Willin’ at the End of the Road.

Another road trip is behind us.  

It was interesting, that as we approached our departure to Florida, we both felt ill prepared and concerned that we weren’t packing everything we would want.  Of course there are the usual summer clothes, but for this trip the weather was less than ideal and part of the concern was warm clothes.  I also packed my travel guitar as usual and we included our cooler, laptop, iPod (15+ gigs of music), camera and pillows.  On the day of departure the car was packed and we left in a timely fashion with everything we needed (even though it was snowing).  I guess we’re getting good at this ‘Road Trip’ thing.

This trip differed from last year’s ‘Spring Break’ by the fact we planned a side trip on our way to Florida: tour at least one distillery in the Bourbon area in Kentucky, as elucidated by MaryAlice’s blog during our travels.  I think we will be incorporating side trips a lot more as we travel in the future.   We learned how important side trips are during our Route 66 trip and Maine trip (our stop in the Thousand Island area is a great example…. We loved this unplanned stop!).  

Once again the highlight of the trip was the people we met during our travels.   As I’ve stated in our previous blogs, people that we meet traveling are almost always friendly, courteous and helpful.  There is also camaraderie among road warriors.  I guess the reason I find this important to mention is that in today’s world, it’s so easy to fall into the negative spiral proffered by the instant media of the day.  From twitter, facebook, 24/7 news blaring the demise of the world or of society as we know it, along with the shrill politic of the day one might assume that our society has gone bust, or ‘things aren’t like they used to be’ or ‘people are just rude.’    Our experience couldn’t be further from that portrayal.  To the point, there are still considerate, generous, and genuinely enjoyable people we meet everywhere we’ve gone.  These people are the backbone of our society, the people from different walks of life; they are the many facets of America that make it great.

The added plus to these road trips is the discovery of local gems we stumble upon.  From the planned distillery stop to small antique shops on Anna Maria Island, to home town parades celebrating St Paddy’s Day, to an Irish pub where the wait person works only for beer and food and still has the time to tell us what to see in the area and what to avoid.

Now I am experiencing withdrawal from planning to hit the road again soon.  I guess I’ll have to wait for our spring camp out with friends in May. 

The next ‘Road Trip’ will be in August to Glacier National Park.  (Note that on the return trip we will be looking for ghost towns in Montana, stop at Devils Tower, Crazy Horse Mountain and Mount Rushmore….. talk about planning side trips!!!). It will be epic! 

Yes planning another trip:

To quote a song by Lowell George :

I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
I'm drunk and dirty don't ya know, and I'm still, willin'
Out on the road late at night, Seen my pretty Alice in every head light
Alice, MaryAlice*

I've been from Tucson  to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin', to be movin'

*I took some liberties here  (hee hee)

Yes, we’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari!  We’re definitely ‘willin to be movin’.  

Until next time!

The Things You See on the Road

Okay - so everyone does not love being on the road.  We do!  Today we drove from Macon GA to Lexington KY.  It was cold and cloudy all day but that did not stop us from seeing some cool things.  When we were driving through TN, we saw the Smoky Mountains in all their "smoky" glory.  They were hazy and blue and beautiful. 

In KY we drove through the massive rock boundaries left by blasting the roadway through the mountains.  The cliffs of rock remind me of the rocky portions of M28 in the Upper Peninsula - except these are even more towering.  The rock is layered and the still cold weather has frozen huge flows of icicles into the layers.  It looked so awesome.

When we arrived in Lexington, we started to pull into a Comfort Inn, but Dennis remembered that we had stayed there last year - and we didn't like it all that much.  So, we pulled into the Hampton Inn instead.  It seems very nice.  We like our room.  We remembered a nice restaurant/pub that we had visited last year and decided to go there again.  They had this great beer - Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale - that I loved and wanted to taste again.  The restaurant, Saul Good (When you're here it's Saul Good), was very busy.  Lots of families and couples all eating and drinking and having fun.  I asked our waitress where we could buy the beer and she directed us to a store across the street.  You cannot make this up:  here is the picture.

