12/1/09 (Tuesday): Greetings from sunny Florida! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day with Wiley's family. His sister prepared a feast at her lovely home. We enjoyed a beautiful day and some great food. After the year we just went through, I'm so thankful to feel healthy and to be living such an active and healthy life.
I don't think I've given the grand tour of the campground yet. We love it because it has lots of tropical vegetation (including a bunch of gorgeous hibiscus like this one right beside our patio) and it's very close to the beach. There's a lake at the back end of the campground (it's saltwater, so I'm not sure whether "lake" is the right term for it). Wiley fishes there almost every day. There's a giant tarpon in it that teases him--he hasn't been able to catch it yet. Here's a little video of the lake that I took the day my friend Lucie came to visist.


We like to go to nearby Oak Hill to fish and crab from the pier. These white pelicans like to fish there, too. There are a couple of other county parks off U.S. 1 that we visit as well. In fact, we watched the last space shuttle launch from one of them. That was fantastic--the first time I've ever been so close! We could even hear the roar.

We're planning a trip to Michigan for a Christmas visit with my sons and their families. It'll be the first time in a year that I've seen Hudson and Austin--way too long! We're really looking forward to it. We'll be driving up this time, so I'm hoping we'll get decent weather. Wiley, as usual, is hoping for snow!

That's about it for now. As soon as I download the pictures, I'll do a blog about the historic town of New Smyrna Beach and Wiley's family connection with it.