St. Pete, Kids, Birthday and Home Again

We drove from the Melbourne gam across the state to St. Petersburg, Florida. It's not a long trip and not particularly scenic, but it avoided tolls (there's that budget kicking in again) and was pleasant enough as we chatted and re-lived the highlights of the gam, especially reacquainting with so many old friends. We arrived in St. Pete mid-afternoon and were welcomed by Brennan and Hannah, and our grand-dog, Olive. Olive's main preoccupation in life, beyond eating, pooping and sleeping, is “ball”.

The “kids” purchased their first home this past year in the “Historic Kenwood” area of St. Petersburg and it was our first chance to see it. It's a 1923 sweetheart of a place with lots of character and funky nooks and crannies which they readily admit might be a money pit. They've already done lots of work and the projects continue to roll on. In other words, they love it and so did we. We even had our own “parents” apartment all to ourselves. Quite the luxury!

We celebrated my birthday one evening with dinner at Gateway to India, an upscale Indian restaurant with great food. We're not a gift-oriented family for birthdays, but being with them to celebrate for the first time in ~20 years was pretty special … despite good-natured ribbing about my increasing years and parsimonious nature.

Even Google wished me a happy birthday! Talk about Big Brother always watching. Actually, it's FB since it wishes both us a happy b-day and David's is in July. FB snitched!

Having missed our daily morning walks lately, Brennan and Olive took us on a lovely 6.5 mile walk along St. Pete's Central Avenue down to the bay and back again. Street art is definitely alive and well in St. Petersburg's downtown artsy area. Though we missed the MFA and the Dali Museum (on the list for next time), walking by the galleries and decorated buildings was interesting and inspiring.

All too soon, it was time to head to Orlando and board the flight back to Vegas. We had opted for “low fares” when I made the reservations. We'd forgotten that “low fares” meant NO amenities whatsoever (including no reclining seats) AND two stopovers … one in Cinncinati and a plane change in Denver. It was a long, long day punctuated with long waits, too much coffee and sore necks, but we survived. The extreme turbulence arriving in Vegas prompted the passengers to hoot, holler and applaud as we landed. Our luggage got lost somewhere along the way, but Frontier promised they'd find it and deliver it … soon. Mary and Paul were there to meet us at the airport and whisk us away to the “big house”.

All is well. We're right back where we started from 10 days ago, ready to resume our morning walks on the golf course and prepare for the holidays and our next adventure. Where to next? Stick around … you know we love to share.

Off to Florida - Fun and Friends

It's been a hectic, crazy whirlwind of a time in Florida. We took a red-eye, non-reclining seat, uncomfortable Frontier flight from Vegas to Orlando. The usual … it sounded cheap, but by the time we paid for baggage, reserved seats together (in the back of the plane, no less), it ended up being fairly expensive. Bleary-eyed and tired, (although I still had time to pose with Snow White… after all we are in Disney territory), we picked up our rental car and made our way to Davenport, just south of Orlando to visit old cruising friends, John and Nicole, whom we'd first met in Tahiti.

Nicole and John are most excellent hosts and very hospitable folks and excused us early the first night so we could catch up on our zzzzz's, and we did. They live in a gated community with lots of walking paths lined with live oak trees, draped with Spanish moss, aka old man's beard. We walked each morning we were there. The inhabitants in these marshy wetlands and lakes are a bit different than we're used to seeing in the Las Vegas desert. We saw a sign warning us not to swim, feed or touch the alligators. As if!!!

Then we saw the alligator. Yikes! Watch out, poodles!

Our visit centered around eating, chatting, drinking, eating, drinking, eating and local exploration. Recovered and rearing to go, our hosts whisked us away first to lunch at the Cherry Pocket, a local, well-known hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served up excellent seafood in a rustic sort of atmosphere.

We ate on the deck, enjoying the warm Florida sun and watched anoles and geckos skitter across the floor. A big turtle dawdled near the water's edge and wood storks plied the nearby waters for lunch.

One day we visited Winter Park and took the scenic lake tour on a pontoon boat. There's lots of old money here and the “cottages” spoke to early 20th century wealth and luxury. The shallow-draft boat wended its way through circuitous, narrow canals lined with lush trees and foliage that connected one lake to another.

We were surprised, as was the tour guide, when David spotted a bald eagle perched on a treetop.

Lunch was at Bosphorous, a Turkish restaurant that John and Nicole knew well. The surroundings were Turkish antiques and the authentic food was awesome. The desserts looked tantalizing, but the appetizers and mains in which we indulged didn't leave room. Maybe next time?

Not far away was the Morse Museum, the foremost collection of Tiffany glass in the world.

We waltzed through the galleries of exquisite stained glass windows and lamps and art deco creations. The lighting was perfect to take advantage of the rich colors and intricate designs. It was almost dreamlike.

We headed back to John and Nicole's in time to watch the election returns together. In years past, David and I had a tradition of ordering in Chinese food and sitting in front of the tube to watch the news coverage of the election and our hosts were only too happy to oblige us. We noshed on Chinese and watched as the results of this most contentious contest rolled in. Though unhappy with the results, we were oh so happy it was finally over.

And then, just like that, it was time to leave and head to the upcoming SSCA gam. Our presentations were still not completed and we were feeling a bit of angst as we hugged John and Nicole goodbye and caught up with reality during the drive to Melbourne, Florida.

Stay tuned for more angst as we “gam it up” in Melbourne.