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| Denise, Jack and their daughter, Beatrix Very fun people! |
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| One of the gatherings in the Boaters Lounge |
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| Very cool sculpture in Memorial Park |
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| Now this is a "low rider" |
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| Now this is a real "low rider" Notice the air tank? |
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| Cloud Nine doing their thing at Tom and Betty's |
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| Big Foot came for a visit |
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| See why they call him bigfoot? |
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| Railroad bridge closed but we can make it in our dinghy! |
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| Main Street Bridge just down from The Landing |
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| Zoltar! Remember the movie "BIG"? |
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| Very cool sculpting of greenery |
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| One of our best days at the beach not a cloud in the sky! |
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| Fun day! |
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| Lots of people watching |
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| Another cool car show - love the flames! |
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| One cool truck! |
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| I just can't decide if I like this |
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| Blood Moon over the marina I can't take credit for this - it was taken by another boater but I was up to see it! |
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| Oktoberfest with Kevin and Marlene (Tika) |
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| Bob and Laura our neighbors on D Dock |
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| Dr Bill and Ellen cuttin' the rug! |
We’ve been hanging out here in Jacksonville now since August
and are starting to get a little antsy.
It’s time to think about heading out and starting another
adventure! If all goes well, we plan to
leave around the 20th. We’ll
head down the ICW with plans to stop in Ft Pierce for a few days. We plan to navigate the Okeechobee River that
crosses Florida – which will spit us out near Ft Myers. We haven’t done this before and are really
looking forward to it. We’ll stay in Ft Myers a couple of days then go north to
Venice for a week or so. We want to
spend some time with Jeff and Linda there.
Then we’ll work our way south to the Keys (Marathon). At least that’s the plan today!
We’ve been enjoying ourselves here in Jacksonville. One Sunday we took the dinghy to an area
called The Landing. The RR bridge here
just outside the marina has been closed for a few days now – it looks like it
might be a few more weeks. This is
keeping big boats from being able to leave the area or to come in from the
ICW. It has about an eight foot
clearance so we could make it under in the dinghy. The Landing is pretty cool – however a lot of the stores were closed on
Sunday! That was a surprise. One of the servers told us that business
picks up in the Fall and most of them will be open then. We’ll check it out again, I’m sure.
We also spent a day at the beach. It was so nice – crystal blue skies without a
cloud! We really enjoyed the people
watching. The waves were pretty big so
there were a lot of surfers.
One Saturday against our better judgment we rode the
scooters to the Farmers Market again.
The problem was this time – it decided to pour down rain! We waited it out under the bridge where the Market
is for as long as we could. When it
slacked up a bit and looked like there was going to be a break we headed full
speed back to the marina. BUT – there
wasn’t a break and by the time we got back to the boat we both were absolutely
drenched! At least we had our shower for
the week! J
Another day we decided to adventure out on the scooters for
a sightseeing trip. There was a fundraiser of some type going on at Memorial
Park – mostly stuff for kids but we stopped anyway. We rode around and ended up in what is called
the Five Points area. Pretty cool
area. We found a great little bar - O’Brothers Irish Pub. True Irish food on the menu and cold
beer! Now this was the place to people
watch! We saw all kinds – believe me! After we left the Pub we rode around just
enough that we got ourselves turned around and “lost”. I have a question – why is it that when you
get yourself turned around or “lost” - you always end up in the “bad” part of
town? You never hear of anyone getting
“lost” in a nice part of town!!
Sheeh! Anyway once we stopped for
a minute and checked our GPS we turned around and headed quickly in the right
direction. We rode through the area they
call the Brewery District. We had
wondered where this area was exactly – now we know! We’ll come back to this area some other time
– without the scenic tour! At least it
didn’t rain this time!
Last weekend the marina had another get together. This marina is great for that sort of
thing! This time it was steak
night! Bruce and his crew grilled some
fantastic steaks for us with all the fixings.
It was a great evening. We
visited with other boaters poolside.
They even furnished the beer! The
marina is having another get together in a few weeks they’re calling it
Oktoberfest. I’m sure it will be a fun
time!
Oh and the other night - the boaters had a potluck to
celebrate one of the boaters’ birthdays.
It was for Denise who is from Brazil.
Her husband Jack is from Spain (I think) and they have a little girl
(about six years old, I’d guess) named Beatrix.
They home school her on the boat.
It is so very cool because this sweet little girl can speak three
languages. She is a very sweet outgoing
little girl – makes me miss my grandbabies!
Mike has been busy with projects – it’s always
something! Since it really isn’t
conducive here for him to go fishing in the dinghy he has a lot more time to
work on stuff. HaHa! Anyway, everyday seems to bring a new
project. This past few days he’s been
doing some rewiring on the sundeck to give us more outlets. Tomorrow will be another project I’m
sure. He’s wanting to build some type of
rod holder for all his fishing rods. I’m
sure he’ll come up with something. Me?
I’m satisfied with spending time at the pool and reading a good book! Wow, ain’t life grand! Sorry got to go! J
Well, I’m back – didn’t post yet so I thought I’d add to it
before I did.
It’s October 1 and it’s been a little rainy the last few
days. The good news is that it’s still
been cool. We’re still planning to leave
around the 20th of October.
We’re really not on a schedule but we have to set a date or we’d never
leave! We want to be in Marathon by
mid-November.
Okay, I’m back! I’m a
little slow of posting so I’m just going to pick up where I left off…..
We finally got to hear the really good band that we’d been
told about at Tom and Betty’s – “Cloud Nine”
They ARE a really good band – the leader singer could go from Johnny
Cash to Willie Nelson to Pharrell! Hope we get to hear them again before we
leave.
I had a really great treat this past Sunday. We got to spend the day with my
granddaughter, Allie! Her mom was
visiting her sister in Oviedo which is only about a two hour drive from
us. We made the road trip and spent the
day at the Central Florida Zoo (in Sanford) and the City Park. We had so much fun! The problem is - the day was way too short! We did really enjoy it though. Miss all my grandbabies!
Okay - Back again!!
Since I last wrote
- We enjoyed ourselves at
Oktoberfest! The marina put on quite an
event this past weekend. Potluck again
on Friday and a scrumptious German dinner on Saturday. They supplied the German beer and wines,
dinner and a nice little band - all poolside. We are finally getting to know some folks
here only to be leaving in about a week or so!
Saturday we took another scooter ride and checked out the
Brewery area. We had lunch at an “alternative”
spot called the Garage. The food was
good and the crowd was entertaining.
Lets just say – Shane would have liked it. Tattoos and Loud music!
So now I’m really going to post this. We plan to be leaving on Monday, October
20. Like I said earlier, we really don’t
have to leave then but if we don’t set a date – we may never leave! We want to get headed back to Marathon and it
looks like the Tropics are pretty quiet.
Well, I say that now, anyway.
There are a couple of storms out there but they shouldn’t impact the
Florida waters. Let’s hope not!
So the next time I post – we will be in transit. Heading to the beautiful blue water and
gorgeous sunsets!
Till next time!
Admiral “C”
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