Apalachachola and St. George Isle

We were just there last week and now hurricane

Michael has blasted through and it isn't pretty.

I pray it's not as bad as it looks.

So these working boats were in a marina near

where we had the delicous seafood dinner at Up the Creek

Oyster bar.

 It has a lovely view that I posted on facebook
and the oysters and their seafood is totally delish.

We actually had oysters at three places.
Red Pirate - yummy flounder btw.
Up the Creek - had the yummy view with their food.
AND
Lynn's Quality Oysters.
And you'll never guess which was was best.
yup.
Lynn's
and we got to watch them shuck.
It's takes a certain flair and technique to get those
choice morsels out of their shells.

 We stumbled upon this really cool shop.

The Tin Shed. 

It was chockfull of everything.

Lots of unique stuff with a mariner flair.

Tell me this doesn't call your name.

And of course another working boat.

I can't resist.

We didn't go into the Raney House but it looked really neat.

It is an 1800's house owned by a cotton-trader.

And that's all I know - guess you have to take the tour.

 And this Viet Nam memorial statue that is adjacent to the 

Raney House and not in their backyard but it is a true replica
of the one in Washington and it's just as
breathtaking as the original.

It is the town's tribute the veterans of the Viet Nam War.

And the bridge that takes you to St. George's Isle 

and back to Apalachachola.

And the lighthouse that greets you as you roll in.

These beaches and dunes were in the St. George State Park

where we were camped.

And you can barely see the water but the water

is there all the same.

 These huge dunes are across the road.

They're actually cool in their own way.

We had a lovely campground.

We did go to the beach on a very windy day where

the warm water rocked and rolled quite vigorously

for the Gulf.

There was also the yellow and purple flags flying.

Beware: Medium Caution of stinging marine life.

😐

Fortunately the stinging marine life stayed away.

Rained out at The Hermitage

The home of Andrew Jackson the 7th President of the U.S.

He also was a general and a statesman in both houses of Congress.

Called the Hermitage and located near

Nashville, TN.

 He is also the only president to pay of the national debt.

Bragging rights don't get better than that.

 He married Rachel Doelson Robards and caused quite a stir

because she wasn't quite divorced yet.

That fact wasn't known until after they lived together as a

married couple. DC society wasn't very nice to Rachel

even after the remarried once the divorce was final. She died

after his election and before he could take the oath of office.
He was heartbroken.

 The grounds, some of which we saw, prior to raining cats and dogs

is beautiful and huge. 

We did the audio tour and then

you get some guidance through the house.

Found those tour guides to be quite a snotty bunch especially

when faced with a question so I broke their rule

of no picture taking inside.

 Not quite a good excuse but they did rub me, and quite

a few others, the wrong way.

And I didn't use a flash.
So there.

 Everything is behind glass so that is the

glare you see.

 The dining room is absolutely stunning.

Didn't quite get all the rooms  so you'll have to check them out.

 Outlying buildings as he was a slave owner.

And below is where he's buried.

This was as close as I could get with the rain.

 And it seems deer like to come out on cloudy

rainy days when no one else is out.

There is also a museum chock full of stuff and all

the trees planted  in the new entry way came from battlefields

he was on.

Shakedown cruise - The Endeavor has landed

We've been out and about since about July 24th.

Exciting times for sure starting with "the breakdown" on

the third day.

Since then we've had a few things that needed taking care of, like:

air conditioning in the front - it just quit so we

hung around in the New England states because the weather was

beautiful and no A/C needed.

Whilest hanging in New England, we visited grandkids

in NH and NY and hung out in the driveway with ourfriends in Maine.

We then "camped" in a friend's really big yard and had

a 50 amp hookup installed so all things ran really well and life was good.

We used the facilities in his garage so our tanks

didn't full thus not requiring a dump.

We have been here almost a month.

Since then:

our A/C has been fixed

tested the washing machine

and used our fireplace that takes away all

things damp and cold.

We have internet, personal wifi and are trying to figure

that out for the long term because I love

watching my scrapbook vids and that takes a lot

of bandwidth and bytes.

Right now I connect to my phone because it has

"unlimited" with personal hotspots as a back up.

It's working so far and we are out and about more so

that I'm not on the internet as much.

On working out.

I have been lazy for sure but I find doing it

alone is no fun.

Need to figure this out long term.

I'm hoping we'll be hiking and exploring and

that'll be a start.

We still have a lot of storage to figure out. Right now

there is minimal "stuff" aboard because we still

have our house and I am too lazy to run things back and forth.

Since we had an RV previously we have all the things we need 

such as dishes, cookware and utensils, bedding, etc.

However, we have a lot of favorite things we like to use and

those will be loaded up.

