Missing That Florida Sunshine

It is mid January and a cold day in Pittsburgh with the first big snow storm expected. Yes, you heard that correctly, I am back in Pittsburgh and it is winter. While I am thrilled to be here helping my daughter with her first baby, my first grandchild, I miss Tim and the warm Florida sunshine. December in Florida was wonderful with almost perfect weather, cool nights and warm sunny days. 

After our stay near Daytona, we traveled to Thousand Trails Orlando, a very large resort type RV park not too far from Disney properties. While I highly enjoyed the RV park, I did not like the first come, first serve process there. It is so big and was challenging to find an open site. I felt like we drove around in circles for over an hour before we found a site that worked for us. It ended up being a very nice large site that easily fit the car and truck and still gave us lots of room.  We also loved that the gopher tortoises visited us at our site. Overall, we enjoyed Thousand Trails Orlando.

We stayed at the Orlando resort for three weeks so had plenty of time to enjoy the area and visit Sue and Greg who live in Orlando. I thought about Disney while in the area.  Tim doesn’t enjoy going to the parks so he passed but I decided to go to Animal Kingdom. It is the only park I haven’t been too and I wanted to check it out.  Sue didn’t really want to go and Greg had to work, so I went alone. That was a first for me, spending an entire day at a Disney park by myself. 

I was not sure if I would like that but ended up having a wonderful time. Being able to just do what you enjoy and not worrying about others is a great feeling. While I still think sharing the experience is better, I would go again alone.  I ended up being at the park from the time it opened until the 7 pm closing time. It was a jam packed day and I believe I got in pretty much all of the attractions. I was impressed with the combination of animal habitat’s, shows, and rides.  Animal Kingdom went beyond my expectations and I highly recommend it. 

We didn’t like the busy roads and traffic around Kissimmee and Orlando but we found some quieter areas north of us that were good to visit and got us out of the rat race around Orlando. Directly north on US 27 is Clermont. Definitely a quaint smaller town worth a visit. The historic downtown area is situated on Lake Minnelola with a lakefront trail. We enjoyed a day walking on the trail, checking out the shops in town, and had a relaxing lunch on the water at Lily’s on the Lake. The food was very good and the view was perfect.  We also had a early dinner at the Tiki Bar and Grill another day and watched the sunset. I loved the atmosphere of the Tiki bar and while it was a terrific place to see the sunset, the food wasn’t great. 

Just north of Clermont is the Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards. We met Sue and Greg on a weekend, had lunch at the Crooked Spoon, and then went to the winery for the afternoon. There was a musician playing in the vineyard and while he was just ok, it was fun to spend the afternoon in the vineyard. 

Another town we visited a few times was Winter Garden. I really liked the downtown area especially how the Main Street was laid out with lots of green space in the middle. The Christmas decorations in town were very festive and the street is filled with wonderful shops and restaurants with lots of outdoor seating. It reminded me a perfect Hallmark Christmas movie town but without the snow!  We spent a couple weekend days there enjoying the town. I recommend a visit. 

After our stay at the Orlando resort, we headed to Three Flags, our home for the winter. We are booked from 12/11 until 4/1 at this park. The park is just a little over an hours drive from the Orlando park so it was a very easy travel day. Winter Garden wasn’t too far away, only about 45 minutes so we met Sue and Greg there for another fun day.  We found a brewery in an older building that also housed food vendors and gift shops. It had lots of seating outside so we spent the afternoon playing cards and  sampling food, beer, coffee.  Definitely a fun time. 

As the holidays approached, We got the camper decorated and had a holiday dinner with Aunt Tish, Uncle Paul, Janet and Lew before I left for my trip north. Since I was leaving on 12/24, we celebrated a few days early. Janet and I each made parts of the meal and brought it to my Aunt and Uncle’s house. This way, we celebrated without imposing too much.  After that celebration, we got the news that our daughter Katie was in labor.

I had hoped to be there for the birth, but Nova Rose, aka Rosie, decided to make an early appearance on 12/23. Just in time for the holidays. What a wonderful Christmas present. I arrived on 12/24 and got to their home about an hour before they arrived. She is beautiful and so precious. I just love holding her and staring at her. Katie still wanted to have Christmas dinner; she had invited Jon’s parents over so all of the grandparents except Tim got to meet Nova. I couldn’t believe she wanted to cook for 10 people just 2 days after having a baby but she did.  I helped quite a bit and we put on a feast. What a wonderful Christmas celebration. 

Initially I wasn’t sure how long to stay. Good thing I planned on at least a month. My son in law caught COVID the week after Christmas. With a newborn at home, they decided it was best for him to quarantine so he ended up going to a hotel.  He stayed a week at a hotel then another week at his Dad’s house before coming home. 

He missed the first couple weeks of Rosie’s life. It was very frustrating for them. It was good I was here to help with walking the dog, taking care of the house and helping Katie with the baby. I am enjoying it, except for the weather. We have had some very cold days and I don’t enjoy being outside in that. With COVID cases very high, we are doing every thing we can to avoid exposure for the baby so other than doctors appointments for Mom and baby, we aren’t going anywhere. 

i was planning on heading back to Florida on 1/25 but was coming back in a few weeks for Kim’s bridal shower. If the cases are still high, I am just going to stay. I don’t want to risk exposure and bring it back and possible expose Katie and Rosie. It is difficult for Tim and I being apart as well as me wanting to be in the Florida sunshine. At least I will get back there in February.  Ugh! This arrived before I got this blog post published. Luckily, the nice neighbor used his snowblower to clear our sidewalks.