Thanksgiving Day 2013 was certainly a new experience for us. No turkey to cook, no potatoes to mash, no gravy to stir, no stuffing to stuff, but most important no family to hug. Uggh! We enjoyed the dinner held at the Woods N Water Trails clubhouse and met some new folks. The food was all very good with about 60 people in attendance. We both ate lightly, knowing that this was Turkey Day Phase I. Dale was disappointed that the Lions game wasn't on a TV in the clubhouse, but at least he stayed for the whole meal. One Cheesehead at our table was so distraught over the lack of the game on a TV in the clubhouse that he jumped up as soon as they started calling tables, even though ours hadn't been called. He filled his plate and made a beeline for the door. His wife later explained his need to see the game and apologized for his absence. At 4:00 we went to the home of Kathy Ilkka's mother, Marlene. There were just five of us as Don and the boys were up in Michigan's UP for the annual deer hunting weekend. It was a nice cozy dinner with another round of wonderful food. Marlene, Kathy and Anna welcomed us like family. While there we Face Timed with our Michigan family, so even though hugs weren't possible we were able to see everyone.
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| Woods N Water Trails RV Resort clubhouse |
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| Getting our instructions prior to loading our plates |
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| All the fixin's waiting to be dished up |
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| The all-important dessert table |
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| Getting ready to say the blessing at Marlene's |
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| Had to include Marlene's Puffy - Tell me he ain't cute! |
On Friday we drove our bikes around and down to the waterfront at the resort. As we were making our way out on the dock a rather loud fluttering of wings above startled us. Looking up we could see a large bird leaving its roosting place in the tree we were directly under. He flew to another nearby tree and landed. We were looking at a Bald Eagle not 40 yards away. Lisa got several good shots, but upon getting too close, the Eagle decided to find another place to roost. Lisa was bummed as she missed getting it in flight. She's been back to the dock area a few more times hoping to spy the majestic creature, but to no avail so far. That Friday night we met Marlene, Kathy and Anna in downtown Eustis for the Annual Light Up Eustis festivities. It was quite an affair, the likes of which we've never seen in Michigan with, at least it seemed, no less than a thousand people strolling about. Of course, it might have something to do with 60 degree evenings in Florida at this time of year as opposed to evenings in the 20's in Michigan. The streets were blocked off with stages set up in various locations. Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in a City of Eustis fire engine.
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| Woods N Waters canal and boat dock |
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| Bald Eagle at the boat dock |
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| Another view of the majestic eagle |
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| Peddler's Wagon is a cool store in downtown Eustis |
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| Inside Peddler's Wagon |
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| Fountain in Eustis waterfront park |
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| Light Up Eustis crowd and main stage |
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| Santa and Mrs. Claus arriving in a Eustis fire engine |
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| Santa & Mrs. Claus getting ready to visit with good boys & girls |
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| Shot down Magnolia Ave in Eustis |
On Saturday evening it was Mount Dora's turn to light it up. The Mount Dora crowd seemed to be two to three times that which we had seen in Eustis. It had a more elaborate stage setup and light display in the park in front of City Hall. They also have a singing Christmas tree and the Mount Dora marina a couple blocks from downtown is not to be missed.
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| Crowd gathered in front of City Hall for Light Up Mount Dora |
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| Light Up Mount Dora stage |
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| Mount Dora stage after dark |
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| Mount Dora City Hall |
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| Mount Dora lit up |
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| Here's how they do it in Mount Dora |
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| Just a portion of Mount Dora Marina |
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| Other side of the marina taken across the water |
On Sunday, December 1st, after church we went to Olivia's in Eustis for lunch. It came highly recommended and did not disappoint. It's not fancy schmancy, but rather quirky cool with an eclectic blend of non-matching furniture and dinnerware. They have a small musician's stage and apparently bring in some decent talent for dinner shows. Oh yeah, and the food was very good. On Tuesday, December 3rd, after Lisa attended the Womens Bible Study we helped decorate the park with other campers. Lisa worked inside the clubhouse and Dale helped with the outside landscape decorations.
