Titusville

Titusville Camping park

Florida is not just everglades and water!  Beautiful treed park here in Titusville.  Just a few minutes from Kennedy Space Center, Cocoa Beach, and more.  We spent one day touring the Space Center, and there is much more to see.  We bought an annual pass so we could use it more than just 2 days.  Good thing, as we couldn't see it all.  Spent one day at the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which was really interesting.  Pictures, videos, space suits, and lots of launch stories.  Sure a shame that this place is no longer going to do astronaut programs.  The towns around here are all dying, and engineers, and workers are all moving out.  some to other countries to get work with Russians, China, etc.

Building to protect Space Rockets being built

 Amazing how many buttons and levers for the astronauts to maneuver.  No wonder training was so intense!

Inside Space shuttle cabin

Model of Aircraft transporting rocket

Inside Kennedy Space Center

Space Food & Pop Machine in more recent Shuttles

Kitchen in Space shuttle

Working model of Space Shuttle Flight

G-Force Simulator
This was one WILD RIDE!!!  After that, next day we decided to do
 something different, so bought tickets for a 1-1/2 hour  Segway Tour of
 Cocoa Beach with a coupon special.  The guides, Wren & Nick,
(2 young men) spent a few minutes in the parking lot showing us
how to ride and control the Segways and off we went.
Was pretty cool, and just when I was getting the hang of it,
I gawked around at scenery instead of where I was going, and
WHAM!  Hit the curb of the bike lane, lost control and fell off into
the street, landing on my left leg, right elbow and bumping my head.
Hurt like HECK!  Sat on curb for awhile, and decided to get back on and
finish the ride.  We went out to Cocoa Beach on the board walkways,
then back through the town to Ron Jon Surf shop where we posed for
photo op.  Leg was hurting and guides offered to go get their truck
and take me back, but I was being "tough", so got back on and back
we rode.  Whole trip was 6 miles, at about 12-15mph.  Could have gone
25, but I was not about to.  When we got back, Al took me to a walk-in
clinic close by where we finally got an exray where they said  nothing was broken,
but couldn't tell us if ligaments or cartiledge were torn or not.  Since I
couldn't walk on it by this time, Al brought me back to the RV where I
crawled up the steps on my butt, and he went to buy a pair of crutches.
Now, NEVER in my life have I tried to walk with crutches!  Has been
quite an experience!  Almost fell a couple of times, but finally figured
out how to stay upright by being VERY careful.  Have an appt to get
an MRI at the hospital on Monday, and see an orthopedic surgeon
on Tuesday to see if repair is necessary.  It is gradually getting better,
but still not weight-bearing.  Will see!  So, we have extended our stay
here at Titusville at least until Thursday, May 17, and will see from
there.  

We survived the G-Force Simulator

After my Segway accident Cocoa Beach

Snoopy at Kennedy Space Center

Well, the MRI showed a crack in the tibia bone where it joins the knee joint.  There was a bump behind my knee, which I mentioned and that prompted a D-Dimer blood draw to check for blood clot.  The level was high enough that they did a dopplar ultrasound of my leg, which showed no clot!  Hooray!  Al was told to expect that I may be hospitalized a few days, but that was cancelled which made us both happy.  Next day, went to see Orhopedic Surgeon, Dr. Hanna, who re-exrayed to be sure nothing had happened since Thursday.  His sentence is to stay completely off the leg for 6-8 weeks, and to have it re-exrayed every 2 weeks.  He prescribed a leg brace, and off we went.  Looked around for a transport wheelchair as Medicare would cover, but found they only rent them and we don't want to stay here for 2 months or longer.  So, today, I found one online which we ordered and it should be here first of next week.  It is possible that Medicare may re-imburse our purchase.  So far, doing a lot of TV watching, internet, etc..
We had our first tornado alert a couple nights ago, and were advised to head for the bathroom at the RV Park since it is cement block and has no windows.  So, Al drove me there, and we waited the alert was lifted!  Hopefully there won't be many of those!!!!  We are going to put together an emergency kit to keep in the car just in case, which we have been meaning to do.
Al is getting lots of experience cooking, cleaning, chauffuering, laundry, shopping, etc.  So grateful he is willing to do this for me, as there is not much I can do on crutches.  We have now extended our stay here until the end of the month, in order to see the Dr. again.
Not much else new at this time.  Sorry I still can't figure how to move the photos where I want them, but hopefully, you will enjoy them anyway.  Bye for now!

