Friday, March 13, 2009

Adventures in Paradise

Here are a few pix from our week in and about Flagler Beach.

This is the view from our bedroom this morning at 7:30.


We got to the area towards the end of Motorcycle Week. The biggest Harley dealership in the world is in Daytona, so it is a real mecca for bikers (all of whom are about two decades older than you imagine they ought to be).

At the Big Cabbage Campground they have pioneered the sport of Slaw Wrestling, similar to Mud Wrestling, but with dressing (on the cabbage, not the wrestlers).



We visited Marineland, which used to have a lot of trained dolphin shows but focuses now on education. Julia was able to get this candid shot of one of the residents.

There are several programs where you get to feed or wade with the dolphins.



In Bulow State Park has one of the biggest live oak trees in Florida. It's about 60' high and 300' across.

There is also an abandoned sugar mill (abandoned during the Seminole War in 1836) and several hiling trails.




Washington Oaks is another state park on A1A. Things are starting to bloom, as this harvester shows. We had been here a few years ago for an Earth Day Festival.





Tomorrow we are back to work with a concert in Jacksonville.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Progress Report - March 1

Great Room
With help from my brother, Bill, and also Eric, Julia, Claire and Paul, we got the last shingle on and the scaffolding off the roof on February 17 at about 6:30pm.

We also got some of the windows installed.The next morning I picked up all the tools, boarded up the doors and we hit the road.


On the Road
Our first two performances were in New England, so we had got a northern send-off as we drove through a snowstorm in Connecticut on our way to Virginia. We had great shows in Richmond and Roanoke.

We try to take some time to see the sights when we are traveling. The Natural Bridge is amazing. We couldn't go under it because it was dropping icicles the day we were there. It took about three seconds for the ice to fall - about 190 feet if I remember my physics.

The Mountain View Restaurant in Buchanan, VA (I-81, exit 168) has good sandwiches at a reasonable price. The view is grand, too.





Going through North Carolina we booked into the Knights Inn. Here is the sign we found on the lobby door. The next morning we took the key back to the Days Inn lobby. It turns out that the Knights Inn lobby is open during the day so we had to return our key there. Does anybody else see the humor in this?

Florida Report
We've had our first concerts in Florida - SRO in Lecanto on Friday. We played at the NE Florida Scottish Games on Saturday. There was time in the schedule for Fred to enter the fiddle competition where he took the award for the Best Air.

Our first few days in Florida were balmy- in the 70's. Just now there is a cold front running through - 31° tonight and windy! We aren't complaining - everybody else on the east coast is getting snow, and lot's of it.