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| Just another picture of the welcoming committee that patrols the grounds daily |
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Woods N Water Trails all lit up
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| Apropos decoration for a campground |
On Wednesday, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset on Lake Dora by their lighthouse park. While there Dale spied an interesting little 2 person powerboat cruising out on the lake. A truck and trailer eventually drove up, and pulled the little craft out of the lake. It turned out to be a CraigCat which neither of us had ever seen before. It's a tiny catamaran, in this case, powered by a 25 horse outboard capable of pushing the CraigCat to over 25mph. The guys pulling the boat out actually work for a local CraigCat Tour company. They gave Dale a flyer describing the 2 hour tour where you drive your own boat and the guide narrates over the boat's Bluetooth sound system. Our tour is booked for Friday, December 13th. Dale can't wait. Oh, and Lisa is looking forward to it, too.
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| Lisa waiting patiently for the sunset over Lake Dora |
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| Someone else waiting for the sunset |
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| This guy don't care about no sunset - show me da teeny tiny fish! |
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| Sunset over Lake Dora |
Thursday we swam and relaxed by the pool, and Lisa got her new Canon T3i camera! The pictures for the blog should be a touch better going forward. Friday saw us attending another street party in Mount Dora. This time it was the Mount Dora Christmas Walk. Once again streets blocked off, bands playing, choruses singing, people everywhere. We also got to listen to David Willis, an American Idol contestant from February of this year. Originally from the area, he purchased, renovated and reopened a coffee shop in Mount Dora in July this year. He was outside the shop singing and playing guitar with a couple other backup musicians. Needless to say, he was attracting quite a crowd. On Saturday, Dale started the installation of a tire monitoring system for the motorhome and Jeep. This system will alert us of any impending tire failure before it happens and, hopefully, prevent any catastrophic incidents that might turn into a local news story. On Sunday, December 8th, after church we drove out to New Smyrna Beach on the Atlantic coast. We had been told by some other campers in the park that they had driven their Jeep on the beach. That sounded pretty cool, so we headed out only to arrive and find out the beach was closed due to high tide. What's up with that? Slightly disappointed we sat in a city pavilion and ate our Subway sandwiches at least enjoying looking at the water and beach activity including some young surfers testing their skills. About the time we finished eating there came an announcement over the local PA system that access to the beach for vehicle traffic would resume in a few minutes. Yeehaw!! Down went the top on the Jeep and out we went to get in line. Sure enough a beach ranger opened the gate and we were soon tooling along the sand. Silly Dale at first put the Jeep in 4WD just because we haven't used it yet, and he remembered almost getting stuck with his 1979 Mercury Capri on Daytona Beach thirty some years ago. However, the ramp at New Smyrna was very solid and everything, including Corvettes, were making it onto the beach just fine so he pulled it back into 2WD. Maybe we can use the 4WD when we get up to Michigan over the Holidays. We had a great time on the beach! Lisa had insisted on buying Santa hats for the occasion and made Dale keep his on the whole time. Needless to say we attracted some attention and smiles.
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Driving on New Smyrna Beach
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| Hey, is that Santa in a new red sleigh? |
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| Time to head out after a stressful day at the beach |
On Monday we golfed at the Mount Dora Golf Club referred to as The Old Course. Since we hadn't golfed in quite a while we didn't keep score. It was better that way. The only score written down that day was Dale's rare birdie on the 14th hole. On Tuesday, December 10th, Dale was finally able to make it to the Men's Bible Study while Lisa once again attended the Women's Bible Study. Dale appreciated finding out that the Men's study was just starting a Ray Van Der Laan series which he had not been through yet. Our Michigan bible study group has done a couple of his studies. If you've not experienced a Ray Van Der Laan faith lesson you should give it a try. He takes you right to the Holy Land for each of the studies. A very good, easy to understand teacher. The Women's study had a very nice potluck luncheon after their study so Dale enjoyed a great leftover dinner that evening. Yum!
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