Friends Week

March 02, 2023

Deb Erway, Sheri Haan & Deb Smith came to visit me for a week - Feb 20-28. I have been good friends with Deb Erway for years and am just getting to know the other 2 better.

We spent the first part of the week going to the ocean, hanging by the pool, walking the neighborhood, doing a little shopping, mostly eating in and going to a fun restaurant in Salerno Fl. The second part of the week we headed north to Kissimmee Fl to stay at a Holiday Inn water resort that Deb Erway had a time share at.

On our way to the timeshare, 3 of us took a side trip to Blue Springs State Park. We took a 2-hour boat ride down the St. John’s river which is the only river in Florida that runs north to the ocean. We were hoping to see many manatees, but unfortunately the weather has been warm, and they have mostly moved out towards the ocean. We did see 2 of the adults and while I couldn’t see the babies, one of the 2 had twin caves with them. They are genetically descended from the same prehistoric animal as the elephant. The best part was that the boat ride had so much more to offer than just the manatees. It was a fun and very informative trip where we spotted 20+ kinds of birds. Eagles, osprey, kingfisher, herons, storks and bittens to name a few. My favorite was the tri color heron, but I didn’t get a picture of him. Of course, we also saw multiple alligators. The guide/captain of the boat, Rebecca was knowledgeable about all of them and gave us time to look at everything. It was a great trip.

Then we headed to the timeshare. We went from peaceful and quiet in Hobe Sound to a crazy madhouse of a resort in Kissimmee Fl (near Disney World). There were 5 pool areas, a lazy river, putt putt, pool side entertainment, golf and lots and lots of families. We found a quiet pool, took some beautiful early morning walks, got in a game of putt putt and had a fun last night dinner out. Deb Erway left on a cruise a few days before we were done with the week. We missed her.

It was a great week with friends.

Footprints in the sand. Hobe Sound Florida.

Me, Sheri and Deb E. on Hobe Sound Beach

So, So, So glad to be out of Michigan weather for a week. Deb Smith, Deb Erway and Sheri Haan.

Hobe Sound Beach in the morning.

Bathing beauty - Deb E looks just a bit relaxed.

I was trying to teach them how to photo bomb and they just took the pic of me!

Dinner at The Twisted Tuna in Port Salerno Fl.

Getting ready to try to spot the manatees on our 2 hour cruise at Blue Springs.

Eagle high in the tree.

The whole cruise was this beautiful.

A Limpkin trying to pretend we weren’t there.

Manatee sighting!!!!!

Little Blue Heron in the juvenile state- pure white.

Anhinga - diving bird drying its wings.

Look closely for this bird - American Bitten - it is so good at camouflage that the US military has studied the bird to design their own camouflage uniforms.