FLORIDA WEEK 4 (PART 2) : BIG CYPRESS NATIONAL PRESERVE

We took a day trip to near by Big Cypress National Preserve. This National Preserve is in my National Park Passport were I got another stamp to add to the collection. While at the welcome center I was talking to a fellow NP stamp collector, and they had to add extra pages to their book. Instead of buying another book to add the stamp page, she went to Kinkos and had them print copies of just the stamp page for the region she needed. This idea I will use too and I need now for the National Capital page. The book only cam with 2 pages, that only 8 stamps. When I went to DC in 2011 we visited 9 sites. Our plan is when he hit DC again, get those 9 stamps and try to hit a couple more. I was looking on YouTube for National Park stamps and found out that there is a place that has all the National Park Stamps for DC in one place. All I have to do is visit the site and then go there to get all the stamps at one time instead of looking for the stamp or waiting in line to use it.  

... Back to Big Cypress National Preserve. We were driving on 41 and I remember what a friend told me to do. She said stop and look off the side of the road. We saw a picnic rest stop on 41 and pulled over and crossed the street. What did we see? Two gators just sitting in the water. Thank you Patti.

As we got further into Big Cypress were we saw more and larger gators along with birds and manatees. That's right, salt water animal in fresh waters. We saw the manatees behind the Welcome Center and I had to ask the park ranger how this could be. She replied that this is the farthest that salt water goes before meeting fresh water. That is why you can see both salt water (manatee) and fresh water (gators) in the same body of water. I tried to get pictures of the manatees, but only can get their snout coming out of the water. The gators is a different story we got a lot gator pictures... too many to post all of them.

We drove and stopped to look at gators and birds. We took a break and had a picnic. We watched each others back for gators to attack us.. luck for us none came. We continued to drive the loop looking for gators and birds. Be advised, that some of the road is unpaved. We have a HHR, and it was good enough for us. The down side by the end of the trip the car was covered in dirt. We thought only old people (no offense) are birds watchers, but somehow our bird picture collection is increasing. I think unconsciously we are become bird watchers, or we are getting older. Everglades National Park is near by and we will be going there in a few days. If you are in the area and have extra time I recommend that you stop by Big Cypress National Preserve and watch the video at Oasis Welcome Center to under stand how big of a roll Big Cypress plays in supporting Everglades National Park and check out the gators.

Eating lunch keeping my eyes open for gators

On our way out of Big Cypress we almost missed it a first, but we stopped and saw the smallest post office in the United State. Check out the hours of operations. Four hours a day, one and half hours on Saturday.

FLORIDA WEEK 4: 23 HOUR DAY & TWINS SPRING TRAINING GAME

We advanced the clocks one hour to conform with daylight savings time. The wife woke up around 7:00 and the sun has not risen yet. I felt I would be in for a long day, but the time went by fast as we went to the Twins vs Pirates spring training game. We arrive at the gate around 11:00 am. We ate our lunch while watching the last 30 minutes of minor league practice. With about 1 1/2 hours before first pitch we then, entered Hammond Stadium to see that the Pirates were holding BP and fielding drills. We had lawn seats, so it was first come, first serve for a good spot. We got down to the wall about middle lawn. We were close to the field and nobody in our viewing area. We laid down and stretched our legs, better than regular seat were we would be confined to our small space. Myself, along with some other fans was calling Andrew McCutchen name to try and get an autograph, but he never came over. 

My first game of the new season and I finally felt peace after a long winter. The smell of fresh cut grass, the sounds of the ball coming off the bat or hitting the glove, a base runner going first to third, the artistic of pitcher and batter playing a game of cat and mouse... who will win?

I usually root for the home team, unless the home team is playing the Indians. However, in this case, I had to root for the visitors. The Twins are without their two super stars who are playing in the World Baseball Classic Joe Mauer (USA) ant Justin Morneau (Canada) while the Pirates had a split squid. I still felt the Bucs had a better chance of winning. Andrew McCuthen had a no doubter two run Home Run in the third over the left field wall. That HR put the Bucs up, but the lead did not last long . In the fifth with one run already in a bases loaded strike out pass ball that scored a runner from third tied the score. In the seventh, with most of the starters out of the game the bench players came in and picked up were the starters left off by scoring three runs and securing the win for the Bucs.  I tried to find ever little detail in the game .... baseball is back. I LOVE THIS GAME!

                                             What a view, walking to the stadium from our car.

