Joe & Norma come to visit

Our good Friends from Pa. came to visit this past week.

After settling in and having lunch, Guy put on his Tour Hat and took them for a ride around the area. An absolute must is a drive by to see the Peacocks! They gather in a local neighborhood and have established residence there. They are pretty to look at, but very noisy and very dirty. They roost on the roofs, in the trees, driveways.....They are not afraid of cars or people and will walk right up to you, if you stand there and let them come close. Next we headed to Cocoa Beach Pier. The beach is beautiful, this is where a lot of the Beach Volleyball games are held and seen on the National Sports channels. Today Joe and Norma declined to play a game, preferring just to lean up against one of the beautiful Palm trees and enjoy the scenery, warm temps and sunny skies.

Cape Canaveral Locks was our next stop where we gathered around to watch the Pelicans and boats go through the locks and were even lucky enough to watch a Manatee play in the water.

Then over to Jetty Park just in time to catch a glimpse of a Cruise Boat heading for a trip to the Bahamas.

Tuesday was a cooler, overcast day, but perfect for a visit to Winter Park.

Winter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, just outside Orlando.

It is approx. 8 square miles and is nestled among the Winter Park chain of lakes, a series of aquifer fed lakes inter-connected by a series of navigable canals.

Lots of brick lined and cobblestone streets, where speciality boutiques line the streets along with restaurants, many of them with outside seating.

We were hungry and decided to eat before we took the boat trip. Pannullo's Italian Restaurant caught our eye, voting to eat inside as the cool breeze would not be comfortable.

We all ordered a slice or two of pizza, not realizing how huge it was, we were trying to save room for ice cream. Everywhere we went, people were telling us to go to Killwin's...

So off we went to find it....and what a wonderful recommendation it was!

As soon as you walked in, you could smell the wonderful chocolate aroma.....homemade fudge, candy and way at the end was the most delicious ice cream ever! I had the vanilla with caramel sauce which was heavenly....

Norma enjoying her special treat!

We had to walk several blocks (which was a good thing after all that food)

to find the Boat Tour.

It was a 50 minute narrated informative ride...we went down various canals and then into open water where we saw magnificient, expensive

homes, each with their own story to be told.

I forget what kind of birds these are in the tree...they have to land there and sit until their wings dry off a bit, they are so water logged.

Going throught the canals was so interesting...

People have "garages" to house their boats....the tour guide said it is a bit of a problem if they want to get out while other boats are in the canal...one boat has to back all the way out if they are not going the same way.

just a few of the grand homes....

Wednesday, we relaxed and then met Jean and Vic, who are also from the same town Joe & Norma live in (Royersford, Pa)

We wanted them to get to know each other, it turned out they both knew many of the same people......

We met at Fishlips so we could watch the Cruise Ships leave, but as it turned out, there were no ships leaving that evening....Oh well, it was still a fun time....

After breakfast on Thursday, Joe and Norma left to continue their vacation on the West Side, travelling over to Clearwater to watch the Phillies Spring Training.

We were so glad to see them and sorry to see them leave.

Your welcome back anytime Folks....