These are two areas near Venice, which if anyone does any pre-planning, usually includes a visit to both.  Let’s start with Murano.  Be prepared for a few bits of history interspersed amongst the photos.  🙂

 

• Composed of 7 islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon.
• Initially settled by the Romans.
• At first prospered as a fishing port and for its production of salt.

We wanted to get away from most of the ‘tourist’ areas and kept walking away from the water taxi drop-off.

We found this fabulous blue statue.

 

• In 1291 all glass makers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fire.
• During the 1300s exports began and the island became famous, initially for glass beads and mirrors.
• Eventually became known for their chandeliers.

I would absolutely love to have a chandelier from Murano, but even though it could be shipped home, they are still pricey.  These are two I found that struck my fancy.

While we have enjoyed all of our meals thus far, our selection for lunch could definitely fall into one of our all-time favorites for this trip.

We were one of the first to arrive and actually were told we could sit in the garden, because the restaurant didn’t open for 15 more minutes. We started with wine and water before ordering two antipasta platters.

The seafood platter looked really cool, but wasn’t a lot that I would eat.  The other  platter (meat) – I loved!  In fact, it was to be my meal, along with some fried mozzarella balls.

Did I say I really, really, really enjoyed my meat platter?  I shared after tasting all of them and finding my favorites.  Starting in the upper left corner:  mordello, pancetta, salami, pepperoni, bacon and prosciutto.  The mozzarella balls were good, but after my meat platter……………….

A seafood soup was Eric’s meal and Karen ordered lasagna – which was fantastic.

 

We had to finish the meal with desserts.  There was cherry ice cream, chocolate cake and strawberry Torte.   We debated for days which dessert ‘won’.

 

We crossed the bridge in front of the restaurant and wandered inside this church.

The church is one of the oldest in the Venetian lagoon.  It was originally built in the 7th century and rebuilt in the 9th century.  It is known for its 12th century Byzantine mosaic pavement and said to contain the relics of Saint Donato, as well as large bones of a dragon slain by the saint.

While Karen and I were looking possibly for glass beads for the jewelry we make, we had minimal purchases.  😦    On to Burano!

Getting there involved jumping on the water-taxi and waiting for 3 stops until we arrived.

• The island was probably settled by the Romans.
• It rose in importance in the 16th century when women on the island began making lace with needles.
• Leonardi da Vinci visited in 1481, purchased a cloth for an alter and soon lace was exported across Europe.

More recently, they are known for its small, brightly painted houses.

Legend says that the island’s fisherman were the first to paint their houses in bright colors so they could see them while they were out fishing.

So let me admit, this island kind of felt like a big tourist hot-spot.  There were little shops everywhere selling all kind of tochtskes.  While the photos look pretty, I had to do a lot of cropping to get all of the people out of them.  Now, on the other hand, Karen and I both purchased some scarves (made in Italy) to bring home with us.

Wednesday is our day-long tour of the Italian Alps and Dolomite Mountains.  While it will probably a somewhat long drive, it gets us out of Venice for a day.

Ciao!

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful weather today!  It was in the low-mid 70s, a bit breezy, but perfect for wandering the streets.

Breakfast was first order of the day – Italian style.  Cappuccino and a pastry was a perfect start.  A chocolate croissant, a cream-filled croissant and crostini with ham and sun-dried tomato were our selections.

Being up so early, gave us a chance to see local city work being done.  Several times we saw local workers using these carts to move rubbish around and then later saw how it was collected.  The cart was being swapped out for another on the boat.

We were extra early for our tour and I went into a fabric store.  This irish lady was looking at fabric and we struck up a conversation.  She was a quilter and we connected.

We met at the ’round church’ for our tour.  There were enough for two groups, so we split and had Claire as our guide.

Claire led us away from the tourist areas, where generally locals would eat.  We had a group of 11 with the countries represented being: New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and the states.

One of the first things was to cross the grand canal on a Traghetto.  It was a ‘little bit’ scary.  She said normally most people stand up but due to the wind and choppy water, we would be asked to sit down.  As we all got on the boat, we had to continually balance out the boat and sit on the (6″) edge of the boat.

 

Our first stop was Cantina do Spade.  We started with a light prosecco to drink and had 3 small plates:  ham & cheese sandwich, anchovy & cheese sandwich and fried stuffed olives.

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Our second stop was Cantina do’Mori.  We drank a light Pinot Bianco with a codfish crostini.

