Palmetto Bluff Resort

Last weekend we had the privilege of staying at the fabulous Inn at Palmetto Bluff.  Our nephew, Dave Berry was getting married and had invited us for the festivities.
We left Thursday afternoon and drove as far as Daytona Beach and stopped at the Comfort Suites for the night.  It was near the freeway and the rates were very reasonable.

We were walking to find a place to eat when we saw a man pushing his car.  "I've run out of gas," he said, "do you have any spare change?"  At first Mark said no.  "Sorry to bother you."  He also asked a woman and she said no.

Then as we watched, he pushed his car out of the way and started to walk to the nearby gas station.  Was this man really in need?

Mark said to me that if the man could push his car to the gas station, he could use his credit card and buy him some gas.  He just couldn't not help and I encouraged him to do it.

Mark walked to the man's car and motioned to the man to come back.  Together they pushed his car to the gas pump and Mark went inside to pay for the gas.  I had watched this and then walked over as well.  The man thanked me for Mark.  "Thank you so much! he said.

Mark was very generous in giving the man gas so he would have plenty to get him where he needed to go.  It seems he had left his wallet when he stopped to eat and when he went back for it it was gone.  He said he was gone only five minutes, but no one there knew or would say what happened to his wallet, even after the man said he didn't care about the money, only his license and credit cards.  He had come from Ohio and was going to Cocoa Beach.  When Mark told him how much he had given him he said, "No way!"  Then he thanked us again and told us he would be sure to help someone else; that he helps people all the time.

I was so proud and grateful for Mark's generosity.  "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these...ye have done it unto me."

The room was very nice and the bed comfortable.  There was a nice breakfast we enjoyed the next morning before we left.  Daytona Beach is supposed to be pretty famous, so I asked Mark if we could drive to the beach to see why.  Guess what?  There are breakers!!  You could actually surf or boogie board on waves!  What a difference from Fort Lauderdale!

All right, moving along.  We stopped in Savannah for lunch then continued to South Carolina. It is beautiful and green.  We got to the Palmetto Bluff gates.  They had our reservation and let us through.  We had to drive for another 6 miles before we came to the inn where we would sign in. We arrived about 2:30.

Wow!  It's so beautiful here!  A valet came and loaded our things into a cart and drove our car away.  He took our stuff to our cottage and put everything in there for us.  We signed in and found out where we would be staying.  Mark's dad and sister, Mary Alice were also here, so we stopped first at their cottage.  Oh my goodness!  The cottages are so luxurious!

The Inn at Palmetto Bluff

    Their cottage was larger than ours because they are sharing it, but ours was no less beautiful.  We were in Cottage #22.

I love the style of wood board and batten on the walls and ceilings! 

Screened porch

That is a luxurious tub!  Loved that!

There wasn't just the cottages and inn.  It was like a little community with shops and a restaurant.  There were homes as well which people owned.

A couple of homes across the lake from our cottages and behind the inn.

Okay, we won't be swimming in the lake!

One of the nice things about this place is it's also a preserve.  They've worked very hard to preserve the natural habitat of this beautiful area.

Because cars aren't allowed to the cottages, bikes were provided for our enjoyment.

Friday we met in front of the inn at 5:30 along with all the other wedding guests.  We were shuttled to a secluded area where we would have a nice dinner.  We were met with drinks, hors d'oeuvres and a great little band playing music for our enjoyment.  Naturally I went for water.  Mark and I did actually try an oyster.  It was cooked, otherwise there is no way I would have tried it!  Slurping raw oysters off the shell is disgusting!  I had mine on a cracker.  It was okay.  There were other hors d'oeuvres I liked much better.

This place was beautifully decorated.  I learned later that Melissa and Dave had done the decorating.  She has an interior design business in Park City.  I understand it is very very nice.

You can see a tree house in the background.

Because we were near some of the natural habitat waterways, there were a lot of mosquitoes so bug spray was provided on the tables.

Allie Berry

Dad Berry and Rob, Mark's oldest brother and father to the groom.

Berry clan

When the food was finally served it was delicious!  It was like a big buffet.  Melissa's family showed a special video of Dave and Melissa.  It was very nicely done and everyone enjoyed it.

I didn't realize that Melissa's last name, which is Crotty, is an Irish name.  All of the family members that we met were gracious and friendly.  Because this is a resort, Melissa's family took much of the cost upon themselves so we could afford to come.  It was very much appreciated.

