Winter Garden in the cold!

I know, I'm going to get all kinds of emails from all our blog friends up north. "We don't know what cold is down here!" Although, last night we certainly got to experience some bad Florida weather. Tornado touch downs on the Gulf Coast. The area from Sarasota down toward Venice, FL and all across central Florida braced for tornados and severe thunder storms. The town of Duette (west of Sarasota) was hit by a tornado that killed a couple and injured two children. Several other homes were severely damaged as well. Fortunately, central Florida faired well but thunder and lightening covered the area in the wee hours of the morning. If you like lightening, Florida is the place for you. Ya know, sometimes a quiet snowstorm up north might just be more relaxing than some of Florida's storms.

We're just a bit late getting out our last bike ride post. My fingers finally thawed out! Cold finger tips is something we forget about being down here so long. The cold clean air was wonderful to breath in
but the wind added to the cold air can really make you feel pretty cold here in sunny Florida

We were greeted to an unusually packed parking lot. We learned that Florida Hospital offered a symposium at the Winter Garden theater and we had to make use of other parking areas near our starting point.

 

Wishing to stay incognito (and not trying to make a fashion statement), one of our riders covers up for the ride.

 

Needless to say nearly everyone was dressed for the temperature.

Kathy is determined to be safe and warm!

As we gather we made reservations for thirty-two at the Winter Garden Pizza Company. I just realized why everyone peddled so fast... to get into the warm building!

We may look disorganized but we are a fine tuned riding unit.... once we get on the trail! Well, most of the time. 

Just realized why we have so many photos of us prior to heading out for the trail... it was warmer in the sun!

 

At our destination, everyone enjoyed the sun and some conversation.

 

(Shhhhh, this is the rider who covered her face, don't tell anyone her name!)

Remember, earlier it was mentioned we were all dressed for the occasion? The rider in yellow is a brave soul!

 

Below, Judy is politely setting down the rules of the road! ...and she means business, she even has her gloves on! (Of course all of you know I'm kidding, right!)

 

Ahhhh, at last, warmth and what we do best... eat!

And that's how our ride went this past week. Our next ride is a new (to us) trail in Minneola, FL.

We're looking forward to starting out on the Minneola Trailhead Park. It starts out in Clermont and we'll head northwest for a number of miles and return. It looks like we trying a different restaurant this trek as well. Yummy!

 

In other news, we've been hoping for clear sky in the evenings to get in some stargazing with a couple of interested folks. Given that the sky is so light polluted here and clouds come and go like a NY taxi it's amazing we get any clear nights worth setting up the equipment.

We finally got out to see the 1st quarter moon as well as the Orion Nebula, an open cluster of stars and several double stars.

Hey look, there's the "poodle" on the moon. He's sitting and facing to the left!

 

The Orion Nebula

 

The Pleiades (Seven Sisters) The tight cluster that some people think is the "little Dipper."

It's a tightly grouped gathering of seven bright stars to the naked eye. However, when looking through even a small telescope you'll notice many more stars in this grouping.

 

And, a few double stars.

Below is the North Star. Contrary to belief the North Star is not a very bright object. It also has a distinctive double star and together they rotate about each other.

I cannot take any credit for the above photos. However, you have a neat idea of some of the fun we had hunting these objects down and seeing them with our own eyes.

 

All in all, our brief observing session was well worth the time to set-up and talk about the stars... even if it was on a low-lit street! I'm sure Linda and husband David will have some things to talk about over the next few days.

 

By the way, Bill and Angela are back and attending all the games etc. at Lake Magic. We're getting right into the swing of things and....eating out!