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!

NASCAR fun!

2.13.10

Alice’s brother Tom and his wife Linda and their friends David and Linda arrived last night around 8. (They were supposed to arrive at 4 like I said, but they had some airport delays… followed by some rental car issues.) We had dinner at the Charthouse right here at the marina- oh em gee, was it good food. Oh, and the restaurant has huge windows that overlook the marina and we could see a bunch of yachts- one of which, Wheels, belongs to Hendricks Motorsports. Pretty cool.

Today, we went over to the track to watch the Race for COPD- one of the Nationwide series races. Holy cannoli, it was so cool. I’ve watched enough NASCAR with dad to know I enjoy it enough… but after today I understand so much more! There’s actual strategy! Haha



It was cold, but not ridiculously so… had it not been for the wind, it would have been pleasant.

I was very excited about #38- Kasey Kahne. He’s cute. Seriously, that’s the only thing I knew about him. Turns out, he’s a pretty serious racecar driver as well… AND our seats were almost directly in front of his pit crew. How fortunate for us!



It seems that the 6 of us were the only ones in the stands not jumping-out-of-our-seats excited about Danica Patrick. We’re so over her. but here she is anyway... the pictures are pretty neat.





Here's one really cool one- 5 pit stops at once... then the traffic jam that ensued.





There was a huge wreck.


Danica's crew tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.


Alas, here they are, pushing her off the track, to find a new radiator.


wrecked car on a wrecker #1:


wrecked car on a wrecker #2:


...drum roll, please...
The WINNER! Tony Stewart!




We had delicious hamburgers on the boat for supper- here's a great picture of the Captain grillin them up!


Titusville tomorrow! Fingers crossed for warm weather!!

a great day to be a duck.

Today is cold- 50 degrees ish?
and rainy.

There were some chore-ish things to get done this morning before guests join us (laundry, vacuuming, etc.), then lunch, then I decided to find internet.
I'm at the library. There are lots of people here today- it's a good day to read a book.

Our guests join us around 4 this afternoon and will stay with us all weekend.

That's all for now- peace out, homies!

Daytona: Day 1

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Greetings from Daytona! We can hear racecars from the boat! …wait. I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today was a great day- we left the St Augustine City Marina at 7am and took this picture almost immediately: Wow.

I also took this one of the marina- it would have been a great picture had I not been shaking the camera. Oh well.

Then we saw dolphins! And deer! No pictures of either, my apologies.

Docking was a breeze. Thrusters are so cool.

Once we got in and had lunch, we washed the boat- now it sparkles! Then we got to play with new boat toys! Check them out:

Pretty spiffy!

There are some pretty cool boats here, likely belonging to drivers. Will post pictures at a later date… haven’t wandered around yet-
no worries, we’re here all weekend. :)

thank goodness we're headed south...

Happy Birthday to Alice AND Mrs. Holt!!

**throws streamers and makes annoying noises with a party favor**

Welcome all! We're back on the boat!

We left the dock this morning at 7... were out of Doctors Lake by 7:20. Check out the sun rising behind the Doctors Lake Bridge. b-e-a-utiful!



it was 38 degrees. the windchill made it feel like 12 degrees.
...ok, so not quite THAT cold, but it was FRIGID.

Barry had a grand time watching me trying to throw/place/heave the bow lines around the pilings. (and I say "trying to" because I never accomplished it... he eventually came out and did it himself.) I'm already pretty awful when it comes to using the hook on the lines, but as cold as my hands were, there really was no hope.

Moving on... it was an awesome day (but any day that begins with a breakfast of Puppy Chow is bound to be- Thanks, Beck and Mrs. P!)

here are some pictures of beautiful Jacksonville- enjoy!









and here's a tug that decided to race us... I would have gone outside to take it but, seriously... it was cold.



Here's a picture of the St. Augustine Lighthouse... oh, and on that note, this was taken with Alice's new camera from ridiculously far away. We will apparently have less need to use our binocular/camera trick on this trip.



Now we're in St Augustine... just south of the Bridge of Lions.
We ate dinner at 95 Cordova- the restaurant at the Casa Monica. WAY good!
and check out this picture...



That's the menu I'm lookin at! it lights up! how crazy is that?! it was like one of those ridiculous birthday cards that you open and it sings...

what will they think of next?

We're headed to Daytona tomorrow- stay tuned!

Wolf Trap Lighthouse: Then and Now

Hey there, readers!
When we were in the Chesapeake at the end of July, I got a pretty ok picture of Wolf Trap:


When I came across this photo of the same light, I had to share it with you. It's from 1960.


If you'd like to read about some of the history of Wolf Trap, here's where I found the picture...

http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=441

it's a very cool story!

Thanks for reading and don't be a stranger!

Clingstone House, Newport, RI

Happy New Year's Eve!!

You may remember reading about a house we saw on our way into Newport- it was built up on the rocks... I didn't say much about it then, but I did show you a picture I took (in a post titled "Mission: Accomplished?"). But no need for you to search, here it is again:



A friend sent me an article about the house, and now I'd like to share it with you!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/garden/07clingstone.html?_r=1

(Although it is fairly obvious, I feel obligated to tell you that the following pictures were not taken by me.)











Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!

Central Park's Tavern On The Green Restaurant Bites The Dust!

The restaurant is gearing up to serve its last meal on December 31st, then everything within the restaurant will be auctioned off to pay the $8 million debt! Read on, it's an interesting article...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122044283

Read about our amazing Tavern On The Green experience:

http://waterbloggedashley.blogspot.com/2009/08/no-wonder-they-never-found-each-other.html