Family - Liz (Daughter), Nick(Hubby) and Marty (Grandson) left for home Friday morning. Text message today indicated they are about 2 hours from Hershey today. Hershey (Chocolate Factory Exhibit) is a regular fun stop for them on the way home.
Aunt Cathy sent weather report from home - she can't see across the road in Ottawa, ON.
Here it is overcast due to a little high fog. It will be in the mid-70's this morning. Mid-80's by afternoon. May be isolated thunderstorms somewhere at some time?
We headed for Mt. Dora about 10 a.m.to do the Arts and Crafts show. Good crowd as always.
We made a stop at "In A Nutshell Miniatures and More". This is a delightful little store and a regular visit for us. We check to see if they have any Boyds Bear Resins (Bearstones) that we may be interested in adding to our collection (Over 200 and counting).
We added 2 first editions to our collection.
Trisha Tartberry...L'il Entrepreneur and
Little Spooners.
Little Spooners is the first of the Norman Rockwell Bearstone Series depicting famous Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers. This one is based on the April 14 - 1926 Issue. Included is a resin mini-framed magazine cover. Neat!
We also purchased some Tupelo Honey from the Sweet Oasis Apiary booth. We have purchased their honey previously (once at each of their other locations) at the Farmer's Markets at:
- Lake County Fairgrounds (Eustis)
- Renniger's Twin Markets (Mt. Dora)
- Mt. Dora Village Market.
Needless to say we like Tupelo honey. Note: See the blog for Sun - 12 Jan/14 for details on Tupelo Honey.
There are a lot of great restaurants in Mt. Dora; however, today they will all be really crowded. Our decision was to go somewhere else. We returned to the RV and picked up a pair of folding chairs. Our destination today would be to go to SkyDive DeLand.
We enjoyed Skydive Arizona in Eloy, AZ in the past. We would take our chairs and a cooler with water and soft drinks and sit and watch the skydivers for a few hours This would be our first experience in Florida.
First on the menu (literally) was the menu (grin). The Perfect Spot in the restaurant's name refers to the "Spot" that the skydivers try to land in to end their jump.
We were lucky to get a seat at the window. We could easily watch the skydivers as we ate.
Charlotte ordered an oriental chicken wrap and I ordered the Philly Cheesesteak. Both were quite good and the price was reasonable. The service was fast and friendly. Fast service is a requirement as almost everyone in the restaurant wanted to eat quickly and get back to skydiving.
The place was packed. It was quite loud with several languages being heard in the many animated conversations. Their gear insignia indicated that there were groups from Russia, Germany and Japan (or China or Korea, etc.). The flags hanging from the ceiling represented many of the nations from where the skydivers originate.
The colour of their gear is equally as colourful and diverse as the flags. It ran the range from plain black or grey to wild fluorescent combinations. The wild combos were easier to spot first in the sky.
Many Skydivers had video or still cameras of all types and sizes attached to their helmets. They can control these using "Blow Switches" - you guessed it - they blow in a mouthpiece attachment and it starts/stops the camera/video. There are also similar switches that operate by biting.
Others Skydivers had "Bird-Man" suits. (Don't worry! They use a regular chute after a proper period of time for the final landing).
Skydive DeLand is the training capital of the Skydiving World. Every day they fly back to back flights, weather permitting. Teams come from around the world, Military from all over the globe, and Sport Skydivers from many nations come here to train and fun jump. This is the Eastern USA's counterpart to Skydive Arizona.
A variety of planes were flying continuously today. The smaller hold 16 Skydivers while the large hold 22 or 23 skydivers. Sometimes several arrive on the "Perfect Spot" within a minute. The average time in the air is around 4 minutes. Jumpers pay for the height they jump from. ( 5,000 Feet = $17.00 / 13,500 Feet = $23.00).
We saw a wide variety of skills on landing. Some glided in smoothly in an easy arc while a few dropped suddenly almost straight down at high speed then leveled out virtually at the last moment. There are also a variety of facilities at the park including a "gear" shop, inside and outside packing hangers, classrooms (safety is of prime importance) and team rooms.
We sat at a table with several other folks from Ontario. "Wearing of the Green" was everywhere, after all, this was a (belated) St. Patrick's Day Dance. Our "Sunday Night Park Trivia" partner wore his best hat - complete with pigtails - Neat!
A number of folks from this group would be getting up early (about 5 a.m.) to be ready for the group bus trip to Key West. They will be gone for a few days. I am sure they will have a great time - we hope they will be there for the daily (nightly) "Sunset Celebration" on the pier. Everyone is there - vendors (food and art), street performers and even psychics. It should not be missed.
We also met other wonderful Ontario folks who are new to RVing (Class "A" Motorhome). Reminds us of when we started out. They will soon learn that RVers are so willing to help. (Don't the "Girls" look great!).
The band played a little bit of everything once they got past the required "Irish" songs. They even modified a few songs to fit the occasion. (e.g. Lady in
Another Text Message while we were on the dance floor. They guys had arrived home. Mom said: "Text back - that now I (Mom) can breathe!". Done!
This was a busy day - I think we may sleep in tomorrow!
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