A Trip to Venice

Today is a drippy, wet, gloomy November day, and in retaliation I am posting pictures of our sunny vacation at the beach! :D

*****All readers hoping for a short post, beware!*****

This is the baby blanket I was crocheting on the way there. I had finished all the blocks previously and was just turning in the ends and sewing them together on the trip. It is since completed, (I finished it on the drive home) but I don't have a picture yet of the completed afghan.
And here it is... the beach!!

Ahhhh. Can't you just smell the salt air and feel the breeze blowing through your hair and the sun on your face?

This is the ferry that takes you to the private beach that my Grandma is allowed access to because of the location she lives in. All the residents in her area and their families are allowed to visit this beach.

The weather was gorgeous while we were there, sunny with perfect temperatures of around 75 for the entire trip!

Mark is building a sand castle (and squinting in the sun as his photo-crazed sister tries to take his picture) and Steven is looking for shark's teeth along the shore.

The completed castle. Wow.

The first morning we were at the beach was quite windy and the boys had tons of fun tumbling about in the waves... click on this picture to see a larger version. I love their expressions!

Here are Mom and Dad on the ferry on the way back. (Mom was wearing my jacket because the wind was chilling her) We went back to my Grandma's house for lunch and then returned to the beach for a few hours in the afternoon.

And... me. Wearing my favorite sunglasses. ;) Daddy told me I'll always be a Florida Girl no matter where I live. :D After growing up in Florida and spending countless hours at the beach... it feels like home again when I get to visit. :)

Here are the boys on the ferry... I really like this picture of them. They're squinting in the sun but I think it turned out pretty well.

When we came back again that afternoon, the wind had picked up and the sand stung your legs when you took a step... that was one reason we didn't stay as long. I managed to get some great photos of the boys though!

Oh yeah.... the Beach Boys shot. Click on this... Mark's expression, especially, had me rolling with laughter...

Back at the house, we relaxed with Grandma on the lanai.

The next day, we drove around Venice and saw the sights. :)

Mama and I in the van... (note the fashionable sunglasses....lol)

(L to R) Steven, Me, and Mark at the jetty. Look how blue the sky is!

Sparkling water...

A friendly pelican...

Here are Mama and Daddy standing on the jetty...

Shore Birds hunting among the rocks...

On the way to Caspersen's beach I spotted a GIGANTIC Banyan tree and insisted on taking a picture. :)

Caspersen's beach is a different beach than my Grandma's private one and is one of the best places in the world for finding shark's teeth. We didn't find any there... but we did find some at my Grandma's beach! :D

Here's Grandma and a turtle...

I was fascinated with all the rocks along the water's edge!

Steven rock-hopped while Mark built yet another sand castle...

That afternoon we met with my Auntie Donna and took her to the ferry beach. While there I managed to get some great shots.

It was windy that day also, but not as much as the day before. Dad and the boys used the sifter to look for shark's teeth and shells in the surf.

I found some pretty seaweed.

That evening I got to hang with my fave cousin, Denise, when she and my Uncle Tom joined us and Aunt Donna for dinner at "Sharky's".

Denise and I

The next day, before we headed out, I got a picture of Grandma and the boys... :D They're now much taller then her.

Now, guess who tagged along on our vacation?
SURVIVORMAN! It's a family joke of ours that Survivorman (so named because we found him in the yard, surviving the elements) hides around the house. Mark and Steven and Daddy usually move him about when no one's looking, and you never know where you'll see him next! He stowed away on our trip this time.

The first thing he did was examine the case of shark's teeth in Grandma's living room. (That center one is larger than my hand!)

Then Survivorman met Brandy. (a replica of a wonderful dog my grandfather had years ago)

Survivorman stowed away in my purse when we went to Sharky's for dinner, (I think he even snitched some of my lobster) and while there, enjoyed the view of the sunset off the pier.

Then, the next day, it was time to leave.

Finally home, Survivorman discussed his adventures with his friends, Cammo-man and Igor.

Quote Survivorman - "You know, the beach really isn't all it's cracked up to be. I think I prefer the woods."

Well, be that as it may, Survivorman (and the rest of our family) sure had a wonderful weekend!

Pictures From New York

Hello Everyone! :)

I decided you might like to see what pictures I've taken so far on our trip, so I figured out how to use my Aunt's computer (lol!) :) and I've selected a few for your enjoyment. :)

We got up early on Saturday and got a great start - we were out the door at 7:00. (yeah, that means I had to wake up at 6:00 to get ready...)

Then we drove, and drove, and drove, and .... you get the picture. :D We went up through South Carolina, and then North Carolina, and then Virginia...

This was shot out of the window of the car, it's just a fleeting glimpse of some of the beautiful Virginian countryside.

This is a flower blooming cheerfully at a rest stop we stopped at... and I just had to capture a picture of it! :)

These are some crochet blocks I made on the way up here... I made one other one w' popcorn stiches but it's not in this picture... the pink/yellow/brown one is a 'Catherine Wheel', the aqua/tan/brown one is a 'Spinner', and the half-finished green/brown/tan one is a 'Gothic Square'.

