Friday April 9th

We left the hotel at 6:30 am (Yes Mom, I got up that early!) to meet Shala Bloome for breakfast. Shala is a sales rep for Donnelley working out of the Atlanta Sales office. She and I worked together on the Fed Ex account but had never met. Shala is the kind of person that you instantly like. She treated Fred and I to a scrumptious breakfast in the Highland area of Atlanta. It would be a fun place to explore as it had lots of interesting small shops. No time - we have to hit the road for St. Augustine.

Today was another 6 hour driving day but we switched every two hours so it wasn't tedious. Our friends Darla and Dianne lent us some books on tape and John Grishams' The Partner helps pass the time. The guy narrating is funny as he tries to vary the voices. His FBI guy voice is a cross between Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and we crack up every time. We stopped at Wendy's along the way and ate fairly healthy doing the chicken thing. We arrived in St. Augustine at 3:00, but our room was not ready til 4 so we drove to the store to buy fruit and vegetables. We have a kitchen in our unit and we can't wait to have steamed broccoli and peas.

We are staying at the Vistana Resort at the World Golf Village. This place is gorgeous! We could live here. It's decorated in green, burgandy and gold with a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath with jacuzzi. Compared to the Days Inn, this is heaven. We found out about this place through RCI which is the timeshare exchange company. As an introductory offer, the suites were half price, plus at check in they told us if we listen to the timeshare spiel, we get a check for $100. Can't beat that for two people who are unemployed. It's worth 90 minutes of our time. Our only regret is that we can't stay here longer.

I have to go now as we are having Happy Hour on the porch which has a view of the Squire and Slammer Golf Course and the Golf Hall of Fame is a chips throw away. (That's a Grandma Utz chip. Get it-I meant stones throw but since I had Grandma Utzs on the brain, I said chips throw)

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Saturday, April 10th

We left at 8am to have breakfast at Cimarrone Golf & Country Club and be ready for our tee-time at 9:22. The breakfast was part of our package. The home fries, chunks of potato with onions were cooked to perfection and the grits reminded me of Cream of Wheat.

Fortunately, we were paired up with two members of Cimarrone. David (a graphics artist) and Steven (an accountant) were fun to play with and helped us locate our wayward balls or imparted the bad news that another was lost. The course had water on 16 of the 18 holes and was not forgiving. We lost 18 balls in total and no they were not all Freds. I lost 8 which is more than I lost all of last season. I hate that. We started out with a 10 and 9 on the first hole, but we attributed that to nerves, plus we were sent off the back which was harder than the front, and we were tired, and we had blisters, blah, blah blah and a million more excuses. Actually, we settled down and both had some pars and I finished strong with a par, birdie. David entertained us with some very amusing stories which I won't repeat here because it may incriminate some of his friends.

We visited the Golf Hall of Fame using a two for one coupon. The admission price is $7.00 for the Hall of Fame and then there are various other attractions all at their own price. It was not crowded which was great. I predict in a few years this place will be packed as the word gets around. There is an exhibit where a computer analyzes your swing and compares you to a pro golfer. Fred was Greg Norman and I was Julie Inkster. Our swing speeds were Fred at .97 seconds and me at 1.2 seconds. There was also an exhibit to simulate the greens of 100 years ago with antique clubs and balls to try your skill. I don't see how anyone parred back in the 1890's.

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Sunday April 11th

We left St. Augustine at 6:15 am and made good time arriving at our hotel in Fort Lauderdale at 10:45. Along the way we drove by an accident scene. A mangled van missing the whole front end and pieces of a car with parts all over the highway were a sobering sight. We drove past after the police arrived but before the ambulances. There were bodies everywhere and I couldn't get the scene out of mind for many miles afterward. We thank you all for your prayers and thoughts that must be keeping us safe on this trip. Obviously, we are being protected because just a few minutes earlier and we could have been that van.

The Pro Player Stadium as it is now called (renamed from Joe Robbie stadium) was less than exciting. We arrived about 1-1/2 hours before game time and the parking lots were empty. Once inside, it was quickly apparent that the ushers cared nothing about the stadium or baseball. There is not much inside for fans to see or do before the game. We were looking for JR's restaurant which we had read about and after asking three ushers were finally directed up the stairs only to find out it was no longer there and had been converted into a private party box. It's not that anyone was rude, just apathetic.

As we were walking through the concourse, I expressed that if I had to use one word to describe the stadium that word would be "uninspiring". It just didn't seem like a fun place. However, Fred pointed out that for a multi-purpose stadium (the Dolphins also play there) it was large and well equipped with lots of bathrooms and food stands. He also felt that if we had come there directly after Pittsburgh we may have felt differently but instead I was comparing it to Turner Field. That may be true but the fact that they have to cover a bunch of seats in the outfield made the place seem even more dismal to me. For a Sunday afternoon game there were a lot of empty seats, but it can't be a surprise that people don't want to support the Marlins after what they did to the team after they won the World Series. We had never heard of most of the Marlin players.

