Florida at last!

After a wonderful five weeks in the North Georgia Mountains we headed out, drove through Atlanta as mentioned in my previous post, and spent two nights in Warm Springs. We stopped there to see the facilities where FDR spent time relaxing and exercising in the warm therapy pools.  As a polio victim he was the prime mover in establishing a treatment facility there.

He also built a small home there that was called the Little White House. It has been preserved and is open to the public.

All of the items and furniture in the house are just as they were when he was there.

This is the chair he was sitting in when he had the stroke that killed him.

We had watched the PBS series about the Roosevelts and enjoyed this look at the place and the things that meant so much to a great president.  We could use another great Democrat like him.

On Thursday we finally made it to Florida! Our first stop has been in Tavares at the home of our old friends Linda and Karl. 

For my California mountain friends:  Linda is as pretty and energetic as always. She is still a prolific artist and is constantly creating new things.

On Friday night we went to a costume street show. 

Karl,  Linda, and Craig 

Now here's the challenge:  What is Craig dressed as?

Hint, he has snow flakes stitched to his T-shirt.

I went as the same sort of mystery creature

We had lots of fun having people guess what we were that night, and many got it right.  I came up with the costume idea in just a few minutes as I accompanied Linda to a dollar store. $5 for 2 costumes.  

The next day I removed the beaks and eyes from our caps, and the snowflakes from our shirts. I will reuse them at Christmas.  Part of the RV way: always try to find more than one use for anything you keep in the rig.

On Sunday Linda took us around town for the area's annual Garden Tour.

Although it was sunny, a cold front had moved through and it was quite cool and windy. We are still new enough to Florida to be enchanted by the Spanish Moss in the trees.  Linda explained that it is a problem, because if there a hurricane comes through, the moss becomes saturated with  rain and makes the tree limbs very heavy and more vulnerable to falling.

The gardens we saw were very nice. We have some very nice plant photos. But I tend to notice the fun and unusual, like these guys I spotted on a small beach garden. 

 Not all flamingos are pink in Florida!

On our last stop on the tour we encountered this critter:

I wish I had put a coin down next to him to show how big he was. Our friend said they actually get much bigger that this one and can be a pest. 

Yikes, keep the doors closed on the RV, or get a saddle and we can go for a ride.

All too soon it became time to say "goodbye" and move on down the road. We hope to be able to stop here again for a few days at the end of our three month tour of Florida. 

It's always good to see special friends.