January 1st - 14th - Bee's RV Resort, Clermont, Florida

 Bee's RV Resort, Clermont, Florida  (free!! with our membership to CRA)

Bee's has been here for quite some time.  When you pull in and are directed to the right of the office, you find yourself in the "seasonal" area with an occasional spot thrown in for the "transients" like us.  We were directed to the left, the newer asphalt road that looks like it was added recently.  There were only about 25 spots here on each side of the road, and you could tell that this is where the longer RV's were directed or the people who were only staying a couple of days or a week.  We had an older RV on one side of us that housed a single, older gentlemen who we hardly ever saw.  On the other side was an RV similar in size to ours but we think it was just being stored because we never saw anyone.  But across the street was John and his wife Carol who had been parked next to us on the outer banks of North Carolina!!!

This is a view of the "seasonals" home sites.

That's a view of the office, the shuffleboard courts and the pool (inside the fence).

We are located down the road from that semi.  Aren't the flowers beautiful?

This is the restaurant that the locals and snowbirds flock to.  As  you can see it's called the Honey Pot.  They serve Chicken dinners on Tuesday, Pot Roast on Thursday, and Fish on Friday.

This is the pot roast.  I wish I could say it tasted as good as it looks, but I can't.  Way too salty for us and peas were mushy.  Cinnamon apples were good.

While there we met some people who belong to the group RVillage as we do.  It is similar to Facebook and was created for people who RV.  When you arrive at a park, you update your location; that's how you become acquainted.  I've been updating our location each time we move, but this is the first time anyone has contacted us to get together.  The first couple, Lee and Donna, came over one night to chat.  We went to visit the second couple, Donna and David, because their occupation intrigued us: they make silicone babies to sell!!  I took some pictures of the babies and their work set up.  They have a converted Prevost bus and pull a trailer that holds their working materials and car.  They live in Boone, NC.

Donna and Lee were from Ohio and headed to Alaska this year.

Donna and David and one of their babies.

A crib full!!  They are not cheap, either.

On the 9th of January, my "little" younger brother Dave and his very good friend Resa came over to celebrate my birthday.  We had a celebration Margarita at our house, yakked and yakked, went to dinner at the Olive Garden (their treat - how sweet), yakked some more, came back home and had bundt cake and coffee.  It was so, so nice to visit.  Too many miles and years in between.

Dave found a little RV ornament!  This will be our Christmas decoration - yup, one Christmas decoration!

Even with Dave's very long arms, we couldn't seem to take a very good "selfie."

We visited a very good friend from the past - Toni.  She has recently moved from Arizona to Florida to be with her mom and stepdad.  Her daughter, Tracie, is also living with her.  Again, we had such a great time with them.  It's almost like we just saw each other a week ago!!  Toni is a master "cooker"; her son gave her "restaurant" (her home) the nickname "Wilted Basil Inn" because Toni has managed to kill three basil plants.  She might kill the plants, but believe me, that woman can cook!!

Of course we had some wine to go with!

Chicken Marsala with fettuccine, asparagus and spinach/strawberry salad.

One day at the CG Bruce and I took the nature path walk at Bee's.  No alligators but we did see some birds.

Bob and Carol were planning to meet us at a place they knew about called "The Barn."  Unfortunately, Carol took ill just as they were leaving, and since we had already started out in the car to meet them, we decided to continue on the journey, stay, have lunch and look around.  Carol and Bob like it for the antiques that are there; I just enjoyed looking (and taking pictures of) all the cute things that they had for sale.  

The Back Porch

I had French Onion soup, potato salad, a toasted ham/cheese wrap, and chocolate dessert.

Bruce had Potato soup, potato salad, BBQ and Coconut layer cake.

And here are some pictures of all the pretty things ....

I never did find out what this flower was.

Can you see all the fairies inside the round globe?  This was so fanciful.

This was the Zen garden.

Western "stuff"

Welcome to Paradise Where It's Always Happy Hour - Love it!!

I did want to buy a palm tree but Bruce said no.

Another pretty flower.

Goes with our Gecko's in New Mexico.

They still had their Christmas stuff up.  In fact, most of it was 50% off - was tempted several times on some small things, but contained myself.

I think I know some little girls who would have like these.

Of course we stopped and bought some fresh fruit.  Yummy!!

This little critter was inside the store -- in an aquarium!

One of our drives took us through The Villages, an upscale central Florida retirement community.  We were going to stop but we went right through it and couldn't find all the stores and stuff that people talk about.

Another drive took us to Tarpon Springs.  We didn't see anything exciting to stop and see so these pictures are as we drove through town.

We have not been too impressed with places that we have driven to or seen while here at Bee's.  Don't know if it's because it's in the middle of the state, or because the weather has not been the sunniest or because it's not the beach .... but we're a little disappointed.  We can't even find interesting things to see while we take our little jaunts in the car.  And there is too much traffic and too many people.

We did not have cable television here nor could we pick up any television stations with our antennae.  Dave was kind enough to let us borrow all of his Harry Potter DVD's so we entertained ourselves every evening with a new video. We actually found them quite good.  JK Rowlings' imagination is something else!!  


One day while here we did get to indulge in an ice cream sundae thanks to the association at Bee's.  Three scoops of ice cream, choice of syrup, whipped cream and nuts -- for one dollar!!!


And one night we stopped in to listen to the Bee's Jammers.  Here is a poster that highlights some of the talent there.  

And some videos.