Our Retirement Celebration

Our kids planned this big retirement celebration party and over a hundred people showed up.  It was a day we will remember forever.

 

 It was less than a week after our last day of work and we drove up to Flagler Beach in our motorhome and parked right on the ocean. A long time high school friend of mine had contacted me awhile back and told me he was going to be in Florida with his brand new 5th Wheel camper, so we coordinated our trip to meet him there and talk about old times.  The stories that we shared can't be repeated here.

 

The weather turned bad for one day, but we had several beautiful sunrises and the view was outstanding.  This was a 3 day, 2 night trip and a great way to celebrate our retirement on the beach. Debbie's Aunt from Pennsylvania was visiting and she really enjoyed the RV lifestyle.

We had planned several trips in advance of our retirement and we were on the go pretty much through the month of April and May, I'll see if I can recap all the places:

Okeechobee KOA - Good Sams Spring Rally

Last Fall we joined a local RV club (Jupiter Lighthouse SAMS) and attended the Florida Good Sams Spring Rally.  There were more than 300 RV's in attendance and our good friends Pat & JoAnn joined us in their new travel trailer to see what the Good Sams Club had to offer.  Jupiter Lighthouse SAMS members were assigned adjoining lots and we held Happy Hour every evening under the big tree between our campers.  There were lots of ceremonies and entertainment at the big convention hall and we spent our leisure time visiting with everyone, enjoying the beautiful Spring weather, not a cloud in the sky and temperatures were mild.

 

John Pennecamp State Park - Key Largo, Florida Keys

Several of our RV club members go down to Key Largo every year, and one of our members couldn't make it, so we decided to fill their spot for a week in the Florida Keys.  What a great place to be in May when it's not so hot, to enjoy the island lifestyle.  Our friends Norm & Diane came down to stay with us for a few days and we explored up and down the Overseas Highway, stopping at every seafood shack and restaurant along the way.  We went snorkling and swimming at Bahia Honda State Park and played in the beautiful waters of the Florida Keys.

 

After they left, our Son and Daughter-in-law towed the boat down on the trailer and stayed with us the rest of the week.  On the first night, our good friend Tom had fished a tournament and caught a big bull dolphin that day and invited us to join him at a local restaurant that cooks your catch.  It was prepared Key Largo style with key lime flavored sauce that was to die for.  We took advantage of the opportunity of having our boat docked at the campground marina and did Dinner By Boat at a local seafood restaurant, and of course, we all had some kind of seafood dish that was delicious.

One of the days, we planned a snorkeling trip out to the reef on the edge of the Gulf Stream in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef underwater State Park.  The weather was perfect, without a cloud in the sky and the ocean was smooth.  Our first stop was at the famous underwater statue Christ of the Abyss (click the link). There are buoys all around the reef to tie up to so you don't have to drop an anchor and damage the coral.  Scott and Halle were first in the water and swam all around the statue and the beautiful coral reef and tropical fish.  From there we went South to Molasses Reef Light and took a peek in the water, but the sea was a little rougher there so we headed back in to the North end of Islamorada to have lunch at the world famous Tiki Bar and Post Card Inn, formally know as Holiday Isle.  Fish sandwiches and Rum Runners were in order before heading out to the sandbar along Whale Harbor Channel for a swim.  We made the round trip back from the ocean side through the Snake Creek Channel into Florida Bay and back North up the Intra Coastal Waterway to Key Largo and passed through Adams Cut back to John Pennekamp Marina.  We ended the day with a beautiful sunset while dining at Pierre's Marker 88 restaurant at the South end of Islamorada.

Hutchinson Island - Jensen Beach, FL

Holiday Out / Venture III

We are blessed with so many friends who share their little piece of paradise with us and again this year, Craig invited us to occupy his RV lot at Holiday Out on Hutchinson Island at Jensen Beach, FL. We were there last year and enjoyed hanging out at the beach with our friends Norm and Diane.  This year we stayed for a week and really relaxed for the first few days, but then I took advantage of my new found free time as a retiree and decided to do some much needed maintenance on the motorhome in preparation for the BIG TRIP starting on the 1st of July (more about that in the next blog).  

We took a short trip up the beach to Fort Pierce for lunch with one of Debbie's co-workers who retired just before her, and once again, it was a Tiki Bar perched right at the City Marina, my kinda place.  I walked the docks and admired all the trawlers and sportfishermans before we left and reminisced of our past boat ownership before we took to land yachting.  While we were in the area, I wanted to see the Navy Seal Museum, but Debbie had to stay in the car with Chewy, they wouldn't let a 12 pound Wookie inside.

We finally returned home with no more trips planned and now the preparations begin for our BIG TRIP across America.

 

    

Here's an update about another short trip I forgot about after we returned from Jensen Beach.  As we do every year for Memorial Day Weekend, we drove over to Lake Placid, FL (Sebring Area) to attend their annual BBQ feast to visit with the usual cohorts that show up at this event.  Again, the stories of past Lake Placid BBQ's is not fit for publishing here.  There's always the traditional gathering in front of the TV to watch the Indianapolis 500 race and closing out the evening with NASCAR's Coca Cola 600.  There's always an argument that breaks out about which kind of auto racing is best, but no matter what they all say about me, I'm an IndyCar fanatic through and through.  NASCAR is for red necks....oops, I mean country folk.