We finished up our month in Southwest Florida and said good-bye to all the traffic and winter residence that showed up right after the first of the year. It's unbelievable the difference between December and January, I mean it goes from relaxed and quiet to get me the hell out of here over night, we managed to touch base with all our friends in the area so now we're heading to Sebring and the center of the state.
There are a lot of RV parks in Sebring and we're staying at Sunny Pines which is right in the middle of town, so far this week we managed to get our H1N1 shots which were free at the mall across the street. We took a bike ride on the tandem around Lake Jackson (12 miles), spotted a Bald Eagle, a couple of Sand Hill Cranes and a lot of nice houses on the lake. For some reason the water is very low this year all the docks are over land and the boats are just sitting on their bottoms.
We made a stop at the city pier, you can see from the picture that the water line is down about 100 feet and the Docks for the apartments is growing grass.
Cathy and I went to the lunch buffet at the Historic Hotel Jacranda in Avon Park which opened sometime in the 30's and was THE place to stay when you came to Florida, the dining room had a piano player that was pretty good and we ended up buying one of his CD's, found out that he stays at the hotel and plays here during the winter season then in the summer in plays at Kevin Costner's restaurant “Jakes” in Deadwood South Dakota.
Friday night we drove up to Lake wales for the Moonlight Concert at the Bok Tower Gardens, the concert is played on the Carillon in the tower. The Carillonneur “William De Turk” played 13 tunes over the course of an hour, this concert is held once a month during the full moon cycle, the pathway from the parking lot to the tower is lite with Tiki touches then you find a comfortable bench sit back and enjoy, the Tiki torches and full moon through trees made it a little spooky. Check the calender and if you're in the area during a full moon give this a try.