2011 FLORIDA VACATION
12/28/10 - 03/02/11
Clay & Pat Stahl
This year was similar to previous trips with respect to the route and the planned departure date of Dec. 27th. However
with the foot of snow that started on Dec. 26th and continued into mid-day on the 27th, leaving then was out! And, the
storm came up the East coast along our route, so we couldn't run away from it. We did have the added benefit of an
extra day to take down the Christmas tree, the few outside decorations, and pack the car. However, some of that
extra time was taken shovelling snow. We did get away on Dec. 28th, and the trip down turned out to be relatively
uneventful.
Here are a few photos of 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
32bit color in full screen mode and 100% zoom Level!
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| Our Departure Day. Not!
| Neighbor Alice's House
| Our Patio Table, a Snow Gauge
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Once we got going, we again took the same route as the last few years, I95 around Philadelphia, RT 1 and RT 13 through
the DelMarVa peninsula, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and mostly RT 17 with an early stop in New Bern, NC to see
the Eagles lose any chance at a playoff bye with a poor effort against the Vikings on "Tuesday Night Football!"
It was tough going some of the way on RT 17 in North Carolina, although the plowed roads were bare by that time, some
of our southbound two-lanes had only one lane plowed with that snow deposited unpredictably in the other lane, with no
warning when this was happening.
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| Melted Snow, Hampton Inn, New Bern, NC!
| Charity Bears, Our Hotel's "Travelin' Bernie"
& Next Door Springhill Suite's "HomeTown Bernie"
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We were planning on getting in the condo on the 29th this year for a pro-rated 3-day fee, but everything was pushed
back a day. It was too cold to play golf in Myrtle Beach on the second day, but after a night's stay near Savannah,
we dropped in at a golf course just south of Jacksonville the third day. No luck with that as it was very warm and
they were booked until 2PM. Disappointedly, we played at a course just South of St. Augustine, one that is not too
far from Ormond Beach, one of which we have travelled to from our condo many times over the years.
Although not usually the case, the weather was decent the first week in January and we got in a few rounds of golf, One
of them driving back to that course just South of Jacksonville.
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| We Were In #309 From 2004 Thru 2008, #208 & # 311 For a Month Each in 2010, and
#209 This Year
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| Condo, Sweet Condo. We Would Have a Better Ocean View On Higher Floors.
It Was a Little Cold, So Pat Finished Carol Booz's Xmas Puzzle
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There were two unusual events in the condo. The first was when we unloaded the car and found the camera, which was on
top of a cooler, in the cooler and pretty wet. It is ten years old, and we need a new one anyway, but
surprisingly after a week, it was OK, but we did buy a new one. The second was that our landlord is providing us with
High Speed Internet, but after using some of our neighbor's unsecured routers for the first week, it was installed, with
a sizable effort, by us, including a few calls to AT&T customer service.
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| It Was a Brutal Winter Back Home. Here Are Some Jan. 26 Photos
From Dennis Ferry in Titusville, NJ
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| And Just A Few Days Later on Jan 30, Here Are Alice Campbell (Our Neighbor) and Us
From Daughter Penny in Levittown, PA
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Dick & Susanne Demchak On The Way To Ft.
Lauderdale & Their Caribbean Jazz Cruise
| Saturday Afternoon Drinks & Munchies With Some Flagler Beach Locals:
Left are Charlie (Pat's Brother) & Jen Ebel; Right are Ken & Linda Costello
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Jim & Sharon, our Michigan golfing friends secured tickets for a Merle Haggard one-night concert at the Peabody
Auditorium in downtown Daytona Beach. He put on a pretty good show, singing for close to an hour with a similarly
timed opening act with the Malpass Brothers and Merle's son, Noel Lee. Merle did may of the self-written, but
lesser-known songs and of course his old BIG hits. He still seems to have his familiar voice, despite a recent bout
with lung cancer. The audience was a little rowdy, hooting and hollering, making it hard to hear some of the lyrics.
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| Pre-Concert Dinner: New In Ormond Beach
| The Peabody Seats 2521. We Were On the Side About ¾
Back In the 1000 Or So "Orchestra" Seats
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| Occupying a Substantial Place In the Lobby and Doing a Land Office Business.
