January 6th, We finally left for Florida, first stop Clinton, Tennessee. We are so lucky that the weather is good. We had dinner at a place called Golden Girls and the ‘girls’ were there, 2 old southern ladies. Food was home cooked and good. We plan an getting an early start tomorrow because we have at least a 10 hour drive. We rented a Mazda RX7, not a bad car.
January 8th, We are in Leesburg, Florida, staying here for a couple nights. The Hotel is really nice and we got a upgrade to a suite which makes it a lot more comfortable. We stopped here to check out some property, but at first glance driving the area was very depressing. Although we don’t care much for Florida it is nice and warm here - today it is going to be 78 degrees.
January 9th, We spend the day looking at some Florida properties and actually found a few we really liked. One was in the Villages, the city is nothing but retirement communities. If you are a golfer, I would say this is the place for you, the properties ranged from $90,000 to $450,000+. Very nice concept. But after driving around the area which we both find very depressing decided this is not the place for us to spend the winters on a permanent basis. Today we stopped for lunch at the Latin Café and had a excellent Cuban Sandwich. Tomorrow we are driving to Deerfield Beach, Florida for a 3 night stay.
January 10th, We arrived here in Deerfield Beach. It is sunny and beautiful but getting quite warm. We are here until Friday morning when we finally get on board the Pacific Princess. We didn’t do much today except go to a Brand Mart store, quite amazing store for any kind of electronic you might need. Good thing we are going on the cruise. (Bill couldn’t fit the 90 inch TV in his suitcase.)
January 11th, Today we drove back to Jupiter, FL to go to the Burt Reynolds Museum.
We got to peek inside but it was actually closed for a filming until Saturday. The items inside appeared interesting and well displayed. The outside of the old bank building was really shabby. Burt Reynolds lived here in nearby Rivera Beach where his father was a Sheriff. We ended up driving around the area, driving Route A1A down the coast to Fort Lauderdale. Many very beautiful properties on the ocean. Might consider living here for the winter, but we could not afford these. Below Betty checks out the ocean at Deerfield Beach. As you can see it was cloudy which we welcomed, and the temperature was a nice 78 degrees.
January 12, Today is laundry day and repacking our luggage. Last night in Florida before boarding the ship. Betty has everything washed and ironed before we board. One amazing woman! Today we spent some time in Boca Raton, here it doesn’t appear there isn’t anything wrong with the economy here. Lots of money here, lots of Roll Royce's, Bentley’s and Lamborghinis. Boca Raton Mall was crowded with people. We ate at Brewzzi’s, a very nice hard to find micro brewery and restaurant.
January 13, (Friday the 13th) We are checking out of our hotel and heading to National Car rental to drop off our rental and then to the port to board our home for the next 107 days. It has seemed lake a long journey.
