Our 1st Full Day at Buttonwood Bay, Sebring, FL

  We had breakfast about 9:30.  John went for a walk and I showered.  We're going with Ed and Carol later this morning to Lake Placid to see all the murals that are painted on many of the buildings there.  I talked to Michele to see how she made out at her 2nd post op appt.  Everything is good.  The Dr took out 3 of her drains, so she is hoping to be able to sleep in a bed tonight!  We met Ed and Carol out front at 11:45 and headed down to Lake Placid, about 20 or 30 minutes from here.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center to pick up a mural guide and then had lunch at the Americana Restaurant.  It was a cute little place and the food was excellent.

These were hanging outside the restaurant.

  Then we started the walk around town.  The murals are gorgeous!  There are 46 large murals, 17 painted trash can, and 9 round bird pictures, covering 33,000 sq ft.  It's quite amazing!! 

These are some of the trash cans!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This mural was done in 2013 when Lake Placid won
the coveted title of "America's Most Interesting Town".
The sponsors arranged it as a surprise for the founders
of the Lake Placid Mural Society, Harriet and Bob Porter,
shown in the top of the piece.

The Tropical State Bank robbery was foiled by the
young man in the mural.



This mural depicts a mother panther looking for her kitten.
The Florida panther is an endangered species.

This one depicts the heritage and history built on the
shores of the 27 freshwater lakes within 7 miles of Lake Placid.

Lake Istokpoga which covers about 27,692 acres
is home to many birds including blue herons,
ducks, great white herons and osprey.  Alligators nest there, too.

See the little raccoon hiding in the bottom of the nest.
Each mural has hidden things in them.  Some are
very hard to find!

Bass fishing is very popular here.  This "Bassin," mural won
1st place in a Nat'l contest for Air Brush magazine.

Lake Placid is in Highlands County which has nearly
10 million citrus trees in the ground, the 2nd largest citrus
producing county in Florida.  This mural was so 3-D it looked
like you could pluck the orange bowl right off the side of the building!!

The red wolf is an endangered species that was last
seen in Lake Placid in 1927.  The eyes of the wolf
on the right followed you wherever you went!

These are sandhill cranes that reside here all year round.

The next 7 pictures represent the Lake Placid
County Fair.  It is 108 ft wide and 18 ft high!
 

Turpentine was an important industry in Lake Placid.
The workers are cutting "cat faces" into the trees
to collect gum from pine trees to be refined into turpentine.

Remember when I talked about things "hidden" in the murals.
Well, the next 5 pics show faces that were hidden.

This one depicts the old drug store/soda fountain.

Lake Placid is the caladium capital of the world.  95%
of the world's caladiums are grown here!

This sign prepares you for the next mural. 

Lake Placid was once one of the best bear hunting
grounds in





Thought some of these signs in the gift shop were cute!



"Mumbles", the clown, is a former Police Chief!

It was a beautiful day...about 68 and sunny.  We all had some homemade ice cream to end the day at about 4:00.  Ed and Carol came along back to Harvey, so we could "show him off", but they didn't stay. 

This is looking down Angel Fish Dr from Harvey

John went down to the lake to take some pictures of the sunset.

WOW...each picture just keeps getting more beautiful!!

  Then we watched TV and I worked on the blog.  We played a game of 5 Crowns.  I lost again!  We "hit the hay" at about 10:30

 

We Gotta Get Outta This Place!

  We got up at 7:00, had a small breakfast and were on the road by 8:15!  John could hardly wait to say good-bye to Breezy Hill CG!!  Because Harvey needed gas we didn't hitch up the Jeep.  We figured we would just hitch up at the gas station.  We didn't pass any RV friendly gas stations, so John pulled into a defunct shopping center to hitch up.  There was a gas station right across the street that he thought he could maneuver, so we headed over there.  Guess what...the pumps weren't working and the repair truck was blocking the pull thru exit.  So we had to unhitch and back up.  We got on I-95 took the first exit that indicated there was a gas station because the Next Exit book showed that there was not an RV friendly gas station for 129 miles!!  It was a Valero and let me tell you, we just cleared the overhang and had to go in the out in order to fit.  John started pumping gas and then realized that it was $2.97/gallon!!  Yikes!!!  But we needed it, so he got 10 gallons to hold us until we could find something cheaper.  We hitched up right there at the pump.  John did a great job getting in and out of there.  We got back on the highway by 9:40.  We had about another 2 and 1/2 hrs. to get to the CG in Sebring.  I talked to Joyce from our small group at church to catch up on "stuff".  I think we talked for about a half hour.  Then I called Michele to make sure she was doing OK...and she was.  We pulled into a Marathon gas station to fill up Harvey at about 11:00.  There was a Subway attached, so with a gas purchase you got a free cookie.  With as much gas as Harvey holds we tried to talk them into 2 cookies, but we couldn't convince them!  Oh, well, sharing a cookie saved us some calories!!  We arrived at Buttonwood Bay CG about 12 noon.  WOW!  It was very impressive.  So well maintained, nice staff, and wide streets.  What a difference from the last CG!  John backed right onto the concrete slab and we were all set up by 1:15.

Heeeere's Harvey on his wonderful new site!

 

All the streets are named for fish.  We're on Angelfish.
Hey, Dustin...how do you like the name of this drive?

