A trip to a Seminole Casino Near Lake Okeechobee in South Florida

My mom and I decided on FAT Tuesday to make a trip to a Seminole Casino near Lake Okeechobee in Central Florida. I have lived in South Florida just East of Lake Okeechobee for over 40 years and have never seen the lake, and it is HUGE.

We had a fun day looking at Florida land scape, it was totally FLAT, a few pine trees, and some canals, water areas and very few homes. Then I spotted the sign for a look out for Lake Okeechobee, and turned in, I got my moms wheel chair out and we went out on this neat walk way, it was huge and long and it "T"ed out on the end, so you could walk both directions. Lake Okeechobee is 730 sq miles, it is huge but average depth is 9 feet.

More about Lake Okeechobee.
another about Lake Okeechobee.

The Area near us was not the lake, you could see the lake out further pass the grasses, but their was a few fisher men in the small boats fishing in the grasses where we were, and lots of wild birds, no alligators, but I am sure there was so near by, we did not see any.

There is two locks on Lake Okeechobee, one is in the town south of me, it is fun to see boats go through, watch the level of the water go up or down, and let the boat go either in the lake or out to the inter coastal water way, then eventually to the Ocean. I have not been there is years.

So we finally got to the Seminole casino in Brighton. it took us over two hours, but we did stop at that Lake look out.

The casino was a metal building like a barn, there was lots of slot machines inside and a lunch cafe, we signed up for the players club and found out when we signed up at the Hard Rock Casino in in Hollywood, south Florida a few years ago, it is the same Casino line, so we were already players. We sat at two machines next to each other and played for about an hour, I came out $40 ahead and my mom lost $5. We were both playing 2 CENTS at a time, I ended up playing sometimes 40 lines at a time, at 2 cents each, my mom only on line at 2 cents each. Then we ate lunch on my winnings and came home again. it was a nice day out.



This is one of the small fishing boats among the grasses


This is looking west, long the side of the walk way, we are on one end, where the roof is, there is a walk way back to the parking area.


Zoomed to see the lake, my eye could not see this much of the lake.



this is a Common Moorhen



A great Blue Heron These birds are over 6 feet tall.


The rest of my pictures.




Diane
Smile! It's contagious!

I took a Trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida

I took a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida for a series of concerts from my most favorite Music Group, Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone himself as Herman.

Herman's Hermits were my favorite group as kids in the 60's and I rediscovered Peter Noone at Epcot many years ago, performing in their "Flower Power Concert Series", I have been hooked ever since.

I am a card carrying member of the Peter Noone's fan Club Knows as Noonatics. I just spent 4 fun filled days at Busch Gardens with two nights of dinners with the Noonatics, and it was pure fun.


My Peter Noone Albums: Peter Noone Albums


Peter does 3 shows a day, they are about 45 minutes each, starting at 11:30am, that is early for a Rock and Roll Band, but we love it, we get to get in line to wait to get in and visit and hug and take pictures of each other, then we get to sit together inside the Stanleyville Theater and take more pictures get a 45 minute concert, and then re-PETE *R* TWO more times and take lots more pictures. Then start all over again, the next day. We also get in the autograph line and say Hi to Peter and have things signed.



I have another Album of Peter Noone Pictures at Noonatics.com
Peter Noone albums at Noonatics.com

I stayed at a friends and we did the beach the first day before the 4 days of concerts, then I stayed a day after and took a side trip to Disney World, it was only an extra 15 miles out of my way, it looks more than that on the map, but it is not.

FUN FUN FUN
--
Diane
Smile! It's contagious!

A day out with my mom and we headed to the beach

Last week I took my mom to appointments in the town south of us and we headed towards to beach after, our beaches are a little in disrepair from the hurricanes and north Easters we have had in the past 4 years, one of the nicest beaches is closed, the dunes had been ruined and the walk ways, and the parking lot, but we did find a few Beach's to stop at and one even had a ramp, I pushed my mom up the ramp in her wheel chair and down to the beach to see the gorgeous ocean, my current wall paper and title picture is from that day last week, February 10Th, 2009.




This is an island in the Indian River, between the main land and the island at the Ocean, a bunch of birds, looked like mostly Sea gulls hanging out. I am sure the island is only there for low tide, the inlet is just south of this area.



Another Bird I spotted in a tree on the River's edge, an Osprey, he was in a dead tree, I have never seen them before this year, and NOW I spot them all over our area, it is nice to know these big birds are making a come back.



There was also some Kite surfers in the water, this one was the closest to us.

Here is the rest of my pictures from that day. I just love the blue water and the blue sky together.
My pictures.

I am heading out of town for the rest of the week.

Diane

Wild Birds in my area of South Florida

I love to take pictures of birds, or any animals, I recently started filling up a bird feeding in my front yard, only problem is I am on the other side of a few bushes so branches get in the way and It is hard to focus my camera on the birds on the feeder.



