PUT ON MY “BIG GIRL” PANTIES AND TOOK A WALK THROUGH THE WOODS HERE.

  The photo in our header is of our site here at Lake Griffin…since the big Allegro pulled out Monday…They were very nice neighbors, but it sure is great to have some room to breathe here..So far, no one has pulled into it, but the weekend is looming large and the local families will be in abundance..I just hope that whom ever takes the spot next to us has a camper we can at least see the tree tops over!!

  Well, yesterday I got brave, re-velcroed myself to McGyver and we took one of the trails through the woods….There hasn’t been a bear siting since before we got here, nor has there been an alligator siting…There have been no more police cars and helicopters either..But…last night we were sitting by the campfire and we heard an ambulance …and he sounded real close..Yep, you guessed it..The ambulance came rolling through our campground, lights flashing, being lead by one of the “gate keepers” in his golf cart.  They pulled in up the road around the curve..DAMN! I really wanted to wander over and see what was going on, and I couldn’t convince Dennis to peek for me, so we sat there wondering…Something about the sad prospect of someone needing an ambulance keeps me from being my nosey self…It could be the fact our son was a paramedic that keeps me from being an “ambulance chaser”..

Back to our walk on the trail…(my mind wanders like a snake in the grass )…This Spanish Moss is dripping from everything here…We followed the trail back toward the Dead Swamp (the name is encouraging, no?)…I took a few pictures, letting go of Dennis long enough to snap the camera…

 

There were signs at certain types of plants and trees saying what kind they were…We ran into no scary critters, but in my mind I felt like there just HAD to be a snake hanging in one of those old live oaks…hissing and giving us the hairy eyeball…waiting to drop on my shoulders...With thoughts like these, WHO NEED NIGHTMARES..I CREATE DAYMARES FOR MYSELF!! I gotta relax.

I like that sign on the right…It makes the forest less scary, knowing that Walt Disney got it right…”The Circle of Life” is at work here, for sure…

When we got to the end of the trail, we came out at the playground, amphitheater, and boat launch….

Those steps on the right are intriguing…They are in the amphitheater are, middle, and lead to nowhere…Maybe there was an old building here once…

Got myself 2 birds in flight , the one on the right is just coming in for a landing…

Yesterday late afternoon, Den and I went to visit an old friend from Sandwich who has a  home 15 miles from our campground..Jerry and Janet come down here for the Winter, and go back to Illinois for the summer…We  had a great time and they live in a very nice area.  Jerry gave us a tour in his golf cart….

Notice that the garage floor is carpeted…Jerry does love his vehicles…That one on the right is a 2004 “Little E” Special Edition Monte Carlo…in premo shape, naturally!

….Not a bad ride, I’d say…So we had a full day yesterday. Tomorrow is “date night” and we might take a ride through The Villages, a well-known 55+ retirement community just a couple miles from us…This will be followed by a trip to the Leesburg Moose Lodge for an adult beverage, with a stop on the way back to the Hiker for a large Papa John’s “The Works” pizza… We are having a great time, and the weather is perfect.  Oh, yes, I’d also like to welcome Gay and Joe, our new riders in the GMC. Everyone shift and make room..They are just finishing their first year of full-timing, and I am jealous..Jump in the truck, Gay and Joe..and pardon the sand.…

Don’t think McGyver and I are busy every day…Much of our time is spent relaxing here….

…and for those who wondered…yes, I do have a few new items in my evening wardrobe…socks and fleece jacket…EAT YOUR HEART OUT MAXINE!!

“I wore a thong once.  Actually, I might still be wearing it.  Who knows?”

                 ~Maxine