Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  Just checking in.  We're fine.  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish everyone a very happy New Year!  David & Donna 

Merry Christmas!

Ft Wilderness, WDW December 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We're fine going into the last week before Christmas.  Only news of note is my smartphone finally died.  It'd lasted 4 years and 3 months - a record for me.  If our MiFi hotspot makes it to April, it'll be 7 years for it.

As you can see by photos (me practicing with the new phone camera), the water tower is finished.  (OK, the Ft Wilderness pic is from our December

Middle Lake/Beach Mouse boardwalk, Gulf State Park, AL

2011 stay at Walt Disney World.  It's taken with a Nikon D70.)  We're having great weather now, though the weekend is considered a "washout weekend" by the local meteorologists.

Anyway, that gets you up to date.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Eagle Cabin area, Gulf State Park, AL

Lake Shelby/Eagle Cabins, Gulf State Park, AL

Mid-Month Update

We're more-or less back into the swing of things.  Folks-on-Spokes, Gulf Shores are back riding their Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday riding schedule.  The Friday lunches out with what use to be the old Hitchhiker group continue.  We've ordered a lot of stuff online once we got here, and we seem to be visiting the Post Office a lot to pick up the packages.  We've tended to go out for lunch more often than usual for our first two weeks here, but that'll probably slow down.  We've managed to get the trailer washed and hand waxed since we've been here.  We're walking when it's not raining.  So normal stuff.

Couldn't resist the cartoon to stay in the Christmas spirit.  Rest of the pictures are from around the state park.  They're painting the water tower and the curtain is used to protect them in bad weather or high winds.  I think the curtain came off yesterday.  Only the very top needs painting now.  the last two are just from our walks to give you  an idea of how things look.

Along the trail between Middle and Little Lakes

We're told that the two eagle nests apparently have eggs.  I'll get out later with the zoom camera and try to get a picture of the nests (or borrow one of the park's photos).  I think that's pretty much it for us.

We're fine.  (I know - it's a boring update!)  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David

Canal between Middle and Shelby Lakes

At Gulf Shores State Park

We had another uneventful trip down Sunday to Gulf Shores, AL for our winter stay.  It's nice to have a couple of trips now with nothing out of the ordinary occurring!  State Park not all that crowded this time of year.  Our typical site was "booked" when we called in November of last year, so we're in a site in the Live Oak Circle which is a much better site for us.  As you can guess, the "booked" site is empty.  It's not that great of a site, and we usually get it since it's not that nice of a site & available.  Tire pressures on the truck are holding, too.

We arrived on a warm day.  It's since cooled off some, but still nice weather.  As I write this, Donna's out on a bike ride with the Folk-on-Spokes, Gulf Shores group.  They're out going for ice cream.  I skipped today's ride since I've already have eaten out three times this week and plan to do so, again, tomorrow.  I guess I could have gone with them and not eat ice cream, but that wouldn't happen!

We took a Wednesday trip over to Ft Walton Beach, FL for me to present IDs and be finger printed for a background check for the NPS.  When the NPS gives you the key to a visitor center and asks you to run a cash register & run their equipment, you have to go through a background check.  Donna and I have had these background checks before.  (BTW, these are the background checks that OPM leaked to - supposedly - China a few years ago.)    However, this is the first time the gov't has directed me to a facility (actually, I chose from a list) that did this.  We had a great ride over to Ft Walton Beach and back plus a great meal at the Waterfront Crab Shack.  We'll have to go back and get my ID card (probably a CAC card) when it's ready.  We'll probably stop at the Waterfront Crab Shack, too!  If you're ever in Ft Walton Beach, you should stop at the Waterfront Crab Shack, too.

Well, I'm gonna wrap this up for this week.  It's good to be back at the state park.  We plan to leave March 1st and head to Florida for a couple of weeks.  Thanks for dropping by and checking up on us.  Until next week, David