Saturday, February 5, 2011
Cedar Key
We spent 2 nights with Dave and Lorna in Cedar Key at the Faraway Inn. We each had one bedroom kitchenette cottages right near the water, perfect! The weather cleared up on the 2nd day and we rented a golf cart to explore the island. We bought 1/2 a bushel of oysters and some blue crabs for our seafood feast...we invited the owners and some of the other guests to come and join us too....
Monday, January 31, 2011
Our last week here :(
All good things must come to an end.....
We have been here at Lake Rousseau for 9 weeks and it is drawing close to an end. Terry golfed his last round with the guys today and I played my last games of Bingo tonight. The RV is all packed up, our friends from home, Dave and Lorna have arrived in Orlando and we are picking them up in the morning. They will stay in Crystal River for a few nights then we will all go to Cedar Key then up the Florida panhandle towards Panama City.
This past week has been fantastic as always... The weather was superb; we went out geocaching quite a few more times; I drove around the backside of the lake and got within 5 feet of some Sandhill Cranes; checked out the Manatees in Crystal River; Michael participated in a 10 hour long Magic the Gathering tournament.
We also now have a cell phone again while we are down here for the next 4 months...yippee~
We have been here at Lake Rousseau for 9 weeks and it is drawing close to an end. Terry golfed his last round with the guys today and I played my last games of Bingo tonight. The RV is all packed up, our friends from home, Dave and Lorna have arrived in Orlando and we are picking them up in the morning. They will stay in Crystal River for a few nights then we will all go to Cedar Key then up the Florida panhandle towards Panama City.
This past week has been fantastic as always... The weather was superb; we went out geocaching quite a few more times; I drove around the backside of the lake and got within 5 feet of some Sandhill Cranes; checked out the Manatees in Crystal River; Michael participated in a 10 hour long Magic the Gathering tournament.
We also now have a cell phone again while we are down here for the next 4 months...yippee~
Armadillo..we have seen lots of these here!
nice beach near Crystal River
Mikes' Magic card game tournament
Mikes' Magic card game tournament
Sandhill Crane
a flock of White Pelicans
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Manatee Festival - Crystal River
a different type of plant...ready to eat Michael
cajun boiled peanuts
blues band, in the sun, by the water, drinking beer..awe man!
happy Terry!
baking in the heat!
cheesecake on a stick
Manatee boat tour..look closely..you can see them!
on the boat tour
Manatee boat tour
nice place to have a house!
a perfect day!
Mikes type of beer! The root type!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
an exercise in frustration...
Yesterday we decided that we needed to get rid of some of our "stuff"that we have no room for since the Christmas gifts were received. The stuff we wanted to send back home were some old clothes and shoes, some books that we were finished with, some old toys and our Christmas decorations.
I went online to the Fedex website and received a quote for the packages to be sent home and also emailed their customer service to see if my airline discount of 75% off would apply. Yes, I was told that I could get my discount for international shipments! The quote online was $218 and I calculated 75% off would net me approx $60 or so...cheap!
We packaged up 3 boxes and drove 20 minutes to the Fedex (#1) depot in Crystal River. They wouldn't do an international shipment for us but told us of another Fedex office to go to. Fedex # 2 was another 20 minutes away and also couldn't do an international shipment and phoned ahead for us to another Fedex depot that would, 23 miles away.
After another 40 minutes drive, we arrived at Fedex #3 and I asked if I could ship to Canada and also receive my airline discount of 75% off...yes to both..bonus, we are in business!
Terry hauled all 3 boxes into the depot and I was handed 3 waybills by an agent to complete by hand, one for each box. After 30 minutes of DETAILED writing on 3 waybills and 3 detailed customs declaration forms and Terry re-packaging all the boxes we were ready...
The agent came back to the counter and took my airline ID and started the computer work. He then told me that the boxes would be in Terrace in 2 days and the cost for the 1st box of 3 was $66.00.
