florida pics

From Grandpa

This is to Austin, Amaya, Ethan, Jake, & Ryan.

Grandma and Grandpa are now in florida, the weather is hot (90's) but no rain.  I just wanted to send a few pics so you can see what we are seeing.

A  geco, and a butterfly

We're Here!

Well, we finally made it to Estero Island!  After 3 days of rain, wind, thunder & lightning our last day was very sunny and it reached the 90's.  We stopped at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa.  I had some luck and after 2 hours I was only down by $12.00.  It is very modern with a lot of music memorabilia.  Jim liked looking at all the guitars.

This is the first time we have stayed at the Mariners Boathouse.  The interior is somewhat like a cabin on a ship with a galley kitchen & built-in bunk beds for kids.  We have taken our first walk on the beach and checked out the changes.  A lot more grass has grown along the inner walk way.  I saw my first glimpse of a dolphin when we drove over one of the bridges.  We went grocery shopping all ready so we are all stocked up for the week.  This condo offers free WiFi so I can keep you informed.  Now it is time for fun in the sun!

Bonnie

Day 4

Hi Amaya & Jake,

The picture that you sent is that what you are wearing for Halloween? 

Here are two pictures that we took at a Rest Area in Alabama.  We thought the ship was pretty cool.  This ship sent astronauts to the moon.

Grandpa & Grandma

3rd Day

Hi All,

This was absolutely the worst traveling day.  We started out at 8 am to check out Perdido Key beach. We no sooner started walking the beach when the sky turned gray & black.  We hurried back to the car but it started to rain before we got there.  It ruined my hairdo!  It never stopped raining until 2:30 in the afternoon.  On interstate 10 just before Tallahassee and for the next 70 miles it was torrential.  We were going 35 mph with our hazard lights on.  Finally, we turned into a rest area for a while until it let up.  When we got back on the road it started all over again.  We didn't see sunshine until we were heading south. 

We are spending the night in Crystal River, FL.  Tomorrow we are going to check out the casino in Tampa on our way to Estero Island.  We are hoping the rain will stay north or us.  We have had quite enough!

Will keep you posted,

Bonnie

More GH weather shots.

 

This is a picture of the South Pier, where you can't even see the catwalk.....I have never seen the waves this big!!

This is the South pier, obviously the water is going right over it and the actual pier is covered in water.

Florida Day 2

Hi again,

We were watching the weather station while we were having breakfast and we saw that there were 21 tornadoes in KY,IN,IL,TN &NC.  I guess we were very lucky not to have been in one!  They even mentioned Muskegon, MI and showed a picture of Lake Michigan while the reporter said there will be very high winds today and that the beach is closed to the public.

Scott, maybe you should check our house today after work and thanks for closing the garage door.  We unplugged the electronics just in case we did have a bad storm.

Yes, Lesley I will use the blog when we start taking pictures!

Have to getting going, bye.

Bonnie

This is what the weather looks like in Grand Haven!

-Lesley

Florida

Hi everyone,

We started out for Florida today, Tues the 26th.  Jim decided to take 131 instead of 31.  We took state roads thru northern Indiana and it's a good thing.  Northwest Indiana got hit pretty hard weather-wise.  We were listening to the local stations and heard that Semi's were being blown off the expressway and there was a tornado warning.  It rained all the way from Indiana to Bowling Green, KY.  A few times so hard we couldn't see two feet in front of the van.  This is not my type of traveling!  Tomorrow should be better.

Wednesday we will be staying in Pensacola Fl to check out the area for possible future trips.

Until next time,

Bonnie

Late Entry Pics!!

Sept 16 & 17 Cody & returning

Thursday morning Kim went fishing and caught a 14" cutthroat trout.  That was pretty much the highlight of the day.  The rest of us enjoyed the view & our rooms until after lunch.  We all went into Cody for a afternoon of sight seeing.  It was a mixed review.  We stopped at Buffalo Bill's Historic Dam.  That was interesting but the wind nearly drove us off the walk way.  Wendy took a movie of our clothes & hair blowing all over the place.  Jim & I took the in town trolley tour which we enjoyed, while Kim & Wendy did some shopping.  We all took a nature walk because we wanted to wait until 6 PM for this fantastic shoot out in front of the historic Irma Hotel.  That was a big disappointment and it cost Kim his evening fishing.  We got back about 7:30 PM and had dinner of which Kim's fish was a part of.  It was very tasty.

Friday we leisurely got ourselves packed & ready to head back to Michigan.  I guess I was left out of the loop as to what time we were planning on leaving so I was late getting ready.  I hate that!  We drove from 9:30 AM until 8:00 PM and we crossed a time zone so we lost an hour.  Needless to say it was a very long day!  We are spending the night in Valentine, NB.

So far, though, the trip has been very enjoyable.  The temp reached in the 80's by the afternoon almost every day and we have had very little rain.  We have seen an assortment of wildlife up close & personal and some breathtaking scenery.  We will be spending one or two more nights on the road depending on how far we get each day and who wins the battle of when we should stop for the night.

Sept 15 Leaving Yellowstone

We woke up to another gorgeous day!  We did some laundry first thing in the morning then we headed out of the park.  The first thing we came upon was a young black bear.  Of course we had to take a picture. I'll try to send it but we don't have a very good connection.  We were traveling in a different part of the park and the terrain was very different.  There was a vast valley called Hayden Valley but we re-named it Valley of the Buffalos.  There must have been a thousand of them on both sides of the road.  To the right of us was a rocky hillside and to the left was this big valley with Yellowstone River running through it.  Just while we were passing through a small herd decided to cross the road from the hillside to the river.  Traffic was stopped both ways to let them pass.  We got some pictures of that, too.  We came across a lot of rivers & lakes and just before we left the park we went over a steep pass.  Just 2 days ago the pass was closed because it snowed and the road was very slippery.  But today it was sunny and in the 60's.

We are now in a little town called Wapiti  22 miles west of Cody, Wyoming.  This time Kim is seventh heaven.  We each have our own rustic log cabin bungalo over looking mountains & the Shoshone River.  Kim can go fishing right out our back door.  He already purchased his fishing license.  The place has been newly remodeled and the owners have stocked it with everything you would need.  They live right next door and are very nice.  Kim and Mark talked fishing & hunting.  We are here for two days but wish it was longer because of the great view.

Sept 14 geyser day

Another beautiful day weather wise.  Our goal for today was to see Old Faithful.  We had been disappointed because we hadn't seen any elk, but today changed all that!  The first thing we saw was a small herd down in a valley near a stream.  There was one big buck and several cows.  We took a few pictures but we were quite a ways away.  But on the way back we saw a lot of them at a much closer distance.  In fact Kim got a really good picture up close of a BIG buck.  We were all happy campers.

Now, back to the geysers.  Where Old Faithful is located it's a small village with a lodge, inn & stores.  The Old Faithful Inn is spectacular.  Huge with lots of wood an ambience.  If we had the money that's where I would like to stay.  Very expensive!  We saw 3 geysers erupt.  Our impatience men waited 45 minutes each time to see Old Faithful & the River Geyser to erupt.  We saw the Grand from a distance.  We took a three mile hike around the park to see all of the pools, ponds & geysers.  It was fairly flat so I had no problem.  We all were impressed & enjoyed the day.

On our return we had to stop a couple of times because huge buffalo we in the road way walking right down the middle and crossing along the side of the road.

I hope you all are reading these entries and enjoying them because it is really a chore for me to write them.  This really isn't my bag!

until next time.