It was late when we got back to our cottage.  The TV was on (Harry Potter) and I looked at Mark and said, "Did you leave the TV on?"  We realized the bed had been turned down and bathrobes laid across our bed and slippers on the floor near the bed, plus a tray with a bag of some kind of chocolate treat.  We realized housekeeping had been in.  Boy you could get spoiled here in a hurry.

In the entry way of the cottage, there is a small refrigerator where they offer free water and other drinks.  Snacks are also offered as a complimentary service.  The only thing that wasn't complimentary was the bottle of wine. (Not much to worry about there.) There were two glass containers:  one had chocolate covered something in it and the other looked like nuts of some kind.  I took one of the nuts out and popped it into my mouth and almost immediately spit it out!  I had to run to the bathroom and rinse out my mouth.  When I read the bottom of the jar it was wasabi peanuts!  Okay.  Hopefully the chocolates would be better.  Unfortunately not!  When I ate one, it was nasty and so I took another thinking it might be different.  Nope.  Looking on the bottom of that jar we found out they are chocolate covered coffee beans!  "I just broke the Word of Wisdom!" I wailed.  Inadvertently.  Oh well, we wouldn't be enjoying the rest of those.

Saturday, we rode our bikes to breakfast.  We ate at the Buffalo, which was a nice cafe.  We had the breakfast buffet, which included some incredibly delicious pastries!  At $20.00/plate, it was pretty expensive, but we enjoyed every bite.  You just don't get to experience this kind of thing very often, so I say savor the experience.

We rode our bikes all over.  Because there are 22,000 acres, obviously there are plenty of places to ride.
There are so many beautiful pine trees here.  The smell reminded me of camping.  As Mark and I were talking, something reminded me of the song "Those Were the Days."  Does anyone remember that?  So I started to sing (as I'm weaving around on my bike)
"Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day.
We'd live the life we'd choose,
We'd fight and never lose,
Those were the days, oh yes those were the days!
Then, of course I burst out with "La, La, La, La La La...  Mark thought I was funny and weird.

We hooked up with Mary Alice and rode bikes together.  I really wanted to go kayaking, but Mark reminded me that we didn't have hats and would probably fry.  He had a headache too, so we just stayed on the covered deck and watched some of the others.  There was a dolphin out in the water.  The day couldn't have been more perfect.  The sky was a perfect blue with no clouds.  The scenery is absolutely gorgeous!

I actually took these pictures first thing Saturday morning on our way to breakfast.  The clouds later went away and it was a perfect blue sky

 There is a cute grocery store just a little ways away.  Allie wanted to take something home for her girls.  It was fun to look, but it was pricey, like $7.00 or more for a can of vegetables.  : O

Mark spent the afternoon with his dad watching the football games and I went to the pool with Allie.  We enjoyed lunch and a short swim there until it was time to come back to get ready for the wedding.  There is a small chapel across from the Buffalo Cafe.

The wedding was supposed to be at 5:00, but didn't quite get started on time.  It was a different wedding, based on nature.  Melissa's family is Catholic, but Dave isn't religious.  A woman pastor married them.

You can see Mary Alice and Dad at the front.

Dave and his mom, Donnie.

The woman who married them is on the far left, then Dave, Luke, (Dave's son was best man) then Mick.  I don't know anyone else, although Melissa's brothers are probably the other groomsmen and a friend.

Bridesmaids.  Mick's wife, Sarah is 2nd from the left.

Bride and groom.  My flash didn't take a very good picture.

After the wedding, there were drinks and hors d'oeuvres before the reception dinner.

When I took this, we had finished with all the drinks and hors d'oeuvres we wanted and were sitting on the porch of the inn, looking out over the festivities.  It was starting to get dark, but you can see there were still a lot of people there enjoying themselves.

This isn't very clear, but we were told that there had once been a plantation home on this site, but it had been burned during the Civil War as most of the homes had been.  Can you make out the ruins?

 

 

 

The reception was very nice.  The food was delicious, the service amazing.  A DJ was there playing music and there were several dances:  The traditional bride and groom dance, the bride and father and the groom and mother.  Mark got a bit misty eyed at this point.  He was thinking of Mom.

Their cake.

Each of these balls had our table placement on it.

Mick, the groom's brother.

Rob and Sheila, the groom's dad and step-mom.

Mark and Dad

Allie, Dad, Sheila and Mark

Melissa wore a lovely Vera Wang wedding dress she bought in New York.

I wish them much joy and a long married, happy life together.

Some in our party were flying out very early the next morning for Utah and Mark and I were leaving at 7:00am to drive home, so we left the reception early.  At 11:00 we knew there was going to be some kind of surprise.  It ended up being fireworks.  I think I can safely say a good time was had by all!  I know we had a really good time.  Thanks, Dave and Melissa!