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Our third stop was at Osteria alla ciurma, a cicchetteria veneziana.  I took a break from the wine and had a arancia (orange) soda drink.  Our food was a mix of crostini.  The best was the one in the middle with pancetta bacon.  I had the bottom middle crostini.  It was good, but not like the one above it (pancetta).

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The next stop we were able to all sit inside at tables at Ostaria all’anlico Dolo.  You could drink white or red and we had one of both.  The crostini was calamari in red sauce (left) and the typical sardine crostini on the right.

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Our last and final stop on the tour was at Sacro e Profano.  The drink was a light white wine and we ate from a mix of crostini.  I  had the upper right crostini with salami.  By this time I was full and after two tiny bites, passed it along to Eric.  We finished with tiramisu and a venetian spritzer.

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We were able to get one photo of our tour guide, Claire, before she departed our group.

On the way back to the apartment, we found this church and toured the inside.  I would have loved to show some photos, but it was prohibited.  It was a beautiful church.

There was an article that both Rich and I read from Nat Geo and it talked about a spiral staircase.  After much searching we found it.

Only two of us paid the fee and walked the 80 stairs to the top.  The views were marvelous.

 

You can see where the other two are.

On to San Marcos Plaza!

 

After a brief respite at the apartment AND changing shoes, pizza was tonight’s dinner choice.  After all, we are in Italy. 🙂  Eric found one that was fairly highly rated.

Our waiter said the pizzas were individual sized – but yikes.  We could have easily split one between two of us.  Of course the advantage of individual pizzas were four different orders:  prosciutto with funghi (mine), margarita (Karen), buffalo mozzerella (Eric)  and prosciutto with zucca (Rich).  The bottle of wine helped finish out the meal.

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We ‘filled in the cracks’ by stopping for gelato on the way home.  So ended one of our days in Italy.

Ciao!

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

We’re heading out with friends across the Atlantic to…………………Italy, specifically Venice!  There was a tiny little hint at the end of the previous post.  🙂

Our friends drove down the night before and Eric arranged for local transportation to take us to the airport.  You never know about the traffic, so we planned for an hour drive and 40 minutes later we were wandering through the airport.  Love TSA pre – just saying.  You get to keep your shoes on, don’t have to remove your electronic devices and generally the lines are much, much shorter.   See how happy we are.  🙂

Really, Saturday is the day to fly out.  There just wasn’t anyone around.

In the not-so-distance past, Eric convinced me to get the ‘Priority Pass’ available at most airports.  We’ve used is three times and I was ambivalent about its worth.  Orlando has one of the best locales of the three I have visited.  We had almost two hours to kill before our flight boarded and found this one – yeah!

As you can see from the photos, not a lot of action right now.  Which is probably just as well.  We’re all in rare form this morning and my sides hurt from laughing – just saying.

No matter where you’re at, you just can’t get away from the mouse.  The lounge had several Central Florida photos framed on the walls.

Our flight to Atlanta was uneventful and first order of business was lunch.  Gordon Biersch Brewery was easily available and the boys started their beer journey.

There was a tradition Eric encouraged me to start on our last trip and yes, I carried forth with the tradition this time……………….getting my nails painted at the airport.  It also gave me a chance to stretch my legs during our looonnnggggg 5 hour layover.

Most of the wait was passed sitting in the Club Lounge at Atlanta.  We each could bring a guest, so yes, we all were able to enter.

The food was much better than I remembered from my previous (and only) visit.  When we arrived, there was no problem getting in but after coming back from getting my nails painted, there was a big difference.  Most all of the chairs were taken.

And then……………..….it was time to get on the plane!

It was an uneventful flight, Eric got more sleep than the rest of us.  But then we saw this, the Swiss Alps.

We immediately began our descent into Venice and saw the island from the air.  Our plane was 50 minutes early thanks to a 100-mile tailwind pushing us across the Atlantic.

Going through passport control was a breeze, we quickly picked up our luggage and after purchasing our water taxi tickets at a kiosk, walked to the departure point at the terminal.

A friend of the apartment owner, Lucia, met us at the taxi drop-off and walked us through the streets of Venice until we reached our home for the next 5 days.

Our apartment is a very modern 2-bedroom abode.  The last photo is a view of our apartment from a nearby bridge.  We’re on the second story of the yellow building and our balcony railings are painted purple.  No, the boat does not come with our rental.

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First order of business was lunch.  We passed by this place when Lucia was taking us to the rental.  Stefano, the owner, recommended this place as one that locals would visit.

