Gemini Loop: St. Pete to Bradenton

We had a whirlwind visit to Savannah after Sara and Olivia left. Steve had to have a procedure on his eye, which was quite successful - good news because you do want your captain to see well! He also had to have a tooth repaired, also successful. I had a wonderful birthday lunch (hers) with my sister, Cindy, at the Tea Room. We love that place! My baby sister, Kay, was supposed to be there as well, but couldn't make it. Her oldest son, Nicholas, took a tumble on his go-cart and broke his arm. She went to an orthopedist instead. I still owe you a lunch at the Tea Room, Kay!

I also had a birthday breakfast (hers) with my dear friend Wanda. She and I are kindred souls - fabric, fiber, bead, craft nuts. It was very good to see her! Steve and I went to the Crystal Beer Parlor with our friends the Harwells. They will be coming down to see us on the boat soon. They haven't been aboard since we were on the Hudson! And I had a wonderful afternoon with Daddy and Sa. Sa made vegetable soup and cornbread for me - absolutely the best! And she sent me home with the rest of the homemade chocolate meringue pie we had for dessert. Yum! Daddy took me to see the new military memorial that the town of Ridgeland has built. It is really beautiful and well done. When finished, it will have a brick with each of our names on it and our dates of service. Out of four children, all four of us served in the military. Pretty amazing.

My time in Savannah wasn't entirely social. I had my skin check with Kathleen at Dr. Hodges office. She only found one item to punch, and the results came back negative. Yay! I also saw Barbara, my cousin and massage therapist. She does the kind of deep tissue massage that is therapeutic for someone who knits for hours on end. She is a miracle worker!

We got back to the boat in St. Pete on January 6. There were plenty of things to do to get ready to move on.

There are a couple of interesting Savannah-related stories to tell you:

While we were home, Steve went down to Porpoise Pt. - our other house. Nearby is a house that was built by our friends the Abbotts when they lived in Savannah. The current owner is having the house taken away to build another house. The Abbotts' house was being cut in half to move to another part of the island. When we got back to the boat, Steve called Sherrie to tell her about it and send a photo. She hasn't kept up with the blog, so she didn't know we were in St. Petersburg. Turns out her sister-in-law Ginny lives here, not two blocks from the marina! Ginny called us immediately! She and her husband Joe came over and visited with us for a few minutes and we met them for drinks and dinner later that evening. They live in a gorgeous high-rise condo on the 24th floor. We had drinks there and watched a fabulous sunset. We walked to dinner at The Red Mesa, a very cool Mexican restaurant. The food and atmosphere were excellent. There is a fountain that feeds a "stream" running through the courtyard. We crossed a little bridge to get to our table. It was great to see Ginny and Joe - we wish we had known sooner!

The other interesting story involves a drug boat. Our next door neighbor in Savannah bought a confiscated drug boat at auction and brought it home to his dock. It was an 83' steel hull north sea trawler named Caroline C. As Steve says, "it blocked out the sun and a good portion of our view" for 10 years. It was a landmark for people to find our dock - right next to the big ship. It was finally donated to a religious organization that took Bibles to Central America. We drank champagne the day it left! We also discovered that we quit having lightening strikes at our house. During the 10 year period that the boat was docked there, it apparently attracted lightening like a rod. We had televisions, trees, a chimney, the corner of a roof, and many small appliances zapped. Our insurance company had finally recommended that we install a grounding system. Since the Caroline C left, not one hit!

We left St. Pete yesterday, headed for Bradenton. Along the way, we saw a large boat at anchor. Steve mentioned that the lines looked kind of like the Caroline C. He edged a little closer and looked through the binoculars to discover that it was, in fact, the Caroline C! I took pictures with the camera and my phone, and sent them to the kids. They couldn't believe it! We got closer and circled the boat, and saw a "no trespassing" sign with a phone number. Steve (of course) called the number and spoke to T-Bone, the current owner. (You can't make this stuff up!) He will be coming by today to talk to us about the history of the boat. Amazing.

So here we are in Bradenton, taking a weather day - there is rain and wind on the way. Tomorrow we will move on... to somewhere.