Scrapbook Expo

I had an opportunity to work at a scrapbook expo at the Broward County Convention Center.  I worked for a guy named Eric Smith who owns Paper Wizard.  His company makes laser-cut scrapbook kits.  

His kits are really cute and amazingly detailed!  When I worked at Roberts, I became so jaded with all of the scrapbook stuff I saw.  Things had to be really something to get my attention.  These are really something. 

It was hard work, but fun.  I actually worked for Eric on Thursday and Saturday.  However, I also had an opportunity to work for one of the other retailers who had been unable to find people to help her.  I helped set up and put all the product on their displays.  It meant standing all day on cement floors.  The food there was not very good...But Eric paid for it, which was nice of him.  At the end of Saturday, I helped inventory and take everything down so it could be put away for the next show.  Eric does 22 shows a year.  His next one was in California, I think.

The only negative experience I had through all this was going through the Port of Everglades.  Anyone who goes through there has to show their ID.  Friday night I mistakenly went back into the port and had to show my ID in order to turn around.  I ended up sticking my license back into my wallet, but didn't realize or remember where.  When I came Saturday morning, I was shocked to see my license was not anywhere I could find!  I looked everywhere for it!  So I was asked to pull around and see the police officer.  When I couldn't find my license he tried looking it up, but the way I told him, he kept coming back to tell me I wasn't in the system and he was getting more and more annoyed and impatient with me.  I was in tears talking to Mark.  (He had already looked up the license and demanded to know who Mark was)  The way he was treating me, Mark wanted to reach through the phone and punch him.  Finally, I was able to tell him the right name and he found me.  They issued me a one day pass to get through.  When I went through the gate, the man who gave me the pass apologized and said how sorry he was at how I'd been treated.  His kindness made me cry again.  I'd been there for about a half hour and was late for work.  And then the guy at the gate I was supposed to park in wouldn't accept my pass because I didn't have a picture ID, so I ended up parking in the expensive parking ($12.00/day).  I had to ask myself what I was supposed to learn from this experience. 

That night after I got home, Mark went through my wallet and found my license in a side pocket I hadn't checked.  At least it wasn't lost.

The good thing about the weekend was making over $300.00 between the two businesses.  The bad thing is being more paranoid about police officers.

Harry Potter World

For my 60th birthday, I wanted to go to Harry Potter World.  So Monday, Sept. 30th, we drove up to Orlando and spent the evening with President and Sister Berry (aka. Mike and Beth Ann) at the mission home.  It was wonderful to see them and spend the evening with them.  We got to stay in the GA room (General Authority).  There's a bathroom connected to this bedroom, so it's perfectly private.

The home is beautiful!  We were able to enjoy a lovely dinner with them and three young men who serve as President Berry's assistants.

The next morning we went to the temple and enjoyed an especially awesome session.  The new film is so beautiful, tender and thought provoking.  I cried through most of it.  It is so well done.

After the temple it was off to Universal Studios.  We paid for the "Islands of Adventure" where Harry Potter World is.  We could have paid for the whole park, but it was after noon and I really didn't think we would be able to get our money's worth.  Of course we walked straight to Harry Potter.

It's amazing!

I really wanted to see inside the castle.  The ride signs kept warning people about motion sickness, so I asked about it.  Oh, it's not that bad, I was told.  It's a simulator.  So I thought I could handle it.  Mark, wisely decided not to go with me.

I'm so glad he didn't!  I got so sick!!  Towards the end, I'm not kidding, I really thought I was going to lose it!  I just kept praying:  ohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease don't let me throw up!  I actually gagged, but thankfully managed not to completely lose it!  I was queasy for quite a while afterwards though.

So sadly, I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer do any of those high-powered rides most people find so thrilling.  And again, sadly, that was what the majority of the rides at Islands of Adventure is.

We did find other things to do however.  Probably my most favorite place next to Harry Potter was Jaurassic Park.  We went on a water ride that was similar to Splash Mountain at Disneyland.  Dinosaurs would pop out of the water from time to time and at the very last minute before plunging down the final portion of the ride, a Tyrannosaurus Rex reaches down to get  you.  We also got our DNA and picture that showed us what we would look like as a dinosaur.  Funny.

Cool.

We also enjoyed the "8th Voyage of Sinbad" live show at Lost Civilization. We sat in the wet zone and got pretty soaked!  All fun.

At the Lost Civilization.

