FLORIDA the 11th Province

It didn’t take long after closing up the cottage to plan heading for the southern end of Canada. A little time was spent getting our snowbird wings in order while in Ontario. And of course checking on our chicks in Toronto for the JOLLY seasons. But January 3rd saw us quickly on the road south. A stop over for lunch at the Penninsula Ridge Winery for a grand lunch… and it was!! This restaurant is located in Lincoln near Niagara on the Lake, you need to go there,…very good! Now over the border and down through northern states, stopping and browsing some back roads we discover great little stopovers and good accommodation. Food is somewhat…take what you can find…and keep moving south. West Virginia roads wind through mountains and big tunnels. Snow on the ground but roads clear. When you drop out of the mountains of Virginia it becomes warmer and greener. Looking to find a car wash as we are now carrying an extra 50lbs. of salt all over the car. Hey… we found one. Now things look a little better, actually a lot better. Then on through the Carolinas and Georgia. Taking our time we headed for Steinhatchie, Florida, stopping to see Manatees in Crystal River. They seem to move or glide with no body movement at all. Locals were kayaking along with them. Finding a nice condo on the water we stayed the night and behold… across the street… FRESH SEAFOOD! Ordering the small seafood platter and the rib-eye steak actually meant enough leftovers for the entire community of Steinhatchie… No question,..the food was terrific,..but why soooooo much…? Weather now in the high 70’s and have arrived early for our rental. Wasn’t long before meeting up with friends and putting a few back… one does have a thirst in this climate. Off to the pool for aquaerobics and maybe a game of golf next week. Finally got high speed internet for 3 months through the local cable… just call me Blaze now….By the way, a 1.5 ml (large) bottle of Bin 65 Chardonnay is $8.00. How can that be?... $22.00 in Canada? Friends put together a great dinner for our birthday girl and we have since then gone out to Kobie Japanese dinner also and watched the master chef trying to burn down the table for six with his onion volcano. Was wondering,… do they carry some kind of special insurance? One of our good friends was a designated driver so we had no trouble managing to drink enough saki to keep our mind off all the possibilities of volcanic fire eating and flying knives…lot’s of chop-chop-chopping….Fun we are having! Couple of days have passed and after enjoying a Saturday Fun Fly there was another dinning out experience but first…A Fun Fly is a morning of model airplane contests which our good friend participated in and did very well in touching down in a particular zone and also turning off engine while up high then gliding to a circle zone. These planes are of many types from gas to electric but to fly them with this type of skill takes many hours and more. Also provided was a free lunch of hamburgers and hotdogs. You could call the lunch event a “Plane Fun Fly”. To end the day we attended a party of 13 to celebrate a 96th birthday. This mother of the family was incredibly bright and expects to party till a least 107. This event was held in a monster steak house restaurant where outside a lineup of many people waiting for tables and it was only 6:00 PM.! Good thing we all had a reservation. After singing happy birthday we all ordered the famous steaks and ribs they are known for here. Now here’s the finale,…. Every one got a take home box with a fork lift and shovel to boot.

Best Regards from the sunshine coast,