Our Road Trips

Friday, June 12, 2015

6/12/2013

March came in like a lamb...hope that is a good omen. On the 1st, we drove to Cocoa and a festival next to the river. There were several opening acts and then the Doobie Brothers took the stage. More fun to see them on a cruise ship, but they put on a nice show anyway.

Our brother-in-law Larry Fleming also came to town on the 1st for a weeks stay. We had a nice visit but we all miss my sister Peggy a lot. Larry had been to Arizona to see his brothers and escape the Pennsylvania winter...good thing, it was pretty nasty up there in Feb & early March. We went to Kennedy Space Center & took the bus tour...that is a very cool tour, we highly recommend it. But make sure you don't miss the Shuttle display...the presentation is awesome!! Then we drove to Bradenton and a Pittsburgh Pirates Spring Training game. We hadn't been to Bradenton for years, so we really enjoyed the day...Florida is such a pretty place that time of year, everything is in full bloom. On the 8th, we took Larry to the Amtrak station and he took the train to Raleigh, NC to visit his daughter Stephanie & her family. We enjoyed having Larry and are very glad he came.

On the 10th, we had 4 of the couples we went to Alaska with over for a mini-reunion and I BBQ'd some ribs and we had plenty to eat. It was a fun day, catching up and telling stories. It was fun to hear what they had been up to since August, 3 of them had bought new RVs and one a brand new Corvette...nice way to celebrate coming home. They were all here for thew winter, so it was a nice get together. We hope we make that an annual affair. They are all back in NY & Ohio.

Then it was off to the Gator Nationals in Gainesville...been a lot of years since we had done that, so we got a hotel & took in 2 days. Those cars and motorcycles are amazing...the Top Fuel guys shake the ground & you can feel the air move when they go by. Fun stuff.

We finished off the month seeing Classic Albums Live do Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here at Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios...love that evening. It is some of the best Rock & Roll ever written. Then on the 23rd it was Fleetwood Mac at the Amway Center...hadn't seen them live since 1978 at the Citrus Bowl, working first aid with the Orlando Fire Dept...that brought back a lot of memories.

Then it was time to get ready for the month of April...fun times coming up. The month went out like a lamb too, so we had a very nice Spring.

Steve & Barbara Larson

These thing amaze me...300+ mph in 1000'

John Force doing what he does best: working the crowd

What is left of a TF car after flying about 15' in the ait @300 mph.

Jason Line and Greg Anderson's Pro Stocks

An old Don Garlits Swamp Rat machine

Big Daddy himself signing autographs

Classic Albums Live at Hard Rock Live Orlando

Fleetwood Mac at Amway

They still sound good

Stevie Nicks still lookin Good

Jumping around like a 20 y/o

Mick giving it heck

6/12/2015

February is always a fun month in Florida...Azaleas start to bloom, Speed Week starts in Daytona and spreads all over Central Florida, friends are here for the Winter, and a new cruise to go on...what's not to love? We drove to Ocala to see some dirt races, only to find out when we arrived that the races had been cancelled by rain. So we drove back home and back the next night. It is always fun to see the winged sprint cars from all over the US congregate in Florida...they put on a great show. 2 nights later, they had moved to Barberville, so we went and watched them again...fun evening.

Vince Gill came to town too, brought his group to the Plaza Live and we checked that out too. On Feb. 17 we drove back to Miami for a 4 day Blues Cruise on Norwegian Pearl with Joe Bonamassa, Ana Popovic, Robben Ford and others entertaining for 4 days while we cruised the Caribbean. When we got back, we learned Ana was playing in Stuart, so we went home, unloaded the car and drove back to Stuart. Ana & her band did not disappoint, great entertainer, great Blues...fun evening.

We spent the rest of Feb. getting the screening project completed, going for annual check-ups at our Drs., and getting ready for March...lots going on. No rest for the weary :).

Steve & Barbara Larson

Ocala Bubba Racetrack

Vince Gill & his band

Barberville

The winning car

Miss Ana Popovic...one amazing performer

Nothing like a sunset at sea

Joe Bonamassa...opened for BB King when he was 13

Ana & her band

Robben Ford

Wine crawl with Ana...fun time

Making new friends

Joe B on the last night...amazing talent

Our new Swedish Friends

Barbara & Ana Popovic at the Stuart show

Monday, June 8, 2015

6/8/2015

We took a couple of weeks to wind down from our incredible 'December to Remember', just took it easy for a few days....good for the soul. On Jan 9, we drove to Lakeland to see Classic Albums Live do Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, which is one of my favorite albums. I got tickets early enough for this show that we were sitting in the middle of the front row...about 3' from the stage...very cool. We finally got around to buying our new refrigerator for the motor home and Mark came out and helped me get the old one out and the new one in...one less thing. Middle of January means the Tampa RV Super show is in town, so we drove over and met 3 other couples who we went to Alaska with and spent the day looking at new motor homes...fun to look, we are happy with ours. Patty came back from Georgia and we went to Hard Rock Live to see Classic Albums Live do Led Zeppelin's second album...always fun to get the Led out. The next day we drove to Miami for our 4th The Rock Boat cruise. Weather was wonderful and the party fine...The day after we got back, we went to see Leon Russell at Plaza Live...another musical month.

Steve & Barbara Larson