Eric ordered marinated sardines (which I did try once he deboned it for me) and between us we had 3 orders of pasta and a platter of fried seafood.

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Me – gnocchi in a light tomato sauce

• Karen – pesto penne
• Rich – sqid-ink pasta with cuttlefish
• Eric – the seafood platter, of course.

I found this little guy wandering the area beside our restaurant.  I was crashing from the lack of sleep and walking up and down the street to stay awake.

None of us could really function so heading back for a (somewhat) short nap was  a priority.  We started stirring around 4pm and while not totally hungry, wanted to take in the ambiance of Venice in the evening.  First up was a Venetian photo for us to send back home.  This is the other bridge seen from our balcony.

Surprisingly, we haven’t gotten lost yet and are able to retrace our steps when needed.  This place looked interesting and it was first stop and our last stop at the end of our evening.

We got a few beers to drink (Avanti March saison and a local Venetian lager) along with this fried cheese and salami & pepper tapas.

We noticed one of the workers (owner?) was making another intriguing dish and when he noticed our interest, gave us 4 bread slides.  It was beef tartar, delicioso!

And so ended our first evening in Venice.  We have some tours coming up this week and much more free time for exploring on our own.

Ciao!

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’re hot on the ‘ale trail’ still adding more stamps to the map.  And then some…..

Starting on a Sunday afternoon, we stopped at Redlight Redlight.  We had visited months ago when they had a special night to honor Anthony Bourdain, after he passed.  It was so crazy busy that night, I didn’t even try to get my stamp.

I was doing a little research on the local breweries and here’s what I found for Redlight Redlight.

• Started in 2005, currently in their 3rd location, having outgrown the others
• Their name is a nod to their first building, which was said that in the past, the location was a hotel of ill-repute.
• Currently in the Carrier Heating & Air-Conditioning building and they salvaged every bit they could and put it back into their building.
• They enthusiastically embrace community involvement and even have an event planner on staff.

I tried the Keller Pils.  Not my usual choice and as the description notes, it was hoppy.

We met some friends (new and old) and later on as the neighborhood started coming over, saw more friends.  It had a good vibe for a neighborhood place.

As mentioned above with their salvaging goals, everything they could they reused inside the building. I think that’s pretty cool.  🙂   Love the sign.

In 10 years my research said they have………..24 draft handles, 2 traditional hard-pumped beer engines, over 300 bottled beers and a collection of craft sodas.

Next up was the Ten 10 Brewing Co.  We’ve visited this place before but on this visit, the plan was to eat!  And drink some – of course.

To briefly recap their story, here’s a few details about the brewery:

• Opened in Summer 2015, using pure, clean ingredients for their brews.
• Their mantra is ‘Great Beer, Good Food & Good Friends’.
• Strive to be a neighborhood hangout for locals.

I also included a few shots of their menu..……It was really hard to choose.  I’ll come back just to try more of their snacks & stuff.  Okay, and another sandwich.

 

Naturally, need a shot of the beers we drank………yes, that’s mine in the front and yes, its  smaller pour.

And the food.  We started with their pretzel with our meals being a cheese, chili hot dog (Eric) and a ‘deluxe’ grilled cheese with pulled pork (me).  I won – just saying.

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Next stop was the Broken Cauldron Brewery &Tap room.

Interesting story…..………..they are two breweries: Broken Strings and Black Caldron.  Each were having some challenges with locations and various other issues so they got together and voila!  they are Broken Caldron.

While they are two breweries, they are one taproom of beer for all palates.  Broken Strings focuses on hop-forward varieties paying homage to musical legends while Black Cauldron focuses on the malt-forward side.

At any given time they have 12 drafts on tap.

One of Eric’s friends met us there and shared this ‘barrel aged Russian Imperial’  brew within our group.

So, still being a newbie, I asked Eric why, what, huh?  His answer was ‘Its a beer thing.’

 

So my first sentence at the top says ‘And then some’.  While not part of my Ale Trail map, we visited the Clermont Brewery that opened up literally days ago from this post.

Clermont is trying to revitalize their downtown area and this building/street is planned to be one of the anchors or ‘hooks’ for people to visit downtown.  There are currently two restaurants sharing the space, one of which was a pizza place.  We stopped in their first day of business and with minimal to no advertising – except word of mouth – they had a nice crowd coming and going most of the day.  We shared a pizza and some brews.

