Visiting in Jacksonville and Michigan. November 19-26

We were again pleased to have visitors from Michigan the weekend prior to Thanksgiving.  My friend from SpartanNash Dave and his wife Sue have a place in the area and were kind enough to stop by and have dinner with us at a local favorite spot, Biscotti's....very good food and company!  And on Sunday they drove us around the area to see the sites.  Jacksonville is a very nice area.  We covered it, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra, Sawgrass TPC, and had a great lunch at the Safe Harbor Seafood Market. We also toured their wonderful condo...beautiful place.  Thanks so much for showing us a great time Dave and Sue!

On Monday we flew to Detroit to visit our family and friends in Michigan for Thanksgiving.  This is the only snow we saw...not like last year when we had to drive through a blinding snowstorm.

We stopped to see our friends Tim and Pat in Grandville for a nice visit after driving over to Grand Rapids.  We will see you soon when you get to Florida Tim and Pat!
We organized a little gathering for pizza at Peppinos downtown Grand Rapids.  Thanks to all of our friends who made the trip out to see us!

Monday night we went to Jordan and Eliza's home in Kalamazoo for a few days.  Here is Julie in the "reading room"...

...well at least her feet.  But it sure is cold in Michigan.  Thanks for the electric blanket Jordan!

Tuesday we did various appointments and then had dinner with Jordan, Eliza and her parents Judy and Tim.  It was great to meet them!  We had a great meal and discussion at Food Dance in Kalamazoo.  Maybe both Jordan and Eliza learned something new about each other in our detailed conversations about our kids! Thanks so much for the accommodations for three nights Jordan and Eliza!
They have a very nice tree this year.

Brett and Natalie joined us in Kalamazoo on Wed night.  Here we are loading up in Jordan's car for a short ride to the restaurant....Brett didn't have such a great seat!

It was so nice of Brett and Natalie to drive all the way from Denver to spend Thanksgiving everyone!  Thanks for all the driving Brett and Natalie.   We all went out to dinner at Casa Bolero and then to the Beer Exchange, a unique watering hole where prices are posted on a ticker and change every 15 minutes based on demand. 

We met some of Jordan's and Brett's friends there too, but retired much earlier than the rest of the gang...
Thursday we drove to Howell and enjoyed the family Thanksgiving celebration at Brian and Holly's new home.  It was great to see all but one of my siblings, some nieces and nephews and of course Mom! 

The day also included a coloring session.

We also were able to see Sarah and Joe in Bellingham via FaceTime and everyone enjoyed that too.

Friday we spent the day with Pam and Steve (and Paul and Stephanie when they were home).  Had a great lunch at a local Greek restaurant. It was great spending a relaxing day catching up with them.   

We flew back to Jacksonville Friday night and our driver Will (retired 73 year old bus driver...excellent driver!  Have Town Car...Will Travel is his clever  business name and yes it was a Town Car) met us at the baggage claim and we got back to the boat around 11:30 PM. 

And here is our furry friend on the boat next door....this cat was often out on the deck checking things out.

On Saturday evening we were joined by our friends John and Becky who drove over from  St. Simons Island.  We stopped to see them on our way North in May and it was great to catch up with them again!  We had a great diner at Biscotti's (yes a second visit, it is that good). Sorry no pictures, I guess we were too busy catching up.  We hope to see John and Becky each Spring and Fall as we migrate along the east coast.  Thanks so much for driving over to see us!
We will leave on Sunday morning spending a few days at anchor on the way to Vero Beach, Stuart and then across the Okeechobee Waterway to the west coast of Florida for a few weeks.
More soon.....