All good things must come to an end

What a wonderful time we had in Florida.  Terri is the sweetest hostess and also a great tour guide. We enjoyed every moment, but it was time to go home.

We had a very early morning, and had to be at the airport at 5am. We hugged Terri good bye (See you later...) and headed in to the airport. We were thankful for no long lines through TSA either coming or going, but I did get tagged in Lakeland and had to be patted down. They decided I was safe and sent me on my way.  :)

Taking off with the sun rising!

Look at this gorgeous sight!

As we got closer to home, more clouds showed up. Bob and I were admiring them and remarked on how beautiful they were from above.  Michigan has so much cloud cover throughout the winter, and from below the clouds look so gray. This was a reminder to us, that the sun is always shining above those clouds and that we don't see the whole picture but God does!

Here we're getting close to landing.  Michigan had a big storm while we were gone, but it had melted. However, you can see the ice on the ponds below.

When we landed in Grand Rapids, it was 31 degrees! We weren't in Florida anymore...

It was good to be home after such a lovely time away. Thanks Terri!

Blogging friends are the best!

Wednesday was a day I was really looking forward to. Terri had set up a lunch date with several mutual blog friends. We had a 2 hour drive to get to the Cracker Barrel in Ocala where we were meeting. Terri took the back roads instead of the highway which was nice because we avoided crazy traffic, but it also gave us a chance to see the real Florida.  I was surprised by all the cows we saw. When I think of Florida, I think of oceans and beaches, but Florida is one of the top producers of beef. I grew up on a farm, and always appreciate seeing cows and farms!

Here's a few photos from our drive.

I was once again in awe of the beauty of the Live Oak trees.

We ran into a little construction and laughed because these barrels all say Bob's barricades.  My Bob said he got no money for the use of his name.

When we got close to Ocala, we started seeing horse farms.

Ocala is horse country and these places were beautiful!

Here's our happy group! We've all been mutual friends on blogger for some time and we're so thankful to Terri for setting this up.  Bob and I greatly appreciated Terri making the 2 hour drive with us.

From left to right:
Bob and I,
Terri from Your Friend from Florida
Barbara and husband Gary from Journal Memories and in the back - 
Pamela and husband John from Closed Doors, Open Windows

We had a such a nice time talking in person. I've met several blog friends in person and always find that they are exactly as I know them from their blogs, and these friends were no exception.  The husbands laughed at Gary's talk of the men being "blog fodder". We missed Linda of Just Linda, who lives in Ocala but was unable to come this time. It was a delightful afternoon and soon time to begin the drive home.

Pamela brought a gift for us that she ordered from her son Benton who is a talented woodworker.  It's something I'll display with pride and good memories!

It's this Easter display of the tomb with the cross behind it. On the bottom, the stone is in it's place and on the top photo, I've shown how it will look at Easter when the stone is rolled away.  Thank you Pamela - this is a treasure.

We got back to Terri's and had pizza for supper.  I told her I needed a photo of this spot where we shared such lovely meals and times together.

I have to share this photo of one of Terri's cats.  This is Casper. She also has Vinnie, who wasn't hanging around for a photo op.  We enjoyed them and Bob tried unsuccessfully to get them to sit with him!

We had to get to bed on time this night, because we were heading home the next morning and had to be up early to get to the airport. It had been another wonderful day!

Museum, Gardens and an Air Boat Ride

On Tuesday morning, we were scheduled to go on an air boat ride at 9:30.  However, we woke up to temps in the low 40's and a cold wind!  We bundled up (Terri loaned me a sweatshirt to wear as I wasn't prepared for that cold in Florida!) and were ready to tough it out, but the air boat people called just as we were ready to go and asked if we could reschedule for 3:30 in the hopes of it being a little warmer. That sounded like a great plan to us.

We headed into Lakeland to see some things that had been closed the day before. We started at the Museum of Art, where Terri worked for many years. I was excited to see it in person as I remembered Terri's posts about it through the years.

There was a special exhibit happening with items from Florence Italy.  The guard explained to us what went into this display, with people coming over from Italy, just to make sure everything was set up and lit correctly.

An old suit of armor, velvet fabric from the 1500's, incredible paintings and on the bottom right are pieces of a Prince's carriage doors from the 1700's.

Art from an African exhibit, with incredible weaving.

There was even art from Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso.  There was so much more and we greatly enjoyed this stop.

Next, we went back to Hollis Gardens. They were closed the day before, but on this day we were able to wander around these beautiful grounds.

Bob and I at a grotto at the gardens.

After a nice lunch, it was time to head out to the air boat.  We went to Lake Kissimmee, which is the 3rd largest lake in Florida.

We got on the air boat and headed out onto the lake.  We were excited to see the wildlife in the area.

Here's the first thing we saw.  A cow in the lake!  We saw a lot of them on the shore and quite a few more in the lake.

We saw several types of deer.

And we saw several bald eagles - so majestic!

There were lots of alligators!  We were hoping to see at least one, but because it was so cold out, they were out sunning themselves and we were able to see many of them.

There were so many varieties of birds. It was awe inspiring to see birds of many types and sizes, flying out in front of us as we went around the lake.

Here's our airboat.  Bob and I were in the front, Terri and her neighbor Susan who came with us were behind us, and a man and his grandson were in the back.  If you ever get the chance to do this, we highly recommend it.  It was a great reminder of God's intricate design in creation; all these different types of wildlife living in this ecosystem.  

We had supper at an Asian restaurant that Terri recommended, and it was delicious. This beautiful sunset at Terri's place was a lovely end to a very enjoyable day.