Tony, Don, Home - Oh My!

So it has been a busy couple of weeks.  This may be a longer post and I will try not to forget anything.  So Mark and Deb and Jim and Sarah did drive up on Saturday (10/17) and met us at the boat.  The guys sat up on the bridge with a cigar and a couple of Bloody Mary's.  The gals stayed inside and Marcia made Moscow Mules.  We had fun catching up and then drove over to the Bradenton Yacht Club for dinner.  Mark was able to get us all in to the club from his reciprocity from the Punta Gorda Yacht Club.  Service was a little slow, but we were looking forward to dinner.  Mark, Jim and I all ordered the special which was a ribeye steak.  A half and hour later, the waitress informed us that they were out of the special.  Odd given the place was almost empty and it was 6:30 on a Saturday night.  We ended up getting the strip steak but did not get the special price.  By the time dinner came we were starving.  We all ended up having a good time.

After dinner we tried to go up to the rooftop for a nightcap, but it was too crowded.  Instead we walked over to Pier 22 and had a nightcap.  We said our goodbyes and made plans to see them again the next Saturday.

We spent the next few days cleaning and washing the boat, preparing for Tony's visit.  On Tuesday afternoon, we picked Tony up at the airport and then back to the boat.  We decided to go simple and go to Caddy's for dinner.  They were out of the grouper - not having a good track record for ordering or at least getting the specials.  

After dinner Tony and I walked up to Corks (cigar bar) for a cigar and drinks.  On Wednesday we drove  to St Armand's Circle to show Tony the sights, shops and bars.  While having a drink before lunch, but after 12:00, I received a text from the fishing charter guy that he was having boat issues and needed to cancel our trip on Friday.  I will spare all of the details and cuss words, but we went into problem solving mode to find another charter.  Turns out that we could not get another off shore charter but we did book an inshore trip.  We ate lunch and walked around a bit before driving back to the boat via Longboat Key and Anna Marie Island.  We went to dinner in Sarasota at a place called Captain Brians.  Not much to look at from the outside, but the food and service was outstanding.

After getting back to the boat, Tony and I walked up to Cork's again for a nightcap, and a cigar.  On Thursday we decided to go the beach.  We drove over to Bradenton Beach and spent a few hours there. 

After the beach and back to the boat, Tony and I left to pick up Don (brother) from the airport.  After a quick tour of the marina, we all walked over to Oak and Stone to have dinner on the rooftop.  After a short wait we had a great view for dinner.  There were quite a few trips to the self serve beer taps.  After dinner, Tony, Don and I walked up to - you guessed it - Corks for a cigar and beer.  

On Friday we had our inshore fishing trip.  Don, Tony and I drove over to Anna Marie Island and met the charter.  Nice that it was not until 8:00 instead of 6:00 like the Lake Erie charters.  It was a great 4 hour trip.  We started out in the gulf about 100 yards off the beach.  We were catching Maceral's like crazy.  After we had about 6 in the cooler, we were just catching and releasing.  Then we started catching some small black tip sharks.   After about 3 hours, we went inside and fished the mangroves for Snook.  They were also fun to catch, but we could not keep them due to regulations.  We got back to the dock around 12:00 and felt like we had a full day of fishing.

We did get a couple of videos from all of us catching a shark, but I was having issues getting them to upload to the blog.  Back at the dock, the captain fileted all of the fish for us.  His past experience as a chef ensured that we did not have even 1 bone in any of the fish.  Back at the boat we went to the pool and relaxed a bit.  For dinner we took over both grills and cooked up a TON of fish.  Felt kind of like Forest Gump.  We had blackened fish, fish on the grill, fish on foil, lemon butter garlic fish, you get the idea.  We gave it the old college try, but there was no way that we could finish all of the fish, even after sharing some of it with the boat behind us.  After dinner we tried to walk it off by walking the docks, but we were all exhausted.  Ended up being an easy and early night on the boat.

