2008 FLORIDA VACATION
12/27/07 - 02/29/08
Clay & Pat Stahl
This year's Florida vacation was again similar to past years as we took three days to get there, stopping in New Bern, NC
and near Savannah, GA overnight with golf the third day just east of Jacksonville. This year, we will only be in the
condo for the two months, but again will start to golf our way farther south on March 1 to a Caribbean cruise at
Ft. Lauderdale on March 5.
Also as in past years, we are playing golf on most weekdays, weather permitting. Here are photos of a few
activities during the stay. You can select an activity as listed below, or use your browser's scroll bars to see
them all. The page is best viewed with a broadband connection and Internet Explorer 7 at 1024 x 768 x 32
bit color in full screen mode and 100% Zoom Level!
It was quite warm our first couple of days, playing golf near Jacksonville on the way down, and New Years Eve day after
arriving. It turned cold after New Year's and we took the entire week off, but played regularly the second week.
On Tuesday of the second week, we played River Bend and were paired with Donna and Dennis
from the Berkshires, although Dennis didn't play as he was having back trouble and was heading home the next day.
Pity!
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| Dennis Was Driving Donna's Cart, and Had Time to Snap a Few Photos Which Donna Sent to
Us the Next Day.
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| Donna Teeing Off On the Back, Scrutinized by Pat
| Pat Putting, Clay and Donna Getting the Line
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| The Water Is Pretty Cold, and These Windsurfers Have Wet Suits (Take Our Word),
But the Only Swimmer We've Seen Obviously Does Not!
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Victoria Hills in Deland is a golf course that has always had a great reputation for the few years it has been in
existence, but we hadn't played there because of the exorbitant green fees. We have heard from many people that
it is a great play and worth the money. This year, we finally got there as the rates have been reduced -- somewhat.
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| 1st Hole Bunker, Pat is Short, Clay is In
| A Par for Pat and an "Other" for Clay on the Short 2nd
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| We Thought It Would be Very Hard, But It Wasn't Too Bad, Although There Were a Lot
of Sand Bunkers and Plants In Our Way
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| Pat's Tee is Here for the Par 3 4th. Clay Already Hit,
From 117 Yards Farther Back at the Start of the Bridge.
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The Best GPS We've Ever Seen, Even Showing The Carts in Front.
No Wondering When It is Safe to Hit! You Are Warned if You Cross a Road.
If You Go Where You Shouldn't, You Get A Warning, Then You Have to Reply and Back Up,
or the Cart is Disabled! We Didn't Get in Trouble!
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| The Fairways Were Reasonably Wide, But With Bunkers and Plants in Your Way.
A Water Carry Here, But There Wasn't Much of That
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| A Great Course, and Although Still a Little Pricy, We Felt that it Was Worth It.
We Got Back Later this Year and Maybe Will Again Next Year.
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| The Greens Were the Only Disappointment, a Few Were Vandalized, But Overall,
Most Were Not the Best. Maybe That's Why it is Now Affordable!
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| Pat, What Are the Chances that You Will Hit That 150 Pole? Well, Now You Surely Won't!
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| Pat Played the Whites, and Clay the Blues, Actually the Lady's and (Normal) Men's.
Yes, We Have Sleeves & Long Pants Today!
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| The Last Few Holes. We Didn't Play Very Well, But Wait Until Next Time!
| Possible Par For Clay on 18! ??
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| It Looked Like Maybe No Golf Today, But It Cleared Up Nicely Later
| A Familiar Breed Out For a Photo Session
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Our Daughters Penny and Sue flew down for a few days. There was a mixup with Sue's luggage,
and after many telephone calls it was delivered the second day! They only had two full days here, and we didn't do too
much. However, there had to be a mandatory romp on the beach, and a previously scheduled performance at the Flagler
Auditorium.
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| The Three Girls Heading Out For a Trim in Daytona Beach
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| It Was High Tide and Too Cold to Swim, Although You Do See a Few Surfers in Wet Suits
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| Pat Watching From Our Condo Balcony
| Giannas, Our First Choice For Dinner Went Bust,
But This Once a Year Stop Was Very Good -- As Usual
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| We Had Tickets for "Ring of Fire, The Music of Johnny Cash",
and Were Able to Get Two More When We Heard That Our Daughters Will Be Here
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| It Was Originally a Broadway Production. This Is a Road Company Version.
