Traveling the American Road

One of the draws of Lakeland, FL that attracts nature lovers, is Lake Morton.

It is said the swans that swim there are direct descendants of the swans donated to the park by Queen Elizabeth in 1957.

I couldn’t wait to get to Lake Morton and see if the swans really were mute, or if it was just a local legend. I knew what swans sounded like, because I lived next to a lake that had been inhabited by swans. They were loud and obnoxious. They were also very territorial. You always knew when they were nesting, because they would chase you down if you got too near the lake. I wondered if the same was true with Lake Morton. I wondered which were the mute swans, because there were both white and black swans. We figured it out quickly when the black swans started chasing some unsuspecting kids. Along with swans, there were turtles, birds, and other types of wildlife at the lake. We spent nearly half a day there, until we realized how hot it had become and that I had forgotten my camera. My husband didn’t think the phone was taking very nice pictures, but I was enjoying myself. Eventually, the 100 degrees and 100% humidity was getting to us, and we had to go to the hotel where we had air conditioning. I hoped to return to Lake Morton now that we got some air conditioning, and I had my camera in hand. I wanted to have as many memories from Lakeland, FL as we could take home with us.

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When my friends and I got out of college, we wanted to go see some of the local area.

One of the things we all decided to do was discover the Adventurous Scavenger Hunt we had read about in the brochures we found for Lakeland, FL.

Since we had spent most of our day time inside the college, we weren’t aware of how hot it was going to be. The scavenger hunt was a walking hunt that was said to take two hours that you did on your own time. It was a guided tour where we used our GPS as the guide. We had to find different things along the way, and because of how it was set up, we never crossed paths with another group. Halfway through the adventurous scavenger hunt, we were all panting from the heat and humidity that was part of Lakeland. Had we been in a car that had air conditioning, we may have been having fun, but we weren’t. We were having some fun, but it wasn’t what we expected. We didn’t want to give up on the scavenger hunt, so overheated and exhausted, we still continued on with our search. By the time we completed the adventurous scavenger hunt, we were ready to get back to the car and continue on with our discovery of the state we were now living in. What was to have taken two hours, ended up being over three, because whenever we got a clue, we stopped and got a cold drink while enjoying the air conditioning.

 

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When we got out to the train yard, neither of them were happy to be standing in the cold wind and waiting for the train to open the doors

My kids wanted to go see where I grew up when they. I told them grandma and grandpa would be moving in with us soon, and before that happened, they wanted to visit them at their home. I had since moved to the southeast, and I had been trying to get my parents to move in with my husband and I for half that time. We were all going to go to mom and dad’s for Christmas and help pack up the house. While there, I planned ontaking my kids to the Fox River Trolley Museum. While my husband and dad were packing, mom and I were taking the boys to see their Christmas display. They were doing their rendition of The Polar Express on one of their train rides. It was cold the morning we set out for the Fox River Trolley Museum. My boys were complaining about the cold, so I put the heat on in the car. They were now complaining about going to a museum. Neither mom nor I had told them about the Polar Express. When we got there, the boys suddenly perked up, until we got out of the car. The cold hit them and they were shivering. Inside the museum, it was warm and comfortable. When we got out to the train yard, neither of them were happy to be standing in the cold wind and waiting for the train to open the doors. Once we got inside, the heat was on, and the train was decorated. It didn’t take long for them to get into the Christmas spirit when they realized they were going to be part of the Polar Express. Their faces lit up, and I had never seen them smiling so broadly.

 

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While at my sister’s house, my mom had other things on her agenda that didn’t include gambling.

She wanted to go to the Marcus Elgin Cinema.

