Monday October 20: Back to Yesterday's Dream in Jacksonville ...

It has been an unbelievable 5 months since we left Jacksonville, I again wonder where the time went ....

After leaving Guppy in New York in late August, it's been an interesting and fun time on land but now that we are back to the trawler, it seems the world is right again :-)

After arriving in Cleveland in late August, it was a very enjoyable two - almost three - weeks at the farm with my brother Tom and of course its always great to see my other 3 brothers and their wives as well Steve's sister Julie and our brother-in-law Jim. Plus a chance to get caught up with friends from Ohio.

It was a successful cataract surgery on my left eye (other may be done next May) and then off to Newport, Rhode Island to visit Matt and Wendy.

We had a great 2 weeks there (Becky came to join us the last weekend) celebrating Matt's acceptance to the War College in Newport and my birthday!

Motorbike and scooter cars were a blast! If you haven't been to Newport - you should definitely go!!

Much of our time was spent relaxing and touring the mansions of Newport. The Preservation Society there has made a real effort to preserve the mansions of the wealth families of the late 1800's, early 1900's. The Breakers, Marble House, The Elms - amazing homes that just are hard to believe were summer "cottages" for the wealthy families of New York society to enjoy for 2 months of the year. Think Downton Abbey if you are a fan of the show.

It was addictive really. Many had audio tours and we learned more about the history of the families - along with the "have to have" architects and interior designers of that era than anyone probably ever needed to know!

This is a picture of the back side (which faces the water) of the Breakers. Cornelius Vanderbilt's summer home.

Truly, truly an amazing place as were the other 8 mansions/homes we were able to tour. Check it out on the internet at: The Breakers

From Newport, it was off for a 4 day road trip to Maine and Acadia National Park. Also an amazing place.

Then on to LA to visit Becky for ten days. Only one major project this time: install an apartment size washer/drier in the closet of her condo.

Let's just say it was interesting .... and accomplished with no building code violations!!

She assures us it's one of those life changing improvements and I believe it after observing how tied up the washer/dryer right across the hall from her place was. Like morning, noon and night. And that was just the weekdays! Weekends were just as bad.

But not all work for sure. We made it to the Getty Museum (Getty Museum), Malibu Seafood, the Hearst Castle (Hearst Castle) plus were able to attend the taping of the 100th show of Mike and Molly (Carl gave me a hug :-) and we met Mike). And as a surprise Becky was able to take us to the Big Bang Theory set. You can see the picture of Steve and I on the I-pad and the actual scene from one of the shows in the background on the TV!!

How cool is that!




We actually returned back to Jacksonville late Tuesday the 14th and have spent the last almost week getting the boat (and us!) back together. Projects of course are underway - more on that later.

Loving being docked under cover - makes working of the boat crazy nice as the weather has been unseasonably warm.