Daytona 500, Titusville, Vero, Palm Beach. In that order.

(Tom & Linda, Barry & Alice, David & Linda)


Hello all! and Happy belated Valentine's Day!

it's been a while... but, we're in Palm Beach now and the marina here is nice enough to offer us internet.

I hope this post finds you well!

Let's start with Sunday. the Daytona 500. Holy cannoli, did we have fun. The weather was perfect (and would have been perfect for the whole race had they not gone in to OVERTIME IN NASCAR? ...who knew?)

We got to the track around 11, the race started at 1- plenty of time to ride the tram to the super-stretch, find a "track dog" and a beer, and make it to our seats just in time to hear Sarah Palin make a pre-race speech- sooo cool! After Sarah Palin, Tim McGraw performed. Then HARRY CONNICK JR sang to me!

not really, but he did sing the national anthem...

seriously one of the coolest days ever.

"Gentlemen! Start Your Engines!!"


Check out that #1 spot!! It's Kasey Kahne!!


and again! with only 73 laps to go!


The race was exciting... that track-patching nonsense was something we all could have done without, but at least the company was enjoyable! and it gave us time to get up and get a snack- this is my happy face:


the sun setting on the Daytona 500:




I spent the entire race watching Kasey Kahne's car go round and round the track. So, you can imagine my frustration and sadness when he wrecked! just a few laps from the finish!


Highlight of my day: As we were leaving the track headed for the tram, there was a little boy, walking with both parents, screaming/crying, huge alligator tears, gasping for air, the whole scene. He might have been 4 years old. maybe. I felt sorry for the little guy, and assumed it was past bedtime and he was tired. His Mom looked at me and in an exasperated tone said, "Kyle Busch didn't win."
...ok. I didn't understand. Then, as if to explain, the child wailed, "KYLE BUSCH DIDN'T WIIIIIIN!!!" I could barely contain my laughter.
To quote Alice's sister-in-law, Linda: "That kid needs therapy."

We finally boarded the tram, walked about a mile and a half back to the car, and made it back to boat.


Monday: Titusville bound.
Before we left Daytona, the 7 of us were leisurely enjoying sticky buns and each other's company before the Indiana-ites? Indians? Indianins? Hoosiers! -before the Hoosiers left to go back to Indiana. 1 dock over from us, a trawler, Kitten, was departing. The captain wasn't paying attention... no lines were left tied. He began drifting forward into another boat. The sound of the swim platform crunching was enough to turn my stomach.
so, we said a prayer that Kitten was headed north and vowed to look out for her, just in case.

We did catch up with her. but we kept our distance.


Tuesday: Vero Beach bound.
We saw dolphins today! LOTS of dolphins! 3 on one side of the boat and 4 on the other- we managed to get some ok pictures.



Also, we saw this boat. I'd like to live here.



Wednesday: Palm Beach bound.

check out this sunrise.


Today we ran across a fellow Outer Reef-er, named Ruff Seas! and decided that we look pretty great on the water!



The Jupiter Lighthouse:


and just to show you how gorgeous the water is:


Tonight we walked to a restaurant called Reef Rd Rum Bar- VERY good! it was on a really pretty street with little white lights strung everywhere- way cool atmosphere (and I forgot the camera...) and food was good too- Fried Grouper Sandwich! mmmmm!

Tomorrow, we're headed to Ft Lauderdale for 10 days! ...gonna get some work done on the boat and see what kind of trouble we can get into!

phew, I'm up-to-date!

Thanks for reading! catch you on the flipside!