Aren't you proud of us?   We were astronauts for a photo moment!  Then, we tried the G-Force Simulator, 3.5x the Centrifugal force of gravity, while showing a video presentation of landing a space flight!  It was incredibly realistic with visual, sound and motion, and I was too panicked to hit the panic button to stop the 4-minute ride.  Was woozy all evening, and didn't feel 100% next day!  Never make it as a pilot!

Punta Gorda to Kissimmee again May 2012

Sunshine Skyway Bridge from St. Pete to Palmetto area

GRRRR...  Been using Blogger.com for years for these posts, and they just changed everything.  Not sure how this will work!  Well, at least can caption the photos, but haven't figured how to place them where I want them.  Last I wrote, I think we had been in Punta Gorda.  From there, we moved to South Sarasota Elks (30 Amp hook-up) then to Palmetto at Winterset Resort.  Were going to stay a week, and stayed 2-1/2.  They had a nice pool, nice people, and were close to lots more beautiful beaches.  ( I shouldn't wait a month before trying to remember where we've been and what we've done, as it is all jumbled up in my head, and if we ever need to know for sure what happened when, perhaps credit card charges will help!)   We're getting pretty good at being relaxed, lazy tourists!  Met some nice people there who told us about places to go, and we had dinner with some of them.  One fellow figured out why I have not been able to connect with the Verizon hotspot regularly, and gratefully, that is working well!  Pretty cool when perfect strangers become fast friends.

Us in garden at Mixon Farms

Iguana at Mixon Farms

Owl at Mixon

Some of MANY Koi at Mixon Farms

One of several Rescued Tortoise at Mixon

Koi Pond at Mixon Farms

One of the beautiful benches at Mixon's garden

This was at Ft De Soto Park where dolphins were chasing the fish

Beach at Ft De Soto Park

Boa (?) at Mixon

We visited Anna Maria Island which is 7 miles long, and only a few blocks wide.  This beach bum life is growing on us.  No, that is not snow, it is the WHITE sand.  So white the sand doesn't get hot as the sun is reflected off of it.   Took a tour of Mixon Fruit Farm and it took us through the groves of orange, grapefruit and lemon trees.  They also had an animal rescue center and the guide told of each of the animals they house there.  From Snakes, Turtles, cranes, owl, iguana, etc.  There is a Koi Pond,  beautiful garden, tended mainly by Charlie, who is 86 years old.  He works with love every day, and was really interesting to talk with.  A WWII veteran of the army air force (which, he told us, no longer exists).
We visited a couple Flea Markets, had a couple nice dinners out with fellow RV park friends.  Drove 20 miles north to a place that was supposed to be good to see Manatee, but it had closed the day prior :-(.
Went to Fort De Soto State Park and watched men fish off the pier.  Dolphins would chase the fish on their line, and try to get the fish before it could be reeled in.  Those men did not have the love for Dolphins like we do.  Guess it's kind of like Sea Lions at home!  The beach at the park was nice, and since the busy season is over, it was quiet and peaceful.
My Verizon phone died AGAIN!  Have had it replaced twice!  Nice they shipped it next day so I wasn't too much at a loss, and all my contacts and photos were saved. :-).   It gets to be such a comfort, habit, and time-waster, but hard to be without.  Saw a gal at WalMart with 6" heels, about 6" long black mini-skirt, big hoop earrings, and tatoos all over her body.  She was about 5'10 and 200+ pounds and really walked like she was Queen of Sheeba.  Wish I would have had my camera phone that day!
     From Palmetto we moved to Largo to Lee's Trailer Park where we were before.  Went to the Elks at Holiday Isles for dinner and 2 wonderful couples got seated at our table.  We had such an enjoyable time with them that we made a plan and met again that Friday night same place for prime rib dinner!  Pretty amazing to get along with complete strangers so well.   Spent a couple days there and moved to Seffner to LazyDays, RV Park where we had the window in the door with the broken seal repaired.  Did not know they could repair them!  Took it apart and buffed the glass, and put it back together good as new!  Nice pool and hot tub at the park which we enjoyed, especially the good Rock and Roll old time music over the speakers!
     Ate at a couple different places around Largo that really pleasantly surprised us as to the quality for inexpensive food.  One was "Boston Market", which was recommended by a security guard at a shopping mall.  We thought it would be typical fast junk food and were skeptical, but I got a wonderful salad on mixed greens with rotisserie (not fried or grilled) chicken.  Al had their chicken  pot pie, and said it was delicious, too!  The other place was Golden Corral Buffet!  They had a great selection of fresh salad and fixings, fresh vegies, stir-fry, etc., but also would cook to order fish and/or steak.  We had wonderful grilled top sirloin steak!  $11 and some change each for whole dinner!  Now Al is not a buffet person, but he really liked it, too.  We also ate at Ruby Tuesday's for a nice meal.  The waitress told us to go online and get signed up for 2 for one dinner, which I have now done for next time.  She was expecting a baby any day, and a good waitress!  Hope all went well.  She had 2 boys 10 and 17 (I think), and this was 1st girl.

