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| That's our marina in the background |
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| Antique bascule bridge still in service just out from the marina |
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| Fancy manhole covers! |
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| Scenery from local park |
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| Huge elephant ears! |
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| Beautiful, isn't it? |
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| They're not palm trees - but they're beautiful! |
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| Colorful flora |
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| View from under the bridge at the Saturday Farmers Market |
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| Mike taking a break at the market! |
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| At the car/bike show So very cool! |
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| Varoom! |
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| Low-rida! |
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| One of my favorites! |
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| Model boat museum at Singleton's Seafood Shack |
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| There were lots of models A lot of work went into these |
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| Waiting on our burgers poolside |
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| View from the boaters lounge |
We’ve been spending a lot of time in the air conditioned
boat. However, NautiNell has two units and
a couple of days ago one of them stopped working. So we are doing our best to stay cool with
only one unit running. It really hasn’t
been that bad – we have a lot of fans to keep the air circulating. We’ve got a guy coming in a day or so to
check it out. Hopefully it will only
need to be gassed up. Keep your fingers
crossed!
We’ve been doing the usual things here. Searching out good restaurants and going on
scooter rides. There are several nice parks close by. We
found out that a couple we met two years ago in Marathon is here – Dave and
Marilyn (Counter Poiste). Hopefully
we’ll get together with them soon.
There is a couple of bars/restaurants here where we’ve
become regulars. Let’s just say – we
walk in and they know what we drink. Tom
and Betty’s is a great little place.
It’s decorated like a “car show” – old style. The entrees on the menu have car names and
the food is great! They have a nice
happy hour and a band on Friday nights.
Harpoon Louie’s is our other hangout.
They have a great happy hour with the coldest beer in town. They were voted to have the best burgers in
the state of Florida and I agree!
We’ve hit some of the antique stores – just browsing. There are some pretty interesting things
here. Wish we had a way to get them back
to Missouri for resale. We could make a
bundle! Mike found a print of some fish
he liked – spent six bucks. We then
found a frame at the Goodwill for three bucks.
Hey, only the best for us!!
Mike has become a regular at the American Legion – not surprisingly. He’s also been doing “projects” on
NautiNell. Also had to work on the
exhaust on his scooter. It sounded like
a rocket buzzing all around. He couldn’t
find a gasket to fit – so he made his own.
He is quite the “MacGyver”, isn’t he?
A local Harley shop put on a car/bike show this past
weekend. It was huge and very cool. We got there rather late but we saw most of
the cars and bikes before they left.
There were a lot of cars we hadn’t seen before. They also had a band and beer. Not bad!
After the car show we decided we would go somewhere we
hadn’t been for dinner. We had been told
about Singleton’s Seafood Shack over in Mayport. This is a true seafood shack/market that has
quite a history. They serve fresh right
off the boats. The shrimp and fish we
ordered had just been caught earlier that day!
Mike had shrimp and scallops (also caught that day) while I had trigger
fish for the first time. Mike had tried
trigger fish in the Bahamas and I wasn’t too sure about it. However, the waitress said I would love it so
why not? She was right too – it was
delicious! I think it even beat out Mahi
and that’s saying a lot! We had hoped to
take the car ferry across the river to get here but out timing was off. It wasn’t that long of a drive and we got to see
the area. Fun place!
Sunday we decided to check out this local flea market we had
found. Big Mistake! It was so hot AND the place was a giant junk
pile! It was fun watching the people
there though – however some were a little “out there”. There
were some strange and strong odors (oils of some type) at some of the booths –
not the Florida smells that are described in brochures! J They did serve beer – and there was even a
bar with karaoke. It was so bad! We did
manage to get some fresh fruit though. They
would cut it up while you waited and serve it to you in a baggie with a fork. That part was good! They charged a 50 cent admission fee. We definitely got our money’s worth! HA!
After the flea market we had lunch at Cross Creek BBQ. We had driven by it and the parking lot was
packed. So we gave it a try. Glad we did!
They have 2-4-1 drinks there ALL DAY-EVERYDAY! Their food was great! Mike finally got some good ribs!
On Labor Day the marina grilled burgers and hot dogs at the
pool for all the boaters. Everyone
brought a side dish or dessert. They
even furnished the beer! It was
definitely a feast! We hung out at the
pool for a while and visited with some of the boaters. We really haven’t made a lot of acquaintances
here like in Marathon. Like I said earlier – a different attitude! It
seems most stay to themselves. Maybe
it’s because it’s been so hot – people just don’t hang outside much. We’re looking forward to cooler weather and
spending the winter in the Keys. We’ll
be here though for at least another month or more. There’s bars and restaurants that we haven’t
tried yet!
Okay, I’m still writing this a week later – so I’ll bring
you up to date. It turned out that the
air conditioning unit just needed to be serviced and gassed up! Yea!
We’re back to two units now and much more comfortable.
We’ve spent this past week doing pretty much nothing! We’ve hit a few of our favorite hangouts and
finally made it to Mellow Mushroom but that’s about it. Mike finally was able to pick up his new
glasses in Orange Park. That’s a story in
itself! You know the place – the 2 for
$69 type. Well, of course, it turned out
to be quite a bit more than that – and it took several phone calls and over two
weeks to get them! Mike even got on
Google and wrote his first “review”. I
think you call it “ranting” but he felt much better! It was a very non-professional place – to put
it mildly.
Now it’s Sunday and we had planned a trip to the
beaches. Wouldn’t you know it - it
was raining when we got up this morning – now it’s noon and it’s still
raining. Hmmm! At least it’s cooler!
Till next time!
Admiral “C”