  Many people stopped to talk the first 2 hrs...a few from PA!!  Our neighbors are all very friendly, too!  We were hungry, so we decided to drive down the road into Sebring and go to Sonnys Barbecue.  We stopped first at an appliance store to replace the glass plate from our microwave that broke, but we didn't bring the model # along, so we'll have to go back tomorrow.  (I knew what we needed, but they wouldn't take my word for it.)  Then we stopped at CVS to drop off 2 prescriptions that were too early to fill before we left PA.  They didn't have one of them, so we'll have to come back tomorrow or Friday.  Then on to Sonnys...YUM!!  We stopped at Winn Dixie on the way home to pick up a few things.  I worked on the blog and then we played a game of 5 Crowns...John slaughtered me!!  We were pretty tired, so we crawled in bed about 10:00.  Love this CG already!!

2nd Week in Pompano Beach

   Friday morning we woke up to strong winds and heavy rain, and a TORNADO WATCH.  Luckily, it passed over us pretty quickly.

 

It was still pretty threatening looking even
after the tornado watch was lifted!

 

Looks like this building is sitting in the clouds!

  Mom called to see how we were all doing.  Her room is being renovated so she will be moving out next Thursday.  Michele was very sore and was experiencing a lot more pain.  She had tried to cut back on her pain meds, but now we realized that was probably a mistake.  She felt better that evening after upping her meds, but the narcotics were causing "bathroom issues"!  I felt so sorry for her!!  We discussed eating a higher fiber diet and increasing her meds for that problem and hopefully getting results.

The clouds were still heavy that night.  That's the
moon sand an airplane underneath.

  
Saturday was beautiful...sunny and in the mid 70's.  Michele was feeling pretty good and wanted to go to the beach.  We literally packed one of her large suitcases with all the pillows she would need to be comfortable on a lounge chair and drug it down across the beach.  It was a tough go!  We  got there about 11:45. Michele rented a covered lounger and we were finally settled in about 12:15.

AHHH...all comfy and cozy and taking in some rays!

 There was a Footvolley tournament going on on the beach.  The 2 man teams could hit the volleyball with anything EXCEPT their hands!  There was one move called a "shark attack" where the player jumped up off the ground and kicked it over the net while falling to the ground.  It was crazy!!

The guy in the middle just got done kicking the ball.

 

The 2nd guy in is just getting ready to hit the ball with his chest.

 

The guy on the right just hit the ball with his chest.

 

This gal danced to the blaring music
on a small stage to the left of the court the
whole day.  The players didn't seem to be the
least bit distracted by the music or the dancing gal!

  John joined us for about 2 hours and then left.  Michele laid on her lounger chair for a while and then we took our chairs down by the beach for an hour or so. 

The beach was packed!

Michele was just chillin'

The pier was full of people, too!

We didn't leave the beach until about 5:00.  I got a shower and then we walked about a half block down the street to get homemade ice cream.  Man, it was good!

Michel got all "dolled" up to go for ice cream.
She sure looks good for all she's gone through!

Sunday was very windy...leftover from tornadoes that had touched down on the Gulf Coast.  I called Bonnie to make sure she and Ken were OK.  It had hit fairly close to where they were staying.  As a matter of fact the sirens went off in their park at 4:00 that morning.  Fortunately, they were all right!  Michele continues to have "bathroom issues".  John came over and we all played 5 Crowns.  John won, but it wasn't really fair, because Michele is on drugs!!   After John left I went to Walmart for some groceries.  And later that evening we had to re-pad under Michele's compression garment.  She had a good day.
On Monday I made a late bacon and egg breakfast and then we drove to Hollywood again to meet the doctor for a new prescription.  From there we went to the CG where John was staying and had a cook-out.  We played 5 Crowns again and I finally won.  We left the CG about 6:00 and stopped at CVS to fill the script.  While we waited we went across the street to Marshalls and shopped for about an hour and a half.  When we got home we talked until about 2:00am!! 
We got up late Tuesday morning I did the last of the laundry.  I put a roast and veggies in the oven and the we left for the Ft Lauderdale airport at 1:30 to pick up Emily, an employee of Michele's who is going to take over for me the last 2 weeks of Michele's recovery.  John joined us at the condo and we had an early supper.  Michele showered so we could show Emily how to put her back together.  We said our good-byes and, of course, I forgot and hugged Michele a little too hard.  We finally left about 8:00pm to head over to Harvey.  I loved that I could be there with Michele to help, but I must admit it was a relief to be done...it was a lot more physically challenging that I had anticipated.  But, again, it was where I needed to be and I am so glad I was able to help.  Only a mother could have been so "up close and personal" those 1st 2 weeks and I know she greatly appreciated it.  (except for some of my "dingbat" moments :)!
John was certainly ready for my company.  He sure didn't have any at the CG...everyone was so unfriendly!  We now know never to return to that park!!
We played a game of 5 Crowns...John won.  Then he went outside to work on all the preps for tomorrow's departure.  I worked inside.  Mom called again to check on us and we were in bed by 10:30.  We plan on leaving by 8:30 tomorrow morning.

This is the CG in Pompano Beach where John stayed.
It looked nice enough when we got there, but didn't
prove to live up to our expectations!!