Making Room For Retirement

Year Two of the Snowbird lifestyle has arrived.  

September and early October found us basking in some delightful Ontario weather.  We golfed 17 times, enjoyed the sunshine and visiting family and friends.  But then it turned cold and nasty and it really starting getting us in the mood for heading south.  

October 28th found us on the road.  The day before we loaded up the car.  (No fifth wheel, we bought a home down there last year, remember)  Alf did a fantastic job of stuffing everything in.  (Although a few things got left behind, - inadvertently and some just forgotten and for some things there was just no room)  
 




 The next morning we arose early and left home just after 6 in the morning.   After a quick stop at my son's house in Napannee, we crossed the border.  

No problems crossing - only questions were
how long are we staying ?  
booze? - (we brought a couple of bottles with us)  
fruits or veggies?  no
And we were on our way.  


 
 Hey did you know that New York State now has Text Stops - they put up signs that there is a place up ahead where drivers can pull off and do their texting - great idea.  No text is that important that you should risk your life and the lives of those around them.  







We had three beautiful days of driving - sunny and mild.  Last year when we drove down it was cloudy with some rain.  We had left early to get ahead of Hurricane Sandy.  We fought the wind all the way down.  This year was a piece of cake.

The second day of driving found us on our on of the most scenic parts of the trip.  A little valley road we take to get from I 81 to I 95.   It is designated a historic scenic drive.  It was early morning and we watched the sun come up over the mountains, and then as we descended into the valley the sun went down behind the mountains and then we got to watch the sunrise again as we emerged.





These pics are blurry as I shot them out the side window but they give you just a taste of the beauty of the countryside 


Rolling hills, ponds 


 


beautiful old stone homes 

 Wood fences and long driveways speak of horse farms and money.  













Wednesday morning we arose early and arrived at our Florida home shortly after noon.  

Everything looked fine outside, grass was greener than we had ever seen it, (they had a lot of rain in the last month) and there was gecko poop on the porch - but that is normal.  So we held our breath and opened the door to our home - and voila - everything was just fine, not even an accumulation of dust - no bugs, mice and smells.  Yay!  

This year we are hoping to do a few more updates to our home - we did a lot last year but after awhile we decided to take it easy and enjoy the life.  


The wildlife is still in our backyard - and these little guys came running to great us.  They were happy we were here.  









 These little guys are just too cute! 

And the cactus garden Alf planted last year in our backyard is flourishing.  










So stay tuned for more updates as the year progresses.  It is good to be back and looking forwarding to keeping everyone up to date.  

Have good winter everyone and stay warm!   (I know we will!)