with my sister, and she had no clue we were going to be here either.

Hugs all around.  Margarita’s, laughing and catching up had by all.  Well, only my sister wanted a margarita.  However…Cake for everyone! No one passes up birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Sis!  I’m still younger!

Our Friends House with Our Rig in the Driveway...We Just Fit!

Well we  made it.  Bradenton, Florida, were we are visiting a friend of ours.  He had never seen our rig.  So upon explaining to him that we are 42 feet long, he said not an issue parking in his driveway.  We Just Fit!  We were laughing as we were driving in his neighborhood to his house.  All the houses leading up to his have driveways that would barely fit an SUV let alone a 42 foot motorcoach.  We did not know what he was thinking.  Then we turned the corner and saw his house.  He actually sits on a corner, so he has a driveway that did fit us.  Barely.

We pulled in and set up for the night.  He just moved to Florida, from Rochester, so we hadn’t seen his new home.  What a nice place.  Nice location, quiet neighborhood, good neighbors.  That’s all we all could ask for.

We only were able to stay the night, but we had a good visit.  Good to see good friends again.  Thanks for your hospitality.  On to surprise my sister for her birthday.

Going Over The Bridge Into Bradenton, Florida

Ocklawaha River, Silver Springs, FL

When we left Tallahassee, we started making our way south, to visit a friend in Bradenton.  We wanted to find a nice place somewhere in between Tallahassee and Bradenton to stay for a few days.  We found Silver Springs, Florida.

Silver Springs is located between Ocala, Florida and the Ocala National Forest.  This park we found actually borders the forest.  Very peaceful and quiet.  The people here could not be nicer.  However, rvers generally are nice people.  You certainly meet a lot of people.  More so when we walk Tasha with her knee brace on.

This rv park we found was wonderful.  It has access to the Ocklawaha River which runs through Silver Springs.  It is famous for it’s clear blue waters.  Many movies were filmed in this forested area too, including Tarzan and the classic Swamp Thing to name a few.

We’re considering go back to this park for a longer stay when we start heading back north.  We’ll keep you posted.We’d love to take the pontoon boat, which the rv park owns, up the river.  See what we see.

Ocklawaha River, Silver Springs, FL

Ocklawaha River, Silver Springs, FL

Wilderness RV Park, Silver Springs, FL

Such Nice Weather David Decided To Work Outside. With Tasha's Help Of Course.

David and One Giant Oak Tree

Amazing!  This giant oak tree in the RV park that we are staying at has survived every natural disaster you can think of to get this big.  David actually looks miniaturized underneath it.  I can’t imagine how long it’s actually been here.  It’s good to see that development was done around it and they didn’t chop this huge beast down.  There’s others like this around, but not nearly as large.

So when David and I arrived in Tallahassee, David announced he was going to take me out to dinner.  That’s always nice.  So I was wondering, chinese or italian.  Well…it was neither.  He completely left me in the dark and we went totally outside our bubble…Fondue!

If you’ve never had a chance to experience The Melting Pot, which is a fondue restaurant, I highly recommend it.  At least once, because it’s not cheap.  I was thinking, fondue?  David is not that crazy about cheese, why would he go to a fondue place?  Talk about surprised.  Not only is there cheese, you also get a salad and a large variety of meats and veggies.  The meats actually come out raw, but seasoned, and you cook the meat, in the fondue pot, in a spiced up broth base of your choosing.  The meat comes out very tender.  I guess it’s a place you can’t complain that your food is cold or not cooked properly, because you are cooking it.

Oh…and did I mention the dessert?  Think any mixture of chocolate and toppings you like.  Then heat it and dip an assortment of desserts into it.  For us, we chose the Flaming Turtle.  Think chocolate, caramel and chopped pecans, heated up and set on fire! YUM! And the items for dipping, strawberries, brownies, cheesecake, rice crispy treats, pound cake and more.  I’m sure people go there just for dessert.  We had a great time.  Thank you David for surprising me.

David Cooking His Steak, or Chicken, or Pork. Not Sure Which One This Is.

Brenda & David Enjoying Our Flaming Turtle Dessert...Chocolate, Caramel and Pecans, YUM!

Shiny New Wash and Wax

We said good-bye to Pensacola yesterday.  After getting the rig freshly washed and waxed it’s never looked so good.  Soooo smooth.  Like glass.  If you look closely, you can see the rig next to us in ours.  That’s how shiny it got.  Of course, it also rained later that evening.  Figures.

Our last day in Pensacola we visited the Naval Aviation Museum.  This is a nice museum for all of you looking for something to do in the area.  This is the first museum we’ve come across that was free admission too.  Bonus!

David’s favorite part…the Top Gun Simulator.  David sat in the pilot’s seat while I was behind him in the co-pilot seat.  We flew around for a little while to get used to it.  Then we found Las Vegas and we blew up the Luxor Hotel.  Sorry if anyone had plans to visit there.  We left it in rubble.

Then we got into a dog fight with the enemy.  Not sure who the enemy was but we took out 4 or 5 of them.  Then we were able to practice landing on an airstrip.  Once we had that down, we landed aboard an aircraft carrier out at sea.  David was really good at landing this plane.  He was successfully able to land on the carrier 3 times.

This museum is right on the naval base there in Pensacola, FL.  Which is also the home base for the Blue Angels.  They practice a few times a week.  However, not while we were there.  Bummer.  Oh well, there’s always next time.

National Museum of Naval Aviation Entrance

Lots of Planes to See Inside the Museum

More Planes Inside The Museum

Blue Angels Aircraft

David in Pilot Seat Inside Top Gun Simulator

David and a Tank

David said I had to explain the title.  “You never know when you’re going to need a tank” is a line from a the tv show, Jericho.  For some reason this line stuck in our heads and we like to quote it once in a while.  It just seemed to fit here.

As I mentioned earlier, there’s so much to explore here.  Three hours really was not enough to fully see everything.  Scattered outside on the lawn are various tanks and artillery.

They really do this park nicely.  Everything has it’s own plaque and description.  And not just a description but the history behind the item.  If it was used in a war, how many times it was used, etc.  The list goes on.  When in Mobile, Alabama, you must stop and see this park.  And as you can see, Tasha enjoyed it too.  The outside at least.

SR-17 U2 Spy Plane. One Of David's Highlights.

Tomcat Plane

Another Plane, Can't Remember.

Artillery

View From The Submarine Deck. Which One Of These Things Doesn't Belong?

The Bomber Calamity Jane, David and Tasha

Tank With The Battleship In Background