At the moment, they don’t have any of their beers to serve since they’re still waiting on the barrels and other equipment, but they served other local beers.  Some of their beer soon to be available are:

• Save the Blonde – single hopped ale
• Sun Squishy – Citra IPA
• Moonlight Milk Stout – dry nibbed with raw organic cacao nibs

(cacao = unprocessed chocolate beans)

I can’t wait for their Moonlight Milk Stout.  Who knew that I would like dark beer.

 

One of the most attractive things about this brewery is their outdoor seating area.  Can’t wait for the weather to cool off!!!!!  Even in September, their customers were sitting outside enjoying Central Florida.

Part of their porch is covered so there’s protection from the Florida rains.  Then there are a multitude of picnic tables with no cover that provides lots of extra seating.  We stopped in on the first weekend they were open – OMG!  We had to wait for someone to leave before finding a table.  Every spot outside was filled up and customers were spilling onto the sidewalk.  I hope this place makes it, along with the restaurants.  Maybe by now, Clermont is growing up.

We’re about to embark on another travel adventure with good friends.  Posts will be coming, but wi-fi may be a problem.  We’ll see.

Ciao!

Ginny

 

 

After a long day at work, we were finally able to head to Apalachicola.  This was not our typical drive……….half of our drive was in the dark!  Why is that important?  We’re driving through heavily wooded, mostly deserted pine forests and started to see deer grazing along the roadway.  Yikes!  We do not need a face to face meeting with them.  After our first few sightings, Eric slowed down, which took us even longer to get to town.  We easily counted 12 deer grazing.

After calling the Coombs Inn Bed & Breakfast, she gave us the electronic door code as it seemed we would be the last of their guests to arrive.  Let me say, this room looked great upon arrival.

The next morning I was able to get a few shots of the Inn.  They have 3 buildings  that encompass their total available rooms.  There’s a nice little patio to the left that’s enjoyable when the weather is cooler.  We were in the main building, the second floor – the Raney room.  More on that name later.

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As the name mentions, breakfast is included.  Good thing since in past visits, breakfast offerings are extremely limited around town, especially on sunday.  There are several offerings daily for a hot breakfast, along with breakfast breads and cereal.  Here are two of their menus.

I got a kick out of every couple asked for 1 of each and surprisingly, sometimes the gentleman asked for the sweet offering instead of the meat.  Go figure.

I pitched an idea to Eric earlier in the week and again – surprisingly – he thought it was a solid thought.  We’re going to do some yard clean-up on our city lot we purchased earlier this year.  We had to carry all off necessary (and unnecessary?!?) equipment up with us and be sure it was secured during the drive and then when parked overnight.

First up was mowing.  But our main task was cleaning up the fallen tree, seen in the right side of the photo, in the background.  Eric cut, I hauled and just realized I forgot to take a photo while he used the chainsaw.

However……………….you can see the results.  Yes, the vast majority of that I piled up along the roadway.

We found these bottles and this interesting well(?) once some vegetation was cut away.

Yes, yes I know.  These next two photos are not exciting – except to us.  While most people just see green, we see 5 hours of sweat, not much blood and no tears.

Eric’s last task was spraying Round-up to kill remaining vegetation.

While we looked anything but glamorous, we’re done for the day.

After cleaning up, it was (past) time for lunch.  Today’s location of choice was Boss Oyster.  It’s been a number of years since our last visit and one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday.

After our smoked fish dip (very tasty I must say) we both ordered flounder.  I had the basket and Eric got the sandwich.  The fish was so fresh, Eric said it was too good to eat with bread and removed the bun.

The food was excellent, the service didn’t quite reach the same level.  😦

 

Across the street is one of Apalachicola’s eclectic shops, The Tin Shed.

They feature all things nautical and had some great photo ops.

Nearby was the Oyster City Brewing Company and we stopped in for a bit.

We finished the evening at The Bowery Station.  They had live music on a Sunday evening, featuring Boo Radley.

It’s a local hang out, not air-conditioned (or heated for that matter) but easily within walking distance.  This is the second time I’ve heard them sing, so I googled them to find out more.

• they met in Tallahassee, FL, became fast friends, and married this past year at The Bowery Station.
• their songs highlight Michael Shaun Turner’s songwriting skills, sophisticated harmonies and guitar work and her vocal range.
• writing a song together, “More Than Meets the Eye” never expecting to perform it, eventually led to its recording and the title track of their first commercial venture recorded  in Nashville.

Monday morning, Eric drove an hour (1-way) to pick up our boat trailer in Medart, I took the time to walk around town.  There’s so much history these signs are everywhere.

