It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Florida!

December 24, 2020 - January 1, 2021

We arrived at Lake Louisa State Park on Christmas Eve, having made our reservations over a year ago.  Our intent was to be in a campground located close to Disney World and have the family join us for a Disney Christmas.  Well, COVID changed the family from being able to join us (NO ONE is interested in flying at this time!!) and spending time in Disney World.  Regardless, we had a wonderful Christmas in the camper at this beautiful park!  Disney may have been canceled, but the Zoom went on!  We still exchanged gifts.  Brandon and Anne even managed to have some celebratory adult beverage delivered to our campsite in spite of possible campground violations!  Speaking of celebratory adult beverages, if you haven’t tried Pecan flavored whiskey in eggnog, you owe yourself a treat!   Don’t forget the dash of nutmeg!  Venems and Cranes sent us a package filled with homemade gifts from the grandkids and sweet photos of our grandchildren!  Maggie took a picture of our newest family member filling the Christmas stocking I made for her!  Norah certainly is the best gift of all!  During our Christmas Zoom, we played family-friendly games and enjoyed each other’s company virtually.  Our traditional dinner of lefse and meatballs also had to find a slight adjustment.  There is absolutely no lefse to be found in Florida. You should see the expressions of the people when you inquire about lefse!   We ended up making do with some Swedish Meatballs and Noodles for our Christmas dinner.  It wasn’t quite the same, but it was still delicious and actually seemed fitting for 2020.  What else has been the same about 2020?  We want to thank each of you for the Christmas cards you sent!  It may have been a very different Christmas, but it was certainly one filled with much love and joy!

 

I spent a couple of hours each evening of Advent sewing a paper piecing of the Nativity.  It was my first effort at this style of quilting and it was such a delight to end the day reflecting on the nativity scene as I completed a section of the project.  Well, Christmas Day marked the final bit of the wall hanging.  It was kind of the same feeling as finishing a good book.  Fulfilling to see how it turns out, yet missing it when it is done.  Guess I need to find a new project to begin!

We managed to hike most of the trails in the park, averaging five miles over four hikes.  So many different environments!  The park contains 11 distinct natural communities, including: sandhills, scrub, upland mixed forest, swamp, marsh, wet flatwoods, hydric hammock, blackwater stream and old citrus grove.  I was a little nervous for Frankie regarding alligators in a couple of the environments, but it turned out that the largest threat to Frankie was the sand burrs in the drier environmental area! 

Our campsite was a lovely place to hang out!  A pair of cardinals were regular visitors to our feeder.  The female was convinced her reflection in the window was competition that she was determined to fend off!  Enjoying outdoor dining in December was a new thing for me to wrap my head around!  It wasn't really much of a challenge to deal with!  Campfires were a relaxing evening activity, including one with a Swedish log.  If you have a chainsaw and access to dead trees, they seem easy enough to make – or as in our case, you can also purchase them.  It's about the easiest campfire you will ever have!

We did spend some time planning and cleaning.  It was time to start booking reservations for the next busy season of camping!  Apparently, camping has become very popular during COVID as everyone is trying to avoid public areas and still be able to have a get-away.  Reservations were a little tricky and we found you really need to be looking way down the road to get into the campgrounds you want.  Also, I know it’s not quite spring yet, but it does feel like it and after having lived in our camper for over nine months now as some of the areas need a little reorganizing.  

 

I’m not sure when we will be back to the Orlando area again, but we certainly left plenty of the area to explore once COVID is behind us!

Up Next:  Moore Haven, FL and Stuart, FL