The Adventures of T&A

Gautam and Donna are heading back to Atlanta and leave us with perishable food they can’t take.  Andrew and I went into St Joseph’s Peninsula Campground, right next to Cape San Blas.  We spoke to the ranger at the office and found out that some of the parks we had intended to visit were closed due to hurricane damage.  It was very foggy, humid, muggy and the gnats were driving us nuts.  We used the small fan in our rig for the first time.  We went out to the beach after dark at high tide and watched ghost crabs run around.  It was very foggy and misty.  Very cool, but we couldn’t photograph it.  

We had reservations for New Year’s Eve (tonight) in Grayton Beach Campground, but have decided to cancel them and stay another night and celebrate with Gautam and Donna.  Andrew and I went for a short bike ride in Cape San Blas and into St Joseph’s Peninsula State Park nearby.  We had our usual Sunset Happy Hour, though it was foggy and we didn’t have much of a sunset, but Happy Hour continued, nonetheless.  We just hung out at the townhouse until sometime after 11pm when we turned on the TV to countdown the New Year.  A few people outside were letting off fireworks, which looked kind of cool and eerie in the heavy fog.  3… 2… 1… HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006!!!

Richard made a huge breakfast for us with sausage, gravy and biscuits (more food!).  Andrew and I made an early start out of Orlando so we can make it to Cape San Blas in the panhandle to meet up with friends.  Our friends Gautam and Donna have rented a townhouse through the New Year and have offered us to stay with them.  We made it just in time for Sunset Happy Hour on the beach with our friends.  Oooo… Aaahhh… another beautiful sunset in Paradise.  

Andrew and I got out early before Grandma Rose could feed us again 🙂  and we went out to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, about 20 minutes west of Boca Raton.  We talked to a volunteer at the park who told us about their attempt to re-introduce native species to rebuild the Everglades.  This park is the Everglades ecosystems in miniature to test management systems and methods.  It was great to know that they are trying to correct decades of mistakes make to the Everglades in the name of “water management”.  And it was a nice place for a walk with lots of birds.  

We head out to Orlando to stay a night with my brother Richard and his wife Kim and their kids.  We got to Orlando just in time for dinner (oh good, more food!).  Richard and Kim had postponed their traditional Christmas dinner and brought out the feast for us.  It was a wonderful meal, even though we’d been feasting since we entered the state of Florida.

Andrew and I took a nice walk on the beach early in the morning.  We walked down the public beach and back through a little park across A1A.  The park had lots of damage from the most recent hurricane.  Hurricane Wilma hit the Boca area in October 2005 much harder than anyone expected it to, considering it crossed the southern tip of the state first.  The whole area was still rebuilding from the many hurricanes that have hit the area in the last couple of years and this storm just added to it.

Technical difficulties: Andrew’s hard drive crashed on his computer.  He’s ordered a new hard drive to be sent to his parent’s house in Atlanta.  We will not be able to access some info (or make web updates) until we get back to Atlanta.  

Grandma Rose took us to lunch at a very cute, very kosher deli called “Ben’s“.  Ben’s had great (very kosher) food and lots of cute Jewish jokes and sayings on the walls. 

“What business is a Yentil in?  Yours!” 

“For five thousand years we wandered, then we found Boca Raton” 

“Moses lead us through the desert to the only part of the Middle East without oil” 

“Eat, Eat, you need your strength to worry”.  (Non-Jews may not get most of these jokes)

Andrew and I look Grandma Rose Morikami Japanese Gardens in Coconut Grove.  We had a great time wandering around in the beautiful gardens.  Grandma Rose is very sweet and tried to feed us constantly, 3 meals, snacks, nuts, brownies, grapes.  We were stuffed!  Oy Vey!

Andrew and I are heading out today for Boca Raton to visit his grandmother Rose for Hanukah.  However, before we go, we wash all the dogs.  Dianne was dog-sitting Gail’s dog Bear while she was out of town, so we have four dog baths to deal with.  Dianne hasn’t been able to wash her dogs since she had surgery on her knee, so Andrew and I stepped in.  She was very grateful to have clean doggies. 

Afterwards, we hit the road, heading out across Alligator Alley (now I-75) to Boca Raton.  It’s sunny and 70 degrees- another beautiful day in Paradise. We stopped at a rest stop (with no facilities) along Alligator Alley for lunch where we saw a local pull in, pee next to his truck, grab a beer out of the back and continue on his way.  Lovely.

Our trip through South Florida revealed lots of blue tarps on roofs, evidence of the very active hurricane seasons they’ve been having lately.  One joke: “What is the ANSI approved wind rating on a blue tarp?”  

