stepping off the edge

Eons ago, surely when ice covered much of the earth, I lived in Panama City. Shared a $100/month bungalow with my best NJ friend, John Shubeck. Not the same experience by a long shot. First, I no longer have to think through any food I buy and make certain the small change in my pocket will cover the bill (the bait they sold looked like perfectly good prawns, cost $.99 and tasted pretty fine). Also, I used to babysit a woolly monkey by the name of Wilma. she would sit on my lap and watch TV with me while I fed her pieces of banana. Thankfully she always wore a diaper.

On this trip we were in a comfortable beach bungalow through home exchange. Could not have been more perfect, well except we were carrying a lot of frozen Cajun food, courtesy of our time in Lafayette. Let me just say that too many Cajun meals in a row takes its toll on this California boy! Still, I hunt the wild cornbread. For some reason bakeries allude me on this trip. Oh to be within walking distance from Gayle’s.

This town has virtually no one walking around! We noticed that during our five week stay here in 2020 but thought it was pandemic related. No such thing! Golf carts are the transportation of choice.

Flashback here to the second week in New Orleans, and forgive me if I mentioned this already (have I also mentioned that I am old?). The four kids, two adults and a Great Dane living above us sounded like a marching band every morning at, what I assume, school get ready time of 6:30 AM!

While I can sleep through a full scale war, Mrs. T cannot! And another note, experience New Orleans music 24/7 from wherever on WWOZ.ORG worth a listen, you will not be disappointed.

Hope this website does this panoramic picture justice. The sand here is like fine salt and the water is an amazing shade of blue. Beautiful, clean, and the sand is way too clingy. It gets everywhere!

Only spending a few days here and our one meal out was at Bill’s Crab Shack. If you can name it Bill can fry it! There is also the added attraction of an alligator pool. Did they really need a sign that says no jumping in the pool? don’t think so…

There was a friendly kid at the entrance holding a 4′ gator for us to pet… perfect.

Not much else to say except I got my first sunburn in half a century. I think we are closer to the sun here.

Finally, I have become the Jenga master of packing the car. It’s like I actually know what I am doing… well, not that Mrs. T can tell, especially when I venture off the GPS path proclaiming I definitely know where I am going. You would not believe how adept I have become at the U turn.

When I return we will be journeying into the heart of Florida… Gainesville. Somehow I do not think it will be as picturesque! There will also be no confusion as to what to call the land mass around us. Gulf of America indeed…