While we are sitting still, in a dock for 3 months, Doug took advantage and did some preventative maintenance on Day Dreams. He always is busy and does such excellent workmanship. In between our chores, we had some visitors from up north who wanted to get some sun and warmth. We love having guests and hopefully next year when we have a house or a rental, we will be able to host our guests.
First to visit: our nephew John, his lovely wife Christina and her handsome son, Zakk. Sadly, the weather was sunny but not as warm as it had been and that they had hoped for. We all went canoeing in glass bottom canoes and despite the cold, it was lots of fun and the scenery and beach finds were great. We toured them around downtown St Pete and took them to a bar or two.
Our Godson Paul, his pretty wife Jess and baby Hudson flew to Florida with some of Jess's family to avoid a winter storm that was predicted to hit Ohio. We were able to connect with them in the beachside town of Gulfport so we could meet and cuddle with Hudson. It's been tough only seeing him on FaceTime and in pics & videos. He is adorable. I was able to hold him in my arms while he slept after we had our face to face meeting and chat.
Not all of our visitors were from up north-Ed & Diane who do live in Massachusetts in the summer but live in Sarasota in the winter drove up from Sarasota to spend a day with us-we had a nice lunch & walked around downtown and checked out the bar at the end of the new Pier.
Our next northern visitors came all the way from Traverse City, Michigan where there was lots of snow. Doug's cousin Geri and her husband Rick stopped to see us on their way farther south. We walked them around downtown and enjoyed a nice dinner at Cassis patio on Beach Ave. The next morning we met them for breakfast at The Hollander, which is a hotel and they have good food and a pool bar.
As mentioned in my last post, St Pete always has lots of events, one that really excited Doug is the Annual Indy Grand Prix. He bought us 3 day tickets. It's a big deal here and they started preparing weeks before. It's a street race right through Downtown and along the water. Roads were closed days before the race. They have road races all 3 days. The first day, Doug was able to walk into the pits and around the cars and drivers. On the main race day, we had a primo spot in the park sitting on a blanket where we could see 2 turns.
Kadey Krogen Yacht owners always enjoy meeting other Krogen owners. I was contacted by Ed & Linda on KK42 Dreamcatcher who had recently purchased their Krogen. They were docked in Bradenton and wanted to visit St Pete and asked if we could get together others who were docked in the area. We met at Harborage Marina with KK Invictus, KK Marie Louise II, KK Slowdown, KK Dreamcatcher for docktails.
During this exciting time for Doug, our good friends (and parents of our Godson Paul), Craig & Cheryl stopped to have dinner with us on their way to Ft Myers. We couldn't take them to downtown for dinner due to all the craziness of the race crowds so the 4 of us got in our dinghy and we cruised to The Big Catch Tiki Bar/Restaurant in the creek beyond our marina. There was live music and good food.
Our last visitors were from Ohio-Doris & Jerry. Jerry has a cousin in St Pete so they were staying with her. We got together a few times and enjoyed seeing them. I toured Chihuly's Gallery with them, which is beautiful and then we watched some glass blowing. It's so nice to spend time with friends we don't see all the time-we miss them.
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We certainly enjoyed our time in St Pete even though we were not successful on purchasing a house. We did try, we put an offer on a home in the Historic NE but our offer was not accepted. They opted to take a cash offer $55,000 over our conventional mortgage offer and we had offered full asking price. Just as well, it was more than we wanted to pay but we did love the house. Meanwhile, we looked for places to rent for October 2022 when we return. We hope to rent an Apartment downtown St Pete and live there until we find a house. We have stored the Van at an inside storage facility in St Pete and will leave it there until October while we cruise north this summer to take Day Dreams back to the Great Lakes.
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Interior of Arts & Crafts
Museum |
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Happy Valentines Day
from darling Hudson |
