Final Road Trip (Part Two)…Bar-b-que On The Beach

Once Ed and I MADE our way down to the beach (last weekend), we saw cars–lots and lots of cars!  Then we saw a sign that said “Amelia Island’s Great Southern Tailgate Cook-off”.  We had stumbled into the middle of a two-day bar-b-que event!  Pure heaven…

The wonderful aroma of bar-b-que filled the air.  I’m telling you, some of these guys had some serious grills!  Just look at the size of those babies…

Apparently, the contest had begun on Friday afternoon, and was winding down by the time we got there.  If we hadn’t postponed our trip a day, due to hurricane Irene, we would’ve been there for the entire event! ( I’m actually sort of surprised that they didn’t postpone the cook-off.)

The cook-off was held on a large grassy area adjacent to the ocean.  What a wonderful environment to spend the day in!  Our hotel was located adjacent to the grassy area, so we could just walk to the activities.  This was a huge ”plus” because there was no place else to park!  In addition to the food booths, there were also a few vendors and live music.

We enjoyed walking around the booths, and looking at the team names.  I got a good laugh out of  the “U Rub Me Raw” team name!  Whoever came up with their team name deserves a prize!

Billy Bob must be a pretty good cook–judging from the size of his trophies!  You can’t see them from this angle, but all of the people hanging out under that tent were sort of ”plump”.  I’m thoroughly convinced that old Billy Bob really knows his BBQ!

I was amused when I saw “The Bar-b-que Bus”!  What a neat idea for an old school bus!  They had the grill on the back of the bus, while they served the food out of the bus windows.

I love a good band, and a country music band was playing on stage while we were there. Later I found out that a total of six bands played over the two-day event!  I would’ve loved to have been there for all of that!  I did get to hear a bit of the final band–a soul band.  They were blasting all up and down the entire beach area! 

Believe it or not, Ed and I didn’t eat a thing the entire time we were at the cook-off! We’d just eaten lunch when we got there, and we already had plans for supper at the “Sandy Bottom”. It seemed a shame to be surrounded by all those great cooks, yet not sample any of their bar-b-que!  I’m going to keep this annual event in mind for next year–and if we go back,  I will definitely sample some of  that “award-winning” bar-b-que!

Our Final Summer Road Trip…part one

After postponing our trip to the beach for a day, due to hurricane Irene, Ed and I finally left on our final “road trip” of the summer early Saturday morning.  The weather was sunny and hot.  We didn’t receive even one drop of rain from Irene as she passed by our way, which is a shame because everything is DRY.

When going on a road trip, Ed and I never drive straight to our destination.  We always make a few stops along the way.  Unfortunately, our first stop on this trip had to be at a Rest Stop– so I could take some Pepto Bismol!  Yes, sadly, my stomach decided to get upset on the morning of the trip! 

We eventually made it to Brunswick where our first stop was Big Lots.  I love this store because I never know what I will find there.  Last year, Ed and I found these really neat folding, reclining chairs with foot rests, at this store.  We’ve really enjoyed sitting in them on the beach for the past two summers, but the salt water has taken its toll on them.  I’ve been looking for some replacements–without any luck, except on-line.

we love our reclining chairs

I was in luck on Friday, when I found a new shipment of these chairs had arrived at Big Lots!  The chairs were sixteen dollars each, same price as last year, while those chairs that I’d found on-line sold for fifty bucks each!  We bought four of those sixteen dollar chairs for future beach use!  I also bought a really pretty fall table arrangement, which I had to “protect” from harm the rest of the entire trip!  This isn’t always an easy task with Ed’s driving

Our next stop was…The Goodwill Store, of course!  I’ve already shared some of our “treasures” that we’ve found at this particular Goodwill Store, such as those ninety-nine cents Oleg Cassini sunglasses that my daughter found a month ago.  This trip did not disappoint!  My first purchase was a talking rocking horse for our grandson, Cade, for just 19.99!

