And the winner is.......

Howdy, Y'all – Long time, no post, hey?

Just didn't want to bore you with quiet visits with friends and family. Thought I should have at least a few significant events to write about.
Anyway, since my last posting, here's where we've been and what we've done.

When we departed Galveston Island, Texas, we left via a state operated free ferry system and rode the boat back to the mainland across Galveston Bay in a “pea soup" fog (de-ja vu the coast of Maine), disembarking at Port Bolivar. We then proceeded on to New Orleans, LA for a couple nights stay in order to stroll the length of Bourbon Street taking in all the sounds of New Orleans Blues music emanating from the never-ending row of pubs and cafes. Leaving New Orleans, we layed over one night in Tallahassee, FL on our way to Melbourne and a visit with our dear friends, Karen and Harry. Their hospitality was so embracing that we didn't leave for ten days. We spent our time with them living aboard their 43 foot Gulfstream trawler right on the Intra-Coastal Waterway.

Phenomenal!

Our mutual friend, Hamp, gave us a great day of touristy stuff by showing us an 1800's “fish camp”, Sebastion Inlet State Park, a sea turtle museum, and the National Historic Landmark, the McLarty Museum, on the site of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet disaster. Nearly a dozen sailing vessels were sunk on the offshore reefs here by a hurricane in 1715. All were laden with treasure. Gold, Silver, andjewels bound from Cuba to Spain.

We also had a great day sailing with Dennis on his yacht and great evenings beating Denise and Hamp in a game of dominoes. Thank you to all of our friends for more wonderful memories.

When we finally left Melbourne we headed for Fort Lauderdale to spend a week with my brother, Bill, stopping on the way in West Palm Beach to go out to lunch with Nancy and Ernie, an ex-sister-in-law of Betty's. While at my brothers for 9 days or so, I did a few chores for him and Betty did a lot of cleaning for him. 

When leaving there, we traveled across “Alligator Alley” on our way to Arcadia

(near the Gulf coast) for an overnight visiting with friends and co-workers (with the North Maine Woods) Linda and Daryl.

After leaving Arcadia we moseyed on up to Hernando, FL via the very impressive Skyway Bridge spanning Tampa Bay for our extended stay with cousin Diana and Emil.

On launch day for the final flight of space shuttle “Discovery”, we traveled back to the Atlantic coast and Karen and Harry's boat, “EMOH” (”Home” spelled backwards). We left  Hernando about 5:30 am in order to arrive by their ships sailing time of 9:00 am. With half a dozen of us aboard, we set off northerly along the ICW for the three hour cruise up to the Kennedy Space Center area. We dropped anchor just opposite the space center's Vehicle Assembly Building and launch pad 39B. We then enjoyed a couple hours of drinks, snacks, and conversations with old and new friends. Just after4:50pm we witnessed the final blast off of Discovery into a clear blue late afternoon sky as it began it's chase of the International Space Station. 

Two days later, Betty and I left the boat before daybreak and with lawn chairs andfull coffee mugs in hand, we drove to a public park beach and sat on the shores ofthe great Atlantic Ocean to await a gorgeous sunrise.

Harry reaching to catch beads

Later in the day, we drove up to Cocoa Village with Karen, Harry, Sheri, and Clyde to revel in Cocoa's version of the New Orleans “Mardi Gras” celebration complete with Louisiana cuisine, Cajun music and a grand parade that included the traditional tossing of thousands of beaded necklaces into the crowd. The next morning we headed back to the Gulf Coast, Hernando, and Diana and Emil's place.

Next up, a fishing trip into the Gulf of Mexico. 

We plan on starting back north the last week of March with a six night stay tenting in a national park just outside of Washington, D.C. We'll spend the week there seeing all the sights, monuments, museums, etc that we can fit into that week. We hope to take in a session of congress and of course tour the White House.I emailed my local congressional representative this morning for White House tour tickets. You need to do that nowadays about a month in advance in order for the government to complete background checks prior to your visit.

Oh, and BTW, the winner of my little trivia questions about the two photos at the end of my previous blog posting was.............

KATHY! Harry got them correct also but Kathy beat him out with the right answers

sooner.

For those of you that have asked for our cell phone numbers, they are.......

Betty: 207 731-5573
Linwood: 207 731-3164

Til I post again, have a great day.