There's no place like home!

We arrived home on Tuesday amid news that I am now a great grandfather! Sophia Catherine Young made her debut on Monday evening, March 21st.  A real spring gift to us all! We have spent the week trying to get caught up on things here at the house, what with dealing with the big flood.  Much work ahead and sadly our wonderings are over for a little while.  We had a great time and we are looking forward to more fun as we travel next winter!!! 

Creeping North during March Madness.

I haven't had time to write as my free time is being sucked up by NCAA basketball. We are in Summerton SC at Palmetto Shores RV park located on Lake Marion.  I had to ditch my shorts today for the first time in 2 months as I now am wearing long pants and a flannel shirt.  Cooling down! :-(
Going to break hard for home tomorrow but still 800 miles to go!
Catchup pictures:

 Mets game

 My cuzzint Judy and husband Walt on Daytona Beach!

Let's Go Mets!

Saturday was Mets day as we had tickets for the game at Tradition Field with the Cardinals. The last time I attended a spring training game, 2 years ago, tickets were easy to come by.  Now that the Metsies have had some success, I was barely able to get tickets at all. We had a very warm day for the game as the temp. went all the way up to 90. We were in the sun and I am sorry to say I only last 6 innings. Enjoyed the whole experience and got to see some of my favorites.  Missed the young arms as old man Colon pitched.  Mets had a lead but got blown out in the later innings. The big thing of the day was my Mets t-shirt..."We don't suck any more!"  Had many positive comments.

Jupiter Light

We had breakfast on Friday morning with a couple of "locals",  Kathy Kull Bossinger and her husband, Skip.  They are part of the reason we enjoy coming to Stuart.

With full tummies we bid the Bossingers farewell, as they were heading out of town.  We climbed into our car headed for Jupiter...Florida that is! Tourists for the day, we stopped at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on the way to check it out, then moved on to Jupiter to visit the lighthouse. I have seen it from the water on my boat, but now as a landlubber I wanted to visit it up close.
Quite a structure which dates back to the 1850's. There is a museum and park, but the prize is climbing 139 steps to the top for the splendid view.  Here are some pics:

The shot of the drawbridge brings back memories of our 2006 boat trip down the ICW.  It was here that we almost met with disaster when a bridge tender encouraged us to keep coming and he would have it open when we got there. Ha! At the last minute I had to turn Crossroads around against a four knot current. We made the turn, but it was a very close call! We have done over 100 drawbridges over 27 years and this was one of only 2 times that a tender jerked us around. The overwhelming number of tenders are wonderful and do a great job! The other smart alec tender is in Stuart.

Top Ten...

Top ten reasons why Phipps Park has turned out to be our favorite so far:
1. Peace and Quiet
2. Uncrowded
3. Convenient
4. Campsite overlooks the water
5. It's in our favorite east coast town, Stuart
6. Great YMCA
7. Friends nearby
8. Plenty of places for us old people to eat at.
9. Close to Publix
10. Bargain price

We have already booked for next year!

Valet Parking at La Forschetta!

 I tried to hand this sandhill crane my keys but no deal!

Leisurely Afternoons in Paradise!

Yesterday we headed for the Stuart waterfront for lunch with Nancy and Charlie Hinman. We look forward to getting together with friends from back home, and we enjoyed a pleasurable afternoon at a top local restaurant, King Neptune. Great place to eat! I enjoyed a wahoo salad and a fantastic seafood bisque. Later we took a stroll down by the waterfront and did some shopping (Mostly looking).  Thank you Hinmans for a great afternoon.

Today it was back to the YMCA for a workout.  I was a little sluggish on the machines but this was my third day in a row! I don't look like Rocky Balboa yet, but I am trying!  Good thing I worked out because this evening we went to La Forschetta, a top restaurant in town, as we are leaving Sunday and we wanted to get there at least once. Wow!!! Fantastic!  Joanna had the Risotto and I had the ravioli. I love Stuart!!!

Here are some pictures:
We snuck up on Charlie and Nancy at Neptune

 The waterfront

 Out for a stroll

Flooded!

I have been unable to post the past week because I have been just too darn busy.  Got the call from home last Friday that a heating pipe burst upstairs at the house.  Joanna put me on a plane and I spent the past week in damage control.  A good sized mess but it is all under control thanks to Joanna's technology that tells us when we have a heating problem. (She can control our home heat from just about anywhere. Anyway, had to have a ceiling ripped out in the front living room and some furniture was damaged and will need to be restored. Woodlawn will be even better when we are done! Now I'm back in Florida in Stuart for a fun week which includes Mets tickets this Saturday!!!

By the way, I forgot that we had lunch yesterday with Gail Pennock and Pat McDougal in Ft. Pierce.  What fun!  Sorry but I forgot to snap a picture!!! Pat, send me one if you have one!