Waterfall in front of stadium

Our view of the game from the lawn seat

Pirates BP

Andrew McCutchen pregame workout... 
This is when we call his name for an autograph

Between innings lying down soaking in the sunshine

FLORIDA WEEK 3 (PART 2): SPRING TRAINING TICKETS & FLEA MARKET

9 Mar

First thing in the morning we headed to both the Twins and Red Sox spring training to get our tickets. We left batting .500. We got tickets to the Twins on 10 Mar, but stuck out on Red Sox tickets. For the Twins game we got lawn seat and all tickets for Red Sox was sold out except for standing room only. There is no way the wife would go for that. About a three hour game of standing, she would want to be gone by the 5th inning, so I passed on the tickets. 

We still had the whole day free and we went to the local flea market. I have to say we were disappointed. The site was on a large open lot, but nowhere close to being full or even having a good selection of vendors. We will try another one next week, we are hopping next week is better. We drove around looking for a mall to get our walking and window shop fix for the day. We came back with something for the dollar store.

Today, was not that interesting, but next week we have planes for almost everyday. Some are small activities or appointments while other will be full day long activities. 

FLORIDA WEEK 3: ANOTHER SHORT WEEK 

Another week has come & gone and I'm trying to find out where the time went. I guess the saying, "time flies when your having fun" is true. This week was divided into two parts; one, long drives and two, staying at the RV park. As my mother told me growing up, "don't spend all your money in one place". We try to find free or low cost actives and save our money for the big events. In a few weeks will be one of those events when we are going to head for Everglades park and take a airboat tour ride looking for gators and we will also drive to Key West mile marker 1. Keep your eyes open in the coming weeks (around the first week of April). I wanted to go to a spring training game or practice, but the time just went by so fast. We have decided to go to a Twins game on the 10th and a Red Sox game on the 12th. Now is the hard part in making sure we get tickets. Twins should be easy, but the Red Sox and their Nation followers the game might be sold out like all their homes games the past 10 years or so.

2 Mar

Going through our visitors books and fliers we found a free RV show. The show was at RV Resort in La Bella, FL. We drove out there just to spend the day in the sun, turned out to be overcast and rain. The Resort itself was nice, on four lakes and the bay to open water. We saw some big boats going out and coming in. Each lot is owned and the owners pay a quarterly fee, like a HOA. Each lot has lots of space. They can fit a class A motorcoach, lawn furniture, room for two cars and also has a storage hut on the lot and still have more space. Most on the huts are converted to full bathrooms and kitchens. Good idea to keep your coach tanks clean and heat out of the RV when cooking. We saw lots for sell with waterfront starting at $40K up to $70K. We still have many years left of open road ahead of us, but a home in Florida for $40K is a good deal. When you are not using the lot you can rent it out to passing RV'ers. OK, back to the RV show itself. The show was mostly high end Class A Motorcoach along with bus style RV and the new Class A+. There was new along with used models ranging from $135K to $800K. After a while they all started looking the same, but we love the room a Class A has to offer. For now, we are happy with our 31' Class C we can still get into anywhere we want. However, when we upgrade it will be to a Class A 40'+, then we will be limited to where we go. 

4 Mar

We went to Fisherman's Village a waterfront shopping, dining, resort and marina. Another day in the sun (this time no rain) were we did window shopping and ate seafood basket lunch at Harpoon Harry's. The lunch basket was enough for two people and was served with shrimp, fish, clams, oysters and french fries along with a basket of conch (all sea food was fired). All for around $20. We then visited the Military Heritage & Aviation Museum inside the shopping center (free admission). To top the day off we walked around the marina and sat in a swing chair along the waterfront enjoying the view. 

                                           
                                    Remembered to took picture after most of the food was gone.

5 Mar

Today we had to go to MacDill AFB in Tampa to take care of some legal matters. The drive was three hours one way. The only traffic was when we arrive in Tampa, were there was road work and a five lane highway became only two lanes. We visited this base in the 2011 so we kind of knew where we was going, but as always I used my trusted navigator (my best investment ever) to get us there. While we were on base, we did some shopping. We bought ice cream sandwiches and when we got home the ice cream has melted. After we put them in the freezer, we now have reverse ice cream sandwiches. Ice cream on the outside, chocolate sandwich on the inside. They still taste good.   

