Week One

We have decided that a weekly entry is more appropriate for us this year.  As we begin this trip, we have thought about what themes it would embrace.  One year, the theme was "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" as we tried to eat at places recommended by Guy Fieri.

This year, we think we will have several themes.  One is definitely - Birds.  We are starting to become birdwatchers and are rank novices, but we hope to visit bird preserves and hopefully participate in a few bird walks.  We also will continue to celebrate our 30th anniversary year with 30 Cool Things and those will also be part of this trip.

This past week has been very family oriented.  We started by 2 nights in Concord, Massachusetts visiting Jecca, Willy, Otis and Henry.  Willy made two amazing Mexican meals while we were there - enchiladas and quesedillas.  Unfortunately, poor Henry was sick and had to spend two days home.  The consequence was renting a rug cleaner to help them clean up!  Oh dear.

Then, we spent two days in Binghamton visiting my Mom and Bob.  We had a lovely stay at Kathy and Jay's house.  Mark and Kathy made an amazing meal of cod, crabcakes, twice-baked potatoes, salad, broccoli gratin and fruit tart.  It was appreciated by all.

Savannah

 

Chart House

Then, we drove to Richmond and simply stayed by the side of the road.  But, the next night we treated ourselves to the Inn on Ellis Square in Savannah, which we found on the internet.  ($79 per night, including breakfast!)  We strolled the waterfront and ate at a wonderful restaurant overlooking the river - The Chart House.  Mark had mixed grill of catfish, oysters and crab; I had a wonderful jambalaya, filled with mussels, shrimp and scallops.  Yum - this day will be added to our 30 Cool Things List.  Afterwards, we strolled some of the historic squares.  We bought some homemade praline to take to Cal and Alice.

We end our first week in Vero Beach with the wonderful Cal and Alice, Mark's parents.  They are amazing people.  Cal, at age 89, is making a gorgeous grandfather clock and teaching another man to make one alongside him.  Alice, age 90, visits the exercise room daily to ride the exercise bike.  Amazing.  Mark and I walked the boardwalk at Vero last night.  The weather is a bit cloudy and chilly; it even rained yesterday.  But, we are happy to be here.

On the Road Again! - U.S.A.

February 1
   We just finished two wonderful plays at the high school:  Enchanted April and Murdered to Death.  We had two wonderful casts and a great backstage crew.  We started rehearsing in October and just finished 3 days ago.  Two plays call for a lot of energy as you have to have two rehearsals, two sets of props, two sets of costumes, separate furniture, two different dress rehearsals, lighting cues, sound cues, programs....
The normal depression of being done with such an ephemeral project has set in, especially as we hate saying goodbye every year to the seniors in Drama Club.
   However, we are also tired and ready to leave the island for a while.  We left 14-year old Kelby behind with Nick today and caught the morning boat.  I think it may be the first time in our lives that we didn't get advance tickets - just took the chance that there would be room and there is plenty; the boat is practically empty.
  We are driving our 2010 black Prius.