s/v Serendipity: 11/27/11

Honeymoon’s over for sure! Back to remodeling houses in Tennessee and working on the boat in Florida. We helped Jesse and Brittany with tiling in their bathroom and did a little more work on the farmhouse to get a rental house ready, then left for Florida to visit and work on the boat (she’d been on the hard for 4 months without attention – longest we’d ever left her).

Before leaving for Florida, we spent some time enjoying October in Tennessee. We took a short trip to the Cherokee National Forest (one of our favorite sledding and camping places in winters past) to see all the gorgeous fall colors, and I went with our daughter to her tenth college reunion. The reunion was fun, especially seeing Julie and her friends and former roommates visiting while their kids ran around – seems like only yesterday we were lugging boxes up three flights of steps in the dorm and having ten girls over for hamburgers!

modified camping

what a beautiful sight

no words needed

Carson-Newman

the college girls are mamas now

John traveled with us to Florida, stopping in Chattanooga to tile on the way. He was ready for a brief vacation, but not sure if traveling in an RV with your parents counts. We traveled down the west coast of Florida, visiting old haunts from our Bradenton days two years ago and checking up on old friends at Twin Dolphin. We spent the day at the beach on Anna Maria Island, made memorable by the parking ticket we received months later for parking the RV in the public lot by the beach (no signs, no warning, no ticket on the windshield – just a friendly request for a donation to the police department). It was impossible to get in touch via phone or e-mail, so we reluctantly paid the piper.

yikes!

my three guys

Jay and John relaxing on the beach (while getting a parking ticket!)

the outstanding Dali museum in St. Pete

We stopped in RV parks along the way, and much to the delight of John most were populated by grey panthers. Only a game of horseshoes and a pool kept him from jumping off the roof of the RV. He flew back to TN from Orlando before we went to Westland Marine in Titusville to work on the boat. We stayed in the RV at the marina while we worked, and talked Bob and Katie into leaving their boat there while they went back to Cincinnati for Christmas. Candy and Phred were driving south in their RV for their annual stay in Marathon, and they stopped by also. We enjoyed a reunion with both couples, and were joined by George and Terry from Port Canaveral for dinner.

Jay, Bob, Katie, Candy, Phred beside the mighty Tioga (in the marina yard)

The marina celebrated Thanksgiving with the residents on Wednesday, providing turkeys and side dishes while the boaters brought side dishes. It was very well attended and very good! For our REAL Thanksgiving, we took a road trip to Port St. Lucie, where Julia’s (m/v Sea Pearl) sister Rosie lives. She graciously invited us to join her, Joe and Julia, and Bob and Stephanie for Thanksgiving dinner. She’s a very gracious hostess, and we had so much fun and SO much good food! We really appreciated being with such good friends for such a great feast.