Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Fairfield Inn/St. Augustine, Florida
42F/morning-60F/afternoon-48F/evening—sunny
all day
It was great to see our nephew Thomas yesterday—he is recovering well. We met up with sister-in-law Carol, and nieces Carmel and Brenda at Miller’s Ale House in Fort Myers for dinner. We are very proud of the two widow “sisters,” they are actually sisters in law. Carmel and Jeff already had a successful pool cleaning business and Carmel still manages that, but now the two ladies have started a “concierge” business that has really taken off—closet organizing, pet sitting, giving rides to doctor appointments, decluttering,etc. for older people. I can vouch that there are plenty of older people in Florida.
This morning we left for St. Augustine to
catch up with Friend Judy again. Traveling the highways and other routes
reminds us how much intensive building is going on in Florida. One minute we see
beef and dairy cattle, the next minute we see bulldozers and other machinery
preparing land for housing and other development. It is totally amazing.
Orlando’s growth is stunning. So many roads, 8 lanes, signs for Animal
Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Sea World, Universal Studios,
Sea World, a Ferris wheel visible in the distance. Skyscrapers and slowed
traffic—it is mind boggling. I am truly glad that we were able to enjoy Orlando
with Randy and Brian year ago, then their families later---when B1 and B2 were
young.
All this hustle and bustle continue! Judy told us there is a law in Florida that
states that a new school is built only for the population at hand instead of
having a vision for growth. That means that new schools are rapidly being built,
without planning for future growth. Her daughter teaches at a high school in St.
Augustine that has 20 portable/modular classrooms. Personally, I would not like that as a classroom.
We stopped at Buc-ees in Daytona Beach,
then on to St. Augustine---another booming area. Judy’s home is tucked away in World Golf
Village, but not far from St. Augustine Buc-ees, with a new huge Walmart being
built, Publix, and Costco. We love St.
Augustine because of the rich history and its quaintness, but it is surrounded
by development after development.
We went to dinner at one of Judy’s
favorites, Poppy’s Italiano. The food was marvelous, chicken piccato (Judy),
cheese ravioli (me), and spaghetti Carbonara (TK). The limoncello cake all
three of us shared was out of this world!
Dear Friends, if we could bring this weather
back, we sure would. Erie is so darn cold right now! Even 48F would feel
better!
TK’s Takes: Florida has the best roads and the worst drivers.
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