The location of our seats was great, only 6 rows behind home plate, even though the people around us were not very friendly. We kept waving trying to get on TV, but Mom said she didn't see us. It was hot, about 90 degrees but our seats were so awesome we didn't want to leave them to go into the shade. Thank goodness we lathered up with sunscreen. It was surprising how many people were cheering for the Phillies, must be a lot of PA transplants in Florida. There was one guy right in front of us that kept yelling negative comments at the Phillies. He was really obnoxious and didn't seem to know that much about baseball. When Gomes was pitching the guy kept yelling COME ON ARE YOU AFRAID TO THROW THE BALL. The Marlin batter swung. Strike One. The guy yells WHATS DA MATTER AFRAID TO PITCH TO HIM. Strike Two. COME ON PITCH TO HIM. Strike Three. You're out. Duh-Hey buddy, Gomes is throwing the ball quite nicely.

Two people from home told us that the Phillies announcers did not give our greetings. We had written them a note telling them we were there asking them to say hi to Freds mom and my Pappy. Oh well.

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a place called Champs which was a sports bar. We wanted to watch the Masters. Funny thing, the people there were not that friendly either. Fred tried two or three times to talk to the two guys sitting next to him at the bar, but they had no interest. Is it us or is southern Florida just unfriendly?

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Monday April 12th

Today is an off day, no travel, no ballgame. We are staying at the Mariott Fort Lauderdale North that we booked on Priceline.com. We got a great price and this place has everything we could want, comfortable beds, a gym (yes we worked out!) and a pool. They accidently put the bill for another room under our door and those people were paying $50 more per night than we were. How's that for a bargain!

We were in heaven at lunch. We ate at Sweet Tomatoes an all you can eat salad bar. Believe it or not, we actually miss eating healthy so the salad and pasta bar today was a real treat.

We played golf at Jackaranda which was Ok but I think I am sick of being out in the sun. I felt zapped of energy. The course was well maintained and had some water, but it didn't come into play most of the time. Fred played well, except for his drives which were ugly, snap hooking to the left.

Thanks everyone for your e-mails. We enjoy hearing from you. People from Donnelley - when you e-mail, sign your message because the firewall must do something funny and gives a generic default return address.

Aunt Anna - we are still enjoying the treats in the snack sack. I mixed the M&M's, Raisins and Peanuts and made yummy trail mix. Fred doesn't like it, so I get to eat it all. Also, thank you everyone for the offers of the Grandma Utz's. Roger and Tara are bringing some to Key West.

We walked down to Champs this evening to get a bite to eat. There were these three guy in there having the greatest time, laughing and carrying on. We got quite a kick out of watching them. They really stood out because everyone else in the bar was quiet. They noticed us laughing at them and bought us a drink.

The MC at Champs was playing a game called PLINKO. He would ask for certain items and the first person to take it up front would win a PLINKO chip. He asked for a Marlins ticket stub, which of course we had but it was back at our hotel. However, no one else had one either so I took up our T-shirt and told the guy I had something better than a Marlins ticket stub. I told him what we were doing and he was impressed enough to give me a try at the PLINKO board. Anyway, I got in the PLINKO finals and had to answer 4 questions. One was how many outs in an inning? Easy, three right. No, the answer is 6 which is what I said. He asked other questions and I got three chances to drop the PLINKO chip into the board. I had to hit #3 and I would win $100. Sorry to say, I hit #6, #2, and #4. I won a hat.

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Tuesday April 13th

We drove down to the beach at Ft. Lauderdale this morning and "slogged" on the beach. We were planning to run, but the sand was so soft and the wind so strong, we felt like we were cross country skiing. It was a good workout. Afterward we stopped at the Health Bar and Eatery and Fudge Factory. What a combination. We had a yogurt smoothie and strawberry fruit bar for breakfast. No we didn't get any fudge. There were these neat wooden chairs out front painted yellow or purple or green with flowers. Very inviting to sit and relax and watch the world go by. I would like some for the garden at home.

The beach area drive of Fort Lauderdale is one of the best around. As we cruised down the road all the hotels were on our right and the ocean was directly on the left. The water is so crystal clear and a gorgeous aqua blue, palm trees were playfully swaying in the wind and the beach was dotted with colorful umbrellas. We had forgotten how pretty this area was; we hadn't been here since the Blockbuster Bowl nine years before. It would have been nice to have been in a convertible instead of the Big Kahuna ...sigh.

