Monica may have gotten accepted to clown school last week

Posted on February 10, 2020 by Monica Reed

Every now and then you have to take a vacation to relax, refresh and rejuvenate! I usually head down to Florida about this time of year to visit with my family. I pack up and head down to Lake Placid, Florida. My parents are what local Floridians refer to as, “Snow Birds.” If you don’t know, Snow Birds are people who live in Florida 5 months out of the year, mostly during the winter months.

Anyway, back to the vacation…I have an aunt and uncle that live permanently in Florida since 1991. I also have another aunt and uncle that are of the “Snow Bird” variety, so I got to see a lot of family while I was there. I love visiting them!

I arrived on a Tuesday, we went to a restaurant in Sarasota called Gecko’s Grill and Pub. It was super delicious and the atmosphere was amazing! We sat outside and saw an alligator lounging in the sun by the lake. I had a beer and a buffalo chicken wrap with some fries! Got to spend time with my aunt and uncle.

I started my Wednesday with a run/walk around my parents neighborhood. A little while later my step mom and I went shopping. The weather was so gorgeous that day, I may have had the spring fever because I bought a pair of flip flops.

Later that day, my dad made hot wings on the grill. My dad’s hot wings are the best! We went for another walk that evening! I ended that day with over 20,000 steps!

Thursday rolled around and we decided to head to the small town of Lake Placid, Florida.

Our first stop was at a local history museum. Our tour guide was Jerry! He was the police chief for many years before he retired. Oh the stories he told! There was a very old record player there. Jerry cranked it up and played a record on it.

Interesting fact, Lake Placid, was formerly called “Lake Stearns”, was chartered on December 1, 1925. Dr. Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System! Yeah! That guy!

While at the museum, I bought this magazine that tells about all the murals in town. I saw a good bit of them!

They have a clown school there too! It’s called Toby’s Clown School! I was thinking sending a picture of me to the boss and tell her I was going back to school and that I got accepted. They also have a clown museum there too.

My parents live on Lake Diane, which is a very small lake but still a few gators hang out there from time to time. My parents like to feed the fish at 5pm every day. These fish are spoiled!

The sunset is unbelievably amazing! I snapped a pics from the back yard!

I have to say, my family was never rich when we were growing up, but I certainly am proud of them for how they retired! They saved for retirement starting back in the 80’s.

My parents neighbor has a starfruit tree! I got some of the BEST starfruit off the tree!

Saturday, we went to Sarasota where my other aunt and uncle live. I got to see cousins, new babies and kids! My aunt has got to be the very best cook in the world! She made tacos!

She also gave me some of her recipes!

I don’t know why they call this pretzel salad a salad, but it sure was divine!!!

So, when I flew out on Sunday, I got to watching a movie on the plane home. I didn’t get to the end so I have no idea how it ends! It’s called The Art of Racing in the Rain. There was a point in the movie where I was tearing up and sobbing. Yep, the only one on the plane sobbing like a baby!