Karen at Fifty Four

Yay, another stamp in my National Parks book! I delayed my flight out of Little Rock so I could take a drive down to Hot Springs National Park. It was a cute park. It would have been nice to take a little more time to do a proper hike and maybe even take in a "bath". Honestly, I never knew about such a place. The natural hot springs (thermal waters) are said to have healing powers. The main street in front of the park is called Bath House Row. There are spas where you can take a public bath (with swim suit) or a private bath in the spring waters. The water comes out of the ground at 143 degrees. I did put my hand in one of the open springs and it felt wonderfully hot.     Selfie with the sign :) Really neat to see the steam rising. You could even feel the warmth if you stood close enough.  After a very short hike and peak in the shops, I had an early lunch at the only brewery to be located inside a national park - Superior Bathhouse Brewery. It's claim to fame is the...

Work took me to Little Rock, AR for a week to teach another ACS class. Not impressed!! If I never need to return, that will be good with me. I did not see anything appealing about that town. It looked very depressed and run down to me. The roads were atrocious. I saw lots of ugly, unfortunate people. The day I arrived, I had a free afternoon so I tried to see the sights. I quickly returned to my hotel and the remainder of my time in town when I wasn't worked, I stayed in my room.   There were parks and museums along the water front, but there wasn't a soul in sight. It was a chilly Monday afternoon, so that probably why, but it felt a bit creepy to me. Needless to say, I didn't venture too far from my car. There was even a sculpture park, which I love! But there was a weird dude hanging out under one of the shelters, so again, creepy! I wasn't out there for more than five minutes before heading back to my car. There was a coffee shop across from where I parked, so I pop...

My first holiday ride with the FFW. I still need to keep showing up to these things to establish a wider network of friends. I rode the ride by myself, but did engage in a little small talk, so that was a win. After the ride, the club had cookies and wine, so there was more small talk.   I can't believe I actually bought this jacket!! I wanted to look festive, but this is a bit ridiculous!  The gaudiest house gets all the attention! The ride was quite pretty. Many houses were well decorated. This one was just over the top so of course we stopped to get pictures.

 Took three days to get all my decorations up... and I love them all!! I even ran an extension cord from the back yard so I could have lights on my front porch. The house looks beautifully festive.

I finally made it to the famed Statue Garden at the Wave hotel in Lake Nona. It was impressive, but not enough variety in the statues. It seemed like only a handful of artists. It's still quite impressive and the grounds and landscaping were beautiful. I'd like to one day create a bike route to bring FFW cyclists down there. Maybe I can make a Friday ride and lead it once or twice a month. The iconic charging bull from wall street. I learned that this statue is by artist Arturo Di Modica and there are actually four bulls; one outside the New York Stock Exchange, one at a golf club in Windemere FL, one in the Bahamas, and this one in Lake Nona.  The grass was Astroturf, which was probably the best way to go about keeping it nice outside. All the plantings around the trees were beautifully done. Lots of seats spread around the garden as well. On Friday morning, there was only one other party there. Very peaceful on a Friday morning. Nice stop for my bike ride. This was anther one...

A very quick work trip to Boston to give training on the AeroDriver. I was a little nervous heading into this trip because I haven't touched that type of sim in nearly 3 years!!! It all came flooding back to me though, no problems. I actually took the first flight up on Monday morning so I would have a day to be hands on the sim before I was required to be in front of the customer for training. That must have been all I needed because the training went well and the customer was great.  Personally, I love the Boston accent 💗. Too bad it was such a quick trip and the weather was cold and windy. I only traveled from my hotel to work and back; no exploring the city this time. Sunrise at MCO while waiting for our pushback. This is as close as I got to the city on this trip... the view from the hotel lobby.

 We had a nice day with family at the Beach House on Treasure Island. Same crowd. Jennifer even joined us from KY and Aunt Sandi from NY. Very nice day and week! Dad getting ready to crave the turkey. Dad, Debbie, and Sandi "collaborating". The kitchen was a little hectic to say the least! Donna and I on the beach at sunset. Jen and I checking out the sandcastles before hitting the road back to Orlando the day after Thanksgiving. These are professional sand castle makers, btw!!!

 It was a truly horrible day for the FFW Horrible Hundred (cold and rainy). Thankfully, I was at the SAG stop putting pickles in little paper cups rather than riding my bike!! It was a fun weekend none-the-less. My fellow volunteers were nice and the riders coming through were terrific and very appreciative of our offerings. One of these years I'll have to ride the hills, but maybe not 100 miles! Riders enjoying their pickle juice (and other snacks)!