Cade on the rocking horse

Purchasing a rocking horse, when you are traveling in a PT Cruiser, that’s already loaded with two coolers, a suitcase, two umbrellas, and four beach chairs, can be tricky.  However, Ed is a great stacker and packer. He borrowed some tools from another store customer, and took the horse apart.  After taking the horse apart, he was able to slide it among the other things in our car.

nativity scene

Ed did such a great job arranging the contents of our car, that I was also able to go back in and purchase an outside nativity set for our daughter!  She’s been wanting one of these, and I found a like-new set, still in the boxes!  They may have been used once.  The original price was on the boxes–each box cost 29.99 new.  I got both boxes for $8.98.

My next “find” was a San Francisco Music Box Company  Christmas music box…for 99 cents.  Actually, Ed found the music box, but didn’t realize what it was worth.  He just knows that I love Christmas stuff.  It would sell for between twenty and thirty dollars new–and it was still in the box!

the music box

My final purchases were more toys for the grandchildren.  I love Barbie stuff, and I found a cool Barbie Volkswagen–complete with Ken inside–for 1.99!  It’s so cute, the doors open and close, as well as the trunk!  I also found a little tikes school bus, with the people for the same price.

the toys

Ed and I loaded our purchases in the car, and headed on toward the beach.  Of course, we had to make one more stop along the way–to the Dollar General Store!  You see, I had two of those $5.00 off coupons that were only good for one day, and a good coupon is a terrible thing to waste!  Ed said to me, “I don’t think we have enough room left to put anything.” He didn’t know that I was buying toiletries this week, and could easily stash them under the seats!  Thirty minutes later we left the dollar store with bags of toothpaste, shampoo, and various other small items.

Our final stop before reaching the beach was one of the local parks so we could eat our picnic lunch and restack the contents of our car!  Boy were we were hungry after all of that shopping!  Ed did such a great job of restacking, I was able to stop by Wal-mart on the way home and do a little more shopping!  After all, they were having a toy clearance sale, and Christmas and birthdays are just around the corner!

This is what our car looked like when we finally arrived back at home.  Can you believe my fall table arrangement is nestled safely among all of that stuff? 

I don’t think we could’ve managed another shopping stop on this trip.  It’s probably a good thing  The Goodwill Store was closed when we passed by on Monday!

Dreamin’ About A Sunny Beach…On A Rainy Tuesday

Yesterday afternoon, I got a call from my sister-in-law, asking me where were the beach photos on my blog!  She said that she was in need of ”a beach fix”!  This from a sister-in-law who lives in sunny Florida–land of beautiful beaches!  Then, I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof.  It’s a dreary day outside, so I’m in the mood to share some “sunny memories” of our recent beach trip. 

These pictures are for you, Kay, and I have a few words for my brother, too…”take your wife to the beach!” 

This photo was taken our first afternoon on the beach.  I like to think of it as ”Two men and a little lady“.  These men (her dad and her ”E-pa”) have made sand castles with Madison every summer for the past four years of her life.  Sweet memories in the making…

Meanwhile, during the castle-making,  I was sitting in my favorite spot on the beach–in front of the “Sandy Bottoms” beach bar and grill listening to Friday night’s band.  It was a jazz band on Friday night.  Not my favorite type of music, but, still, they were sounding pretty good. 

I enjoyed Saturday evening on the beach much better, listening to the sounds of different band who played what seemed like everything under the sun!  They played and sang a little ”Patsy Cline”,  “Otis Redding”, “Sly and the Family Stone”, “The Eagles”, “Linda Ronstadt”, “Wilson Pickett”, and even “Rod Stewart”, just to name a few!  Later in the evening, some people were even dancing in the sand on the beach–and our granddaughter was one of them!

Ed and I are “early birds”, so every morning we get up early to enjoy some beachtime.  We ate breakfast on the beach both mornings!  It’s so peaceful and quiet out there, before the sun comes out and the crowds arrive!  It’s probably the best time of the day.

