Sailboat at Sunset at DESTIN, FLORIDA

Another evening on the Gulf in the Florida panhandle! Gary buys tickets for a sailboat cruise with AJ's Cruise fleet and to our dismay it could only sail in the bay because the tide was out. We decided to go anyway and see the bay as well as the sunset .

Our Captain said that he had gotten hung up on that shoal just a few days before so would not take a chance! Since we had eaten at Red Lobster earlier, we did not try out their Seafood and Oyster Bar . I am sure that was our Loss! Maybe next time.

When I saw the Pirate who welcomed us on the boat, I thought that he would be the Captain. However, our Captain was much younger and his mate was only 18 years old, but he had been sailing as mate for about a year. When letting out the sails or taking them, he was fast on his feet. This was interesting with all of us sitting around in his way. But it did not seem to bother him. When we began, we passed another sailboat similar to ours though it may have been shorter and ours was decorated in a pirate theme. This is the view of AJ's from the Bay . I would love to eat out here and watch the boats. We also saw people on the dunes which seperated the bay from the Gulf. Wouldn't you love to walk through this sand ?

Right from the beginning the Captain had to listen to a drunk in our group who would not be quiet enough for all of us to listen to the Pirate's tales. Fortunately the little fellow did not have any problem listening and he even got to steer the boat while standing on a cooler to make him tall enough . He was intimidated by the Pirate's gun and the noise that it made. But he did open up and interact with the Pirate before he steered the ship.

Another passenger got a chance to steer the boat also and enjoyed it.

There were others who walked clear up on the bow of the ship for fun. It was a little more risky that I cared to be! I was glad the lady took her heels off before she went up! We were content to just sit and listen to the stories,watch others and look at the sights. There were grand hotels and restaurants all along the waterway.

This was the boat after we climbed ashore after the sun had set .

Hello from the FLORIDA PANHANDLE

We arrived at Eagle's Landing Campground at Holt on a Tuesday after spending the previous night in a Walmart because of heavy rain and storm. By time we got "our home" set up we found that we were too late to join Audrey's brothers for their usual Tuesday lunch. You can't tell from this picture , however, the campground is very green compared to Red Barn at Bushnell. It was very nice, clean and quiet. We enjoyed our two week stay there! The the best thing was being near relatives and being able to visit. Two of Audrey's brothers stopped by on Thursday and we had Grilled Chicken Salad together and a great visit. At their usual Tuesday lunch in Pensacola the next week, we joined them and a friend of my oldest brother's for another fun visit! We also stopped by their homes to visit. While at Audrey's oldest brother's we had to take some pictures of his Lego collections for our grandson's benefit . We had stopped at a yard sale with him and the temptation was too great, he had to buy more! He has a granddaughter from Chicago who also enjoys them. I believe it was his last trip to Chicago where they checked out a huge Lego display that he new about in advance. Now I'll be checking out Lego's at garage sales!! While in the panhandle of Florida, we went to see an art show at Valparaiso which turned out to be more crafts and fun and Heritage celebration , than art. We have not found any art that compared to what we saw at the show we went to in Mt. Dora, Florida. While on this trip to Valpariaso we stopped to shop at Santa Rosa Mall and I found a Bon Worth's store and had to change out my wardrobe! After that shopping spree I cleaned out the closet and took a garbage bag to Goodwill. That was a nice feeling. I found a Scrapbook store and stocked up on some paper at 5 cents a sheet. I couldn't do much more than that as I don't have storage space. We also tested out Blue Bell ice cream. Yum-m. We finished off that day at Red Lobster and took these pictures from the deck where we ate. We sure love this area along the Gulf. Before we finished the day, we stopped in Crestview so that Gary could check out a local car show . He never tires of them!! So I humor him as he humors my shopping! While in the panhandle, we also took a sailboat ride and I will share those pictures with you in the next Blog. Check it out!

Gary in FLORIDA, O-ba-ma Self !

Audrey had to go to Ohio to help with her brother, who was having some problems and while she was gone I stayed in Bushnell, Fl. with the motor home. The following is what I was doing while she was gone. Beginning on March 6th I went to this show at our campgrounds. These guys put on a really good show of music jokes. However, the jokes were not appreciated by most of the women. The fellow with the toilet seat guitar said that his girl friend was called "Butterhead, because she was really nice looking, but her head" They had some audience participation where these guys were used as ventriloquist dummies. Fun was had by all!

This fellow always joked around and had a false tooth showing while he was singing. Corny. but good! They were appropriately called "THE RIVER RATS"

On March 20th

Richard Kiser & Charlie McCoy came in to Boots Hall. They were professionals from Nashville and very good doing country. This fellow was someone Richard & Charlie knew from the audience who they invited to come up and sing also. This is one of the back-up accompanists who had never practiced with Richard & Charlie, but they were good. This guy reminded me of Rich D. from work, lol-lol-lol.

RAT ROD SHOW AT "BIG DADDY GARLIT'S Museum grounds

There was a model show as well . These are some of the Rat Rods

and here are some of the swe-e-e-et customs . I loved this channeled, but not chopped, '50 Ford. Did I say SWE-E-E-E-E-ET?

There were some nice customs, but the crowds were not looking at them, but at the Rat Rod's.

Lee in the blue shirt, who I went with, is checking out the 50's race car.

Camp ground Dog , you campers know what I mean! At least you don't have to scooper-poop after this one.

On March 14th, at Boots Hall I would estimate there were at least 200 quilts shown

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a lot of work in there. I did a close-up for you to see some of the work. But not as good as the Rat Rod Show, of course!

Then I had lots of time to visit with neighboring campers who kept me out of trouble while Audrey was away, and even the mascot!

This was the Leesburg, FL Art Show The potter's art work was wonderful and his idea of people taking pictures of his work was, " if you are of equal talent you would not be taking pictures of his work, and if you aren't, you won't be able to duplicate no matter how many pictures you take! He's right.

This young fellow, Jonny Reed , put on a concert at our Crane Hall. He recently won a country music award, and believe it or not, he is only 16 years old. And playing with him was his father .

These are the regulars at our Park's Jams . They are very good! This drummer who gave Willie Nelson lessons, was really good!

We even had a singer from Columbiana, Ohio. Good Job!

Who's this, Jr? This is a typical Jam at the RV Park with a very lovely lady on the organ. The following is a tour of the Don Garlit Drag Museum in Ocala, Fl.

In Dade City a car ready for vacation

, that I thought it was neat.

St. Pat's day at Bushnell VFW with Bram Taylor from England doing a charity event for a young fellow who needed a kidney transplant.

By the way, I had the BEST corn beef there also, and I highly recommend it next St. Pat's! The following is a concert at Clay Sink Baptist Church with the Terrestrials, a family Southern Gospel group from Tennessee. They were great and I went with Gordon and Sheryl from our Red Barn Park. The Clay Sink Baptist Church was way out in the country.

BOOTS HALL:

Cloggers at the Concert, 50 years of Bliss, 90 and still going strong! What a great job! and always Elvis.

Celebration, FL Street Art Festival ---

This trio was doing 17th century music in a more contemporary style. The announcer of the group was pre-recorded, and I recognized his voice! Great joy, Richard T. with a lot of the voice overs you hear at Disney done by Richard also.

These are two examples of the art at Celebration. The fellow doing what looks like water color, is actually using Starbuck's coffee doing a sepia land scape. That is the only good thing that I think you can do with their coffee! Jeff, a great pencil artist. If you are in the Tampa and Orlando area check out the art shows. Remember the Mt. Dora show that we showed you back a while. We have never been disappointed!