The girls out number the boy 2 to 1 in this family. As retirement has officially kicked in, we'll share some thoughts, memories, and life's lessons along the way. As we travel down Lifes Highway!
Dolphins anyone??
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Fun with Flipper and the gang off the coast of Sanibel Enjoy
So I have been a little behind in posting to the blog this year. The time is flying by way too fast. Wednesday's plan was a day at the beach. I started off by getting a few shots of the sunrise from the dock. Nothing like watching the world wake up in paradise. I was then off to Baileys for some Doughsants. This was another first for us. We never heard of a doughsant before but thought what the heck lets give them a try. I kind of envisioned the light airy texture of a croissant mixed with the glazed goodness of a doughnut. The folks at Baileys are so polite. The lady at the Bakery counter told me this batch came out smaller than normal so they gave me double the amount for the same price! The outside was like I expected but there was some sort of filling inside a little like a cream cheese but with some sort of flavoring that was not sweet. Sorry not a big fan of the doughsant...
So today reality sets in and its back to the daily grind. I still haven't told you about our last day at Gulf Shores, Alabama so here goes. We left St. George Island around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Next stop, Orange Beach and Gulf Shores Alabama. We drove along the coast most of the way. Lots of swamp logging going on in this area and somewhat unfortunate to see so many closed businesses and abandoned buildings scattered along the coast line. It was a different story when we got into Orange Beach/Gulf Shores. I compare it to a place we have in the southern part of Missouri called Branson. Lots of people, lots of cars, and a bunch of tourist type attractions. So to me Gulf Shores was Branson by the Ocean. It has a higher density of people and high rise accommodations than my heart desires but we have never been here and now we know. The slogan for Gulf shores is "Small Town, Big Beach" The beach was wi...
So today is Lexi birthday! For her birthday she was given the present of a perfect beach morning. Calmest water we've seen all week. The sky was filled with sunshine and the ocean was full of sailboats, paddle boaters, Parasails, pelicans, people and even a manatee. It was just like when you have a bad round of golf somewhere during the round you hit a great shot and its enough to make you want to come back and do it again. Today was that good shot! Around 1:00 the sky opened up and we made a hasty retreat to the house but it was ok because Lexi dinner of choice for her birthday was where else but Cheeburger Cheeburger. This little 60# is going to tackle the monster burger. She determined to get her picture on the wall. I don't classify Lexi as a big eater but to all of our astonishment she polished that thing off. She challenged Don to take on the one pounder and he didn't disappoint. So early dinner and back to...
Our time with paradise is almost over, but the journey continues. We will be leaving on Tuesday morning. We got a call from the condo owner on Sunday morning. We had rented the condo for 9 days. She was going to come down and spend some time after we left on Tuesday but her schedule would not allow it. She called to let us know we were welcome to stay till Friday if we wanted. How nice is that? I would have jumped on the opportunity but we have made plans to travel about 4 hours north to Fruitland Park FL to visit some old friend we have not seen in ages. We are then going to take a slower route home and stop along the way to bathe in the ocean breeze a few more times before heading back to Missouri. We have a stop planned at St. George Island FL and Gulf shores AL. We have not traveled through the pan handle of Florida before so we our planning routes along the coast. New hig...
While spending our day in Glacier, the rain came in during the afternoon. Not a lot but enough to muddy up the trails. We had considered staying an extra day, but with the rain and the fact that there were some ongoing issues back home because of storms while we were gone. We thought we should push on towards our next stop. We headed to Rapid City, SD. Our target areas here would be Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial and the Badlands. Mt. Rushmore Birth, Growth, Development, Preservation There is a secret room carved into the mountain behind one of the president's heads. The Hidden Hall of Records. Do you know which president? Who was known as the 5th face on Rushmore? As we're walking up the Avenue of flags at Mt. Rushmore, people were of course taking pictures and chatting. What I found interesting was once you reached the end of the flags and approached the main viewing spot for the monument, there was silence, almost like ...