I asked him if that was the total for all 3 boxes and he said, "NO, just for this box" (he had the smallest box in his hands). I told him that there was NO rush on the boxes since we wouldn't be home for 5 months, the slowest method of shipping was fine. He then told me that I had filled out the WRONG forms, I had filled out "express" forms.
I explained that I was handed the forms by another agent and was never asked what type of service I wanted. He shrugged and said that I would have to fill out "ground" waybills instead. I did see the words "express" when I was painstakingly filling out every box on the waybill, but their name is Fedex, so assumed the "express" was exactly that..Federal EXPRESS. nope.
I asked him what the rate was going to be based on ground service vs. express He then told me $55, again for the 1 small box he had in his hands. The other 2 boxes were 5 times the size of box #1, so a quick calculation told me to run!
I mentioned the online quote I had received and he again shrugged. I thanked him and left, Terry already had the boxes in the trunk.
After we drove away we both laughed, we had used one roll of their packing tape and 2 boxes that they had for sale...we didn't end up paying for them...oh well, we are probably "wanted"now in Brooksville FL.
We spotted a US Post Office so I went in carrying the small box to get a quote. The slowest and cheapest method was going to cost $50 for the one small box. Nope.
We decided that since we were now only 45 minutes away from Tampa that we would continue on to the Tampa airport and see if we could ship back via Air Canada Cargo....I get a nice employee discount on them.
So we drove, around the terminal 3 times looking for a "cargo"sign. Finally I jumped out and asked a porter for directions. He said, "Cargo isn't at the airport, it is at (......blah....blah....blah.....insert wrong directions...blah...blah...blah)", I thought to myself, how stupid of us to assume that cargo would be at the airport!
We followed his directions to the street he told me to go to, and NO CARGO..a.n.y.w.h.e.r.e!
Now we were getting tired and hungry, we had been driving for 3 hours for what was supposed to be a 20 minute job!
We finally found the cargo area with the help of our nuvi and drove around looking for Air Canada Cargo...no luck.
I ran inside some other building to ask directions and ended up in the Customs Border Protection office. I asked where Air Canada Cargo was located and the girl said. "Oh, I used to love AC Cargo...but they moved offices to Orlando 4 years ago"! (Orlando is another 2 hours away in the opposite direction! ) I decided that we would just try to fit all the contents from the boxes BACK into the RV...a drive to Orlando was not in our future!
I chatted for a minute with her and she told me how much she enjoyed AC Cargo when they operated in to Tampa..she then told me to be careful driving back to Crystal River as a tornado was coming..WTF?. Back to the car I went to tell Terry the cargo news....
We turned on the radio and what do we hear, talk of a huge storm and possible tornados! Yikes!! So we turned around for the 2 hour drive back to the RV park, totally exhausted, when we then hit the black wall of rain....it was so dark out at 4 pm it felt like 6 pm...and then the rain started...and then the intense wind..then the lightening...and then the thunder...and more rain, I mean RAIN...the hardest we have ever seen it rain..it was like a car wash....we were still in Tampa and had 110 km's to drive. Traffic was slowed right down and our Kia rental car didn't have the greatest tires so we were worried about the excessive amount of water on the road...and we seemed to hit every major pool on the hwy.
We pulled off to gas up and I ran out to get my camera out of the trunk...I was UNDER the cover of the gas station and still managed to get soaked in the 10 seconds I was outside.
a day to remember!
I went online to the Fedex website and received a quote for the packages to be sent home and also emailed their customer service to see if my airline discount of 75% off would apply. Yes, I was told that I could get my discount for international shipments! The quote online was $218 and I calculated 75% off would net me approx $60 or so...cheap!
We packaged up 3 boxes and drove 20 minutes to the Fedex (#1) depot in Crystal River. They wouldn't do an international shipment for us but told us of another Fedex office to go to. Fedex # 2 was another 20 minutes away and also couldn't do an international shipment and phoned ahead for us to another Fedex depot that would, 23 miles away.