On Saturday we walked up to Robin's for breakfast.  Great food with a hometown diner vibe.  After breakfast, we packed up and headed South to spend the day in Punta Gorda.  We stopped by Jim and Sarah's house to say "hi" and have a Bloody Mary.  They had not met Tony before and it had been a while since they had seen Don.  After there, we drove over to Mark and Deb's house.  It was a beautiful day and we had made plans to take his center console over to Boca Grande beach for the day.  Leaving the canals, we joined up with John and Beth Roepke who had Jim and Sarah on their center console.  John and Beth are friends that we used to boat with at Rivertowne that have recently relocated to Punta Gorda as well.  It was the 1st time that Don and Tony had been on Mark's boat and it did not disappoint.  We cruised over to Boca Grande at 45mph, even hitting a top speed of 55mph.  Both boats anchored at the beach and we had an awesome day.  Not sure how we ended up not getting any pictures though.  Guess we were having too much fun.   When we got back to Mark's house we packed up and said our goodbyes.  With an hour drive back to Bradenton we had plans to eat dinner at Tom's Bad Ass Bar and Grill.  Was an interesting ride back as Indiana (Tony) was playing Penn State (Marcia) in football.  Tony was quite excited and vocal about the IU win.  The burgers were good I got talked into the ribs which were excellent.  Don and I finished the night on the back of the boat with a bourbon and a cigar.  Tony fell asleep on the couch.  Think he might have been overserved on Tito's.

On Sunday morning we drove Tony to the airport said goodbye.  We all think that he had a great visit.  After the airport we decided to drop the dinghy in and go for ride on the river.  Surprisingly we stopped at Woody's for fish dip, wings, and grouper fingers.  

After lunch we cruised up the river another few miles.  Was neat to see as we had not been up that far before.  Back at the marina we put the dinghy away and decided to go to the pool.  It was a relaxing day with a few cold beverages and yet another cigar.  For dinner we decided to pick up and grill out some steaks at the marina.  After dinner we decided to take a walk on the Riverwalk.  

Monday, after a few chores on the boat, we took a drive to Siesta Key.  We walked around the shops for a bit and then stopped at the Siesta Key Oyster House.  We just had to try the oysters and of course a Bloody Mary.

After Siesta Key, we took the scenic route back to the dock, via Longboat Key and Anna Marie Island.  Don and I decided to go to the pool again for a few hours before dinner.  We walked over to Pier 22 for dinner.

With it being Don's last night, we walked up to Cork's to have a cigar and then called it a night.  

Don was heading out on Tuesday afternoon.  He and I walked up to Robin's so he could get his coffee and had a quick breakfast.  It had been a long time since I had corned beef hash.  He and I decided to drive back to Siesta Key because someone forgot their credit card at the Oyster House.  Not the first time that this has happened to me.  I think someone needs to invent a chip that if you are more than a mile from you credit card it would text you.  Would surely save me a lot of time.  We had a few hours before we need to drive Don to the airport so we did one final trip to the pool.  We dropped Don off that afternoon and then back to the boat.  

It was a solid fun week with both Tony and Don visiting.  We were looking forward to just taking it easy for a few days.  We had decided to drive home on Sunday and began packing and cleaning up the boat.  The rest of the week was somewhat non eventful.  With everything pretty much packed up and ready to go, we made plans to go over and watch the game with Marcia's niece Alyssa.  We ordered takeout from her community club house and went back to Elaine and Glen's house to eat and watch the Penn State game.  We drove back a halftime and spent our last night on the boat for a couple of months.  

On Sunday, we did our final checks, flushed the AC units, flushed the water systems, and closed everything up.  With the boat secured, we headed North around 9:30am.

The drive home was not bad.  We broke it up into 2 days again, stopping North of Atlanta.  Even the cat seemed to be content with the ride home this time.

We are back home now and enjoying the extra space and our king size bed.  Our plan is to be home for the holidays and then to head back to Florida in January. 

 

Bradenton 10/3/20 - 10/16/20

 So time does seem to fly by when we are down here.  The last 2 weeks went by very fast.   We have settled into somewhat of a during the week routine.  In the morning we usually go to Planet Fitness to try and maintain.  After lunch on the boat we tend to get into some type of project.  I have been mostly buffing and waxing, and Marcia is usually laundry, bills, or cleaning.   I will just try to fill you in on the non routine happenings.