This gentleman was the reason we can live in Florida – comfortably.  He essentially invented air-conditioning, initially for his yellow fever patients.  Dr. John Gorrie noted that “Nature would terminate the (severe yellow) fevers by the changing of the seasons.”  We’ve visited the museum in the past, but not this visit.  It was a block away from our lodgings.

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By the way, each state is allowed two statues in Washington representing their state.  Dr. John Gorrie is one of our figures.

Since we’re in the ‘Raney’ room, I waned to stop by the Raney House Museum – but it was closed.

David G. Raney came down from Virginia in the 1930s as the cotton port of Apalachicola was rapidly expanding.  One of his 8 children, George P. Raney served in the Confederate Army, practiced law in town afterwards, was elected to the Florida Legislature, became Attorney General to two Governors before becoming a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and then its Chief Justice.  He made an impact upon the state.  The Raney House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

And across the street is a bit of fun whimsey…………………and actually is a bike repair shop.

My last stop in the morning was the Chestnut Street Cemetery.   It is the oldest burying ground in Apalachicola and the burial site of many individuals connected with the history and development of the town.  They created a nice brochure for a cemetery walk, including bits of info from 47 gravesites.  It would be interesting to walk the cemetery, in a cooler season.

 

Finally, Eric returned and we drove to the Scipio Creek Marina to get our boat.  I had never seen a power lift do its job – here you go.

Last stop was for lunch – at the Seafood Grill.

Through the many years of our SGI visits, this place has had a variety of names, but continues to feature seafood.  🙂   Eric stuck with his fish of choice this trip (flounder), getting their daily special of ‘whole fish’.  I had a delicious blackened fish with fries.

The drive home seemed to take forever, slowly  (very slowly) eating away at the 280+ miles to Central Florida.  Finally, our boat is home.

While we enjoyed this extra trip to Apalachicola, we would prefer different circumstances.  Regardless, we made lemonade out of lemons.  🙂

 

Ginny

 

 

 

How can any breakdown be ‘lucky’?  Let’s see……………

 

Everyone left the rental house and went their separate ways – some staying on the island, others heading to Tampa and we made a short trip to Apalachicola to see their Farmer’s Market.

I really like both of their logos that are seen in their marketing.  This second one I thought was especially cute having seafood and flowers represented.

No photos of the actual market.  Growing produce in Florida’s summer is tough and (my opinion) not the absolute best time to visit a farmer’s market, but I wanted to see it anyway.  We saw one produce stand, one stand selling baked items, another with herbs and a few more tables selling various goods.  All of these were under cover in the pavilion.  A few vendors were selling their art wares nearby in the grass.  This was all happening near the dock for the local shrimp boats, so I had to get one photo, which is why I forgot to take a photo of the actual market.

There are several state parks in town, along with some historic houses, a botanical garden and this memorial.

I had some time to spare, so I walked through the memorial park and took some photos of their sculpture.

I had extra time because of this!

We just left the Farmer’s Market and was going to have lunch in town before heading home.  Nope, not going to happen.

After removing the wheel, it was decided we had a broken axel………on a trailer……..that was carrying a heavy boat…….280+ miles to home.

Now comes the lucky part – really.  We were within 100 yards of this place.

The gentleman (blue shirt) you see in the other photos was the owner.  It was his suggestion to (slowly) drive boat & trailer to the marina, off-load the boat, allowing us to get the trailer fixed minus the extra weight.  It probably wasn’t going to happen that day  since it was Saturday.  He jumped on the boat and got it off the trailer after Eric backed down their private ramp.

Yep, our boat is being stored in one of their slips until we return.  Think about it.  We’re paying for them to keep it AND we’re paying for covered space at home AND we have to pay to get the trailer fixed.  😦

They suggested a repair shop in Medart, FL (50 miles away).   Eric called the guy, said he was open until 1pm (uh ho) on Saturday.  His next statement reminded us we were (1)back in the south and (2) small town America.  “Don’t hurry and get any speedin’ tickets.  I’ll stay ’til you get here”.

After driving, safely and slowly, Eric was even more impressed as this gentleman has his own welding shop and fabricated axles on site.  This was a win.

 

Now what? Time for lunch!  Since we didn’t have the trailer & boat, options opened up for traveling and worry-free parking.  Spring Creek Restaurant in Wakulla county was the place of choice.

A few Wikipedia facts:

• opened in 1977 and passed down through family members of the Lovel family.
• they use their own boats and product from local fisherman to furnish the restaurant.
• serves only Wakulla-caught mullet, softshell crabs, shrimp and fish.