We got to Boca Raton in time to relax a few minutes and then head out to a birthday party for Andrew’s great-uncle Joe Lynn.  Uncle Joe is the uncle of Grandma Rose Arbiter, Andrew’s grandmother.  The party was at a Greek restaurant in Boca Raton called Mykonos.  The appetizers were great, the food was very good, but the belly dancer kept interrupting the different people giving speeches honoring Uncle Joe.  The belly dancer had a huge feathered headdress more like that of a Las Vegas showgirl rather than a dancing gypsy.  

Driving down I-75 we passed “FEMAville” near Punta Gorda, FL. These are people living in rows and rows of mobile homes, “temporary housing” since Hurricane Charley hit the area hard in August of 2004.  The hurricane was a small Category two and was expected to continue north to hit the Tampa area, but at the last minute, strengthened to a Category four (possibly Category five) and moved inland, with a direct hit on Sanibel and Captiva Islands and Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte and Ft Myers area beyond.  One island, North Captiva, was ripped in half, the hurricane cutting a new channel across it. 

Our next stop was Dianne’s house in Ft Myers, FL.  We loved seeing our dog Simon again.  It was funny to see his reaction when we first walked through the door.  He couldn’t believe his nose!  It was Mommy and Daddy!!  Dianne said he’s getting along great with the other dogs and we caught him playing with Chipper and Lexie several times.  On Christmas Day the feasting began.  We started off with a small lunch with my brother Buddy, his wife Debbie, their son Jonathan and Dianne.  I tried to call my sister Anne, but was only able to leave a message.  We then went over to my sister Gay’s house to continue feasting with her and her husband Dave and my nieces Cathy and Melissa and their families.  The babies Jared and Mikey and just a few months shy of three years old and into everything.  After another wonderful meal, we went out to the cemetery to visit the graves of my mom, dad and grandmother who have all passed away in the last couple of years.  I found a couple of angle ornaments that I left on the graves.

Wow… been a while since our last blog entry. We have both been incredibly busy. I finished up work at Nexidia. My last day was December 16th. Being one of the first employees, it feels very surreal leaving this job behind. I certainly did not feel this way when I began my last set of travels. I leave behind many friends/colleagues whom I will miss dearly. Friends planned two lunches and two parties to celebrate our departure. Thanks to Ken, Jim, Ethan, and Gautam for throwing us parties and lunches. We will miss you all.

During all of this, I spent a few hours putting together our address change notice and Teresa finished up our holiday e-card, so I sent both out in one e-mail. View Our Holiday E-Card! I now have 20 e-mails to respond to from various folks that would like to see us during our travels. If you’d like to hook up with us, send us an e-mail!

Anyhow, our first stop is “paradise!” We thought that since the Holidays are here we should begin our travels visiting family and friends down in Florida. We first visited with Teresa’s sister in Jacksonville. We are currently visiting with several of Teresa’s family members in Ft Myers. The weather is about as perfect as possible, sunny and 70 degrees. Ahhhh… another beautiful day in Paradise! 

Next we spend a few days with my grandmother in Boca Raton, then we stop in Orlando to see Teresa’s brother. Our friends Gautam and Donna will be on Cape San Blas and we will stay with them for a night.

The next bit is really a bit ironic. I swear, we did not plan things this way, but it turns out that our first of many, many nights of camping will begin on New Years Eve. What a way to kick off the New Year! We will be doing some “posh” camping (showers available) at Grayton Beach State Park, near Seaside, Florida. We plan on a short walk or bike into the beautiful coastal town of Seaside for our New Year’s Eve celebration.

The first week of January we will be exploring the Florida panhandle, on the list of things to see: Blackwater River State Park, Falling Waters State Park, Ponce de Leon Springs, and Florida Caverns State Park. We also hope to drop by and visit friends in Dothan and Mobile. The second week of January we will be staying with our friend Colbert living very close to the earth near Valdosta, Georgia. Colbert is an expert at living off of the land, and he is especially knowledgable with animals, sign tracking, and trapping. By mid-January we will be back through Atlanta for a day or two and then, after picking up and dropping off a few things, we head out west towards Colorado and the Koransky home in Edwards. By end of January, we hope to be in Death Valley (a place you really don’t want to visit in August!) It would be an awesome thing to see the desert bloom, but that depends on how much rain they get. It’s too soon to know about that. That’s about all we have planned for now, except for Europe in May and Alaska in July or August.

Anyhow, that’s about it for now. I’ll have a tech update in a few days, and we’ll write again in the new year. We hope everyone has a fantastic holiday and wonderful new year.

T & A

We started our travels in mid-December.  Since the Holidays are here, our first stops will be visiting family and friends (and Simon!) in Florida.  Our first stop from Atlanta is to stay a night with my sister Sue and her family in Jacksonville, FL.  They had just moved into a new house they were remodeling and we were anxious to see how things turned out.  The Adventure Begins!!