We Can't Use Another Tee Shirt, & No Bandana in Clay's Size
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| Opening Act: Malpass Brothers, and ...
| ... Merle's Son Noel Lee
| Michiganians(!?) Jim & Sharon Houghton
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| Merle Along With Buck Owens Spurned Nashville (and the Grand Ole Opry) and Created the
Bakersfield Sound. That's His 4th Wife On the Right
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Charlie Ebel, Pat's Brother is a frequent customer at the (Cost Plus) World Market in Daytona Beach, a (mostly) Home
Furnishings Store started in San Francisco in the late 1950's and now with 260 locations in the United States, but
surprisingly none in the Northeast. It's a strange mixture, but included in their varied stock are wine and beer. Charlie
received an announcement of a Saturday afternoon wine tasting and we attended, along with the Ebels and Dick Demchak.
Although some of the offerings were not to our liking (Berry, fruit/wine mixtures, chocolate, etc.), there was
sufficient real wine to keep us happy. There were 5 tasting stations with genial servers, and we sampled about half of
the 35 or so available.
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| We've Bought Wine Here in Previous Years
| There were 5 Tasting Stations Amply Spaced In the Roomy Store, Here Pat & Jen Ebel
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| A Roomy Furniture Store With Home, Office, Bedroom, Bathroom, Outdoor, etc.
And Wine!
| Early Dinner. NBA's Vince Carter Grew Up Here
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| Good Thing We Didn't Play Golf On This Day!
It Was Bright and Sunny 15 Minutes Ago.
3:02 PM Says The Weather Channel
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We met Artie & Lucille Brantl for lunch in Deland on a Saturday. Deland is a delightful town about 45 minutes away
and we have been to many events there over the years. We stopped at the Daytona Farmer's Market on the way.
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| Another Cold Week With Little Golf!
| On the Way to Deland
| Funny Sign in Downtown Deland
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| We're a Little Early. We've Been In Here Before
| It Will Soon Be Napa o'Clock!
| A Good Way To Spend the Extra Time
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| Deland Is About Half Way Between Us. Here Pat & Lucille
| Lucille & Buzz (We Call Him Artie). Did This Last Year Also
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On Valentine's day, we attended the "Dining Experience for the Open Minded" at the Dancing Avocado Kitchen
in Daytona Beach. It was a three-hour experience with 14 small courses and an optional 6-glass wine flight. There was
no advanced notice either of the food or wine! We opted for the recommended table of four, "to facilitate
conversation". We had a great time with local residents Mike and Jenine Baskin.
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| Table Mates Mike and Jenine At the Dancing Avocado Kitchen in Daytona Beach
| Owner/Chef Mario Did a Great Job
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| Some Courses Were Sizeable: Ashtray(!) Grape-leaf "Smokin' Cuban".
Our Attentive Server
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We've been to the Ormond Wine Company last year and once before this year. We decided to have a light meal here and
something later at McK's, the Irish Bar in Daytona Beach.
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| A Cafe, Wine Store, Wine Bar, Cruvinet, Enomatic Wine Machine,
and Many Craft & Imported Beers. We Did a 3-Glass Tasting Twice This Year
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NBC (Nothing But Chardonnay)
Santa Barbara Wine Company
Chardonnay
Santa Barbara, California
Joel Gott
Chardonnay
Monterey, California
Franciscan
Chardonnay
Napa Valley, California
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An Array of Reds
Simi
Pinot Noir
Sonoma, California
Maraia
Barbera
Monferrato, Italy
Alderbrook
Zinfandel
Dry Creek Valley, CA
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NBC
(Nothing But Cabernet Sauvignon)
337
Cabernet
Lodi, CA
Simi
Cabernet
Alexander Valley, CA
Franciscan
Cabernet
Napa Valley, CA
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During all our previous Florida visits, we were unable to find Irish music. We have been to McK's in Daytona Beach a
dozen or so times, sometimes for dinner. On Friday nights this year they had Irish music and
here was the third and last that we were able to attend. By our standards, they were 2 for 3!
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| Doc Mehan Was Great With "Only Irish" Songs
| Genial Stephanie, Our Usual Server
| With Native Donna, A Transplanted Levittowner
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| Go By This Often, Finally Stopped For A Drink! Aptly Named!
