Mom and Lucy's Travel Adventure: Conclusion

Back to Weeki Wachee and On to Home
3 March – 5 March
We left Sarasota around 10 am to head back to Weeki Wachee for a few days before leaving for home. Lucy settled right back into the routine at Father and Margot’s; in particular, she was happy to be back out by the pool (although she still showed absolutely no interest in going into the water; I’m not sure she’s really a Lab!)

After spending a nice afternoon out on the porch with Father, Margot and Lucy, we (excluding Lucy, who was baby-gated in my room grooving to music from Father’s radio) went out to dinner with our dear family friend, Jean. Jean’s in her 80s and still pretty much a fire cracker. She also appeared to be doing “ok” with the recent death of her eldest daughter, Beth (who succumbed to breast cancer (only in her early 50s) last November).

That evening, Margot and I stayed up late yakking. This meant it was a bit slow-going the next day, which, as it turned out, was okay, because we had a very relaxing day planned.

After hitting the ABC store (this is where people (that don’t live in California!) have to buy their liquor), Father finally was able to get me to his local watering hole, The Ramble Inn. BTW, the reason we went to the ABC store was the Bombay Sapphire gin in Florida is about $15 LESS a bottle than it is in NC! So, since I’d left Mr. B all home and lonely; busy working and, unfortunately, having to handle a dying cat, I figured he deserved a few bottles of his favorite gin.

So, The Ramble Inn. What a fun place. If you have ever seen the TV show, “Cheers”, that’s what this place reminded me of, to an extent. Meaning, when the door opens, everyone turns around to see who is coming in, and, if the person is known, a wave of welcomes are issued (it seemed to me that everyone that came in was known by someone already sitting in the bar). The interior, though, was nothing like Cheers in Boston (or all the ones that have now popped up in airports across the country), but, rather, sort of road house/biker/dive. But, as I was assured a few times by the local patrons, the food is good and, on occasion, free.

I met many of Father’s golfing and/or drinking buddies and they were all very nice and had a lot to say. They were also gung-ho on buying us beers; but, according to my Father, they all buy each other beers all the time and it all works out.

To commemorate this event, Father bought me a tank top that says “The Ramble Inn Highway 19 Weeki Wachee”. Cool!

While Father and I were goofing off at The Ramble Inn, Margot and Lucy went for a long walk. When Father and I got home, we played more Canasta (I didn’t do too bad but not too great, either). Margot prepared a fantastic standing rib roast and so our final night in Weeki Wachee ended with a celebratory air.

Lucy and I were up early the following morning to gear up for our long drive back to NC. Father helped us load up the car and we pulled out of the driveway around 7:15 am.

And, it was A LONG drive back to Durham; it took us 11 hours 15 minutes; I had to stop MANY times because I was so tired. Lucy didn’t do much but sleep. I have to admit that I sort of regretted not taking Jack and Roberta up on their offer to stay there one last night (that would have cut the drive to about 10 hours which really would have made a difference) BUT I was eager to get home to Mr. B.

It WAS great to be home, but, of course, it was also bittersweet because, for the first time in over 15 years, Clyde was not there to greet me.

So, it was a two martini night for the B’s; lots of tears, too, but, we’ll get through it together.

And, so ends my chronicle of our journey to Florida. All in all, I was very pleased with how Lucy did; she was a good little car rider and, for the most part, obeyed me (and everyone else). She got along well with all the folks she met, and, other than some barking at the RV park in Sarasota (and eating dad’s sandwich and attempting to run off with one of Grandma B’s teddy bears), she minded her P’s and Q’s fairly well.

So, yeah, I’d take her on another road trip. In fact, she’s going to go on one this coming April when mom and I drive to Springfield, MO to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder home and museum near there.

Stay tuned for more of our adventures!

Mrs. B (and Lucy!)

Mom and Lucy's Travel Adventure: Part Three

Note: This is a tad long in the tooth but I decided to combine the rest of our journey by destination and not go day by day (otherwise, I'll never get this finished up!) Also, you can view pictures of the trip by clicking on the link under "Mrs. B's "Stuff"" to the right of the Blog. No sense in Mrs. B getting frustrated with inserting pictures into these entries (they muck up the alignment of the posting!)

Weeki Wachee (Friday 22 February – Wednesday 27 February 2008)
We left Jack and Roberta’s around 10. It took around an hour and a half to drive to Weeki Wachee from Ocala. No problems! According to Jack, Lucy exhibited interesting behavior while I was loading up the car to leave. She appeared to be quite anxious that I was going to leave without her! Jack had a bully of a time holding on to her.