There Were 34 songs, Including Most of the Hits.
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Many Songs We've Heard Before,
Some We Haven't (or Didn't Remember!)
| How About This Old Favorite: Flushed
From the Bathroom of Your Heart
| Johnny & June Doing Jackson!
"Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout!"
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| An Animated Fiddler!
| They Did Everything We Could Remember and Then Some.
How About Dirty Old Egg Suckin' Dog?
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Dick Demchak is spending February at St. Augustine Beach, about 45 minutes up the coast. and his sister
Suzanne helped with the one-day trip (because of feline Duke!) Suzanne will only stay a few days.
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Dick Has a Place in St. Augustine
Suzanne Flew Back After a Few Days
| Dick's 1st Golf at St. Augustine Shores Was
An Unqualified Success, Breaking 100!
| A Tough Puzzle, Assembled by Pat & Penny.
It Was a Christmas Present From Carol Booz
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Artie and Lucille Brantl have a house in Winter Springs and live there for half of the year.
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To Accompany What Else But Our
Flagler Fish Co. Chilean Sea Bass
| Artie and Lucille Drove Over From Winter Springs For a Day's Visit and Dinner At Martin's
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| Couldn't Resist Another Sunrise Over the Atlantic.
We Don't Get Too Many Days That Are Clear Enough For This. Elapsed Time: 4 Minutes!
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We were scheduled to play golf with Dick Demchak, but the weather forecast was dismal, so we drove the 45 minutes to
his place in St.Augustine Beach and went nearby for a nice lunch. It did rain, validating our golfing cancellation.
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| Dick's Rental Was A Few Steps From The Beach. Unlike Ours, You Can Drive Your Vehicle On
the Beach Here
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| Dick Fortified Us With a Glass of Sauvignon Blanc For Our Drive
Back to Ormond Beach.
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Bea Carson and Rose Boyle, two of pat's fellow golfers from Northampton GC in Pennsylvania
and now good friend of us both visited us for a few days of golf after a couple of weeks at Myrtle Beach with the
Dansburys and a short visit with Bea's daughter-in-law in nearby Edgewater.
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| A Relaxed Rose
| A Puzzled Bea
| Some Real Windy Surf and a Cloudy Dawn
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Graham Mason was in our wedding (more than!) 50 years ago, and found me on
the internet last summer. After an initial telephone call to determine that he had the right person, he put me in
touch with Bill Arsenault, another friend from those high school days. The three of us spent a lot of
time together then. After a few E-mails between the three of us, and since Graham lives in North Carolina, Bill
in Florida, Bill suggested that we set up a round of golf and dinner while we are here. I hadn't seen either of
them in more than those 50 years, but it was just like old times! Our initial golf course choice was closed after an
all-night and morning rain, but we had a great time on another after a typical Florida weather reversal.
Alas, I left the camera in the car during the round! Maybe that was good, nobody did very well!
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| The Three Friends 50 Years Later. L: to R: Graham, Bill, Clay
| Dessert on the Evening Before the Golf. Rose and Bea Are Still Here
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| Graham (Class of '55) and Susan.
| Bill (Class of '54) and Nancy.
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| Dinner at Frappes North, Suggested by Bill. Very Nice.
We Had Been There a Few Times Over the Years. Weak Battery, no Flash!
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While having an after golf drink at a nearby campground restaurant, we noticed signs for the "Mit Musik in
den Fruhling", a German show and dinner on a later Sunday afternoon. We shared a table with Tony
and Mildred Anella, friends from Pennsylvania staying in Palm Coast during February. Also at our
table were the Anellas' friends Tom and Teresa Berveridge, and our friends Dick
Demchak and Dennis Ferry. Dennis flew down, will stay with Dick for a week before
helping with his auto trip back home at the end of February.