The Music Was Loud, But Not Live, & Not Irish!
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A shuttle launch is a big event here with people spending all night on the side of the road just to have a good spot to
view it. We don't do anything like that of course, but launches are visible from Ormond Beach, and last year we missed
the final nighttime launch. This year, the 13th and last Discovery flight (with Endeavor and Atlantis to go later this
year) went February 24th while we were on the 17th Tee at River Bend Golf Course and we just a little tardy. If you
get it early enough, you can see the plume and separation.
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| Any Shuttle Launch Is a Watchable Event, Even From 50+ Miles Away.
It Is Only Visible For Less Than a Minute.
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| Playing Partners Mike and Dan Waiting
| And Here is the Group Behind Us
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We had lunch at cozy Maggie's European Cafe & Bakery in Flagler Beach a couple of times (she normally does only
breakfast and lunch). Two years ago, she started hosting ethnic theme dinners one Friday a month.
They were so successful that she now has them twice a month. We've gone to a few over the years,
usually at capacity in the small (35 or so) place. And she now allows BYOB!
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| A Spanish Dinner at Maggie's. Dennis is With Dick For a Few Days & Their Trip
Home. Friendly Locals Arthur and Connie Were Also at Our Table.
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About 20 miles South, New Smyrna Beach hosts a "Wine Walk" the last Saturday of each month. 13 businesses
along Flagler Avenue from the North Causeway to the beach offer about 120 wines to taste. You buy a strip of 20 tickets
and use them at each tasting station. The number of tickets required per (1½ ounce) tasting were proportional
to the wine bottle value, but most were 1 with many of the better ones 2 to 5.
The two of us went in January, and Charlie, Jen, Dick and Dennis joined us for February's walk. Parking was very
difficult as it was a great beach day, and there were also other events in the delightful town at the same time.
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| Get Wrist Band, Map, Strip Of Tickets, Glass
| 13 Businesses, Mostly Bars and Restaurants, Offered 120 Wines for 1 to 5 Tickets Each
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| Open Drawbridge Added To the Traffic Woes
| Calleria DiVetro Custom Jewelry...
| ...With Their Tasting Station On the Front Porch
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| The Walk Was From 1 to 7 But, Including a Half Hour to Park, We Were Done About 5 Or
So. We Visited 6 of the 13 Tasting Stations
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We were off to Ft. Lauderdale on March 1, planning to take our usual route: RT 1 to Ft. Pierce and then I95 to the
hotel. An early TV newscast mentioned that both RT 1 and I95 were closed from New Smyrna Beach to Mims and suggested
a way arround it. We spent a good deal of time fretting, thought that the suggested alternate route would be
clogged, and decided on another, even more out-of-the way route. Just before we left, a TV announcement stated that
RT 1 and I95 were both reopened! Whew, so we were off and did see a couple of places where there were lots of fire trucks
and other emergency vehicles, and one place where the fire had jumped over RT 1.
It had rained and was still raining, but at a TV news conference, the speakers were adament in stating that the rain
would not put out the fire! Well, when we were on I95, it rained so hard that the visibility was very poor and we
even pulled off in a rest area for a while. And the next day, we hear on the TV that the same roads were closed
again overnight. Timing is everything!
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| 2 Days Here In Downtown Ft. Lauderdale
| We Walked To Trendy Las Olas For Dinner
| Urban Oasis, Beautifying Vacent Properties
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| Chose This For Dinner Among Lots of Restaurants
| We Never Had Crepes This Big
| After Dinner Drink (You Only Live Once)
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| A Free Day, Playing Golf Later, But Here's The Beach At the End Of Las Olas Blvd,
Very Busy on This Midweek Sunny Day
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| A Drink and People Watching Here
| Interesting, What Will They Come Up With Naxt?
| A Regular Margarita, and a Negro Modello
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| Chose This For One Last Day of Golf in Nearby Margate.
We Had a Late Tee Time, But Finished in Plenty Of Time
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| Extremely Tight, a Little Water, and Lots of OBs
| Ugly Muscovy Ducks Are All Over the Course
| A $teven $tarr $teakhouse for Dinner
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See another of our Ten Day Southern Caribbean Cruises,
this time including a Panama Canal transit. (End of March or so!)
