- Bring cash. Lots and lots of cash.
- There are two types of tourists in the Bahamas: twenty-something single folk with stripper boobs, perma-tan and shoes more expensive than your car, accompanied by sketchy-looking guys who fit the “mini-truck” owning demographic, and
fifty-something folks who just brought the 45-foot ketch in from Grand Bahama. - The good folks who live year-round on the islands, while surrounded by some of the lushest, most pristine ecology in the world, treat it like toilet paper in a public restroom.
- Kalik beer is weaker than Corona with less taste.
- Be prepared for Key Lime Pie. The other dessert selections will not be available.
- Embrace your love of butter and deep-fried food. Or bring lots of Balance Bars.
- No amount of Kalik will make me like Jimmy Buffet.
- Reggae sounds good when it’s performed live by the guy who stumbles around Main Street talking to himself.
- One hundred foot visibility at fifty feet underwater is breathtaking.
- Putting on a wet wetsuit after lunch in five-foot swells is breathtaking in a different sense of the word.
- Landing your plane in the water every day has got to be one of the coolest jobs ever.
- Conch fritters are suspiciously close to the consistency of beef jerky.
My first dive was in 25 feet of water at a shallow area called Rainbow Reef, which is swarming with schools of juvenile fish. I made a leap of faith into the water with 50+ pounds of gear strapped to my back, and followed the group down underwater. All worries vanished as I got closer to the reef and took in the sight of hundreds of fish swaying gently in the current, dappled with light through the wave patterns above. Swimming up the reef, we found a barracuda nestled in a low spot, his belly full; a sleeping nurse shark who did not like flash bulbs; a green moray eel sitting idly in his hole, tasting the water around him like a man puffing on a pipe; and an agitated soldierfish who did not appreciate my proximity to his algae farm.
Lake, NY state 9.1
Well, after another beautiful vacation stay at my parents’ place on the lake, a small disaster befell us on our trip home. The Tortoise decided that it was upset at me for neglecting to fill the oil and coolant, and the thermostat blew up on us. Luckily we were only 30 minutes away from my parents’ place, so we were able to get it towed back to a good garage and be on the porch sipping vodka tonics four hours after the first sign of steam. Yesterday, after a morning of freelance work and worry over getting Jen to Rochester, we found out that it was only the thermostat and a hose, and I had not in fact fried a piston. $173.88 lighter, we packed it up for the second time in two days and made our way homeward to a house of worried, hungry cats.
I’ll probably write some about the trip in a day or two, but for right now I’ll just mention one of the first things that I think of: Crossing the street in front of my parents’ house to try to take a picture of the stained glass window at the church in bare feet, at 10pm, realizing that there were no cars in either direction on Main Street, and that the Big Dipper was huge, clear and hanging over the village.
Thinking about catastrope this weekend got me jump-started today into ordering the drive and enclosure that I was thinking about; after some figuring I felt this was the best bet. (I was considering making an old 8500 a server, but decided not to support any more legacy equipment.) It will be good to have a definite backup solution in place.
dock, 7.29
Whew! what a beautiful vacation that was.
Where do I start? I don’t think there was one thing that was bad, other than unseasonably hot weather up there. Jen and I were treated to two absolutely glorious days in the water, evenings on the porch, browsing antiques on the Route 90 sale, and ice cream at a roadside stop. We both wanted to stay until the end of summer.
Jen and I got back from Virginia yesterday, after a fantastic weekend in the back woods looking for wineries. We found three of four vineyards in a tour, and had some great wine, only getting lost once. Saturday we took our time getting up and moving and made it down to Fredericksburg right around dinnertime; bypassing the crappy strip-mall fare right off the interstate, we followed the signs into the middle of the town and parked, then walked about 2 blocks to a restaurant we found called Le Petite Auberge. Inside, after walking up a wide hall decorated with very tacky Leroy Neiman ripoff paintings, we had an outstanding meal together: lobster bisque and cream of tomato soup; I had a sirloin covered in roquefort cheese and pecans (sounds like too much, but damn, it was good) and Jen had a filet with a peppercorn sauce-that was great.
After a restful night spent at the Ramada Inn and a breakfast thrown at us at an Aunt Sarah’s, we followed the maps into the heart of cantral VA in search of the Lake Anna winery, which was a beautiful new place set back off the road and serving a really wide variety of wine. Jen and I bought two bottles of merlot and I bought a cabernet. Cooper vineyards were a little less established, basically a tractor shed about ΒΌ off the road behind a Chevy truck graveyard, but staffed by a real nice Lasik surgeon and his wife. Very sweet wine, and very young. Greyhaven was a bit more established, but only serving two sweet dessert wines; luckily the owners were a wonderful old-Virginia couple who owned a gospel-loving Boston Terrier named Bubba and a huge hairy Bouvier named Reubens, who was pouting on the seat of a golf cart-long story. We got lost on the way to the final vineyard and as it was 5pm and we were outside Richmond, we wisely decided to give up and head for home, forfeiting our T-shirts. Oh, well.
I found this trying to find a link to the restaurant. We’ll keep this in mind….
1:01pm – Jen sent this to me this morning under the subject line OH, MY GOD, I’VE DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN and I took a little time to follow it around- what a hilarious site this is. There’s more stuff to laugh at than you can shake a stick at. I think I’m going to buy her the “Unsaved” T-shirt just to piss her mom off…! Personally, I like the preacher man logo.
5:20pm – I didn’t get to buy the wiring cabinet last week, but I’ll pick it up tomorrow; I’m also gonna pick up that steel shelving I want for the tupperware at Sam’s Club too. It’s time to get all that junk out of the dining room. I’ve had enough of it. I’m currently burning a copy of the House of Blues Volume 2 for this evening; I’m also making Jen some Veal Scallopini with green beans for dinner instead of going to Peter’s- I think she’ll enjoy the surprise.