She told me if I was bored with the movie, I could sit back in the reclining seat and take a short nap. I knew if I were to do that she would be poking me and laughing at me because I snore sometimes. I took her to the Marcus Elgin Cinema and was going to drop her off, but she was pouting. She told me to take her back to my sister’s house, and she would shiver in her unforgiving air conditioning if I would go with her. I told her to pick any other place other than the Marcus Elgin Cinema, and I wouldn’t say another word. She chose to go to the Elgin Fire Barn 5 Museum. She reminded me it was air conditioned and told me I may even meet a cute fireman while I was there. All I could think was that it was a museum and he would either be a very old fireman or a ghost, but that wouldn’t have stopped her. I had to admit the museum was interesting. It had a lot of old fire equipment, and I realized how much better equipped the firemen of today were than those back when Elgin was first built. I dodged the Marcus Elgin Cinema with its recliners and excellent air conditioning and went to a firehouse. I never thought I would be anxious to return to my sister’s house.

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My husband kept telling me that the best place to go for a good lunch in Lee’s Summit was the Diametric Brewing Company.

He told me about the amazing sandwiches and how we would be getting out of the summer heat. I was happy, knowing I wouldn’t need to be outside much longer, but I kept thinking about it being a brewery. He insisted it was a restaurant, and not a brewing company. I would have air conditioning, and there would be families there. We came out for a weekend away, and were staying in Lee’s Summit, where his best friend lived. I knew we would be meeting up with him and his wife. We no sooner got in the Diametric Brewing Company when I heard my husband’s name being bellowed. I took a deep breath of the air conditioning and pasted on a smile. I had met the man behind the voice, and I wasn’t thrilled. His wife was as quiet as he was loud, and we got along. Once we were done with our lunch, he insisted my husband and I go with them to Fringe Beerworks and Smoke Brewing Company. My husband and his friend were enjoying trying all the new beer they had on their menus. I looked at Mary and asked if she planned on being designated driver and she nodded. She laughed and said she had air conditioning in the breweries, didn’t need to put up with the kids for a couple of hours, and knew he was safe. I realized we came to Lee’s Summit for the weekend and for beer.

 

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I try to get home as much as possible, but I will admit summer is my favorite time in Lee’s Summit. There are so many events and things to do, that I spend my entire vacation visiting family and friends and going to different events. One of my favorite ways to relax while home in Lee’s Summit, is to go to Splash at Summit Waves. With its lazy man made river that you can spend almost a quarter mile rolling along on an inner tube, to the splash park for the kids, makes it a family favorite. When the day gets hotter, and I’m ready to relax and head inside with some air conditioning, we head to town and relax in one of the many restaurants, or head over to the brewery where they offer beer and wine. I spend a lot of time with my parents while I’m back home. My friends come over, and dad always has the grill going so we can have a BBQ. We’ll sit outside and enjoy the cool evening while talking about old times. Mom and dad always have fun stories to tell that are only fun for everyone else to hear, and are usually embarrassing to myself and my friends. There is nothing like going home again, even if I do let my mind wander back to where I now live. The climate isn’t as nice as it is back home, and I often wish I could move back to Lee’s Summit and enjoy the cold winters and hot summers, but it won’t happen. I’m stuck where it is summer almost all year round.

 

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Over the course of five years, three of my kids and my sister moved to Jacksonville, FL.

They all had their own homes, and were enjoying the year-round warmth we didn’t have in the Northwest.

I had to travel over 3000 miles to visit my family, and my mom always traveled with me. We had a lot of rain where we came from, but it wasn’t like the rainy season they had in Jacksonville, FL. Even so, she would have gladly stayed longer if it wasn’t for the hurricane they were predicting for the weekend. We had to cut our visit short so we didn’t get caught in the storm. Mom was laughing and said it couldn’t be any worse than the rainy season we were already experiencing, but my son said it could be worse. The bridge could be flooded, and that would make for a lot of problems until they could get it inspected. I wanted to be home before the hurricane hit. My mom wanted to go to bingo the night before we left. While there, the air conditioning went out, and then it started to thunder and lightning. I had to wait until she finished her bingo game before we could leave. It was a good thing my daughter-in-law drove, because I couldn’t see through all the rain and lightning. I had to drive 500 miles before we got out of the storm, but we got out before the hurricane hit. The next time we go to Jacksonville, FL, I plan on going in the winter when I don’t need to worry about hurricanes or temperatures over 100 degrees.
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My daughter thought it would be fun to take me and the girls to Jacksonville beach and go camping.

