Blythewood, SC

Today, Saturday, April 30th we left Solana Lake and began our trek north to Maine. We left at 7:20 this morning and got a good start on the road.
95's traffic was quite heavy, but smooth sailing....
A little after noon, we pulled off at a little town in South Carolina called Ridgeland. KFC was calling our name! As we were sitting there having our lunch, another couple came in and sat next to us...soon we were all chit-chatting and discovered what a small world we live in!

This couple are friends with Bud and Kathy, whom we have been renting our unit from for the past couple of years...in fact, they have stayed in our unit before....he's a golfing partner of Bud's.....after more conversation took place, we found out they live in Burlington Vermont and know the Howrigan's from Fairfield....Our Grandaughter married one of the Howrigan's they know!!! Again....what a small world we live in... When we got to Blythewood, SC, we met up with our SoPo friends who are also travelling home from a Florida vacation.
We all went out to dinner together to a Country Kitchen restaurant the Hotel recommended and all had the worst meal we've had in a long....time...
After dinner, we made the mistake of opening the back door of our Van and out fell bags, containers and quilting batting....
Time to call it quits for today..
We'll all enjoy an adult beverage and hopefully get a good nights sleep so we can continue on our way home to Maine.

Last Day At Solana

Friday was our last day at Solana....

It was such a disappointing one when we heard that the Shuttle was scrubbed until at least next Monday.

We packed and unpacked the Van, trying to get it all to fit in and brought the last load of "stuff" over to the garage we are renting in E Building.

My last chore was to clean out the refigerator and so we invited a few friends over to help us. We had scallops, a few french fries, rolls, Chinese Egg Rolls and a Hamburg casserole of some sort....

Thankfully Brigette came to the rescue with a delicious cheesecake which rounded out the crazy menu.

Bud and Kathy dropped by to wish us a safe trip home....

Bar Hopping

This afternoon we went down to the Port with our Canadian Friends

for Happy Hour at a couple of the local favorite places.

On our way over to Milligan's, we spotted this huge $$$$ yacht and immediately thought of Andrew...
Is this one of the yachts you work on Andrew?
Pretty impressive , heh???

It was so hot, but a beautiful warm breeze here on the waterfront...

Carolyn & Brian

Jackie & Rob

Carnival Sensation in the background....

Disney Dream passes by...

Next bar....

remember Lily Tomlin in her rocking chair??

nice purse Guy.....

a little dance to a Jimmy Buffet tune before we headed home...

Dinner at Joe & Pat's

Tonight Joe & Pat invited us over to a Farewell Dinner at their place.

Pat is laid up up a bad knee, so Joe did most of the preparation....It was delicious! We sat out on their deck to enjoy a cocktail before dinner and got caught up on all the news....
Even though Pat was somewhat incapacitated, she managed to fix a great Rice Pudding for dessert.
It tasted just like I remember how my Mom used to fix it....I haven't had that for years....
It was a nice evening and as we headed back to our Condo, we realized how lucky we have been to have made such wonderful friends here at Solana Lake. We hope we will be back in the Fall.

We are eating our way through the week....

Jim & Pat at the Cove Marketplace
Wednesday we drove down to Old Melbourne to Meg O'Malley's for lunch, then did a little shopping....
Later that evening I came down with a 24 hour flu (which lasted for 4 days....)...While I spend the next couple of days in bed, Pat cooked, cleaned up and did the entertaining! We were all going to go out on the Blue Dolphin River Tour on Thursday, but they had to go by themselves.

they saw dolphins and manatees....

Friday we went down to FishLips for Happy Hour and enjoyed

watching the ships leave Port, sitting in the warm sunshine

Jim & Pat remembering the Winter they just survived!

Saturday morning they packed their Van, heading over to their Timeshare in Kissimmee for another week in the sun.

We have been dogsitting for our nextdoor neighbor's minature poodle, Phoebe...she's been a good little puppy and quite attached to Guy....

We have enjoyed watching her, but it has reminded us why we don't want to own a dog of our own....

Monday, we went over to Discovery Cove for dinner with Terry and Carol Lehman.

This restaurant is famous for it's Escargot.....

but Guy thinks he's still wins the prize!

It was a fun evening getting together, we have all been so busy for the past couple of weeks, we haven't hung out together...

They will be heading back to Illinois on Saturday and we will be going in the opposite direction to Maine..

Tuesday, we met Joyce & Jerry Betz (from Pt. Orlange) and Bonnie & Max Brown from SoPo at Dixie Crossroads to say our good-byes for the season.

Visitors from Maine

Sunday afternoon Jim & Pat Thomson (our Maine friends) came for a visit. After dinner we all went down to the Hot Tub for a relaxing soak and then off to bed we went....Monday morning, Guy and Jim took a walk over to Jetty Park and observed a couple of Coast Guard boats which caught their eye.....

They spotted this Palm Tree which they had to take a picture of to show me that it looked like a bunch of "s's" ...thanks guys, now I never want to walk past that tree again!

Stopped over to Cove Marketplace where Jim bought Pat a sun hat..

Tuesday morning we went over to the Coast Guard Exchange so the guys could check it out....we then drove over to Kelly Park to see if we could get on the tour boat ride through the locks, but it was too full, so we made reservations for tomorrow and then headed down to Cocoa Beach to have lunch at Coconuts on the Beach...

That place is always a zoo, and true to form, today was no exception.

We had a cold beer and some of their famous Coconut Shrimp.

like 2 little kids, had to stop and check out this bike!

Tuesday is Guy's night at the Elks (note the dish towel casually slung over his shoulder)....so after Pat and I swam in the pool and relaxed a bit, we drove down to partake of their Pot Roast Dinner (like we really needed to eat, after the lunch we had just devoured)....We came home about 7:30, leaving Guy in the dishpan doing his chores there for the last time this season. Good job Guy....

and Walter and all the other volunteers....

Freedom of the Seas Tour

Sunday, we took a tour of the Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas.

Local Cruise agents setup regular tours of the ships that enter the Port.

We were lucky enough to be invited on one. It was a fun time.
We toured the Presidental and Royal Suites. They cost up to $41,000./week..yes that's right...$41,000. per week! and house up to 14 people. They are luxurious to say the least with a hot tub on the balcony, large TV's and swanky accomodations.

Just like walking down a street with vendors on both sides....

Ice Skating Rink where shows are also put on.....

Joan, Carol and myself (Guy took the picture) where we just finished 2 glasses of wine and a 4 course luncheon....

One of our neighbors is a Greeter on the ship.....