Saturday - March 30

Mostly clouds today.....we were off at 8:40 for the Babcock Ranch Eco Tour.     Tom and Beth met us there for our 9:30 tour with our guide and driver of our swamp bus, Terry.    There were 25 in our group and it was very interesting seeing lots of wildlife, alligators, cattle, wild hogs, turkeys, etc.   The tour lasted 1 hr. 45 minutes and then we enjoyed lunch outdoors at the Gator Shack.   

Our open-air swamp bus

 wild hogs

 wild turkeys

 cracker cows

more cracker cows

Terry with baby alligator we all got to pet 

swampy area

Said our good byes to Tom and Beth who are flying back to Illinois later tonight.    We came back to Flo.   Marilyn and I took a power nap (we are good at this - ha) and Mark worked on some outdoor projects.    Marilyn and I played rummikube on the patio.     We girls walked in the park and Mark rode his bike.    We played 3-handed euchre with me the winner!    Then....off to "Scoops on First" downtown for supper - banana splits!!

Boy, these are sooo good!

Back to Flo - we all read, then played 3-handed euchre with Marilyn winning both games!

More info on the Babcock Ranch (residential area) - there are approximately 200 homes now with that many more under construction.    They are expecting to have a "little" city of 50,000 at some point and building up all the infrastructure.    The area is now Babcock Ranch, Florida!     Will be interesting to go back this fall and see all the progress.

Jim and Lydia left on a 7-day cruise out of Miami this morning.     The Symphony of the Seas is only 1 year old (Royal Caribbean line) and has over 9,000 passengers/crew.

Thinking back to 3 years ago today - March 30, 2016 when Mark's Mother passed away....she is so loved and missed,