Thanksgiving and more!

1100 miles and we're still not out of Florida!

OK, so its been a few days since we've blogged. In part we've just been relaxing and enjoying the sun. The other is that Mike has just been plain lazy. Sorry for the lapse, but we're now back at it.

Nov 25 2008. Pompano Beach, FL. So, on Tuesday we arrive at Mathew's grandparent's (Debbie's parents) apartment and enjoyed our traditional brisket dinner. Almost as quickly, we hit the pool and begin planning for Thanksgiving (not all at the same time). Tuesday and Wednesday are just R&R with Mathew spending most of the day in the pool. We did a bit of cooking in advance, but mostly R&R. Thursday of course is the big day--morning is prep time and watching the Thanksgiving Day parade (we're missing NY just a little bit). The turkey goes in the oven at 1230pm--Mathew and Dad hit the pool at about 130pm (for the second that day)--and the guests arrive at 300pm. Everyone thinks the dinner is delicious. Mike's stuffing (a sausage, artichoke, and Parmesan cheese stuffing) is the lead-off hit, but Debbie's apple pie as usual clears the bases. It practically evaporates off the plate. Friday is a cleanup day and then we head to Sanibel Island around noon.


Friday-Sunday (11/28-30), Sanibel Island. Debbie has been coming here since the 70s and a few years ago she decided to share this treasure with Mike, and we've been coming for at least the past six years. Mathew has been coming here since he was almost born. We enjoyed two absolutely spectacular days here--Saturday was spent biking through the Ding Darling NWR and then had a great meal with some local Grouper from Timbers and sunset dive into the surf (Mathew's first real, fearless venture into the Gulf.) We also spent a good part of Saturday morning building a seashell laden sand castle. Mathew's new-found friend Charlie from West Virginia provided a great incentive and help. As anyone who has ever been to Sanibel Island, Sanibel is for seashelling. More on this later, but let's just say that we probably spent more time looking down than up.

A Good Day to Leave. Sunday brought a lot of wind and some rain. But we got a good walk on the beach and some late seashelling just before the rains came. By the time we were to Tampa the rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was practically blowing us off the road. The rest of Sunday is spent making our way to Tallahassee where this is being written.

NOTES FROM THE ROAD: Strange sounds north of Perry, FL - could they be Spring peepers? They sure sounded like them.
Another unusual sighting - fall colors in FLORIDA, how could this be? We just never knew they had deciduous trees. It was very beautiful. We also found a local orange grove, Hancocks and bought some tasty navel oranges and very sour Meyer lemons.



Needless to say, Florida is a big state. From where we entered north of Jacksonville to where we'll leave near Pensacola, we'll have covered just about 1100 miles on the road in Florida. That's like traveling from New York City to Omaha, Nebraska.

Tomorrow we're off to New Orleans
and then to Mike's brother's in Texas.

See ya'll later.