It's been awhile since I posted on the blog. I usually only post when we're on a trip. No trips recently, just navigating down this road we call retirement. I do however have some thoughts to share with you if you care to listen. This past Sunday looked like it was going to be one of the last warmer days for a while as we drift into the colder months towards winter. We decided to fire up the grill and partake in one last summer ritual with some barbecued ribs. As I'm out on the deck, it's late in the day the sun is falling and there's this warm glow off the horizon. The silhouette of a lone squirrel is jumping the treetops, making its way to settle down in its den for the evening. The evening is peaceful, there is a hoot owl in the distance calling to its mate. I walk over to the window, which is directly in front of the kitchen sink. There she is head down hard at work washing dishes. She doesn't detect my presence, so I press my nose up against the window,...
Posting a little later today sitting out on the lania listening to the thunder roll and having a glass of Liquid Lubrication. Strawberry/Plum wine 2008. (It was a very good year). As you regulars on the forum know I enjoy making homemade wine. This one was actually made by a friend of mine. His name is Gil. He's the one that introduced me to the art of winemaking. Strawberry Plum 2008 Gil is best described as one of those country boys that can survive. He's does it all from making his own deer sausage to turning various fruits into liquid lubrication he makes some good stuff! The first time I saw him making deer sausage I was a bit perplexed he was using the camper on the back of his old Ford pickup as a smoker. I thought the darn truck was on fire when I first saw it. Some of the best deer sausage I ever ate. Before I get to todays agenda I should back up a bit to dinner last night....
Yesterday evening we had one on the lowest tide we were able to catch this week. I walked the surf at the shoreline to see if there were any shells. I was able to find a few but the shells have not been plentiful this week. We actually collected more at Barefoot Beach the other day than we have here all week. As I was walking along I began remembering some of the times on the beach with the Beach Angels. The younger one "Taylor" taught me a life's lesson that I would like to share with you. Taylor especially when she was smaller was always amazed with collecting rocks. It was nothing to dump out a pocketful of rocks that she had collected from around PaPa's Koi pond or in NaNa's garden. They were nothing special they were just rocks. Naturally when we began bringing Taylor to Captiva where the beach is full of shells as far as the eye can see. She did what most of us do down here she began collecting shells. Taylor's shells were crac...
The adventure continues as we head further south, down to the keys. Home base this week will be Marathon. On Monday, we have a trip planned to Dry Tortuga National Park. That is pretty much the only thing that has a time commitment to it. We're just going to let the week play out and see what each day brings us. We drove through Fort Myers Beach on our way to an overnight stop in Bonita Springs. I think due to the higher concentration of houses and businesses on FMB the devastation was extreme. We stayed in a house on the south end FMB back in 2019. Below is a picture of that house taken in March of this year. Bottom floor blown out, and what you don't see in this picture is the whole back of the house is gone. Beach house FMB March 2023 When we drove by, all that is left is an empty lot. Property on FMB is selling for the same dollar evaluation post hurricane Ian as it was before hurricane Ian, house or no house. There's no do...
Thursday morning it was time for more seafood omelet research. We went to the Island Cow and I got a what? answer: Seafood Omelet. Just seeing if you've been paying attention. The cow's omlete did have a pretty good amount of seafood but the crab meat was only shreds and there was more shrimp than anything. There was also a watery consistency to the inside of the omelet that was most likely from not suffciently draining the seafood before adding it to the omlete. So ranking order so far IMO is: 1. Hungry fisherman @ Lighthouse Cafe 2. Crab & asparagus omelet @ Amy's Over Easy 3. Loaded Seafood Omelet @ Island Cow On Thursday the high rollers came to Captiva. I'm not referring to a group from vegas with money to burn, but mother nature rockin the waves in the gulf. You know it's rough when you look down the beach as far as the eye can see and there is not more than a hand full of people in the water. W...
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