So far, it's been an easy transition but we still have a house

to return to so I'm waiting to see what emotions will be lurking

when we don't have that permanent structure to return to.

On the bed, the coach did come with a queen size select number

that rocks but we finally got the foam memory to add

to the mattress and oh my my.

Big diff in the sleeping.

I know you're waiting breathlessly on the scrapbooking part,

it appears I'll have my own little space that is
right behind the passenger chair and next to the "kitchen"
MY SPOT

 I will be able to take these 2 drawers and set them apart and instead
of the top that is on them now

I can take the architects desk (top only)  and
set that on top of the above drawers and that'll give me
some leg room and lots of room to scrap.

Of course the clutter will have to taken down to a mild roar
but I won't have to put everything back and I can
wander over and rearrange and tweak stuff. I do need
to whittle stuff down adding/and deleting to what I did
take which of course was all the wrong things. LOL.
And my brand new printer...need to figure how to work that
bad boy in. It's big. Canon Pro-100.

Then we had the breakdown on the return home.

Sort of the same thing with the DPF only different.
We were able to camp outside the fence at 4 star Freightliner
 virtually haunting
the techs till they got things done.
We had a lot of fun in the customer lounge getting to
all the others that were experiencing technical difficulties.
Another RV'r and a few truck drivers.
All have interesting lives.

On time alone, we found the
one time I actually took the car and went out
to shop alone where I was able to roam the aisles at my own pace
and Tom got to relax and enjoy the coach and ound that we
both appreciated that "time alone."
Learning curve no doubt that'll be a work in progress next year
when we hit the road for sure.

It is an exciting change and I find that I want to move things along to
 "get going on the road"
we have a lot of stuff to get rid of and then
it's the "return" or maybe "not return" for the winter
 that I have to wrap my head around.

Barnegat Lighthouse and around LBI

You knew there had to be a lighthouse coming

from somewhere. 

 Of course it's a gray day - courtesy of hurricane Florence.

The inlet was rockin' and rollin' and flinging

its bad self all over the pier.

 Boats were coming and going.

Mostly going.

 However, this boat got to the entrance of the inlet

 and turned around.

Can't say I blame him.

And that is the look of the inlet.

The waves are gonna get ya coming and going.

 Coming back from a hopefully successful day of fishing.

 The Lighthouse. 

Again.

 Made a new friend.  I think I ruffled his feathers.

Shocking I know.

 Don't tugboats make you swoon.

Love a pretty tug.

 Our awesome Coast Guard peeps getting ready to 

hoist anchor.

 Fearlessly headed toward the inlet.

 If only they could get a little closer to the lighthouse.

And maybe sunny skies while I'm wishing.

 Another tug.

 And working, boats don't they make you swoon too.

Doing a lot of swooning today.

And two tugboats mating.

Muah! 😘

Looks like they're kissing to me. 

TN - Favorite youngest son & new baby

I was so glad we could meet up with

Shane who was passing through

on his way to Connecticut - and was able

to park and hang out with us through the evening.

Fed him some Jersey pizza.

Yum!

 Studio Calico and Tim Holtz was happening for

this page as well as a few punches.

 This little guy is our newest nephew and he's

sooooooo beautiful.

Wrapped up in the blanket I made for him

and also wearing the cute outfit

I found.

Pink fresh from my Hipkit and some Tim Holtz wrapped this

page up nicely.

TN - I keep forgeting about journaling spots

It worked for around the page but not so much

on the Labor day one but since its

mostly family - they should be known.

Riiiighhht!

 Using fun die cuts and premades.

 Pink Fresh boy-love the paper but its

not as bright and colorful as their other lines.

The camera paper has been in my stash forever

and I believe it might be Studio Calico.

You can check out the behind the scenes post here

to get all the deets on herding squirrels.

LOL.

TN - Hidden Journaling

Was able to meet up with Favorite Eldest Son

and had a wonderful visit.

Dined at the Red Arrow Restaurant and

hung out at our new home.

Because of the size of the photo I 

just tucked some journaling in that envelope

that works so well on the pages.

 Got some Tim Holtz words going on as well as

his bottle caps.

I love those bottle caps.

 Tom, Gail and I also stood in line - an hour

minimum wait to devour the most famous and best

lobster rolls ever.

A lot of Food Network peeps endorsed Red's.

If you ever get there it is worth the wait.

So I'm getting a bit doily crazy but they are so pretty

and do pull everything together.

And those crabs (I don't have a lobster anything) had

to be the highlight and it's an itty bitty

little punch my pal Holli gifted me.

Perfect.

Pink Fresh, Studio Calico, Hip Kit, Tim Holtz