On Saturday the 3rd, we did drive down to Punta Gorda to visit with Mark and Deb.  Although it was somewhat overcast, the stellar weatherman were not predicting rain until early evening.   We took his center console out, headed for Boca Grande beach for the day.  The wind was a little high so we ended up at Cayo Costa beach.  It ended up being a great day with only a few sprinkles.  Jim and Sarah had some family down and they ended up beaching with us after lunch.  

If you look closely, you can see the jellyfish that was right next to us.

After we got back to Mark's house, we grilled up some "T-Bone" steaks and Deb made scallop potatoes, salad and homemade apple tort.  Was a perfect end to a nice day.  The rain did come down pretty hard during dinner but eased up for our drive back to the boat.

We did make a trip to the outlet mall on Wednesday and then to the UTC mall.  We managed not to purchase much other than another pair of workout shorts for me and a top and workout pants for Marcia.  I did go back and exchange my shorts the next week for the 9" inseam.  The 7's were showing just a little too much leg and it was distracting to the other people at the gym.  (in a good way)!!!!

We took it ease (routine) until Thursday.  It turns out that long time friends Barry and Sherry Hollock were on vacation in Sarasota.  Facebook does sometimes have it's value.  We made plans with them to drive up and visit and go to lunch.  We met at the boat and started out with some Bloody Mary's.  Cluck even came out to visit and say Hi.

After a couple of bloody's on the boat, we walked over to the rooftop for lunch.  It was great catching up with them as it has been a while since we had seen them.

We decided that on Friday it was going to be a play day.  We put the dinghy in the water and we went to the beach.  

It was a good stop for a few beers and a cigar.  After the beach we explored a little and then went to Regatta Pointe for happy hour.  I did have to sample the oysters as I have not had any since coming back down.

 Saturday and Sunday ended up being overcast and on and off rain, so we just hung out on the boat.  On Wednesday we made our grocery shopping excursion.  We had waited 2 weeks to go last time and I felt like we were on "Yours, Mine and Ours" with how full our cart was.  I call it an excursion because it ended up being a trip to Publix, Winn Dixie and Walmart before we got everything.  It was such a nice day that we decided to go enjoy the pool for  a couple of hours.  It was a nice mid week break.  I guess we are to the point that we need a mid week break :).  

Thursday was a work and clean day as Marcia's sister Elaine and husband Glen were coming to visit on Friday.  I went to start the engines for the 1st time back and wouldn't you know it the Port battery was dead.  I did put a volt meter on it and it was reading 1.7 instead of 12+.  It was an 8D battery, for those that know.  For those that don't, picture a battery the size of 3 put together and weighing about 200 pounds.  Needless to say it was a royal pain the back, to put is a nicely as it can.  Good news is that the port engine started afterwards.

Elaine and Glen came to the boat today (Friday) and we did take it out for a cruise for the 1st time since being back.  Everything seemed to work OK.  We cruised out to Tampa Bay and then onto the ICW.  Turned out to be a great day.  I don't think Lucy was too happy that we were cruising again.  I think she has forgotten what it was like, even though it was a calm day.  When we got back we were going to go to the rooftop for a beer but they were packed and it was a 45 minute wait just to go up.  We said our goodbyes and have plans to have dinner with them at their house on Tuesday.

Mark and Deb, along with Jim and Sarah are planning to drive up tomorrow.  Mark was able to get reservations at the Bradenton Yacht Club for dinner, so we are planning to check it out on Saturday.  We have a very busy week planned out next week with Tony (son) and Don (brother) both coming down to visit.  We are really looking forward to it and are hoping for good weather.  By the way, it is still in the low 90's here, so not missing Cincinnati right now.

I will leave you with a couple of sunset pictures.  It really is a nice view from the boat.

Bradenton 9/21 to 10/02

 We seem to have been very busy over the last couple of weeks considering we have not been traveling on the boat.  I am going to spare you the day by day detail and just try to recap some of the things we have been doing.  Our Morning routine is to try and go to Planet Fitness and get some exercise in.  Don't think we are losing any weight, but we are at least hoping to offset and not gain.

Although Marica does not want to admit it, she did have another birthday.  We had been wanting to check out the rooftop bar, so we decided to go up for an after dinner drink.  It was extremely windy so good thing we were not trying to eat dinner up there.  The views are very nice though.  It will for sure be on the "one of the places to go" if people come to visit.