It sort of makes us feel guilty as we sit and eat our sausage, eggs, or pancakes– while watching the locals do their morning exercise routines on the beach.  The girl jogging in the photo, had the most unusual running style I’ve ever seen.  She sprang up off the sand using her toes, with each step that she took.  I’m sorry, but I just can’t “spring” at seven o’clock in the morning…

I really love watching the birds fly over the ocean–especially the pelicans.  I was lucky enough to snap this picture as a group of them flew over.  We also saw a couple of dolphins swimming in the surf in front of us, but I wasn’t lucky enough to get a picture of them.

Ed and I must look like “animal lovers” because every time we go to the beach, we attract a group of seagulls.  Usually they just stand close to our chairs and look at us with their “hungry eyes”. 

On our last trip, I actually bought a bag of animal crackers to share with the birds every day.  They ate the crackers, but didn’t seem overly impressed.  I noticed that the birds soon learned to dip their cracker in the ocean to soften it,  then they could swallow it!  Smart birds, huh?

On our final morning at the beach, we made a new friend when Ed spotted this little fellow next to his chair.  We enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with him, while trying to take his picture.  He was a pretty good-sized sand crab, but he could move in and out of that hole in a flash!  We had a hard time seeing him in the screen of the camera since he blended in so well with the sand…

Looking at these photos is already making me want to take another beach trip!  These days it’s my favorite place to be.  I feel blessed that we only live a couple of hours away. 

Guess what?!  I’m celebrating a birthday at the end of next month, and guess where I want to go to celebrate?!  I’ve already reserved a hotel room–on the beach!  If I’ve gotta’ grow another year older, at least I can celebrate it in a fun way, right?

 

I’m riding the Tuesday Train today.  If you’d like to ride along, all you have to do is click the train to find out how!

Fun Times…

In honor of another upcoming trip to the beach, I thought I’d touch on a few funny and memorable moments of mine and Ed’s last trip there.  Like this first “misfire” of the camera when we were trying to get a shot of ourselves using the camera timer…

Oops! Bad timing...

 Here’s another shot of us eating our little picnic lunch beside the playground, which happens to be located beside a little saltwater creek.  We were the only ones there for a while, and it was peaceful.  Sitting there brought back many happy memories of days gone by…Times when we used to have picnics beside playgrounds with our children while they were growing up–and it was not so quiet or peaceful.  Eating with three children, especially outside, is never peaceful, but it’s fun!

Just the two of us now...

 One thing I’ve learned over the years of spending time around the beach area–the birds are BOLD!  They are not shy when it comes to sharing your food!   They will rip it right out of your hand if given a chance!   Just look what happened when we left our lunch unattended for five minutes!  There wasn’t any food in the bag, but the thief managed to pull himself out a paper cup!  I guess he was thirsty.

He invited himself to lunch!

 We had a little time to kill before we were able to get into our hotel room, so we decided to check out historic downtown Fernandina.  We’ve been there several times before, but we love it, so it never gets old.  We took some pictures of the waterfront.

Man, that sun was bright...

We looked around in some of the little gift shops for a while, but soon we were hot and tired.  Apparently, so were a lot of other visitors.  The most popular shop in the entire historical area was the candy shop, which also sold four dollar ice cream cones!  Of course, we had to have one anyway…but at least I passed up the Fernandina Fudge!

Love those waffle cones...

Shortly after finishing those tasty ice cream cones, we looked around a little bit more, then headed back toward the beach to check into our hotel room.  Before long, we checked in, had supper, then spent the rest of the evening sitting in our chairs on the beach, listening to a wonderful band playing “oldies” at “The Sandy Bottoms Beach Bar and Grill”! 

Sandy Bottoms...

Speaking of “The Sandy Bottoms”, that’s where Ed and I ate dinner for our 39th anniversary!  We’d never eaten in an open, seaside restaurant before, so we tried it.  The food was very good–seafood, of course, and that particular evening they had a reggae band providing music.  We didn’t totally break our tradition of eating at KFC for our anniversary–we went there for lunch!