US Visit, April June

This has been one of our longest trips - 39 days/daze - living from the suitcases, lots of miles on the rental car, a good many individual places to visit.  Hard?  Yes.  Fun? Also yes!

As has become usual, we landed in Orlando where Dylan immediately wanted to have a picnic!  I hope we get to do a lot of picnics in Bremen.

Then a quick stop in St. Augustine.  We hadn't seen Sharon diFino for years and years but catching up was easy. And our vegan dinner was delish!

Then off to Jacksonville.  My 55th high school reunion.  What fun!  Several friends were there I had not seen since graduation in 1962, but thanks to FB, I did recognize them after all this time.  Friday was a casual dinner and meet up, Saturday somewhat more formal with a band and very good buffet, but it was all about talking and reminiscing and finding out what's up with each other these days.

Then off to Atlanta. Not much changes visit to visit.  Ginny and Barry are redoing the kitchen/living room/dining room area, little kids keep getting bigger, Carla and Tim have a new house.  We did visit the Jimmy Carter Center this time and had my picture taken in his Oval Office.  And often we met around the table.  Just ask the scales!

Off to the beach!!  We scheduled enough time this visit to have a few days with Nancy at the beach and our timing was absolutely perfect. The weather could not have been better, the surf was soothing and the sun was warming.  St. George Island is a little bit a paradise.

Apalachicola, only a little drive across the bridge, meant shopping and oysters and fried shrimp. Even if they're not great, they are wonderful. Fresh shrimp in Bremen is the equivalent of snowballs in hell, so when we are anywhere near the gulf, we gorge on shrimp and other seafood.

 And Apalach is now looking like I always knew it could.  The shop facades are colorful and classy and the insides are as good as the outsides.  The book shop is always a must see.

A short trip back east to Tallahassee, and then good bye to Nancy till next time. Old friends are great friends!  I'm not entirely sure when we first met.  It may have been at FSU but probably in Atlanta when our (then) husbands were at Emory Medical School and then later when they were doing their residencies. I know she baby-sat Michelle one evening, so, it has been at least 50 years.  Time does fly and bonds grow stronger.

Then on to Panama City.  We had presents for Hunter and Hannah.  Always.  But these last few years, the presents have been a bit, well, modest.  Favorite chocolate, for instance.  This visit is extra special though because Hannah is graduating from high school. An E V E N T.  It deserves a special gift, so it was. It didn't happen overnight, but there was a quilt from Meemaw to Hannah on this special occasion.  She was nicely surprised.  And Meemaw felt lots of love. 

There was a gift for Hunter, too, left over from last year's birthday which he'd graciously forgotten.  Werner made him a special display case for some of Hunter's special knives.  I have to say, it is so much fun giving a gift to Hunter because he is always so happy to receive it!!  It's a double gift for us!

Lucky us got to have a boat day.  Out to Shell Island, fun in the water, a walk to the Gulf side, lots of food and company.  Florida life can be really ... Florida.

And the obligatory family photo.  How often I forget the little travel tripod!  How often I forget to press the right button!  How often I am NOT in the picture the first time - or two!  But eventually, there's a picture. 

Then it was back to Orlando, just a day or two and then get Dylan packed and ready for her German adventure!  If you're interested, you can read all about it at www.avisitfromdylan.blogspot.com  

It was fun - and long - and it was about to get longer.  But I wouldn't trade the time for anything.  I hope everyone took away some memories at least as happy as mine.