We stopped at a BP in West Virginia to gas up and I spotted a cute little produce stand and just had to snap a pic. :) I loved the watermelon wagon!

We stopped at 8:15 pm, having gotten all the way to Hagerstown, MARYLAND! Whew! Not bad for one day's drive!

As I said before, we found a lovely Holiday Inn Express and were able to get a suite for only $13 more than a regular room would have cost us. Yay! It was beautiful, and sparkling clean. The ideal hotel room!

No air matress for me... This is the most comfortable pull-out I've ever slept on! It didn't even squeak! And the blanket was soooo soft. Ahhhhh.

Mark here is reclining on the bed he and Steven shared... I think he looks pretty comfortable. :)
I have this button on my purse (it belonged to my great-grandmother) ... and it was so perfect with the moment that I took a picture of it. "It's Good To Be Here!"

The next day we got up early, ate a delicious continental breakfast in the hotel, and headed out! Within a few minutes we had reached Pennsylvania, and we drove through lots of pretty scenery and a mountain ridge. There were so many gigantic cornfields!

And then, finally.... We reached New York!

We stopped at a very pretty Rest Stop/Welcome Center right inside the New York State border. We stopped to get gas a little farther in and went inside to get some ice cream... and we met a real "New Yoaker"! He welcomed "Youse Guys" to New York and was amazed to hear we were all the way from "Gee-or-gee-ah, the Peach State!" (That's how he pronounced it)

We stopped at a babbling brook just outside of Cooperstown... You know, where James Fenimore Cooper wrote "The Last of The Mohicans", and "Deerslayer". (I saw Lake Glimmerglass!!) right before we got to my Great-Aunt's house and took a few pictures...

Me and my two big, strong brothers...

The lovely brook....

A peach-tinted Daylily... (There were tons of these alongside the roads...)

Then we got to my Aunt's house (Yaaay!) And discovered....

We had a stowaway!

Survivorman had tagged along! :D He did that when we went camping in North Carolina too.

After a delicious dinner of beef and potatoes, Mark and Steven enjoyed relaxing on the floating dock ... some friendly ducks came over to see who the newcomers were.

We all got a great night's sleep after our long two days of driving! :) Daddy woke up to the sound of a loon calling, out on the lake.

Daddy took Steven out for a canoe ride this morning after breakfast... I was amazed at how well my camera behaved, letting me get such great long-distance pictures from my Aunt's porch!
The view....

Well, that's all for now! We plan on going hiking this afternoon and I will be sure to take along my camera. :)

I'm Home From North Carolina

Hi, fellow bloggers!

It's so nice to be back! A big hug for all of you reading this. :) My vacation was lovely but home is where the heart is! :) And there is no describing the difference of being comfortable in our house to living in a tent in the outdoors and using a bath house....ahhh, the comforts of home. :)

I promised pictures and pictures you shall have! I'll have you know that choosing pictures for this post from all my 500+ pictures of the trip was EXTREMELY difficult. But here goes. :)

First of all, guess who stowed away in the van?

Survivorman, of course!

Here he is seated on the picnic table in the middle of our campsite right next to a dish of cranberry jelly. In the background you can see my the tent that my brothers and I slept in. It divides down the middle and they had half of it and I had half of it.

Mama cooking over the gas stove, Daddy relaxing. The yellow tent was for my parents. (You can also see someone else's camper in the very back... they left after our first day there and so we had a bit more breathing room)

Here's my half of our tent, complete with Airbed, pillows, duffel bag, and Vera Bradley Purse! The gorgeous Vera Bradley purse was given to me by my very dear friend Joanna and I was absolutely delighted with it!! Thank you Joanna!!!

Here is my brother Mark in the middle of Deep Creek, which ran right past our campsite and made a lovely trickling sound to lull us to sleep at night.

Here are my dear parents on a hike in some very pretty woods.

We had to bundle up in the evenings and mornings when the temperature dropped.....

I was really cold!!

Here is a rare picture of Mark actually wearing some kind of coat...usually he sticks to a hoodie and insists he's not cold. Steven likes wearing his blue down coat, so that's not unusual. In this picture you can see how close the stream was to our campsite...

Here is a beautiful part of Deep Creek that we had a picnic lunch right next to...it was heavenly!

Here's Mama next to it...

Here is a beautiful trout that Daddy caught with his fly-rod...look at the pretty spots!

Here is Indian Creek Falls...a gorgeous waterfall. Daddy and I hiked to it one day and spent the afternoon fishing (Daddy) and photographing (me).

And the Smoky Mountains were beautiful!

I found a little mushroom along one of our hiking trails and I had to stop and take a picture. :)

Anyway, I have hundreds more pictures (literally) but that's all for now. I may post more in the future.

I'm glad to be back!

Julia