3/18/10 (Friday): I'm back from San Francisco. I enjoyed my visit with my son and his family. We got a lot accomplished. I had forgotten how much stuff it's possible to keep in a house, and how much work there is to maintain one! We got a lot accomplished. But I'm really glad I live in my RV!The flight to San Francisco was noneventful. I enjoyed seeing the snow covered mountains (the Rockies?)It was also interesting to see the salt ponds as we landed in San Francisco.There's lots of work going on to get the house in shape for sale. The gardeners have done a fantastic job!
And the new fence is great.And the wildflowers on the nearby trails are spectacular!We took a break from all the work one morning and had a nice hike on the nearby trail.We also had a really nice dinner at a Japanese steak house. Austin actually likes sushi!

It's a little after-the-fact, but here are a few pictures from my visit with Stian (my young Norwegian cousin). My favorite part of the visit was our kayaking trip on Juniper Springs. There were lots of downed trees, sharp curves, and the current was very swift. This shot was taken after Stian successfully maneuvered around one of these obstacles.This is Stian taking a picture of a turtle and Tone waiting for him.
Tone and Stian posing under a palm tree.
This was the only alligator we saw--about 6 feet long.
I thought Stian looked a lot like my son, Mark. I don't have a picture of Mark at the same age, but check it out. What do you think?
That's it for this time!

3/5/10 (Friday): We had an outstanding time today! The weather was gloriously sunny, although it was a bit cool. The great thing about cool weather in Florida is that it brings the manatees into the warm water of the springs where we can see them. I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so Wiley and Stian went fishing. When I got back, we went to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City.
There were over 200 manatees in the spring today, and lots of fish! The fish were nesting, which is an interesting thing to see. The male fish (mostly tilapia today) digs a shallow depression in the sandy bottom of the spring. He stays on the nest and attracts a female, who lays eggs for the male to fertilize. Then the male stays and guards the eggs, and eventually the young fish, too. In addition to tilapia, we saw alligator gar and snook. No turtles today, though!

On the way home, we went by the Lyonia Preserve in Deltona. This is one of the few remaining scrub ecosystems left in Florida, and it's home to the endangered Florida scrub jay. These feisty birds are quite unique. They are very territorial, but they live in family groups. The young stay behind and help raise the next generation. Today, three of them were waiting in the parking lot for us! They flew right up to the fence beside where we were staying. Wiley didn't feel up to walking, so he sat down on the curb in the parking lot, and one actually flew onto his head! I wish I had seen that! I have some photos, but blogger is taking too long to load them. Maybe in the next blog.

Tomorrow we're picking up Stian's friend in Orlando. We'll probably walk around Lake Eola (if we can find parking), or maybe just take a scenic route back to New Smyrna Beach. Tomorrow we're planning to go kayaking/canoeing on Juniper Springs. We're having a great time!