Saturday, March 10, 2018 – Home again

Mom & I ate breakfast on the balcony.  It was the warmest morning of the week.  We just sat and enjoyed the Saturday morning beach activity and the sunshine for an hour or so.

We made one more walk on the beach and sat again and watched the activity ramping up for the day on the beach.  We left the condo at 10:00am.

We made a stop at Bealls Department Store, had lunch and then drove on to Orlando airport.

Just as I pulled off five miles from the airport for the gas fill up in the rental car I rec’d a text saying our flight was delayed from 4:25pm to 5:05pm.

We arrived at car rental return just before 2:00pm.  Just before time to board they moved the flight departure to 4:55pm.  After we were boarded and ready to go, there was a mechanical issue that delayed us to a 5:25pm departure.

Most of the flight we had turbulence.

Finally, we arrived safely at home.

Friday, March 9, 2018 – Last full day in Daytona Beach

So Judy flew home this morning.  We left the condo at 5:00am to drive her to Sanford, FL to make her 7:33am flight this morning.  The good part of that was not much traffic at that time of day.  It took about an hour each way.

When Mom and I got back to the condo about 7:00am, we went back to sleep for a while.

We spent quite a while sitting on the balcony soaking up the sun this morning and watching the activity.  Very nice!

We shopped this afternoon and returned the mobility scooter.  We drove the Ormond Scenic Loop, had some dinner and are in for the night.  Packing up to leave tomorrow.

 

Thursday, March 8, 2018 – Sun, Shopping & Chilly Breezes

It cooled down last night.  It was in the low 60’s today with a chilly breeze.  We spent the day shopping and enjoying the sunshine.  We ended our day with a nice meal at Outback Steakhouse.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018 – Sun, Fun and St. Augustine

This morning we walked on the beach and enjoyed the sun and waves.  So nice!!

About 11:00 we left the condo to drive north to St. Augustine.  It was a 57 mile drive.  You can take I-95 or you can drive along the coast on A1A.  We took the coastal route that takes about an hour and a half.  You drive thru a lot of seaside communities on mostly two lane highway.  Quite a few miles of the drive, you are literally driving right next to the ocean.

We stopped for a delicious lunch in St. Augustine then rode the Old Town Trolley tour for 90 minutes.  The weather was nice and it was an interesting tour.

We drove back to Daytona Beach Shores with a few stops along the way.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018 – Sun, Fun, Traffic, Strawberries, Good Friends and a Contusion

So Judy heard about the Florida Strawberry Festival and it was decided that we were going to go.  Well….it was 125 miles from Daytona.  Oh well…we called our friends, Dana & Eddy that moved to Florida last year.  They live about an hour from Plant City, FL where the festival is held.

So we left the condo about 8:45 this morning and headed 125 miles southwest.  Most of the trip was on I-4.  Traffic was very heavy most of the trip especially the portion that runs along the Orlando area.

We arrived about 11:00am and met Dana & Eddy.  So the festival is basically like a state fair.  It runs 11 days and there is a large carnival, entertainment, several buildings of exhibits and items for sale along with more junk food stands than I have ever seen.  It also was the cleanest fair/festival I have ever seen.

So it was sunny and 80 degrees today.  We enjoyed wandering around and eating.  There was strawberry shortcake, lemonade, chicken on a stick, a hot dog and a funnel cake.

We all had a great time.  Here are some photos from our day.

We left Plant City about 4:30.  Once we got close to Orlando the traffic was terrible and it stayed that way all along the Orlando communities.  I don’t know how the locals handle that.  We stopped in Sanford (40 minutes from Daytona) for dinner.

While leaving the restaurant there was an incident that involved Judy falling over in the van (no alcohol was involved) and she says it was my fault (it was not) and her arm has a contusion.  Can you tell she is a court reporter?  I would say she has a big goose egg on her arm.

We arrived back at the condo at 8:30pm.