Well we finally made it to the beach today. We have been very busy with setting up and unpacking and of course eating so we haven’t had time until today. Our first beach trip was to Service Beach which is the closest to our house (2 minutes in the car). The water temps were mid 70’s. It was great to hear and smell the surf. I love the shore birds and took the first of many photos. There is nothing like a beach day in November.
This evening the gang went off to the annual Santa Parade. The part of this that intrigues me most is the fact that our lawn chairs were set up on Venice Avenue for 4 days in advance of the parade. It was the 34th annual and was over 2 hours long.
Dave and Carol
Charles and Carol Ann
Dave and Jan
Glenn, Gus, Janet, Mary Evelyn and John
Molly and George
Justin even wore a great little Santa suit.
This was the first outing to yard sales and it was fun as usual. Mary Evelyn picked us up in Janet’s new van – so we had lots of room for our stuff!! My find of the day was at the Habitat for Humanity yard sale. This great patio table and 4 chairs were a good deal. The umbrella is the one my niece, Tara, gave us. It fits well in the back patio space near the BBQ.
Black Friday is an American tradition for the day after Thanksgiving. I slept last year but this year Dave and I did get up at 6 AM and headed to Lowe’s to check out laminate flooring. While there we spotted pointsettias for 99 cents. So I managed to buy 8 of them.
Last year I had 5 and planted them in this planter. They survived and are still great (although only green so far).
So I took the 8 new ones and planted 3 into the planter – and the other 5 into other planters which are on the patio. Very festive and at such a great price.
Later in the day I found 5 great patio chairs at the local Goodwill and they look great with the cushions and table I already had.
The beautiful sun shone this morning and prompted Dave to take in an early morning round of golf. I continued with the getting organized and actually unpacked a few things from the car. When he returned from golf, we worked on the front yard. Gone is the white bistro set (to the park’s yard sale). There was too much work to spend time at the beach – did manage 15 minutes in the sun though!! At 4 PM we were off to the MacIntyre’s new condo for Thanksgiving dinner. With us there were Molly, George, Carol Ann, Charles, Jan, Dave and of course the MacIntyres including Janet and Glenn and the two kids, John and Justin. The super turkey dinner was a bonus!
I got to hold baby Justin and that was a real treat!
I won’t be keeping a daily blog but I did think I ought to mark the occasion of our first full day. Can you believe that we were both up at 6 AM!! Dave had planned on golfing but the rains came (and Florida rains are something to see). So we have spent the morning cleaning and rearranging the lanai. It might be raining but the temps are quite high so we have to fight the urge to sit down. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here so we will be off to visit the beach and then for dinner at the MacIntyre’s new condo. LIFE IS GOOD!!!
Hurrah! Yippee! We arrived here in sunny Venice at 2 PM after another long driving day which began at 5 AM. The rain kept north and we moved steadily toward the sun. The trailer was in super shape and we were also pleased that the weeds were almost non-existant. No beach for us as there is the task of unpacking that well packed trunk. Hope you are all well – keep checking for regular postings.
The long second day is over. We left at 4 AM this morning as we slept from about 9 PM onward (I wasn’t even sure there was such a thing as 4 AM until Dave asssured me that it did exist). We followed the trusty I95 through Boston, New York and all other cities except Washington where we took the beltway.
Dave was thrilled this morning to see a Tim Horton’s sign on a billboard in Rhode Island – we had a coffee and muffin there and that pretty much made his morning.
It rained from New York on although not terribly heavy. We arrived here in Florence, South Carolina at about 7 after a long day (15 hours). In for the night and hoping to be off and running early so that we get to Venice before dark.
We left Dartmouth this morning at 7:30 after a quick coffee with Trevor (my nephew) at the Tim’s on Main Street. The weather was fabulous – and the roads dry. Since the weather was so good, we opted for the St. Stephen/Calais crossing. That was great except they opened a new border crossing last Monday and that meant that we missed the last Tim’s at St. Stephen and the duty free is still under construction at the new crossing. Needless to say Dave didn’t get his flat of Keith’s for the Nova Scotia picnic.
Carol and her very full trunk!
For lunch we enjoyed lobster sandwiches that we made and put on fresh homemade bread from the O’Regan’s cafe on Baker Drive.
We made super time and got to the NH Tax Free Liquor store while it was still daylight. Dave managed to buy 2 (64 oz) dark Myers Rum. I was just glad that the car which is really loaded down – made it this far.
Off early in the morning for day 2. We hope to get further than our usual stop so that the third day will get us into Venice before dark. We are safe and sound and hunkered down to watch V, 60 minutes and Amazing Race.
Adventure Logan 