A week in Palm City

A Week in Palm City

Tuesday

Rain during the early morning, some heavy. About 6:00 there was lots of thunder. The power to the motorhome went off. The lights in the house were on, so it wasn’t a general power outage. Apparently the GFIS I was plugged in to tripped. I switched the fridge to propane and went back to bed (no CPAP). I assume that the rain cover I made for the connection in the shore cord had leaked. I will have to make a new one.

In the afternoon we drove Sandy’s van and did some shopping. Thursday is Hannah’s birthday (Jean’s granddaughter) and Friday is Anna’s (Jean’s daughter-in-law). But first we went to Walmart and got a new water filter for the motorhome, and a welcome mat to replace the one we left behind at a campground. After lunch and shopping at a big mall, we went across the street to a Barnes and Noble and picked up some more books to read, since we had finished the ones we brought.

Wednesday

A quiet day. Sandy had the day off, and spent most of it buying a car to replace one that had gotten crunched. He dropped us off in a shopping center so Jean could continue looking for birthday presents.

Interesting birds everywhere in Florida, even on cars

 We had lunch at a Greek deli. The sandwiches kept us fed for two days. That evening, we had a delicious (and very thick) soup that Jean had set up in a crock pot to spend the afternoon cooking. Back in the van for the evening, it was quite cool, but the little electric heater got it comfortable quickly.

Thursday

Jean and I walked down to the river and back; sunny and a little warmer. 

The view under the bridge

Then we went to Beal’s for the last of the birthday shopping. Just in time, for today starts the big birthday festival. We took the family to a Mexican restaurant for Hannah’s birthday. She got the full treatment, with singing waiters and a big Mariachi sombrero. As well as the usual birthday dirge, the waiters sang the traditional Mexican birthday song, “Las Mañanitas.” They were probably surprised when some of us sang along.

Friday

Today was the big event of the week. Everybody had the day off, and we went to Lion Country Safari. This is basically a drive-through zoo. It is nice because the animals have a lot of room to roam around. There were several kinds of animals in each area (but not animals that eat each other).

Some of them walk right up to the car.

In addition, there was a large walk-through area with individual animals on display, as well as amusements, restaurants, and gift shops.

It is a large area, and was well attended. One of the attractions was a tower where you could buy romaine lettuce to feed to the giraffes.

Hannah feeding a giraffe

Another attraction was a maze. We didn’t try it, the walk-through area was enough of a maze in itself, with apparently randomly scattered attractions connected by winding sidewalks. A family could easily spend a day there.

Back at the house I took a nap. Then it was off to Bonefish Mac’s for Anna’s birthday dinner. Hannah got her payback by alerting the staff, so Anna got serenaded, and a delicious piece of key lime pie, which we all enjoyed.

That was a bang-up ending to our week in Palm City. Tomorrow we head for the Florida panhandle.