January 11th 2011

Howdy faithful followers!! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I wrote in last. No, nothing horrible has happened. We are alive and well. However, we are not in the Bahamas, yet!! We are still in Fort Pierce, Florida, waiting for a good weather window to sail down the coast to Miami. While the rest of the country has been hit with the cold nasty weather from Canada, believe it or not, we are being affected down here. Not near as cold, of course, but when you live on a sailboat and it gets down to 30 degrees at night, it feels pretty darn cold. If we were in Seattle and it got that cold, we wouldn’t even think about being on the boat! Other than the week that Austin and Cindy came to visit, we have been wearing jeans and sweatshirts most of the time!

I’m getting ahead of myself though! Dave and I spent the week before Christmas having new batteries installed in the boat. Six new beauties! They were our Christmas presents!! We decided that the old ones might not make it through 6 months in the Bahamas.

We also managed to finish our shopping and get our gifts in the mail, and send off our Christmas cards. While we were at the mall, we also treated ourselves to a movie, “The Tourist”, with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. We really enjoyed it!

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, we realized how much we really missed our family and friends. I thought we wouldn’t have any problem, but the holidays are just not the same, when those you love are far away. We tried to chase away the blues by going out for a prime rib dinner, but the only restaurants we could find open were Chinese and Mexican. With visions of “A Christmas Story”, we settled for Mexican. Later that night, we called and talked to Matt and Jacinda, who were spending Christmas Eve with Dave’s parents in Seattle. It sounded like they were all having a great time! Then we called Austin and Cindy, who were in Minneapolis with Cindy’s parents. They were cold! There was a foot and a half of snow on the ground and the highs were in the teens!!! They had taken their new little puppy, Tiger, with them. She loved the snow. So much so, that when she “did her duty”, she did it on top of the highest snow peak, then just grinned as Austin or Cindy climbed up, to clean up after her.

On Christmas day, we drove up to Vero Beach and had a potluck meal with all of the other cruisers up there. There were not as many people as our Thanksgiving potluck, but it was just as much fun, and we had a ton of food! After our mid-day meal, we had a group of musicians play carols, while we sang along. As soon as we were back on the boat, we made calls to the kids again, Dave’s parents and aunt, and to my sisters and brother, who were spending the holiday at MaryLynne and Ted’s mountain home above Lake Chelan. With nearly 2 feet of snow on the ground, my brother and nephew were having great fun sliding down the hill on a sled run they had built! We enjoyed talking with them all, but it really made us miss them all the more.

After getting their fill of cold weather, Austin and Cindy flew south to join us in Florida. We hit the road and joined them in Fort Lauderdale on the 30th. We spent that evening at Lulu’s Bait Shack, a sports bar, right on the beach. We had a great meal and enjoyed watching the Holiday Bowl; the Huskies vs. the Huskers. Washington had played Nebraska back in September, and it was not a pretty game! This bowl game will be a favorite in Husky legend for years to come. We not only won the game, we dominated it. It was so much fun, and I’m glad we had someone to share it with.

We spent the next day on the beach, laying on the warm sand and playing in the surf. That evening we spent New Year’s Eve at a restaurant close to the hotel, had a glass of champagne at midnight, and were back in the hotel room at 12:10, ready for bed. It’s hell getting old!

On January 1st, we loaded up the car and headed for Coconut Grove, just south of Miami, and checked into another Marriott there. What a beautiful place!! The hotel is just across the street from the marina that we are trying to get the boat to. We walked over to check things out, then walked a few more blocks to the downtown area. We were amazed at the number of shops and restaurants. That night we went to another sports bar for dinner and watched Wisconsin and TCU in the Rose Bowl.

The next morning we drove over to Key Biscayne and spent the afternoon at the beach. It was perfect! Just the right temperature, lots of sunshine with just a little breeze. If the water had been just a little warmer, it would have been heavenly! Afterwards, we drove up to South Beach, Miami, and walked around a large shopping mall near the beach, then had dinner.

Monday morning we headed for the Keys, but first made a stop in the Everglades, to see some gators! We took an airboat ride, which was very loud, and very exhilarating. We saw a few alligators and lots of birds. Back at the safari park, they had an alligator show that was very impressive. Then we saw lots of alligators in their zoo area. Cindy walked up behind one and he lashed out with his tail and dove into the water. I’m not sure which of them was more scared!

After a quick lunch, we headed to Key Largo, and checked into yet another, very nice Marriott. It was right on a waterway, lined with boats. We walked the pier and then stopped at a tiki bar for a drink. That evening we had dinner at one of Jimmy Johnson’s sports bars, and watched Stanford play Virginia Tech. It was nice to see another Pac-10 team do so well!

Tuesday, we drove on down to Key West, did some shopping and had lunch on the dock. Back at the hotel, we took advantage of the fabulous pool and hot tub, then had dinner at the tiki bar on the waterway.

We hated to see it end, but on Wednesday we headed back to Fort Lauderdale and sent Austin and Cindy back to DC. We could not have asked for a better week of weather. I was extremely disappointed that we were not able to meet them in the Bahamas, as we had planned, but we had a great time anyway, and they were happy just to get some sun!

So, here we are, waiting in Fort Pierce. There are some other boats here, waiting with us. We have been having fun, going to the local farmers market, and listening to jazz, and having dinner out with our new friends. Last night we got together and watched Oregon in the BCS Championship game. Hard to believe that we were actually rooting for Oregon, but we really wanted another win for the Pac-10. But, it was not to be.

The temperatures are going down again. It will be in the low 40’s tonight, lower tomorrow. We might be able to leave this weekend. It will be a bit warmer, if we can get to Miami. At least we don’t have all of the snow that the rest of the east coast is experiencing.

I will try to write again when we get to Miami. In the meantime, stay warm, and well.

Love & Hugs,

The Admiral