This is a male Painted Bunting


a female Painted Bunting
I had never heard of a Painted Bunting till I saw these birds and looked them up, they are very small only about 5 inches.


Blue Jay


red-bellied Woodpecker


male Cardinal


Two Male Painted Buntings on the feeder.

I have also been lucky enough to be in the right place a few times and take pictures of Osprey's, they are huge birds in the same family as Eagles and Hawks.


I spotted this Osprey near my area.



This one seems mad that I stopped the car near him.

There are a few bald Eagle nests in my area, I was able to watch a live cam on the Internet last year of a bald Eagles nest that was probably 10-8 miles south of where I live, it was so neat, they hatched two eggs and grew up two baby's, then one of them received a tracking device, and we have been able to track her, Birdie, when they finally left the nest about May and traveled north, she was in Virginia for a while, then headed back to south Florida and has been around the area, give or take 60 miles, since about December. Young bald eagles are all black, no white head or tail for about 3 years.

I was in a Wal-mart parking lot last Friday, and a full grown Bald Eagle (white head and tail) was cruising on over head, just looking around and flew off to the south, that is the FIRST time I have witnessed such a thing, one time we were travel north to Disney World on the turnpike, and a full grown ball eagle was traveling south but my glimpse of him was minimum, I was driving could not see it, but it was grand.
The nest in our town is in Tesoro, a gated community, they were generous enough to pay for the web cam last year, but Tesoro is amongst the dying now, with our bad economy, and have filled bankruptcy, so no camera this year.
Nesting bald Eagles mate for life, they make the nest and both watch the eggs, then take turns feeding the baby's, then when the baby's are taught how to survive, they leave the area alone, and come back to nest again in December, I do not know if these two are back, no one is allowing the bird watching people on the property at this point, there is also 2 other nests in St. Lucie County where I live.
Birdie is still sending signals, and they post her places every month or so. Click to see the site.

This is her latest track.




Diane

I am a DISNEY Addict

I am a Disney World Addict

My first visit to the world was in October of 1971, just weeks before the "GRAND" opening. But it was grand to us, my mom brought us "4 kids" and our various spouses and friends. (two car loads) The First site of Cinderella's castle was just breath taking, it still takes my breath away.

My Husband, Jim, and I are now pass holders, we can get into the world any time we want, so we try and make it for 2 LONG weekends every year. My mother is a Mickey Mouse Addict, says she is having an affair with Mickey all these years, she first brought us to Disneyland in California in the early 60's. She too is a pass holder, but she is 81 can not do it by herself any more, and she needs a wheel chair, so she and I go at least once a year, sometimes twice, it is work for me, but I am at my most favorite place on earth, so I can handle the load.

In 2008 I visited the world 6 times that I can think of, LOL. I meet up with Noonatics who are fan of Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, Peter performs for the Flower Power concert Series, along with many other "60's" bands, Peter was always my favorite in the 60's, so making it to Epcot to see him do 3 shows a day for 4 days is not too bad. I see in 2009 he is only there for 3 days, AND it is EASTER Weekend, geez.

We live 120 south east of Walt Disney World, AKA: the World.

I LOVE the Christmas decorations, and we try and hop on over to some of the Resorts to see the decorations, the Grand Florida is just GRAND, what can I say, unbelievable five star hotel just a short monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom. This year we went to the Wilderness Lodge, a short boat ride away from the Magic Kingdom, like wow, it is a five star hotel that looks like it was built with Lincoln logs.

We visited the World the first weekend in December 08, my hubby's 60th birthday. We were there only three days, we park hopped to all 4 parks, there are now 4 amusement parks, in the old days it only started with the Magic Kingdom, now there is Epcot, the Disney Hollywood Studio (formerly MGM), and Disney's Animal Kingdom. I love them all.
Here are a few pictures from our Dec 08 trip.

In the back area of the Wilderness Lodge

In front of the "Tree of Life" at Animal Kingdom.

With Lilo and Stitch at the Animal Kingdom.



Cinderella's Castle with the Christmas lights on.






Fireworks behind the Castle


I just love Disney World...

Diane

A beautiful Winter Day

Yesterday was a beautiful winter day in Sunny South Florida, I ran errands then head to maybe the beach, but I stopped at the Manatee Center in Ft Pierce, it was built because the Ft Pierce Power Utilities used water from the Indian River to cool the turbines, and let go warm water. Manatee need to keep warm when it cools down, they would collect at the outlet by the 10-30's to keep warm. The Manatee center was built and the Power company closed down the plant.

So now sometimes the manatee still go there, I stopped and there was some manatee noses peaking out, they pop their heads up to breath, then go back under the water, I think I saw 4 total manatee.

Then I walked about the area and took pictures of the Indian River and the birds and bridge the other side of the bridge is the inlet to go out to the Atlantic Ocean. It is a very peaceful place.





A Sea gull fishing


a Heron fishing


a Pelican fishing as he is flying




A fishing Boat




A Sea gull