We stopped for lunch at the Cafe Blue Fish which had a decidedly Key West flavor. It is only 1/2 block from the beach. We were sitting there at a table by the sidewalk with a gentle breeze blowing and looking at the ocean. It was so peaceful and we felt very mellow and content. I had the dolphin which Fred talked me into trying. I agreed because the menu had this little blurb:
"This fish bears no relation to the mammal called dolphin which is a member of the porpoise family. It is a fish called mahi mahi in the Pacific.They have a tremendous growth rate of up to 5 lbs per year and a short life span of 3-4 years so nature compensates for their reproduction. This was Hemmingway's favorite."
It was actually very good and because of the little blurb on the menu, I didn't feel guilty for eating Flipper. The waitress said lots of people feel the same way. Fred had the crab cake sandwich which was excellent.

The other great slogan that was on the menu stated -- "Remember-it's better to eat in a bar than drink in a restaurant." This place had lots of good rum drinks, but we didn't try any since it was only lunch time and we had a few hours to drive.

Fred likes to visit college campuses so we stopped at the University of Miami. "Little Nit" tried to be brave, but we could tell he was scared. He was growling, doing his best PSU Lion Roar. Because I can't stand the football team, I assumed the Home of the Canes would be ugly. It was a gorgeous campus. A lake in the middle of campus set the scene for a tranquil view everywhere we looked. We spent about 1/2 hour strolling around the shaded campus. I was impressed.

On the way to Florida City, we stopped to view the world's largest shoe lace exhibit. The oddest pair was made from lizard tongue and they were in a pair of alligator shoes. Can't wait to see the Corn Palace and largest ball of twine. These odd exhibits are Fred's idea.

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Wednesday April 14th

We are staying at the Best Western in Florida City. When I was checking in, someone came in and asked for a room and the rate was $35 more per night than we are paying. I love a bargain! I'm glad now that we spent all those hours and hours on the phone making advance reservations.

I'm sorry to have to report that our first bad thing happened and it's my fault. I lost my purse. We thought it was in the van somewhere, but we tore the van apart looking for it but no luck. Through the process of elimination, we determined that I left it in the room in St. Augustine. I called them, but no one turned it in. I can only hope someone decides to be honest and return it to me. What a hassle. We are going to have to cancel our credit card and now I don't have a license or a checkbook and I will have to cancel my MAC card.

Today we went to the Florida Everglades National Park. The Everglades became a national park in 1947 and covers 1.5 million acres. That is only about one-seventh of the area that makes up the Everglades. We did the tourist thing and took the boat ride. It was not as exciting as I thought it would be, in fact it was rather boring. We saw two crocodiles (although Fred & I thought one of them was fake) and a few birds.

The funniest part was when the guide said something about the captain being retired and the captain thought the guide called him retarded.

We also took a few of the self guided hikes, most were only 1/2 mile long. We saw a gumbo-limbo tree and lots of other vegetation. Most of the signs looked like they need replaced and I assume that The Everglades park like most other US parks is not financially stable. It's sad that there is always a fight to perserve these beautiful environments.

At the end of the day we relaxed at the southern end of the park where we had a view of our next destination, The Florida Keys. It promises to be quite a transition. We are going from the peace and quiet here to partyland of Key West and the Petrillis. I think we're ready!

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Thursday April 15th

I didn't sleep very well last night. I got the news that a friend from home died. I had talked to her right before we left and had thought about her often since we'd been gone. She had been sick for awhile, but didn't want anyone to know. It seems so unfair, she was only 37, so young and a truly good person. We had gotten to know each other when she came to Donnelley as a temp over 15 years ago. We worked together and became friends.

She had the purist sense of enjoying life of anyone I knew. She liked to laugh and had a unique viewpoint on situations. She always looked at the optimistic side of things. We had quite a few conversations trying to understand why people choose to dwell on the negative instead of positive, as we each had a person like that in our lives at the time. We helped each other through some tough relationship times, but we also had a lot of fun together. I just really enjoyed her company and outlook.

Over the last several years, as our lives took different turns, our contacts were limited to running into each other several times a year and Christmas Cards. She always wrote the best notes on her Christmas Cards. Whenever I saw her she always asked about my sisters and parents and I knew it wasn't just polite chit chat, she really cared and wanted to know. I was so happy for her when at last she had found happiness and married someone who loved her and appreciated her for all her wonderful qualities. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their life together as a family. She is with the angels above now because she surely was an angel on earth.

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Friday April 16th

Key West is closer to Cuba (90 miles) than to Miami (150 miles) and is the laid back kind of town I expected. We are staying at Angelino's, which is an old, but inexpensive place. It's a bit run down and we were feeling a little squeemish about our accomodations when we first arrived. There is no air conditioning, but each room has a ceiling fan and a good breeze is blowing, so it's turned out to be better than we first expected. We are located close to Duval Street which is where it's all happening.