We walked around the park several times, so we did go back to Harry Potter World a few times.  The shops were cute.  After I got over my queasiness we had dinner at The Three Broomsticks.  It wasn't long after that before we left to go home.

A view of Hogsmeade.  So awesome!

The Three Broomsticks.  Doesn't Mark look excited?  lol.  The food was pretty good.

Dr. Suess Land.

Yertle the turtle.

What an awesome birthday!!

This and That

I have one more assignment for my biography class.  It is simply one more edit and send it off.  My last edit earned me 100%, so I'm not sure what more I can do, but I'll see what my instructor has to say.  I have to say that I am feeling a lot less stressed these days knowing that I'm almost finished with this class.  I have decided that I am not taking any more classes until I get back home to Utah.  I am helping Sister DeGraffenried with the Fort Lauderdale history, so I will focus on that, plus I have some personal projects I would like to work on and complete before we return home.

Speaking of which, we will not be returning back to Utah until April.  We've been asked to stay until after the dedication.  It has not been officially announced when the dedication will be, but hopefully sometime before General Conference in April.

Our stake conference is coming up in October.  We are privileged to have Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve to come.  We know he will want to see the temple, so Mark and I will be looking forward to meeting him and going through the temple with him.  I'm so excited!

I'm also excited because I will be directing some of the choral music for our stake conference and the congregational music as well.  I'm really looking forward to that.  We've had two rehearsals so far and have had over 80 people show up!  We're not quite sure how logistically it's going to work, but it sure is fun directing that many people.  I am loving it!

We enjoyed meeting with the senior missionaries and President and Sister Anderson last Monday for Family Home Evening.  Sister Anderson prepared a thank you dinner for the senior missionaries; chicken parmesean, salad and garlic bread and a lovely dessert.  President Anderson always gives us a great message and this one was no different.  We talked about stress missionaries go through and how to deal with it.  It is something that can be applied to all of us.  I have to say that these last few months have been and will continue to be very stressful as things wrap up at the temple. So the things we talked about, especially the importance of taking care of ourselves, was helpful.

Afterwards we took another group picture.  President Anderson always loves to take a straight picture and a funny picture.  Here we are:

Friday night Mark and I attended a football game between Miramar and St. Thomas Aquinas (a Catholic school).  I understand St. Thomas is rated very high in the nation.  I don't love football the way Mark does, probably because I don't completely understand everything, but Mark is good to explain things to me.  Miramar is a predominantly black student body, so the majority of the cheerleaders and other participants and parents are black, so it was different and interesting to me to sit in the stands.  It was a really exciting game.  The funniest part was the rain.  It rained for a while, then stopped.  Then it rained again for awhile and stopped again.  The umbrellas went up, but it hadn't even occurred to Mark and me to bring an umbrella.  By the time the game was over, we were pretty soaked.  But the most exciting thing was Miramar won!  22-20.  Good game!  Everyone was really nice.  It was fun.  We had a good time.

Mom

August 26th, the day I got out to Connecticut, I got a phone call telling me Mom was in the hospital.  Dad always works at the Bishop's Storehouse on Mondays and since Mom always slept in a chair in the living room, he didn't worry about waking her when he left. 

However, when he got back and she still wasn't awake, he tried to wake her, but couldn't.  He called my sister Patti.  She was unable to wake her as well, so they called 911.  When the paramedics came, they found her blood pressure to be around 70/30 and her oxygen around 54.

When I heard that, I really thought "This is it.  She's going to die."  I really thought I would cutting my trip to Connecticut short to fly out for her funeral.

At first the doctors thought she had had a heart attack in the night, but as time went on, it was believed she might have mistakenly over-medicated herself.  They also found elemental nutrients very low, like potassium, magnesium etc.

Michael and I called every day to see how things were progressing.  At first she was in intensive care, but miraculously, the doctors were able to pull her back, and in a few days, I was amazed that she was talking to me again and, in fact, sounded really good.

After she was moved to a room away from the ICU, she got some physical therapy and started walking.  Later, she was moved to a hospital in Blackfoot that dealt with patients who needed physical therapy.  She was there for two weeks and is now home.  She has been walking every day and is getting physical therapy three times a week.

Last Saturday, my parents celebrated their 80th birthdays with a party my siblings gave them.  I was not able to go, but I understand they had a very good time and many, many people came to wish them well, including their old gang from Hillview Village (Ammon).

I'm grateful to the doctors and nurses who helped my mom recuperate from a life-threatening situation.  Every day my parents are here is a gift.  I love them very much!