We arrived at Father and Margot’s. I walked Lucy on the lawn to get a pee in. Since she seemed pretty calm, we went to the front door, with me praying it would all go ok! Margot greeted us; I walked Lucy around the house and outside (pool area). Lucy met Father; no big deal, all was fine (Father requested NOT to be called “Grandpa”, so, he’s Mr. Hayes to Lucy!)

Lucy settled in just fine. Margot and I took her on a nice walk around the neighborhood (something we did just about every afternoon) and the rest of us had a leisurely afternoon catching up and dinner in; shrimp curry. Later that night, Father and I watched an interesting flick, “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavera”, which is a spoof of the terribly (and campy) B sci-fi horror movies of the 50s and 60s. Not bad at all!

The next morning, Lucy and I got right into our morning routine of getting up, mom getting coffee, and taking off for our walk. Father kindly left us the newspaper bags every morning for Lucy’s “business”. That particular morning, it was threatening rain so we didn’t go far, in fact, we just barely made it back to the house before it poured.

Our 2nd day in Weeki Wachee was also fairly leisurely. The big excitement was that Lucy went out into the backyard (fenced) and rolled around in grass that had recently been fertilized. She came into the house and I could smell her from a mile away. Yuck! Needless to say, she got an impromptu bath. We took her outside and Father hosed her down (she didn’t much care for that). I lathered her up with Father’s shampoo and we got her rinsed off. We all managed to get out of that exercise fairly dry (except Lucy, that is).

We sat outside by the pool and played a game I’d brought along (Whoonu) for an hour or so. Lucy behaved herself and was content lying next to us on a mat Father found for her.

We had dinner out at the Thai place that I’ve been to several times (excellent food). Lucy stayed home baby-gated in my room. We were gone about two hours; she did great. Whew!

That night, Lucy decided to start sleeping UNDER my bed. She did this the rest of the time we were there. Weird (and she didn’t attempt to do so anywhere else on our trip).

Sunday found us going out in the early afternoon in search of lunch dock-side. We went to one place that was very crowded and the waitresses (too few) looked completely lost. Father decided it would be wise to go somewhere else. We ended up at an Italian place called Argento’s. Father and I shared a “white garlic” pizza. Yum.

The Goose was alone 3 hours this time; again, no issues. I sure was proud of her!
That night, we watched The Academy Awards. It was LONG and BORING and Jon Stewart was not very funny at all.

Monday afternoon, we trooped off to the Tampa zoo. Fun! Although, there were many exhibits that were closed down/roped off due to renovations/new developments. We also stopped at a Post Office so I could mail off my passport renewal application (this was 25 February; I had it in hand in Durham 5 March; is that FAST or what?)

By the time we got home to Lucy, we were sort of tired so we decided not to go out to eat and stayed in. Margot made a cassolet with beans and kielbasa. She sure is a good cook and home cooked meals are such a joy (especially when someone else is doing the cooking for a change).

That night, I stayed up way too late drinking red wine and talking with Father. But, it was worth it.

I got up “early”; meaning, before 8, the following morning. On our walk, Lucy encountered her first person on a bike (at least as far as I know). She got pretty agitated.

After Lucy’s walk, the rest of us went to Emily’s for breakfast (a huge plate of sausage gravy and biscuits); very good (but not as good as Mr. B’s).

I started to get organized/pack up in preparation for leaving for Sarasota the following day. How did I manage to bring so much stuff?

I showed Father how to log onto my Blog. ARE YOU READING THIS ON-LINE, FATHER?

We played a few hands of Canasta before dinner. I’d played before (very similar to Hand and Foot). It all came back to me but it didn’t do me any good because I couldn’t get the right cards to meld/ get canastas! Oh well; fun to “learn” another 3-handed game to play. And, Margot gave me my own Canasta Jesus to pray to while playing (BTW, so far, as of this entry, he’s not helping me very much).

We had Cincinnati chili for dinner and red wine. Lots of it, again; but this time it was me and Margot up doing the talking after Father had gone to bed. It had rained the majority of the day and was still coming down while we were out there (luckily their patio/pool area is screened in). Lucy had a grand time chasing a little frog; until it jumped into the pool. Dilemma! She didn’t go in after it but she did track its progress by trotting continually around the pool.

The next morning, I was awoken to the sound of Lucy retching. Happy happy joy joy (not); I’m never going to understand why she throws up every twelve or so days; it makes no sense. Luckily there wasn’t much in her tum tum and I got it cleaned up easily enough.

We had a real quick walk; it was quite chilly that morning for FL. Plus, needed to get a stick on and get ready/load the car. How did Mr. B do it so efficiently when he loaded the car for me before I left? The big challenge was getting Lucy’s gate in there. Spatial relations has never been my bag!

Off to Sarasota!

Mrs. B