3/2/17 Thursday

Home at last!  We had a bit of traffic on the NJ Turnpike and then some more on the Garden State Parkway and then were okay until we got into CT and hit traffic until we got by New Haven.  It was very windy the whole trip and we stopped in Waterford to fill up the car at BJ's around noon.  It feels good to be home.  We went grocery shopping and picked up our accumulated mail.  We will go out tonight to see Nathaniel in his school play and then are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed.  We look forward to catching up with friends and family now that we are home.  Until next time . . .

3/1/17 Wednesday

Another day of driving.  It was cloudy most of the day, but it POURED just as we passed Washington DC.  We have stopped in Mount Holly, NJ for the night.  Even though we are fairly close to home, we decided to stop as the timing is wrong for going near New York.  We will be home tomorrow.  It has been raining off and on most of the afternoon, but the weather is still fairly warm.  We will probably put our long pants on for tomorrow (after a month of shorts) as I expect it will be a bit cooler in CT tomorrow.  No pix again today as we were in the car all day.  We are listening to a Jack Reacher story - always entertaining.  We will probably have an early dinner as we only had brunch today around 10 AM in Virginia.

2/28/17 Tuesday

We said good-bye to John and Carole last night and they gave us a small palm tree for the sunroom to remember them by - very sweet of them.  We packed up the last minute bags this morning and got to work at 8:30.  Everyone was very sorry to see us go.  The whole gang had signed a card for us and there were hugs all around.  Mike had baked a batch of snickerdoodles for our trip and we were thankful.  We left at 11 and had pretty smooth sailing until we hit some road work in SC.  We intended to stop at Lumberton, NC, but were getting weary so decided to stop in Florence, SC.  There were no rooms to be had though so we pushed on to Lumberton.  They were full up also so we have just stopped in Fayetteville, NC at 10 at night!  Not only are we exhausted, but we got the very last room here so feel lucky as well.  I had packed a lunch for the trip, but it was Mike's cookies that saved the day as that is what we had for dinner!  Hopefully, we will not have to drive as late tomorrow.  We did finish Pillars of the Earth so will start a new book tomorrow.

2/27/17 Monday

We got up and did our final laundry, cleaned up a bit and basically got ready for leaving tomorrow.  We ate an early lunch and decided to go back to Boca Ciega to check on the alligator.  Apparently, he had been near the bridge when we first arrived, but by the time we parked the car and walked up to the bridge, he was nowhere to be seen.  I took a series of shots of a great blue catching and eating a fish.  As we walked around the end of the pond, I decided to walk a little closer to the heron, but as I walked, I heard a great bellow and knew instantly that I had found the gator (or he had found me).  I couldn't see him, but there was a clump of bushes next to the pond and I'm sure he was in there.  I called to Dave and as he came closer, we heard another couple of bellows.  We, wisely, decided to back away.  We got to work at 1 and we were extremely busy!  Poor Dave and Paul were the only two guys on the floor when a big truck came in full of doors, windows, thousands of feet of kick molding and other stuff - all of it heavy!  They were drenched in sweat by the time they finished unloading and they still weren't done as they had to load granite for one customer and tables and chairs for another.  By 5, we were done - in more ways than one.  We stopped for dinner on the way home.  We will have to say good-bye to John and Carole tonight as we will be leaving for work in the AM and will get on the road from work as it is part way to the highway that we take out of here.  We are hoping to get to North Carolina by tomorrow night - we'll see.

2/26/17 Sunday

What a beautiful day!  It was sunny and clear with no humidity - a great day.  We drove to St. Petersburg, found the parking garage and walked to the park.  We texted Kelly and she was right behind us so we walked through the art festival.  This festival was more fine art than craft, but there were some wonderful items sprinkled throughout.  No one bought anything so we walked into town and stopped in the Locale Market - lots of foods from different countries for sale here.  We then walked over to the Florida Craft Co-op, but had thirty minutes to wait until it opened so we stopped at a Greek cafe for a snack.  Dave had a fish sandwich and Kelly and I shared hummus with pita wedges and spinach dip with feta and tomato crackers.  The dip and cracker dish was HUGE, but we did our best before admitting defeat.  The craft shop was very nice, but the prices were a bit too dear for my wallet.  We walked back to the garage and parted ways.  When we got to the ticket agent, he informed us that Kelly had paid our ticket - what a nice surprise - thank you, Kelly!  We came home and puttered around until dinner time.  Tomorrow, we don't have to go in until 1 PM so we will do last laundry, clean out the RV, and pack everything into the car so that when we leave work early on Tuesday, we can just jump in the car and go.

The photos today are of a lovely hibiscus, metal sculpture, antique button jewelry, an embroidery made with over 200,000 stitches, a lacquered wood sculpture, an underwater photo, the sundial in the square, a park sculpture group of chairs, and the craft center.

2/25/17 Saturday

We got an email from Kelly yesterday inviting us to join her at the St. Petersburg art festival on Sunday so we decided to flip-flop our days.  We spent the morning cleaning out the car and packing up anything we won't need for the next few days.  We also went to Barnes and Noble to pick up another audio book as we are almost at the end of Pillars of the Earth.  We picked up a Lee Child novel and that should last us until we get home.  We spent the afternoon doing odds and ends and then went for a walk around the block.  I just have a few photos today - all from the yard here.

2/24/17 Friday

TGIF!  What a crazy day!  Dave and Larry (65, but acts like he's close to 80) were the only two volunteers on the floor today and we were crazy busy.  When we finally got done for the day, we came back so Dave could put his feet up, cool down, and relax.  About 5 PM, we took a walk down to the lake.  We were chatting to a couple on the dock and they said that an 8 foot alligator got into the discharge pipe at the lake's edge and crawled all the way to the office of the housing complex.  They had to call someone to come and get it and take it away.  It created all kinds of excitement.  We went out to dinner tonight and are now just relaxing until bedtime.  I don't think either one of us will have to be rocked to sleep tonight.  Tonight's photos are of an hibiscus, an anhinga drying his wings, a mallard, a coot, a stork, and a young osprey.