We picked up Roger and Tara at the Key West airport on Thursday afternoon. Our first stop was the Green Parrot where we met Vickie the bartender, a large red head who I would guess to be in her late 40's. She came to Key West from Michigan 20 years ago and never left. She plays in a blues band, The Red Headed Blues Band, and will be performing Sunday at the Sunset Ocean Club.

We also met Scott, another "local" who lives in Key Largo, but works in Key West in construction. Scott was a pleasant fellow who has spent many days in the sun as evidenced by his weathered look. He had a long unruly handlebar mustache, kind eyes and hair down to the middle of his back. His wife, who canes chairs for a living, was coming down for the weekend so we made plans to meet Friday afternoon at the Green Parrot.

Friday morning we had breakfast on the porch of the The Johnson House, corner of Petronia & Thomas Streets. Our breakfast sandwiches were awesome; eggs, bacon and cheese on large slices of cuban bread. Tara got a BLT and it was served open faced with ripe red tomatoes pefectly sliced, layered over bacon and lettuce. It was a sight to behold.

We wandered down Duval Street looking in shops and stopped to buy ankle bracelets. (That's Tara and I, not Fred and Roger even though they were tempted?) We ended up down by the harbor at Schooners Wharf where you could sit in the shade, watch the boats and listen to the band. The 50ish pony-tailed guitar player amused us with a song called Tourist Town where he was making fun of what he does. Of course, Tara bought his CD.

We were fascinated by Bubba, the gentle parrot, who would sit on your shoulder or head and pose for pictures. His owner had rescued him from the animal shelter where he had ended up after being abused. Somehow, Eric, his current owner had taught him to trust again and Bubba enjoyed showing off for the tourists.

The Americana, an impressive black and wood decked sailboat was one of the many boats docked at the harbour. I don't think I have ever seen a prettier boat. We later found out it is owned by a consortium of people from the Schooners Wharf and takes a crew of 30 to sail. The view of the harbor was so peaceful and picturesque with the bright blue sky as a backdrop.

Friday afternoon Tara and I happened onto the rooftop of The Bull, where clothing is optional and omigosh they meant it. There were a few people taking advantage of the rays. Only in this kind of town!

As planned, we met Scot and his wife Carolyn at the Green Parrot for Happy Hour. They are a very nice laid back couple who seem to enjoy each others company. Carolyn not only canes chairs but also has a little nursery business on the side. She had lots of interesting stories. Since Fred, Roger, Tara and I wanted to go to Mallory Square to watch the sunset, we agreed to meet Scott and Carolyn later for a bite to eat.

The rest of the night is a haze somewhere in my memory and an even bigger haze in Tara's memory.

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Saturday April 17th

This is the second morning we were awakened at daybreak by the roosters that roam the streets. They seem to be the locals pet of choice and they start trying to outdo each other very early. Shut up, shut up, shut up, you stupid roosters!

The four of us split up today since Tara & Roger wanted to go to the beach and Fred and I were hungry. After eating a "healthy lunch" at the Blond Giraffe, we strolled over to the Hemingway House. Ernest Hemingway lived there in 1931 for nine years. His studio is still much as it was when he lived and worked there. The colonial house was decorated with a spanish theme. He supposedly worked for only 3 hours per day and spent the rest of his time fishing and enjoying the many fine establishments of Key West. I could handle that kind of a writers' life. Descendants of the most adored residents of the Hemingway house still reside there-- the famous six toed cats. The guides introduced all the kitties by name as we passed them on the tour. We met Marilyn, Muriel, Olivia, and Archie, a gorgeous butterscotch, who was sprawled on the bed oblivious to the fact that it was off-limits.

Saturday we stopped in at what was starting to be our hang-out, the Green Parrot. The Conch Republic Tatoo Contest was in full swing, with Vickie (the red headed bartender) leading the festivities as MC. There were prizes for best back tatoo, best design, best leg tatoo, etc. Quite a show, I can't even begin to describe it.

Irish Kevins on Duval Street is a fun place. It was Yo Adrian happy hour and Adrian played guitar and busted on everyone who couples to 3 college girls from New Jersey who probably missed their plane because they kept delaying their departure. Kevin, a bloke dar ed to walk in the place. The audience ranged from 65 year old from England, was a bit on the raunchy side, but the crowd loved him. Of course we sat right up front.

The rest of the night is a haze somewhere in my memory and an even bigger haze in Tara's memory.

Sunday April 18th

Our sunset snorkeling cruise got canceled due to rain. So, guess what we did? Yes, we visited a few more of the 266 bars of Key West.

We met Craig and Lynda who were from Michigan. They were at Irish Kevin's the same time we were and then we ran into them later at The Bull. They were a couple in their late 40's who detoured to see Key West on the way to visit their parents. They were empty nesters who had gotten married very young. They gave us their phone number so we could call them when we got to Michigan, but I think I lost it. If you two get your computer working, please e-mail us.

The rest of the night is a haze somewhere in our collective memories.