Treasure Island Beach

     We spent one day at Treasure Island for a Blues Festival on the beach.  It was HOT!  We rented a big beach umbrella like the yellow ones here ($20), and enjoyed the water, music and the sun, then the wind came up.  We picked up and went across the street for a quick bite as the food at the festival was not healthy fare.  Waffle House, was NOT a good choice, but it filled the void.  Plans to go back and watch sunset over the ocean were foiled as it began to rain.
We've thought about getting on a cruise ship while here in Florida to save the airfare, but we waited too long for many of the cruises.  Still have them out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, but we really don't want to drive back there again.  Tampa's cruises were full for most of the balcony rooms (which are a must for us!), and prices were not as good as we had hoped for a last minute deal!  So, we still may take one at another time, but not now.

One of   Magoo's "friends"

     One night at Lazy days, we played ping pong.  Neither of us have played for years, and were quite well-matched...equally poor, but we had fun!  I beat the 1st 2 games, and Al was going for "best 2 out of 3", which we changed, and he beat me the last 3.  Hardest part was remembering who was serving, and what the score was.  Should have had paper and pencil...guess that was good for the brain!

  The kitties are fascinated by all the geckos (?) or whatever these little guys are called.  And this ugly green bug about 4" long, was hanging on the post at the shuffleboard court.  We also saw a big black "grasshopper-looking bug" about 3" long, just hanging out on the railing by the pool at Lazy Days.  Didn't have a camera, but a lady said it may have been a  lumpy or something like that, that devour plants like locust???  Lots of different bugs in Florida!      Cripes!  Now Blogger is messing with me!  Didn't put blue ink or underline, but there it is, and won't go away!  Always more to learn! We are back at Ponderosa RV Park at Kissimmee, where we stayed back in December and January.  Great pool, and really quiet here now.  Weather has been in the 90's, and grateful it cools down to about 70 at night.  Yesterday at the pool, the cement was almost too hot for our bare feet!  Life is tough!  We plan to stay here until May 7th, and move to Cape Canaveral to see the Kennedy Space Center.  Were going to do that in January, but never got around to it.

   Last night, went  to St Cloud for dinner at Buffet City with some new friends, then to a Blues and Jazz Festival at the lakefront .  (Meeting new friends is fun, but I really miss friends and family from home.)  Was the BIG MOON night, and we walked and talked in the moonlight til midnight! Music was great, but we missed most of it.  It had been going on all day.   So nice to be outside in shirtsleeves at night and not be cold.  But, I did get eaten by some bugs!  Today, who knows?
     I think I will get off here before more stuff gets changed thanks to the new format of Google Chrome Blogger.  Hugs to all.
Comment from friends from Palmetto added info:  The big green grasshopper is a "katydid" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katydid );  The little gecko is probably a cuban brown anole (a-new'-lee).  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina anole)The geckos  have different colors and patterns, but have broader snouts and googly eyes like the Geico gecko.  They also have pads on their toes that allow them to climb straight up a glass window (or inside a shower or tiled wall!)  The tortoise is a gopher tortoise                      ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopher tortoise) that lives in long burrows they dig in the ground.  The Eastern diamondback rattlesnakes like the burrows and frequently move in with them.  So, don't follow one down the hole!!!  Thanks for that last comment, friends, I'm not sure I wanted to know that!!!  Pretty interesting stuff.