After another 40 minutes drive, we arrived at Fedex #3 and I asked if I could ship to Canada and also receive my airline discount of 75% off...yes to both..bonus, we are in business!
Terry hauled all 3 boxes into the depot and I was handed 3 waybills by an agent to complete by hand, one for each box. After 30 minutes of DETAILED writing on 3 waybills and 3 detailed customs declaration forms and Terry re-packaging all the boxes we were ready...
The agent came back to the counter and took my airline ID and started the computer work. He then told me that the boxes would be in Terrace in 2 days and the cost for the 1st box of 3 was $66.00.
I asked him if that was the total for all 3 boxes and he said, "NO, just for this box" (he had the smallest box in his hands). I told him that there was NO rush on the boxes since we wouldn't be home for 5 months, the slowest method of shipping was fine. He then told me that I had filled out the WRONG forms, I had filled out "express" forms.
I explained that I was handed the forms by another agent and was never asked what type of service I wanted. He shrugged and said that I would have to fill out "ground" waybills instead. I did see the words "express" when I was painstakingly filling out every box on the waybill, but their name is Fedex, so assumed the "express" was exactly that..Federal EXPRESS. nope.
I asked him what the rate was going to be based on ground service vs. express He then told me $55, again for the 1 small box he had in his hands. The other 2 boxes were 5 times the size of box #1, so a quick calculation told me to run!
I mentioned the online quote I had received and he again shrugged. I thanked him and left, Terry already had the boxes in the trunk.
After we drove away we both laughed, we had used one roll of their packing tape and 2 boxes that they had for sale...we didn't end up paying for them...oh well, we are probably "wanted"now in Brooksville FL.
We spotted a US Post Office so I went in carrying the small box to get a quote. The slowest and cheapest method was going to cost $50 for the one small box. Nope.
We decided that since we were now only 45 minutes away from Tampa that we would continue on to the Tampa airport and see if we could ship back via Air Canada Cargo....I get a nice employee discount on them.
So we drove, around the terminal 3 times looking for a "cargo"sign. Finally I jumped out and asked a porter for directions. He said, "Cargo isn't at the airport, it is at (......blah....blah....blah.....insert wrong directions...blah...blah...blah)", I thought to myself, how stupid of us to assume that cargo would be at the airport!
We followed his directions to the street he told me to go to, and NO CARGO..a.n.y.w.h.e.r.e!
Now we were getting tired and hungry, we had been driving for 3 hours for what was supposed to be a 20 minute job!
We finally found the cargo area with the help of our nuvi and drove around looking for Air Canada Cargo...no luck.
I ran inside some other building to ask directions and ended up in the Customs Border Protection office. I asked where Air Canada Cargo was located and the girl said. "Oh, I used to love AC Cargo...but they moved offices to Orlando 4 years ago"! (Orlando is another 2 hours away in the opposite direction! ) I decided that we would just try to fit all the contents from the boxes BACK into the RV...a drive to Orlando was not in our future!
I chatted for a minute with her and she told me how much she enjoyed AC Cargo when they operated in to Tampa..she then told me to be careful driving back to Crystal River as a tornado was coming..WTF?. Back to the car I went to tell Terry the cargo news....
We turned on the radio and what do we hear, talk of a huge storm and possible tornados! Yikes!! So we turned around for the 2 hour drive back to the RV park, totally exhausted, when we then hit the black wall of rain....it was so dark out at 4 pm it felt like 6 pm...and then the rain started...and then the intense wind..then the lightening...and then the thunder...and more rain, I mean RAIN...the hardest we have ever seen it rain..it was like a car wash....we were still in Tampa and had 110 km's to drive. Traffic was slowed right down and our Kia rental car didn't have the greatest tires so we were worried about the excessive amount of water on the road...and we seemed to hit every major pool on the hwy.
