Our next discovery trip is to Cuba, booked for early February 2017. Has been high on my bucket list, so I am very excited. However, I really need to catch up on the blog before our next adventure.This blog is long, so you might want to go tinkle and grab a cup of coffee.
Another Trip out West
When we arrived back stateside from our 91 days in Europe this summer, our friends in Fernandina Beach let us stay at their home while they were in Wisconsin. We were very grateful, as it gave us time to figure out our next move.
I stayed for a short time in Fernandina, then packed again and headed to Washington State to visit my youngest daughter and her sweet family for three weeks. Spending time with the grand children is always a highlight in my life. They are so funny, interesting and entertaining. I sure love those munchkins.
The plan had been for Han to come and pick me up in Silverdale, WA, via a national park trip, and then both do a Canadian west-east crossing enjoying the Indian Summer colors. Major car trouble prevented that plan as the Murano went into the shop for 2 weeks.
So plans changed and I flew out of Seattle back to Jacksonville, the day after my birthday on October 5th. The flight was uneventful until we arrived in Charlotte, NC. Due to Hurricane Matthew, many flights were cancelled and they sent the pilots and crew home. American Airlines then figured it was safe to get us home to Jacksonville and called all the crew to come back in. They passed around pillows and blankets to whoever wanted on, as we were basically camped out in the terminal, waiting to see if the flight would actually take off. We finally started boarding at 2:00am and had a safe but very tiring flight to Jacksonville.
Han picked me up, came back, put luggage down and basically crashed until late morning. I was worn out, but the fun was just beginning. (insert sarcasm here)
The Amelia Island beach after Hurricane Matthew
Hurricane Matthew
Hurricane Matthew was set to make landfall the next day on the 7th. Han and I kept discussing if we were going to stay on the island or evacuate like the city suggested. Han has been through a number of Categories 3, 4 and 5 storms and his assessment was that this one was not going to be as bad as tropical storm (hurricane?) Beryl on Memorial Day 2012. We discussed our options too long because by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, authorities were announcing the closure of the two bridges on and off Amelia Island, and there were no hotels further inland to be had.
Our friends home is one block from the beach, so in the end we figured better safe than sorry and started removing everything off the walls and counters. We battened down the hatches as well as we could, turned everything off and got in our car to head to our friends home in Ft. Walton Beach, normally about 5 hours west.
But the traffic was over the top ridiculous with moving like 10mph. It would have taken us forever to get there, so we decided to turn around and just deal with staying on the island, when my son called and said they had room for us at their home. He lives about 10 miles inland. Good enough for us and we got off the interstate to head back. Absolutely no traffic going back. LOL
So glad we did. We proceeded to enjoy our hurricane party with great company (quite a few people were there), excellent food and a few drinks. The 7th was also our hostess Kelly’s birthday. Han had previously bought me a birthday cake, which we took with us and Kelly and I celebrated our birthdays together. “Let them eat cake.”
The storm was loud, electricity went off, not much sleep but we were all safe, and happy to be with loved ones.
We were not allowed back on Amelia Island until Saturday, very late in the afternoon. Although we were quite tired, we began the job of putting the house back together. Nothing was amiss except for a few pool screens that had become loose due to the wind.
Pétanque America International Tournament
The crew that made the Pétanque Tournament 2016 happen.
My next adventure was working with Philippe who owns Pétanque America. I have previously worked for the company for several years and he needed help with the 7th Pétanque American Open that was coming up in mid-November. More than 400 players and spouses were flying in to attend or watch. I have helped with all previous tournaments, so it was quite simple to plan out.
I had to take a few days off from Pétanque, as we had our first B&B interim innkeepers gig in St. Mary’s GA. It went well, we both enjoyed being an innkeeper for a week and hopefully it won’t be our last. We still want to travel around the world and babysit B&B’s so owners can have some time off to visit family, take a well deserved vacation or have that long overdue operation.
