Our Road Trips

5/29/16 5/16-29/16

We spent May 15th & 16 doing not much of anything and then packing up and heading home. We both love going, but getting home has special meaning too, sleeping in our bed, and enjoying a little more space. Wed morning was a final trip to the foot doctor who released me from coming back. So, the fun I had with my toes, which began on Super Bowl Sunday 102 days before, on a cruise ship, is finally over. Then we had a great lunch outside on the St John's River with a friend from High School & his wife who moved to Deland from Alaska, after 40 years there, a couple of years ago. We spent the next 2 days with Dr appointments and getting ready for the next week.

On Saturday, Barb's two sisters and their husbands flew in for a week of helping our grandson celebrate his accomplishment of graduating from Hagerty High School in Oviedo. Doesn't seem possible Mr Tyler is that old, but time marches on. Congrats to Tyler. On Sunday nearly 40 people showed up for a party at our daughter's home for Tyler. It was a nice day, and getting caught up with some friends & relatives who we haven't seen in a long time, was the business of the day. There was a big corn-hole tournament and everyone had a great time. Thank you for everyone who attended, I am quite sure Tyler appreciated it. Then on Monday morning, we got up early and made our way to the nearby University of Central Florida for the commencement ceremony at the UCF Arena, which is less that 2 miles from the High School campus. With 514 people in the class, there was a pretty good crowd there to help their student graduate. After the ceremony, we all went back to Lisa & Dan's for lunch and more visiting. Barb's niece had a new boyfriend with her that wanted to see our place, so I gave them a tour. Then, they all left for the evening, so we came home to rest up.

The next morning, we all met at Kennedy Space Center for a guided tour and a walk through some of the exhibits. I love that place, some of the coolest toys on earth are there and being close to them is a lot of fun. The way the Shuttle Atlantis is displayed is just plain the coolest and the introduction is amazing. If you get to Central Florida, do not miss it. After the Visitor's Center closed, we made our way to Port Canaveral for an outdoor dinner as the sun set, very cool spot. After dinner, we all went our separate ways for the evening. The next day, Barb went car shopping with Tyler & Lisa, wow, that didn't take long :). He has is eye on a car and he wanted his mom & Grandma along...no decisions yet. I piddled around home trying to get everything ready for our departure June 1.

The next 2 days was spending a day at Jetty Park at the beach and dinner again at Port Canaveral after a scrubbed launch of a hoped for rocket launch from Canaveral. Friday saw another Dr appointment, picking up some new glasses, getting the car ready to go and meeting the gang for pizza before an Arena Football game in Orlando, something the 4 from MN had never done. It was a so-so game that Orlando lost by 3 points after a total of 115 points had been scored. But it was a fun night for the adults as Mark joined us too. I got interviewed during the 3rd quarter and ended up winning a bottle of liquor for answering a trivia question from 2007. There were probably a handful of people in the building that could of answered it, as the guy in question only played one full year and it wasn't even in this building where he played. After the game, we all said our good-byes and went our separate ways. The MN. group was going home the next morning. It was fun having them visit.

Yesterday, I got our car looked at one more time, so we should be ready to go. Then we drove to Tampa for a concert with Joe Walsh & Bad Company, both bands from the 70's. We had great seats and it was a good, fun concert...lots of old favorites. Joe Walsh was a huge influence on the Eagles and since the death of Glenn Frey, there likely will not be too many tours, So it was fun to hear a lot of Eagles songs. Bad Company played a 14 song set list that included a lot of their hits too. We drove home after the show and got some sleep. Today & tomorrow will be planned lazy days. Tuesday will be final packing and we will be off for our summer road trip...166 days planned.

So, stay tuned, there is a lot coming up.

Steve & Barb Larson