Liquor Barn - what a concept!  Anyway, they had the beer and they were giving out samples of lots of Kentucky products including bourbon (how can this be bad?) and bourbon chocolate chip cookies.  The cookies cost $6.95 for six, so I decided I could make my own.

Tomorrow we will reach home and begin our re-entry and change of focus from vacation to Holy Week.  Looking forward to spending time with family and friends and looking forward to singing and celebrating Easter.

Saying Goodbye to Anna Maria

We headed back on the road today.  The long drive to Macon GA gave us time to review the fun we had on Anna Maria Island.  We spent lots of time outside, even on cloudy days.  It was so inspiring to be in a more tropical environment and see all of the trees, shrubs, and flowers that bloom with abandon in Florida.

When we travel we eat out a lot (although I try to make sure I get the chance to cook, too).  We've eaten at lots of good restaurants - and Anna Maria has lots to choose from - and we've seen that restaurants can have good days and really good days.  For our last dinner on the island, we chose the Sign of the Mermaid and they must have been having a great day!  When we stepped in the door, we could smell garlic and butter - always a good start!  We had to walk past the pastry case that was displaying their award winning pies.  We saved room for dessert.

Because we decided to save room for dessert, we each chose an appetizer and soup, or in my case salad, so that we could enjoy dessert.  The menu was very imaginative.  I wanted to try all of the salads, but finally settled on the blue cheese walnut salad.  It was perfectly seasoned and the blue cheese was plentiful and scrumptious.  Our waiter brought bread to the table.  Instead of bringing olive oil separately, the bread was lightly toasted and sitting in a puddle of warm garlic oil with grated parmesan.  Yummy!  The bread was accompanied by a small plate of pickled veggies.  My three dining companions had the very delicious garlic onion soup au gratin.  I had shrimp and grits which did not look or taste like you would imagine.  The shrimp, plump and perfect, were cooked with bacon and sauced with a sherry cream sauce.  The grits were served as a small, square cake that was crisp and sprinkled with manchego or parmesan.  Dennis ordered steamed mussels and clams which were cooked to perfection.  That left us almost enough room to share a piece of pie.  Nancy and I shared chocolate, raisin, walnut pie (served warm with whipped cream) and Dennis and Gary shared a piece of key lime pie.  We all waddled out at the end of a sensational meal.  I definitely want to go back and sample more of their delightful menu!

We ate at more casual places, sampling burgers and breakfasts, and looking for those places that are frequented by locals.  Anna Maria is really just a small town with great beaches.  There are big fancy houses, pricey shops, and gourmet restaurants, but we did not visit those places.  We walked a lot and enjoyed the relaxed feeling of a beach resort that is unpretentious and fun.

We are driving back now and we are sad to leave the warmth and sun, but we are looking forward to our next travel adventures.

Flora and Fauna

When we visit new places, we love to find great restaurants and bars and interesting sights to see.  We loved the St. Patrick's Day parade here on Anna Maria Island, for example.  Of course we like to just veg on the beach, too.  Yesterday was a good day for that!  Although it was cool and cloudy in the morning, the sky suddenly cleared and the temperature rose into the high 70's (yay!) and we took chairs, beach towels, books, and a cooler down to the beach.

The waves were huge!  Several folks were surfing on the large, glassy waves and lots of kids were playing in the shallows.  We had to re-apply sunscreen several times.  I barely read 20 pages because I kept watching all of the people and enjoying the sun.  It was great. 

Today it has been cloudy all day, but we still walked on the beach twice and are going out to sit on the shore for more contemplation of the waves and the people.  I was reflecting on the differences among the various states we have visited.  Sometimes you notice the difference in the road signs.  Florida has "silver alerts" (may I never be the subject); Colorado has "danger falling rocks" signs and caution signs with pictures of moose.  Those signs can indicate the differences in flora and fauna and yesterday I mentioned the advantage of the long growing season here in Florida.  Today I reflected on the different animals we have seen.