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| The Three-piece Oompah Band Entered Through the Crowd. John Wayne and Tom Mix
(or Whoever) Are Permanent Fixtures There!
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| Virtually all the Songs Were in German, With Only a Little English Explanations.
Are Those the St. Pauli Girls on the Right?
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| Tom & Teresa
| Tony & Mildred
| The Rest of Our Table
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| A Talented Girl Playing 2 Horns
| Sponsored by the Palm Coast German Society
| The Black Cloud's Owner
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Dick and Dennis joined us for a round of golf at New Smyrna Municipal. We saved this course until now because
we will be attending an Italian Wine dinner at a restaurant nearby.
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| We Usually Play Here Once or Twice a Year. It is a Municipal Course
in Great Shape Although It Gets a Lot of Play, and Doesn't Cost a Fortune
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The "Ultimo Lunedi di Carnevale" Wine Dinner was Great With Five Courses &
Five Wines, But the Restaurant Transposed the Two Entree Courses,
Pairing the "Salsiccie, Pepperoni e Cippola" With a White Wine.
At the Right, the Wine Distributor is Tactfully Pointing Out La Problemo!
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| An Unscheduled Stop at Walden(!?), a Former Gas Station Turned Into a Biker's Bar.
We Have "Admired" It For Years! We Finally Got There!
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The condo for the first week in March was not available to us this year, as the owner has it rented for the month.
It being a leap year, we did get an extra day however, and we were off to Ft. Lauderdale mid-morning on Saturday
March 1st. We are also missing Bike Week in Daytona Beach, but it is the first week in March with the two weekends
included, so we were still here for Bike Day! However, all we did was head through Daytona Beach amid all the bikes
on mid-morning Saturday.
Heading south on RT 1, we had lunch in Titusville and arrived at the Econo Lodge in North Ft. Lauderdale in the
early evening. RT 1 is a great road with stretches of 60 and 65 MPH limits, but there are many towns, large and
small on the way and a lot of traffic especially in sprawling Port St. Lucie and from West Palm Beach south. As a
result, the travel time was about 6-1/2 hours for the 250 miles or so!
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| Clean, But Time Worn. Not Worth the Price
| First Night's Dinner. 30 Beers on Tap!
| Muscovy Ducks On Many Courses. Ugly!
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| Sunday: Florida Flat. W. Locals Rod, Scott
| Monday: Water On 18 Holes. All In Play!
| Tuesday: Hilly. With New Yorkers Don & Liz
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We played golf on decent public courses the next three days, (not unexpectedly, there are many more private courses),
but to our surprise the public courses were not all that expensive! We were looking forward to a stroll on upscale Las
Olas Blvd. the first evening and had reservations there for dinner. The restaurant was great, but Las Olas Blvd.
was closed for a Sunday Art Festival with tents on 5 blocks or so in the middle of the street in front of all the
nice restaurants and wine bars, detracting from its charm greatly. They were breaking down the exhibits when we got
there and it was packed with (gasp) tourists. It was somewhat disappointing to say the least.
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| Delightful Las Olas, But Here Choked With an Art Show Wrapping up. Timing is Everything
| Pre-dinner Piper-Heidesicks in a Crowded Bistro
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| Wine Spectator Award Winner. We had Chataubriand For Two.
Cigar Lockers (It's Florida, So Smoke 'em Outside!) One Famous Floridian!
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After the second round, we chose Cap's Restaurant, a little north of us on the intercoastal, unique in that a
launch provided by the restaurant takes you across the inland waterway from a parking lot to the restaurant dock,
the only way for the customers to get there. It is an old place with a lot of history, a little touristy,
and a tad overated, but it was nice, the (sea)food was good and wasn't all that expensive.
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| Diners Must Park and Take a Motor Launch Run Across the Canal To the Restaurant.
A Nice Little Ride and It's Free, Except For a Tip of Course!
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| Dolphins Stadium. Previously Known as Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, and
Pro Player Stadium
| Third Night's Dinner (& Valet Parker)
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The next day, we boarded our cruise ship at Port Everglades. Take a look at our
Ten Day Southern Caribbean Cruise.
