Black Friday

Today is supposed to be one of the largest shopping days of the year.  To me a good reason to stay closer to home and avoid the massive crowds.  Anyway, we are not really in the accumulation phase anymore.  Been there and have done that.  It was a real feat to downsize enough to live in the RV plus some items in storage back home.

We spent the better part of a year getting rid of all the things from a lifetime of accumulating stuff.  I have to say that I have not missed much of the stuff.  We have just been too busy.  But we have missed our family and friends, especially at Thanksgiving.

Yesterday, we went to Ruth’s Chris restaurant in Destin Florida with our reservations for just before 12 noon.  The place was getting more and more crowded as we ate.  It was one of the few nice places open for the holiday.  The food was very good and they had a turkey dish that was excellent.  A brine soaked turkey breast with lots of seasoning.

As normal for Ruth’s, all sides were ala cart and it ended up being quite pricy.  Not something we can do on a regular basis, but a nice holiday treat.  We had enough leftovers to bring home for a dinner meal while watching some football.

In my last post, I mentioned how there is a natural progression for families to get together to celebrate the holidays.  Along those lines, I can remember being a youngster and going to my grandparent’s home in Indiana for all the major holidays.  Always a house full of people.

This was the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.  I was in the 6 to 10 age range.  The men would be gathered in the large front room while the woman would be in the kitchen preparing the holiday feast.  The kids would be in another room.  Quite segregated.

The smells coming from the kitchen were great.  After waiting for what seemed like for ever, it was time for dinner.  Some years, the kids ate in the kitchen and other years in the dining room with the adults.  My grandparents had a huge dining room table that would seat about 10-12 people.

Just before dinner, my Uncle Stan would say the prayer and then begin telling some colorful stories and jokes.  He was the natural salesman with a deep baritone, narrator type voice.  As the meal progressed, with more adult beverages, his stories became more colorful to the point where Grandma would have to tell him to clean them up.  That always brought another good round of laughter.

I hope that everyone can remember back to the blessings of family gatherings and smile about good times together.

We are currently planning our Spring and Summer travels for this next year.  Originally, we had planned to go out west for the summer and then winter in Texas, but that may change due to some other things that are on the horizon.  It takes more planning and research than I could have ever imagined.

Since many of the highly sought out locations have their campgrounds booked up early, we are trying to map out the entire spring and summer travel plans and go ahead with reservations.  This approach limits any last minute itinerary changes, but ensures that we have a campsite in the locations we want.

We travel very slow at only about 150-200 miles per day and then try to stay in a location for at least one week.  That gives us ample time to explore the sights and local communities.  The downside is that it requires us to stay in more locations, so more campgrounds to research.

By the way, the sailboat on the Miramar Beach is still there.  The “Phantom of the Aqua” owner is trying to raise funds to rescue the boat.  The story is that the owner, John Hale, was trying to take supplies to the Caribbean to help Hurricane Irma survivors when Hurricane Nate came along causing him to abandon the 40 foot sailboat.  It later washed up on the beach here.  Google it for more info.

We are now starting our last week here at Miramar Beach.  The month of November is winding down fast.  We have enjoyed our stay here for sure.

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Take care and God Bless.