We have not yet seen a manatee - they are sequestered inland this year because of the red tide.  We have seen many different birds and we've seen them up close!  The pelicans, which look like pterodactyls, visit the beach in flocks and dive head-first into the water to catch fish.  We've seen cormorants and sea gulls and have chuckled at the little sand pipers scurrying along the beach.  But our most exciting sighting was the manta rays.  We have seen schools of them swimming in the shallows just an arms reach away.  Nancy, who has extremely sharp vision and a sensitivity to animals in their own habitat, suddenly pointed out a manta ray that was leaping out of the water.  I didn't see it and we continued to walk along the beach, with attention withdrawn momentarily.  Then she stopped us and we stood still watching the water.  The manta ray leaped above the waves and then repeated the leap another six times!  It was an awesome sight.

We have loved our visits to the ocean and have seen many "faces" of the ocean.  In Maine the ocean is dark blue and cold with crashing surf and cool winds.  In Florida it is quite different.  The water is green.  It sometimes reminds me of Lake Michigan (but warmer) except for the color.  I love these discoveries and the changing seasons.  If we didn't live in Michigan, I would have to travel to different state just to watch the seasons change.  Now I am reluctant to return to Michigan to re-visit the cold weather!

No Sun, But No Snow

Yesterday was rather quiet here.  It was cloudy all day and I was thinking about complaining, but I saw the forecast for Michigan and decided that I had nothing to complain about.  We dropped in to a yoga class in the morning.  It was a good workout.  Visitors can pay twelve dollars since there are lots of vacationers here.  The class was lead by a woman who gave clear instruction, clear demonstration, and options for folks who were not regular yoga practioners (like me).  I was only a little sore this morning, so that's good.  A lot of the work was using core muscles and I've been doing a lot of core work at home.

In the afternoon we went to the local fish market and bought super-fresh shrimp and amberjack, a mild fish found off the Florida coast.  Prices were a bit high but the fish was excellent.  We had a nice meal out of it. 

One of the things I love about traveling is finding local food - in markets and in restaurants - and trying new items.  Florida has such a long growing season that fruit and veggies are easy to find and of high quality.  Nancy showed us some pictures of this hotel from last year when the owners were renovating the gardens.  The difference between last year and this is astonishing.  All of the plants are large and flourishing and completely filled in.

This morning we walked on the beach for a little while and I took a picture so I could have something to paint when I'm back home and feeling sad about the lingering winter.

St Patrick's Day on Anna Maria Island

This is not a very large town or a very large island, so St Patrick's Day is an event that everyone knows about.  I started my day with a 4.6 mile walk with friends along the beach.  Then we all went out to a late brunch - that was fabulous - with green mimosas.  That was a little odd, but mimosas are tasty even with green dye.

After some reading and sun time we went four blocks down to where the St Patrick's Day parade was passing by.  The weather was not the best for a parade - it was cloudy and there were a few rain drops - but the people who gathered made up for it with enthusiasm and cheer.

As you can see the parade included bagpipes, an elephant, camels, and (yes) pirates!  Aarrgh me mateys - Happy St Patrick's Day!  Afterwards we ate dinner at Duffy's pub - a place with a limited menu and excellent blue cheese burgers.  All in all it was a lovely day.

Sunshine Makes Everyone Feel Better

Yesterday was warm and sunny all day but quite windy on the beach.  So we walked quite a bit and went grocery shopping so we could cook dinner in and then we spent time at the pool.  We were protected from the wind and we met many folks who were staying here.

One couple was from Germany.  They have taken several vacations in the US - always in sunny places.  After a few days on Anna Maria, they are heading to Key West.

This morning it is cloudy but the temperature is in the 60s and supposedly going up near 80.  The St. Patrick's Day parade starts at 4:00 pm, so we will see what that looks like and we will visit an Irish pub for a toast to St Patrick.  We'll post pix later.