Oct. 20, 2009
Dog River to Pensacola
What's wrong with .25 cent oysters and $2.25 cent martini's?
Early departure from Dog River and a little choppy ride, but got into Pensacola at around 3:00, we were met at the dock by Drew, the young man who took the bird I save 2 years ago home with him and saw that it was taken to a wildlife refuge and later released back into her natural habitat. I named the little Blue Heron Pensacola Penny, and wonder if perhaps the huge Heron the dock could be her?
Janet and I took a walk through the Pensacola Historic District which is comprised of mostly historic homes for tour, just a few are owner occupied. Christ Church from 1832 is a treasure, and one of the oldest churches in FL. Of course the area was closed on Monday so we had to window peek only! On our way back to the boat we found a bar that posted "½ price drinks for ladies, anyday..anytime!" All right, we found our nirvana in Pensacola. We ordered "call drinks" and when the bill came it was $5.75 for a dirty goose martini (me) and a cosmopolitan for Janet.
We stopped at a haberdashery to buy Capt Bob a new belt and ended up buying him almost a new wardrobe, beautiful things for my Capt! We met Bob at Atlas Oyster, a restaurant on the water, they had a sign posted "Monday-Oysters .25 cents" Needless to say, we all started our dinner off with a dozen Appalachicola Oysters, not as briny as 2 years ago, but due to the amount of rain we have experienced I assume it keeps some of the salt out of the shells. We all had different versions of Gulf Shrimp and shared, a great meal including fried green tomatoes!
We are still seeing THE singular Monarch butterfly almost every day since Lock 20, I saw "her" today fly across our bow as we are approaching Destin, FL. Yesterday she showed herself in the Historic neighborhood and I took several photos of her. The first time she showed up was in the photo that Jon, lockmaster from Lock 20 in Canton, Mo took of us as we came through his lock. We watch for her everyday and feel as if she is a good omen for our journey, we refer to her as Veda L, stopping by to keep an eye on us!
Speaking of serendipity experiences, we are approaching Destin Florida where I had a incredible experience in a children's playhouse (no comments dear friends of mine) in a nature preserve next to our marina, this was the Nov my Mother passed away, and I always told her to give me a sign telling me that she was OK after her death. When sorting through her belongings we found a scrap of paper with John 3:16 written on it. I had Dylan "google" it the day we were composing her funeral service, to see what passage was important enough to Mother to make her write it down. This is a meaningful scripture to me as it confirms everlasting life, which is what I had often asked my Mother to communicate to me. I had the minister incorporate the verse into the services in Madison and again in Chicago. Anyway, back to the playhouse in the nature preserve; as I entered it and looked around I yelled "Bob, come here!" He bent over and entered the small space and together we looked in awe, as written out in full was the entire passage "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so whosoever beliveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." I will be anxious to go back to that little playhouse and see if there is any sign of the scripture having been there 2 years ago.
LIFE IS SWELL ON VEDA L
As we made our 360 to position Veda L on the starboard side and slide up to the dock in front of Papa Joe's Oyster Bar, I snapped this. We spent two days here, the driveways here are crushed oyster shells vs. gravel, lots of historic homes with different styles of gingerbread then we see "up North" We ate oysters, then we ate more oysters, steamed, raw, the garlic and butter lightly steamed were my favorite. 
I get up at the "ass crack of dawn" as our darling Dana daughter so sweetly says, so I get to enjoy and capture sunrises, Buddy and I were on the foredeck watching the sun rise over Scipio Creek where we were tied to the dock...with an ant problem, little buggers ran up our lines like rats on a cargo ship and we fought them for two days. 
Janet and I took a tour of this historic home; the Orman House, one of the 1st built in "Apalach" as the natives call Apalachicola, he was a 6'7" cotton merchant, a giant of a man in 1834 when he built this home. During the cival war his little wife Sara would go up to a flat area of the roof, which stairs still lead to the unadorned "widow's walk" and if the Yankees were in the area she would put a sawhorse and a barrel up there as if work was being done as a signal to the Confederates that they should not approach. Years later, the 3rd owner, a distant cousin of the Ormans let the house fall into ruin and would leave the front door open so that her horse "Ruffles" could come inside. 
A very happy Capt Bob with a box of shrimp fresh from a local man that "don't buy no trash!" as his sign says on his dock, warning the fishing boats coming in that he will only buy fresh and correct size fish, shrimp and oysters. We sat in his office and chatted with he and his wife for about a half hour. He supplies to most of the local restaurants, and doesn't usually sell to the public, but Bob and I went in two years ago and asked if we could buy some and he said "shore nuf" so we will always pop in to see if he has any extra...
