Heading South

On our way south, we parked at Grayton Beach State Park (GraytonBeach) and ran into Henrik and Anne, RV friends who we hadn’t seen in a couple of years.  It was so great to see them!  Since we were together, Henrik decided it was time for his and Russ’ golf rematch, and Henrik was determined to win (said he’d been practicing for 2-1/2
years since they’re last match).  Anne played as well while I was her personal cart driver.  The match was close, but Henrik prevailed much to his delight!  (However that still puts him one win behind Russ…tee hee)  That night they insisted on treating us to dinner at P.F. Chang’s (www.pfchangs.com), but we think it was because Henrik wanted to brag on his win. He made a point of showing our server his winning score card!  LOL  The meal and the company were wonderful as always.

We decided to stay a couple more days at Grayton Beach since the weather was nice and ice was readily available for the cooler.  Unfortunately the water was a little too chilly to get into, but Russ and I did at least take a short walk on the beach.  It may only be the Gulf and not the ocean, but I still love the water.  Now it was time to head for Orlando.

Thanksgiving was spent with our friends in Ocala who had invited us to join them.  They had spent the previous month in the Keys, and their neighbor said there was no way she was allowing them to come home after a month away to cook a big dinner even though we had offered to help.  She said we were all going to her house for the
   big day as she was already planning to cook a big dinner and had other company coming. There were to be no ifs, ands, or buts about it…the matter was settled.  We were all coming to her place for Thanksgiving and were not to bring a thing!  There were about a dozen of us at Paula and Jim’s, and “the
   boys” had their own table.  Dinner was at 1pm, and plans were made to head down to The Villages around 5pm to watch that night’s band at the outdoor gazebo, Rocky and the Rollers (http://rockyandtherollers.com/) playing hits from the 50s and 60s.  The audience really gets into it, dancing, clapping, and singing
along (our turkey day hosts are seated on the right in the picture above left).  Thanks so much to Paula and Jim for including us and making the holiday special.  And thanks to Beth and Dick for being such great hosts and friends who really know how to make folks feel at home.