8 Mar

Another Friday, another day at the farmers market at the park close to the RV park. We got fresh vegetables; daikon, green onions, tomatoes and mushrooms for under $5.00. First thing I had when I got back to the RV was a turkey sandwich with the fresh tomato slices. After lunch, we were back on the internet planing next week actives and doing research for campgrounds around the Everglades National Park. I also added to my blog the blogs I follow. These blogs are by fellow RV'ers. Some are friends we met on the road. Others I have gotten sightseeing ideas and informational RV tips. Maybe, they will help you too.

RED SOX SPRING TRAINING DAY 3, TWINS SPRING TRAINING DAY 1

FLORIDA WEEK 2 (PART 3): RED SOX SPRING TRAINING DAY 3, 

TWINS SPRING TRAINING DAY 1

RED SOX

Today, the wife came to the ball park with me. The weather was 70 so not too hot for her. As always, I took a B-line to the field were Travis Shaw practices, and today he was there. We arrived around 10:00 am, this way the wife would not get tired and want to leave before the practice was over and unable to try and get autographs. I also did a walk around to see what other prospects were out. I saw three players I was interested in. Two were the same a yesterday, Bryce Brentz, Sean Coyle and the other was Garin Cecchini. After Travis Shaw BP, he headed to another field were he took grounder at third base. Looks like he will play some third on days the starting third baseman has a day off just like last year. His role will look something like Keven Youkilis was, play first and third. After practice was completed, Bryce Brentz headed off the field. He is still on the DL and I assume he is limited to not running. I was able to get him to sign the picture I took of him yesterday. All the other players did sprint drills from the foul line to deep center filed and back. As Travis Shaw was walking off the field, it felt like he walked straight to us. I asked him if he remembers me and he did saying, "you went to Kent". I congratulated him on getting married in the off season and told him that my wife and I will be celebrating our 20th this year. He was impressed. I finally got the chance to let him know in person that he is my favorite player. He replied in saying, "thank you". He also let me take a picture with him and shake his hand as he left. I walked away with a signed Red Sox mini helmet and four 2012 Topps Heritage Minors cards signed. I now have 221 items in my Travis Shaw collection. Next week there is six home games and practice will be closed. However, three are night games, so I will go to one and get the picture with him signed. Or the following week when there is only one day home game. The last field was running long, so we still had time to get the last two prospects I was looking for. Both Coyle and Cecchini was walking off the field at the same time. I went to Cecchini to get an autograph on a MLB baseball and take a picture. While the wife got Coyle to sign the picture I took of him yesterday. All-in-all a good day for autographs, I got eight and all from the systems top prospects. The pitchers left before I could get Matt Barnes. He is the last one I want to get. There are four more that are in MLB camp or WBC. They are not on the 40 man roster, so they should be the first to be sent down when the MLB camp rosters are lowered. I'm looking for Chris Carpenter (another Kent State player), Jackie Bradley Jr; systems number two prospect (I was able to get him to sign a MLB baseball at a AA game in Akron last year), Brandon Jacobs and the system number one prospect Xander Bogaets (playing in the WBC for the Netherlands). I'm not a Red Sox fan, but I do follow baseball and when these players are on the same team as Travis Shaw I see them in the box scores and listen to games over internet radio you pick up on the top players. Besides, I did not want to come to spring training and not know who tomorrow's super stars are and miss the chance to get easy autographs with all the players on one field.

                                                         Travis Shaw before BP

                                           Four Travis Shaw 2012 Topps Heritage Minors cards signed  

                                            Travis Shaw signed Red Sox mini helmet

                                         Another picture with my favorite player

                                                      Garin Cecchini photo

                                             Garin Cecchini signed MLB Baseball

                                                   Sean Coyle signed photo

                                                     Bryce Brentz signed photo

TWINS

I did not know that Twins Spring Training was this close to the Red Sox until I looked at Florida spring training booklet at the State line Welcome Center or I would have done some research on their minor league system too. After we left the Red Sox we ate lunch and on the way back to our RV we stopped by the Twins stadium. I knew there was not going to be any players on the field, but at least I get to walk around and get to see where all the fields are located. The gates to the stadium was open and did not have to pay for a self tour (Red Sox charge $5 a person). We walked around took some pictures and visited the gift shop. The prices are better at the Twins team shop then at the Red Sox team shop. I got a 2013 Twins Spring Training mini bat for $8 and no tax ($20 for Red Sox Spring Training mini bat... did not buy one.. too much). I will have to do some research this weekend on the Twins minor leaguers and go to a few practices next week. They have four road games so there will be no parking fee.