Apparently it was the restaurant of choice for this Corvette Club also.  We didn’t really see them much as they were in a private room and had already arrived by the time we got there.

The restaurant is noted for their garlic butter with crackers and/or rolls and homemade buttermilk ranch dressing (Eric loves it by the way) that accompanies all of their meals.  Eric ordered the fried grouper with cheese grits and mine was a grilled grouper sandwich.  Both were delicious.

 

We finally got home, later than expected, without our boat.

 

Why ‘lucky’?  I did some calculations:

~SGI to Apalach = 15 miles over 2 long bridges and a causeway

~Apalach to Panacea = 49 miles, some of which is nothing but pine trees and sketchy cell service

~Panacea to Perry = 60 miles of pine trees and more sketchy cell service

~Perry to Home = 180 miles of pine trees, lots of sketchy cell service and interstate miles

 

There’s a pattern.  We could have been stuck on a bridge or have to walk #@&! miles or stuck along the interstate with trucks rushing past us or any number of other undesirable possibilities.  This was truly a lucky spot to breakdown.  The rest of the silver lining...………………..this means we will be going back up there to retrieve boat and trailer, thus another trip to a favorite part of the state.

Stay tuned for that trip – its already being planned.

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

Didn’t really want to write this post…………………because it meant our SGI vacation was over.  We still have the memories, but we can’t feel the gulf breeze or smell all of the ‘saltiness’ that comes with living near the beach.  Nor find interesting bits of nature along the sand.

Undoubtedly, we had a lot of fun with our friends.  We don’t see them nearly enough so we treasure these weeks we are together.  The kids have both grown so  much – in a multitude of ways. They were a big help on this trip, pulling crab & pinfish traps, prepping the boat and filleting the fish we caught to name just a few of the many tasks they helped with during the week.

We did make another trip into Apalachicola, eating at ‘Hole in The Wall’.  It’s just a fun place to be.  The owner/waitress, Barbara, is a hoot and really is part of the reason we keep coming back.  We started with smoked fish dip and it quickly disappeared.  She has as a nickname for Warner  “Dos Equis”.  He got it from a previous trip and the name has stuck.  Surprisingly, we all had grouper for our meal – except Audrey.  She ordered a cheeseburger – guess she had eaten enough seafood.

 

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When the grill was used this week, we took advantage and had supplies for smores.  They just taste better when you’re at the beach – just saying.  🙂

Fishing wasn’t the only activity going on this week.  The kids learned how to play cribbage and most nights ended in this manner.

There was also a puzzle purchased with the intent of leaving it at the house.  Towards the end of the week, the pressure was on to get it finished.

Late in the week, we had another family join us and it was good to see them.  Again – both of their kids have grown so much since we last saw them.  They were a little too young for our fishing adventures in the bay, but we motored around our canal and they got a chance to cast and be a part of the activities.

We headed out thinking the pop-up storms would take the normal path (going inward and east) however, this one did not.  The lightning strikes got too close.

It was heading straight for us and didn’t look like fun.  After one particularly high wave the boat jumped, we turned around and headed home.  Two seconds after the wave, I hightailed it to the backseat of the boat, instead of sitting on the front cooler.

Sorry Richard – you were on your own for the rest of the ride.

Eric caught this little guy while fishing off of our dock as we waited for the storms to pass.  He was safely returned to the canal.

We gathered our crab traps and was able to harvest enough crabs for that night’s dinner.

Mid-Afternoon we headed back onto the water for our last few hours of boat fishing.

Both Audrey and Warner had keeper fish brought on board.

All too soon it was time to take the boat out of the water and load it onto the trailer.  Richard and Lottie accompanied Eric on the trip across the bay as we used the boat ramp at Apalachicola.

We had one last sunset and it was a doozy.  We got a number of photos and then our friends quickly kayaked and saw the sunset while on the water.

About that puzzle…………………this greeted me Saturday morning – it was finished, and left for the next visitors to the house.

 

Ginny

 

While I planned on this being the last SGI post, we had something interesting happen after we checked out and that will be coming soon to the blog.  I’ve already got the title………’Lucky Breakdown’.  Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

Scallop season just opened in St. Joe Bay – literally while we were up there.  For some in the group it  had been years since they scalloped and also be in Florida when the season was open.  Today was that day!  The weather radar was perfect.

We had to head further west of our current location for the section of St Joe Bay open to scallop.  One option was to drive the boat there, but that could be dicey with the weather.  Option 2 was to put the boat on the trailer and launch it in their state park.  We chose option 2.