We pulled off to gas up and I ran out to get my camera out of the trunk...I was UNDER the cover of the gas station and still managed to get soaked in the 10 seconds I was outside.
a day to remember!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Geocaching
Mrs Akacake finds another geocache in Florida!
What is Geocaching? Geocaching is a sport/hobby/pastime where you find co-ordinates with hidden containers, using a GPS. The hidden containers are hidden by other geocachers and the location of the container is found on the geocaching website, there are over 1 million caches hidden world wide!
You need to get a “handle” or name; sign up on the website; download co-ordinates and enter them into your GPS. Once you have found a hidden container, called a “cache” you sign the logbook then update the geocaching website that you have found the cache. You also have the option of trading small items if you wish but some caches are too small to contain any trade items; they might just have room for the logbook only. Some caches are also virtual caches, you will need to answer a few questions about the location your GPS has led you to.
A few caches might also contain Travel Bugs or Geocoins; these are trackable “hitchhikers” needing other geocachers to move them from cache to cache - the owner of the travel bug or coin can determine the “mission” for the hitchhiker.
a coin that I picked up in BC and dropped off in Florida
a travel bug that I made and am leaving in Florida with a mission to make it back to Terrace.
We are known as team “AKACAKE”, the name originated with a nickname of Cake, and was renamed as a.k.a. cake.
We have found almost 500 caches in the past 6 years, and have hidden 17 caches, we also own 24 trackable travelbugs/geocoins.
When we left on this trip we had found almost 300 caches, our goal on this year-long trip was to get 700 more to have a total of 1000 - not sure if we will make it…it is harder than it seems!
a small geocache (green bison tube) found on a tree
(the numbers and letters from the license plate gave clues to another geocache)
an "earth cache" in Alberta. We had to answer some questions about an oxbow lake nearby.
a trail in Florida with several caches
a cache located on the side of a bluff on Cape Breton Island
another earth cache in PEI, had to answer some questions about erosion in the area
looking back from the cache to the lighthouse in PEI
we took a photo of the geocoin at different locations and uploaded to the website
Caching with TJ; a cache on an island in Powell River, only accessible at low tide
the Myrtle Rocks cache in Powell River, BC
another earth cache in Quebec, this one was in French so a little harder
caching in Florida
"Lestar" with the travel bug, King Neptune. I sent it off in 2008 in Terrace with a mission to go to Hay River, NWT...Les found it in the summer of 2010 when it finally made it!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Tampa RV Supershow
We went to Tampa for 2 nights to check out the RV Supershow. It was HUGE, over 1100 RV's on display you could walk through and 500 suppliers, tons of food and entertainment. It was nice to get out of the RV for a few nights into a hotel, and it sure was nice to see all the nice big, fancy rigs out there..we did lots of daydreaming!
The best feeling we had though was when we arrived "home" back to our old trusty motor home, we know that we have the best one for us!
The best feeling we had though was when we arrived "home" back to our old trusty motor home, we know that we have the best one for us!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
around Citrus County, Florida
We have now been here@ Lake Rousseau for 7 weeks! Loving the daily sunshine and not even minding the cooler weather...we have been out geocaching a bit more now that my old (broken) GPS has been replaced. I am still trying hard to get to 1000 caches before we return home. Terry is working on his bird life listand golf swing and Michael is working on his homeschool and Magic the Gathering cards. Terry Sr left here on Sunday and we just spoke with him, he made it home to Montreal in 2.5 days. We have rented a car for our duration here, 3 more weeks.
Withlacoochee Gulf Preserve
30 ft high observation tower
an ancient "Live Oak" beautiful tree with ferns growing
on the branches and lots of Spanish moss
Breakfast at "Red's".
Unbelievable food, we all loved the biscuits and gravy!
3 generations of Munday boys
Rainbow Springs.
The springs are 70 degrees F all year round and crystal clear emerald colored water.
walkway in Rainbow springs park
huge pinecone!
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