I had already looked at the weather report, and it wasn’t supposed to rain.

It was supposed to be hot and humid, but it wasn’t supposed to rain. I was sure my daughter would have rented a camper for the weekend, but I was wrong. She didn’t even consider getting a camper. She told me she and her family often slept in tents on Jacksonville beach. The only thing I could find some good out of the camping trip, was that the sand would be more comfortable than sleeping on rocks and uneven ground. I was wrong. The tent pegs couldn’t stay in the ground because the water would come up through the holes and pop them out. It was hot and humid, but if I didn’t keep the flap shut, the sand fleas and other bugs would get inside. My granddaughter was afraid crabs and other things would come inside if I didn’t put the flap down. I was so hot and sweaty that I got out of the tent and sat on the beach. My daughter came out to see if I was okay. I told her I would have preferred sleeping in a hotel or anywhere they had air conditioning, and she laughed. She promised that after that night, we would stay closer to the house and not venture out during the day, unless it was to go to the pool and relax. That wasn’t keeping me out of the sun, unless she had a pool tent to keep the sun off us.

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When my friend and I moved to The Villages, FL, all our neighbors were telling us my friend and I had to visit Gilded Matilda’s, but i thought it had to be some kind of bar, if you thought about their name.

My fiance told me you can’t judge a book by its cover.

I was talking to Angie, one of our neighbors, plus he told me Gilded Matilda’s is a one of kind store! Apparently, Gilded Matilda’s features local artists plus their artwork; They have apartment plus garden decor, plus he showed me some things he bought for his house, but he was showing me the cherish jewelry plus accessories he found at Gilded Matilda’s. There were gourmet gifts, Dixie Belle chalk paint plus more than he could tell me. She told me the only way you could understand what Gilded Matilda’s was, was to go there. My fiance wasn’t interested in going to a ‘junk’ store, then he told me he would sty apartment in the air conditioning while I went. I didn’t want to go alone, plus the next time I talked to Angie, I told his what my fiance said. She laughed plus confided he was hoping my fiance was like hers. She wanted someone who would go to Gilded Matilda’s with her, because his fiance could not rest going into ‘junk’ shops either; Gilded Matilda’s was not a ‘junk’ shop, as our fiances called it. It was a menagerie of fun plus interesting odds plus ends. I was cheerful Angie took me to Gilded Matilda’s, because I’ll be going back with her, often, with or separate from our fiances..

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I moved to St.

• Petersburg, FL because I was tired of the frigid plus snow of the winter; I wanted to live where half my year wasn’t spent in pain plus suffering, plus I could never get hot enough.

I learn that even on the coldest days, it never got below fifty degrees, plus that was evening-time hot plus cold temperatures, however my achy bones would not be screaming at me, plus I thought this would be the best locale for me to live! That my sibling lived here was also a big draw, then when summer time arrived, I couldn’t suppose how hot plus muggy it became. I must have forgotten how hot plus humid it got in the summers back home, but this seemed worse. My sibling told me she had just talked to her daughter, plus it was supposed to be in the nineties all week, along with having tropical humidity levels. I shivered, remembering those days back home. That’s when I wished I lived some locale where they had cooler summers. When she laughed at me, I had to laugh; She told me she didn’t suppose I would ever be happy. My friend and I went for a walk early that morning so my pal and I could get in early before it got too hot to be outside. My friend and I headed to the Monday morning marketplace plus got some much needed veggies plus fruits. My friend and I then headed home, where my pal and I had air conditioner to keep us more comfortable. My friend and I hurried back to the condo because my pal and I were both worried about our fresh fruit going awful if my pal and I didn’t get it out of the heat.

 

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