Then I went back to planning for the tournament while Han went to Michigan to pick up a bed that we had left with our son-in-laws father. We actually had plans to move to Michigan for a while, since my youngest and her crew were moving there, but things did not go as planned and we still had not made up our minds where to live. Or so-called “hang our hat” in-between travels. Han also visited our wonderful friends in Nashville.
A Carnival Cruise
Boomer Babe Hippie 2016
The tournament went off without a hitch and was perfect, although a tad too windy for being outside.
The day after the finals (14th of November) our friend Rory picked us up and dropped us at the Jacksonville cruise terminal, as we were going on a 5 day Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas and Half Moon Cay.
I went into it not sure if Han would like it, (he is a sailor) and I was not overly thrilled with cruising on big ships, but honestly we had such a great time. Met some interesting people, swam in Caribbean waters, ate some seriously fine food, enjoyed the shows and slept like contented babies. We will definitely go on another one in 2017.
Here are some cruising tips:
• Order a variety of appetizers instead of a full dinner in the evening.
• The lower decks of ship are just as nice but so much quieter, and it is closer and easier to disembark the ship for port calls and exiting at end of cruise.
• Take interest in the staff. They all have unique stories and you will be treated like royalty.
• Check the daily schedules closely, many times there are freebies to be had.
• Take clothes pins. We used them to hold the window curtains closed in the evening.
When we arrived back to Fernandina, our friends had finally gotten back from Wisconsin. They had been gone since May and loved us, but I am sure they were ready to have their home back. LOL
A Place to Hang our Hats
We quickly found us a cute little apartment in Kingsland GA which we love. One floor so no one is running over the top of you and is just the right size. I call it our “teeny tiny palace.” It’s a welcoming cozy place to hang our hats in between travels and interim inn keeping jobs.
We moved in on the 21st of November, went quickly about setting up what little belongings we had in storage and purchased some additional necessities. I have never been one to let grass grow under my feet, nor has Han.
We celebrated Han’s 66th birthday on the 27th at Wasabi Restaurant. Surprisingly the best sushi we have had in quite a while.
Another Nashville Road Trip
We got the apartment mostly set up, and off to Nashville we went on December 2nd to visit our friends for five day
Had a lovely time as usual and of course we had to make a trip out to Leiper’s Fork where we at a delicious lunch at Puckett’s Grocery. Makes me hungry just writing about it.
Leiper’s Fork TN, a musical step back in time
Leiper’s Fork Dec. 2016. Playground for Country stars
Puckett’s Grocery Leiper’s Fork with old friends Ric and Kay
Abandoning our original plans to return to Florida via the Georgia Mountains, the raging forest fires made us head straight south instead towards Ft. Walton Beach in the Florida Panhandle, to visit my highschool friend Donna. We ended up spending three nights and had a blast. Donna and I hit up all kinds of thrift shops and I bought a desk for Han, a table to use on our patio and some Christmas decor. Our car was loaded down when we began the 5.5 hours home trip to Kingsland on the 10th of December.
The missing home feeling was lovely after 11 months “on the road”.
Some of the Family for Christmas
The Holidays
With Christmas coming up soon, we had a flurry of activity with outfitting the house, decorating for Christmas, wrapping gifts, coordinating visits with my children and running a thousand (or so it seemed) errands.
Christmas was wonderful. I was able to spend time with four of my six children, so that always makes this mama happy. The last to visit was my oldest daughter and grandson and they just left on December 30th after spending three nights in our little palace. It was actually fairly cozy and no problems.
So today is the 1st day of 2017 and it is officially the countdown for Cuba after a short interim inn keeping session at St.Marys Goodbread House. Yes, I am excited. Yes, I will blog A LOT.
Happy New Year to you all.
2 comments
Happy New Year to y’all. Enjoy your trip and keep us up to date.
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Hi Al. Happy New Year to you and Linda as well. We’re going to try to see some more of the world this year.