Orlando, Florida

When we hit the road yesterday morning, Sadie was still wrapped up in a quilt for her morning nap. She may have ridden down the road this way.

There was some time for stitching, and I made some more progress on the Snow Globes block.

These are small blocks, and so two moves of the hoop, and you've stitched the whole thing.

Our first stop was Blue Spring State Park, where we hoped to see some manatees.

This turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the whole trip. It was another three miles down the road to the park entrance where we found cars lined up in both directions and a sign that said the park was temporarily closed due to overcrowding. No doubt, the manatees are there, but we weren't going to be able to see them. Oh well. We'll have more opportunities down the road. It was hard to turn around and drive away knowing how close we were.

We're staying two free nights at Mike's former employer's Orlando parking lot. It turns out to be very nice here with ponds on two sides of us.

We're near the freeway and a train, and so it could be a little quieter. On the other hand, we've stayed at noisier RV parks for a lot more money.

Smitty didn't mind the noise. We got him out for a good walk right away. He seems to be getting more serious about his walks...less worry over woofies, people, and noise, and a lot more confidence while he's out.

There are birds in the ponds...lots of birds. Since I took these pictures, I've had some help from my bird-watching friends to identify them. The ones in the image below are Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Double-breasted Cormorants. Impressive, no?

These are white ibis...they're just outside the RV.

The large ones at the top of the image below are wood storks...thanks to my friend, Gail, for identifying them for me.

Here's another, better shot of them. They are large, like a heron, and exceedingly elegant.

Another Great Egret and a better shot of the cormorants.

And, hey...look what's just across the pond. Makes me want to watch my language, I'll tell you that.

We were treated to the most beautiful sunset yesterday evening.

Day is done.

One of Mike's former co-workers will be meeting up with us this morning. The plant is closed during the week between Christmas and New Year's, but she's kindly agreed to meet us. Mike wants to see what she's working on, and she's going to give us a tour of the plant. We'll need to do some grocery shopping while we're here, and I'm hopeful of finding a quilt shop as well. There's plenty to do before we move on to the Gulf coast tomorrow.