I drove the trailer to the Apalachicola city boat ramp (it was  a VERY nice & wide ramp).  Audrey and Eric motored across the bay, loaded the boat and we met the rest of the group in the park.  I was able to take one photo of the St. Joe Beach.

There was some instruction that occurred as the kids got used to wearing the mask and snorkel to breathe.  You can see other boats in the background. Not too many, as compared to Crystal River.  Of course we were there in the middle of the week.  I’m sure it was much different on the weekend.

Eric made sure everyone was good, then he took off.  That’s him on the far right, swimming away.

His first bag was most bountiful, containing 18 scallops.

We picked up the anchor a few times, moving around to find better spots.  Ansley and the kids stuck with it all morning as seen below.  Man – see how clear the water was in the first photo!

Dennis (and myself) started fishing.

We ended the afternoon with one last group photo.  Everyone was holding one of our recently captured scallops.  🙂

Audrey got to drive the boat back to the ramp, a task she really enjoyed.  Boat Captains – beware!

Dennis fried up some chicken wings to tide us over until dinner.

Dinner was a grand affair.  The mullet had been smoked in the rental’s outside grill earlier in the day and turned into an absolutely delicious fish dip.

The fish dip was used as a filling with thin cucumber strips as the carrier.   The scallops  swimming earlier that day…………were now our dinner.  Everyone could top the scallops as they so desired.  My choice was soy sauce, a dot of siracha and a few sprinkles of cabbage finished my scallops.

Short post about scalloping.  Another post is coming for the last few days of our SGI trip.

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What?  Does that make sense????  It does when you’re at SGI in August.

 

The whole group was again together that morning.  Audrey was a little bit grumpy since she couldn’t find her favorite “A” hat.  Being with her brother didn’t bring a smile either – not that you could tell with their buffs on.

We checked our pinfish traps first thing as they had been successful on an earlier trip in the week.  While we didn’t hit the lottery with pinfish, we did find this guy – an eel, along with a mud catfish and a decent sized crab.

Her demeanor changed once she was the first to bring this trout on board.

Then her mother added a keeper trout to the cooler.

Somewhere in between I added a trout to the cooler, but missed out on the photo.  As mentioned in an earlier post, a fish selfie just doesn’t work.  We were teasingly calling the morning ‘Girl Power Hour’.

The pop-up storms were becoming more prevalent and decisions needed to be made.  Which way to head to miss them?  Go west and run through an impending storm OR go east and see if they wear themselves out?  We chose west.

What a great decision!  We got to East End and then we found magic……….diving birds.

We ran across these on our last two SGI trips and each time had great fun.  Thus one of the trips this activity was named ‘Runnin’ & Gunnin’.

Seeing the diving birds, Eric drives up to the frenzy, puts the boat in neutral and then we all cast towards the action.  Initially we were only getting ladyfish and while fun to catch with their acrobatics they were not the desired species.  Only when Eric said to let our lures sink for several seconds did we begin to catch some mackerel.  Unfortunately, we also snagged one of the dive-bombing seagulls.  😦  OMG in a very bad way.  We couldn’t get close enough to the bird to untangle the bird but quickly decided to cut the line – close – to let the bird escape and the fishing line come loose.  It worked.

It all starts with the schools of glass minnows, attracting schools of fish, which attract diving birds which attracts us – the fishermen.  We coast into the frenzy, cast (and hopefully hook) before the minnows and fish go deeper down, calming the water.  We quietly survey the horizon, looking for the action to start all over again, then go running into the fray.  🙂  Kids absolutely love it (and so do the adults if we’re honest).

Eventually we got enough macks and  paid more attention to the weather.  We had been keeping an eye on it and it looked like the one storm was scooting along the shoreline instead of coming into the bay.  However………………………..

I had just enough time to grab a photo of East End before we headed back.  Love SGI – just saying.

W debated stopping at the youth camp in the state park for cover or going all the way back.  There seemed to be a possible break in the clouds and we went straight to the house.

Man – is that a nice fish haul or what?

Eric was able to convince Audrey to help him and the work was done much quicker.

Then there was this fellow – Devin.  I heard some noise around the seawall and this gentleman was using a cast net and floating a holder with him.  He’s showing me one of his mullet that he netted.

He was selling the fish to his customers and Eric told  him to come back if he had any leftover as we would be interested – and he did.

 

Sushi…………..now we come to the second part of the title.

