IN FLORIDA, EATING OUT AND ENJOYING THE EASTER CELEBRATIONS!!

Our week began with cooler weather which disappointed our friend Mikki. She had planned that we would go for a cook-out in her back yard.  She finally gave up and cooked and served dinner in her home.  It did not matter to us as her Japanese cooking is always delicious!! 

She had invited another friend, William, so that Gary would have someone to visit with as well. We had a great time and three hours passed quickly!!  She is just one of my brother's wonderful neighbors who befriended Pearl and I, while we spent so much time in Pensacola. 
We will go out for lunch tomorrow so that she can see the motorhome.  That will be our final goodbyes until we meet again.

For Thursday evening, we impulsively called our friends, Lana and Howard, to go and dine at McGuire's Irish Pub.  We had put it off because we did not want to get caught there in the crowds for St. Patrick's Day.  At that, it was very crowded by time we left!!  It was a very unique pub and we really enjoyed their food and brought enough home for the next day as well. 

We asked our waiter how many dollar bills are on the walls and ceiling, to be told 1.2 million!!!
So we decided to leave our mark as well -

Before leaving we checked out the restrooms to find it questionable which room each of us should use!!

This was for women!

This was for men!

Thank you Lana and Howard for escorting us around and for the great fellowship.  We must keep in touch as we move on!!



 



Our plans for Good Friday included stopping at Olive Baptist Church for a Communion Service at noon.  They held it in the Prayer Garden which we had never known existed there on the grounds. 

Prayer Garden at Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola FL

It was a beautiful location and quite large with several old live oaks.  Florida has a state law which prohibits removing any oaks.  It is a lovely difference from all of the palms.  I wonder if the garden is ever used for a wedding.

We found an opportunity to meet our pastor and the music director of the church and say goodbye.   It was good to share with them how much we have enjoyed this church for the past four months, though we were overwhelmed by it's size at first. 

It is sad to move on, but we will find others on down the road who are just as welcoming.  The Sunday School Classes are at the heart of it for us.  But the messages from the pulpit, very fulfilling and the music quite awesome!!

We got us an earlier than usual start on Saturday and went to Elberta, Alabama for their semi-annual German Sausage Festival.  It was just a large craft festival, but we went for the Sausage!!  And we were not disappointed!!  We even added an apple dumpling with ice cream to our menu!!

 

There were a couple bands entertaining, one with the usual German polkas, and another with folk music.  They were good and worth sitting in the shade to listen to.

 



Two of the Stumpfiddle Band members.

The Stumpfiddle players told us that they have been playing for these festivals twice a year for twenty years now.  So it must be a favorite of the locals.

The drive over there from Pensacola was enjoyable as the weather was WARM and VERY SUNNY.   It looks like others also found it enjoyable!!

Nothing like the bloomin' weeds along the highways!!

Actually they were very pretty blooming weeds!! Some of them would be very pretty in a flower bed.  But imagine that they could over power the bed!!

Take care and check back with us in a week.  We will pull out on Wednesday, headed for Natchez, Mississippi.  God Bless!!