Wishing you Peace, Joy and Happiness this Holiday season
Merry Christmas 2023
Category: Celebration
June – At Home and another Road Trip
We started the month of June at home. The above image was taken one afternoon just before one of the frequent thunderstorms.
June 1 marked the beginning of my summer water aerobics classes at a pool near our house. It was nice getting into the routine of working out in the pool with friends. At home, the birds and other critters in our yard kept us entertained.
Father’s Day and Birthday Road Trip
Our recent trip to Florida started on Father’s Day weekend. We stayed off the Interstates and headed south on back roads of Georgia and Florida. On our way south we stopped in Folkston, Georgia to visit the Okefenokee National Wildlife before continuing to Florida the next day. The Swamp Island Drive and walk on the Chessar Island Boardwalk were a great way to start our trip.
A Week in Lake Buena Vista, Florida
The next day we drove on back roads to our destination in Lake Buena vista near Orlando and Disney World. The weather was typical June Florida weather – pleasant mornings, hot the rest of the day, and daily thunderstorms. Our condo with a screened in porch was a fun place to relax and do nothing. There were several pools and restaurants to enjoy at the resort. Most days we stayed around the resort and the farthest we drove was about 16 miles to one of our destinations.
I celebrated my birthday a few days early with lunch at the Sanaa restaurant at Kadani Village at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. The restaurant serves delicious food and overlooks a savanna with giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeest, East African Crowned Crane and other animals.
Our original plan for the week was to hang out at the resort, go out to eat a few times, and enjoy the pools. We’ve been to Disney World many times over the years but had never been to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. On the spur of the moment we decided to spend a day there.
The first thing we saw when we walked through the gates was the Tree of Life which features carvings of more than 300 animals.
We wandered around the park and went on two trails to view some of the animals. Gorillas, a Komodo Dragon, colorful birds, tigers (we saw them sleeping but I couldn’t get a picture), hippos, and water buffalo were a few of the animals we saw.
There wasn’t enough time to see everything but it was a fun day.
A Night on the St. John’s River
On our way home we spent a night next the the St. John’s River in Palatka. We enjoyed a great seafood lunch beside the river, walked along the river walk in front of our hotel, and I woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the river before we started north to our home in Georgia.
On our way home we stopped in Darien for some fresh Georgia seafood at Mud Cat Charlie’s at Two Way Fish camp on the Altamaha River.
Books
I loved “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingslayer. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a page turner that takes place in Appalachia in southwest Virginia. I also read two more of the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny.
Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share and What’s Been on your calendar?
May Road Trips and Other Adventures
This May our wandering took us to the countryside in Georgia, to a baseball game, on a road trip to Virginia, and around our own neighborhood.
Georgia road trip
Our first trip was to the Georgia countryside. On the way to our destination we discovered a new to us barbeque restaurant in Portal where we tried their pulled pork and fantastic spare ribs. We enjoyed our time in the country where the wildflowers were blooming and the trees were showing off their new green leaves. We fed carrots to my brothers donkeys, walked in the woods, and had a fun visit with our 12 year old granddaughter.
Celebrating Henry’s birthday at a Savannah Bananas game
The Savannah Bananas sell out every home game so when I had an opportunity to buy two tickets for a game on Henry’s birthday I jumped at the chance.
We saw the team owner Jesse Cole outside the stadium so of course we stopped to meet him. Henry shook his hand, he posed for a photo with us, and wished Henry a happy birthday. The Bananas play a different kind of baseball called Banana Ball. It has different rules than regular baseball and the night is filled with entertainment during and between the innings. We were laughing and entertained the entire night.
Around my Neighborhood
Flowers were blooming all around our neighborhood and in our own backyard. The header image is one of the gorgeous white blooms I captured one morning as I walked by the giant Magnolia tree in a neighbor’s yard.
In our backyard the Painted Buntings fed at my bird feeder almost every day. The resident lizard likes to hang out on the railing on our back deck.
Road Trip to Virginia
We traveled to Virginia to visit our daughter’s family for Memorial Day weekend. We spent the first night in a motel and had a nice visit with my cousin and his wife when we met them for lunch at a Cracker Barrel by the interstate before continuing on to our daughter’s house.
Being with our daughter and her family was the highlight of the trip. The weather was overcast, chilly and sometimes raining but we didn’t let the weather spoil our visit.
It was wonderful to see our Grandson who just finished his first year of college and our Granddaughter who just finished her junior year of high school. My daughter and I enjoyed a trip to the local farmer’s market where I picked up a frozen smoked trout to bring home and she brought home some beautiful fresh produce. Later that day we drove into the mountains, had lunch in the small town of Floyd, and took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Chateau Morrisette Winery.
Books
Our Book Club book for May was “The Measure” by Nikki Erlich. It was a very interesting and thought provoking story.
I also enjoyed reading “No Plan B”, the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child and “Still Life” by Louise Penney.
Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share
Wandering Dawgs – Celebrating Ten years of Blogging
Today is the 10th anniversary of my first post on this Wandering Dawgs blog. I started the blog as a way to document our 4 month RV journey from Georgia to Alaska and back. In the beginning, the only people who read my posts were friends and family.
My second post wasn’t until May 17, 2013 when I posted First Day on the Road to Alaska. It was the first of many posts from our Alaska adventure.
I was surprised when bloggers who were total strangers started reading, liking, and commenting on my posts. Most of them were fellow RV’ers who shared their RV adventures, tips, and favorite places to camp. Some of them became blogging friends.
After we returned home from Alaska I continued blogging. At first I focused just on our RV travels. Eventually I branched out to other topics, participated in many photo challenges, posted about home in Coastal Georgia, my garden, and random other things. I continued to get more followers and I made blogging friends from all over the world. These days, I enjoy participating in the Lens-Artists photo challenges as a way to improve my photography skills and meet even more interesting bloggers.
I am grateful for everyone who visits this blog, for everyone who takes the time to like and to comment on posts. I am grateful for this wonderful blogging community and for my many “blogging friends”.
The gallery below highlights some of the most popular posts through the years.
There have been times when I can’t think of anything to post and I consider ending the blog. And then other times I realize how much I enjoy sharing my thoughts and photos with all of you and how much I appreciate all of you. I’ve just renewed Wandering Dawgs for another year!
Merry Christmas 2022
Wishing you peace, joy and happiness this holiday season!
Wandering Dawgs 