4/23/2018 10/24/2017 thru 4/22/2018
I haven't posted very much recently because we have been busy. Silence can be a good thing too.
When we got back from our trip to New Hampshire in late October, we spent the next month celebrating our Granddaughter turning 18 (wow, where did that time go?) and taking advise from 2 different people that I seek out a different doctor to address issues with getting dizzy, shortness of breath at altitude and other maladies I had attributed to getting old. So I sought out a Cardiologist that had been recommended. They ran lots of tests, adjusted some medication, took me off other medication and put me on new meds, put me on a diet and sent me out into the world to see if his experiment was working. The next time I saw him in January, after going through Thanksgiving & Christmas, I had lost 12# and my blood pressure was where it needed to be and no dizzy spells whatsoever...amazing!!! My Nephew had talked me into a Fit-bit and I was keeping track of the steps I was doing each day too. As of today, I have lost 34#, walked halfway to Atlanta and I have made a HUGE change in my health. We also had to deal with the loss of power for 5 days following a brush with Hurricane Irma.
The rest of 2017 was pretty quiet except for a few concerts, our niece & her family here for Thanksgiving and getting ready for the 2018 season. We really enjoyed Ken & Stephanie & their 4 boys here for 3 short days. The boys are in constant motion when not sleeping. Fun times. We also attended 3 UCF games to complete their football season at 12-0 and earn a trip to the Peach Bowl, which they won too. The University of Central Florida is only about 10 miles from our house and watching their undefeated season was a lot of fun...they had lost every game just 2 years prior, so they had made a HUGE change too. Their head coach then left for his Alma mater Nebraska...13-0 will usually lead to good things. UCF hired a new guy who promises good results, we shall see.
January brought more doctor visits, ticket purchases, lunch dates with friends and a weekend trip to see friends in Tampa who were going on a cruise we had not booked. We went back to Tampa when the cruise came back and spent another 36 hours with the friends...great seeing everyone, especially our friends from Finland. We also hosted another get together with the friends from up north wintering in Florida that we went to Alaska with...always good to see them. Then it was another couple of concerts, getting our car worked on and washing our solar panels...necessary maintenance. I also did a bunch of maintenance to our 2004 truck...necessary stuff!!
Feb was more of the same, fixing the Spa, watching rocket launches, more lunch dates, concerts, a photo op at a wetland park 5 miles down the street at sunrise, a blues fest in Clearwater & a drive to Miami for our 4th Blues Cruise with Joe Bonamassa. It was a pretty easy month, but we stayed busy.
March started out with the last of the Blues Cruise and a stop at a couple of State Parks on our way home from Miami. We stopped for lunch in Stuart which broke the drive up. Then 4 concerts in 8 days kept us hopping...Blackberry Smoke here in Orlando, which included 2 couples staying over night, Ana Popovic in Melbourne, Marshall Tucker, The Outlaws, Charlie Daniels & Travis Tritt in St Augustine, and some Led Zeppelin by Classic Albums Live at Universal Studios Orlando...busy, busy. Then the next day, we hooked up the motor home and drove to O'Leno State Park about 20 miles NW of Gainesville for a couple weeks. We spent a lot of time visiting state parks in that area and spent 2 days at the Gator Nationals just north of Gainesville watching NHRA drag racing. Watching a car go from zero to 325 mph in 1000' in under 4 secs is something you have to see to believe. We were close enough to be able to drive back to the camper each night. It was a fun couple of days. We also visited 19 State Parks and have visited all 38 of the State Parks in the Northeast Region of Florida and that pushes our total to 106 of the 151 Florida State Parks, roughly 2/3 of them. It has been an amazing journey!! O'Leno SP is on the Santa Fe River. Inside the park, the river has rapids, so there is a steady current, which is pretty rare in Florida's many rivers, as most are very flat. About 3/4 of a mile from the rapids, the river disappears. 3 miles away, in another State Park, aptly called River Rise SP, the Santa Fe reappears in one of the most beautiful places we have seen in a while. It then flows to the Suwannee River about 18 miles away. It is amazingly beautiful and unique! Visiting our State Parks has been so interesting, informative & certainly fun. On the way home, we detoured to Tampa and spent a night at Hillsborough River State Park and spent the night rocking to a band called Dirty Soul Revival at Skippers with about 16 of our friends there, including one of the guitar players in the band...fun night. Then it was home, the 4th of a 6 concert series at Dr Phillips PAC and then the 2nd of a 4 week seminar at the courthouse where our daughter Lisa has spent the last 31 years as a Judicial Assistant. The seminar was called 'Inside the Courts' and was an interesting look at the Judicial system of the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, which encompasses Orange & Osceola Counties (Orlando & Kissimmee)...67 judges & associated bailiffs, prosecutors, admin, assistants that work very hard to make sure our residents & visitors get the justice they deserve. Orange County & especially Osceola County have been the epicenter of the migration of all the Puerto Rico residents who were displaced by the devastation to their island by Hurricane Irma.
The last night was a 2 hour Q & A with 5 judges, including the judge Lisa works with every day and the Chief Judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit Courts. It was very interesting!! We are glad we went.
April has brought a lot of excitement. We have seen The Outlaws, a 4 day Blues Fest in St Petersburg, finished the Inside the Courts Seminar series, seen The Eagles, Jimmy Buffet & Bon Jovi, celebrated my birthday, our 49th anniversary, had my brother come visit, gone to a Celebration of Life for a friend's son who died at 27 y/o and tonight attend the 5th of 6 concerts at Dr Phillips PAC. On Saturday, we are going to the beach for 2 weeks and will go to 2 concerts while we are away. When we get back, it is prepare for the High School Graduation of our youngest grandchild, Kaylee. Boy that makes me feel old just typing that. But family & friends will be here and it will be a big time. We are going to stay home this summer. We have been in 48 of the US States plus DC (we missed Hawaii & Nebraska) 7 Canadian Provinces, Yukon Territory, Mexico, Belize, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Cozumel & on 6 cruise ships in the last 5 years...we have driven the motor home while towing our car almost 49,000 miles and our little car now has 218,000 miles on it, not counting the tow miles...break time. We will be on the road again in September...lots coming up.
Steve & Barb Larson