We first attempted making our own sushi several years ago and it was a popular dinner choice.  Our last trip we made a poke bowl – just when those of us on the mainland was starting to hear about them.  That was the plan if we caught mackerel.

It was definitely a team effort.  Dennis cooked and prepped the sushi rice.  Others grated the carrots, seeded & sliced the cucumber, cooked & cleaned the shrimp before it was all put together.  Avocado and spicy mayo sauce completed the poke bowls.

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But it didn’t stop there.  Sushi rolls were also on the menu, some of which had the mackerel included.  Prepping and rolling the rolls while using the sharpest knife is key to their success.

What meal is complete with our dessert – homemade.  Dennis found a recipe for Atlantic Lemon Pie and that task was left to myself and Audrey.

It was VERY tasty and a nice end to a great day.

Sharing our combined meal that was eaten out on the screened porch as the sun was setting.

 

More SGI adventures are coming.

 

Ginny

 

 

 

 

What better way to start than on the water!  Over time, we have accumulated a multitude of traps:  pinfish traps (2), crab traps (2) and a minnow trap.  It only bears to reason that they must be stocked with ‘stinky’ fish or chum and then placed in the water.  Here we had the kids help place the crab traps.

 

Our first day, everyone was part of the trip.

We kept an eye on the radar and needed to watch out for a few pop-up showers, which hopefully would not develop into storms.

We had to wait out some rain before motoring to Marsh Island and the SGI bridge was a natural stopping place.

I thought surely, there must be some interesting info on the internet about the SGI bridge and I was right.

• The first bridge connecting the mainland to SGI was built in 1965, prior to that a ferry carried visitors across.
• Began in 2002 and completed in 2004, the new SGI bridge was built when the original was deemed unsafe due to old age.
• Bypassing the middle island, the new bridge became the 3rd longest bridge in Florida (4 miles).
• BTW – the official name is Bryant Patton Memorial Bridge.

So you know you’ve worked at Disney a long time when you see images around you that remind me of Disney characters.  Here I saw a Mickey Mouse cloud formation with a silhouette of Goofy on the right.

My first catch was a Gaft-top Sailcat, or also affectionately called ‘snot cat’ (which you can see along the line near the hook.).

All of those with a fishing license caught a trout but unfortunately none were of a legal size.  We did run into this fellow.  We assumed that (1) others fed him fish – which is illegal or (2) he was opportunistic, going after our fish we threw back into the water.  He was pretty darn close to the boat!

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After 3+ hours on the water, we cleaned up and headed into Apalachicola for a late lunch.  Several of our top choices were closed on sunday, so we ended up at ‘Up The Creek’ Raw Bar.

The group wanted to see our ‘land’ we purchased earlier this year.  Not much to look at right now.  We need to find someone to mow it and also need to get some of the debris cut and cleared before the brush and trees get too big and we will have to apply for a permit for removal.

One other reason for going into Apalach was a stop at the grocery store – Piggly Wiggly.

I’m still amazed as some of their offerings.  They have an amazing selection of Community Coffee and this time we also found the local coffee from Tallahassee – Lucky Goat Coffee.

And really, have you seen this many options for cooking oil or Bob’s Red Mill?

Dinner was a light affair with fresh cooked shrimp and home-made romoulade and cocktail (thanks Warner) sauce.

Monday’s crew was 5 and luckily we remembered the fishing rods BEFORE leaving the dock, barely.

Ansley saw us off for today’s adventure – peace and quiet for her.

While Eric had gotten shrimp for fishing that morning, we were hoping for pinfish in our traps – score again!  Both of the kids were getting really good at grasping the floats and pulling up the traps.  🙂

I share this shot just to show everyone how calm the bay was Monday morning.

Eric was the first to have a keeper trout in the boat.

At one time, all of us had caught trout but only Eric and Dennis filled the cooler.  Dennis being the clear winner with his 22″ keeper.  Eventually myself and Warner added to the overall count of  8 trout.

We picked up the crab traps on the way in and today is a good day for our seafood catch.

Fourteen crabs were pulled out of the 2 traps.

These whelks were added as part of our ‘tower of seafood’.

You’ve got these fish with the next step being to filet them.  Eric thought it was time for the kids to learn the fine points of using a filet knife.  Both watched his demonstration but Audrey was the first to make the attempt.

Practice makes perfect and ultimately, she filleted 4 of the fish.  Pretty good for her first attempt.

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Our crab traps provided a bountiful supply of crabs……….and dinner.

What better way to finish, than with a SGI sunset.

 

Ginny