When I was putting our Bimini top back up I noticed that one of the zippers was starting to tear away.  After a call to the local canvas shop, I made plans to take it there to get stitched up.  The shop ended up re-stitching all the zippers and two other tears that I was not aware of.  $25 well spent and the top fits a lot better now.

We did do a couple of house hunting trips, but nothing we liked so far.  We did find a neighborhood that we both liked but nothing for sale in there yet.  We will keep it on our watch list if something becomes available.  We did walk up to Tom's Bad Ass Bar for dinner one night as it was recommended by a couple of the locals here.  Our expectations were not high, but it turned out to be a great place.  Food was good and very reasonable.

For those missing the food pictures, I had the meatloaf and mashed potatoes and Marcia had the fish tacos.  Yes Maggie - I ate my vegetables!

During the week we have been keeping up on the normal boat chores.  Marcia cleaning, bills and doing laundry and I have been checking the strainers, washing the boat, and doing some buffing and waxing on some of the areas that need it.  We do enjoy the sunsets off the back of the boat.  I did manage to finished off a bottle of Bourbon and cigar also.

Last Saturday we made plans for Marcia's niece Alyssa and her friend Randy to visit.  We put the dinghy in and went up to Woody's for afternoon drinks and fish spread.  After Woody's we took a cruise up the Braden river to check things out.  We were going to go down to the beach, but the boat traffic was pretty rough in the dinghy so we ended going to the pool at the marina.  We grilled up dinner and ate on the boat.  Randy was demanding a rematch on Rumicube so we played a couple of games and he was happy that he won one.  We sat up on the bridge and enjoyed the evening, me with a few bourbons and a cigar.  Yes I was over served.

Sunday was another full day.  We met Dave and Leeann, Al and Debbie, and Lisa and Steve for lunch at Regatta Point.  Felt like we were back home with all the Cincinnati folks.  Was a slow start with Mimosa's and Bloody Mary's but it was a great lunch.

After lunch we came back to the boat for a few beers and said goodbye to Lisa and Steve.  The rest of us decided to go to the rooftop for a drink.  We could see the storm off in the distance, but the rain never made it to us.  We did get some nice rainbow pictures though.

I was doing some cleaning on the boat on Monday and the sailboat behind us invited us over for dinner that night.  Turns out there were 6 of us and he had grilled up filets, shrimp, potatoes and asparagus.  We ended sitting out with them for a few hours and enjoyed dinner and the evening breeze.  I am counting Monday as an AFD day because we only had some sangria with dinner.  I am not sure if that really counts as drinking.:) 

Good thing Tuesday got back to normal with a AFD (alcohol free day) because we drove down to Venice to have lunch with Dave/Leeanne, Al/Debbie, Jim/Sarah and Mark at Pop's Sunset Grill.  Had a great time with everyone.

After lunch we drove over the see Dave and Leanne's place and then back to the boat.  

On Friday, today and our 27th wedding anniversary, we decided to drive up to Tampa and go to a boat show that was going on there.  It was a small show but still fun to walk around.  The show was free but we had to pay 8 bucks to park.  I think it was still bigger than the Cincinnati boat show.  We did spend some time on a couple of center consoles that we liked.  I tried to get Marcia to buy me the 33 Blackfin for an anniversary present but she was not going for it.

We did end up getting the bundt cake though to celebrate with later. Not sure how Marcia is going to wrap up the Blackfin though,

After the show we came back to the boat.  It is overcast here with a nice breeze and in the 80's, so a nice day.  I decided to sit up on the bridge and have a cigar and update the blog.  

A couple of updates, Cluck is still here and doing fine.  I know a few people have been asking about him, but he is keeping a low profile.  He likes it better when we are traveling.  Lucy seems to be settling in OK.

My view as I went in to go to bed the other night.  I believe she is trying to take over the whole boat and it is starting with my side of the bed.

One of her "rough" days.

Plan is to grill up some burgers for dinner and then enjoy a Bombay and Tonic for our anniversary sunset.  We are driving down to visit Mark and Debbie and go to the beach on their center console tomorrow. 

Take care and I will try to update the blog weekly, but don't count on it.