See you Later Alligator

Hilton Head Island rocks... its truly wild, there is a real connect to nature here. From the subdivisions (called Plantations) to the wild life everywhere. Everything seems to be alive on this little island. Its very pet friendly, with dogs being allowed to walk on the beach's and we were invited to have our dogs join us for breakfast at the Skillet Restaurant. The air is filled with scents of Forrest mixed with ocean and every thing is spotlessly clean. While driving through one residential neighborhood we spotted the Alligator above hanging out in a little creek by the road, he wasn't bothering anyone and no one bothered him... life here is very interesting.
In addition to big lizards, the little lagoons that are literally everywhere are home to birds and turtles which in turn are surrounded by trees filled with squirrels. Its a real natural paradise. If only it were summer, I would go Scuba Diving... I'm sure the ocean here must be full of monsters. But winter here seems to sort of play its hand... the water temp is currently around 54F and the air temp has been around 60F during the day, so very pleasant indeed.
The only downer I can come up with on this almost perfect little Island is that its in seriously short supply of waves. We walked on the beach on both ends of the island (which is shaped like a foot) and the biggest wave I saw topped around the 1 foot mark. I don't think there are any immediate plans to book the Gunston 500 on Hilton Head.
The street are lined with trees, a grey moss sharing some kind of symbiotic relationship with the trees hangs almost festively off the branches and gives the island a very established feel.
The homes are grand and haven't been seriously bothered by a Hurricane since the late 18th century.
Better yet, many of them are backed up to water ways, lagoons or the ocean.

In the proverbial nut shell, Hilton Head Island is wonderful and Annmarie would like it mentioned that she liked it "This Much"....

Just Peachie

Georgia, Georgia, Georgia... there are more mobile homes along the roadways on the route that we took today than we have seen the entire trip. Having said that however it was quite pretty. We took a little detour and came across the smallest church in the USA... it was actually deeded to Jesus Christ in 1947 and with room for 10 parishioners and a priest the place is packed every Sunday.

We had planned to spend the day and night in Savannah, Georgia.... but drove past both our dog friendly hotel options and decided that life was to precious to risk checking in. It turned out to be a brilliant decision. We noticed that just up the road was a place called Hilton Head Island, South Carolina... watch this space... So far this place is full of promise....

At first site you wouldn't believe that St. Augustine was home to so many firsts... first American School House, First Fort, first something else that I can't remember right now... but with real touch and see history dating back to 1565 this little town is really quite something. Its very quaint and offers all kinds of distractions, we had Pub grub (A Plowman's lunch) at the Prince of Wales Pub, a very fine establishment that would serve us twice today. Once for lunch and then again in the evening after a few drinks at another pub where we put the misery out of a 6 pack of Castle Lagers (good old Charles Glass, he still has the touch !)

We also spent some time at Castillo de San Marcos, the fort which begun construction in 1672. It is amazing to see how different construction was in this region compared to in England's castles of the same period. The single most interesting fact about this "Castle" is that it has never been taken by force, actually the reason it has never been taken is the really interesting fact... its made from the materials available in the area, namely shells, sand and water. Of course when you heat or burn oyster shells you get lime, when you add lime to sand and water, you get..... concrete. But shells are porous and basically consist of millions of tiny air pockets, so when you make big blocks of shell and concrete building blocks, lay them side by side one on top of each other 16 feet thick and many many times taller, you get what is essentially an incredibly resilient and tough Styrofoam fortification.... the real advantage being, when cannon balls hit your walls, instead of shattering the walls, the cannon balls just absorbs into the wall and makes it stronger...... kinda hard to take a fort without artillery... just ask the British who took 50 days strengthening the walls in 1740 before marching back to Charleston South Carolina dejected and carrying alot less cannon shot.

To end off the day, a walk on the beach with La Poo... this dog loves water, she caught her first wave today. Although it wasn't entirely voluntary... at first, she took to it like a veteran. Always focused on the task at hand (retrieving sticks) the waves were minor obstacles in her sundowner walk in water. At one stage however she showed signs of losing her marbles... placing a stick at the foot of a washed up jelly fish, presumably hoping it would throw it for her.

All Quiet on the "Eastern Front"

So far the Eastern shore of Florida's panhandle is really working for us, we left Sarasota and headed East... we passed Orlando and had to fight the urge to visit with Mickey, Donald and the gang, but with the dogs on board and my need to see some waves, the temptation was averted and the happiest place on earth shot passed at 70 miles an hour. Our first destination was Cocoa Beach. Instantly I was reminded of Grand Cayman, the beach town is situated on a long spit of land that forms a barrier island to the the mainland. Its right next to Cape Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center and the feel is vacation central. We both took to Cocoa Beach immediately, the beach went on for miles and we almost had the entire shore line to ourselves. As a side note I should mention that if you like your space and traffic frustrates you... visit Florida in December, Annmarie and I have had our pick of hotel rooms, have not waited for anything, we have gotten great deals and coupons are treated like currency in these "seasonal" towns. Additionally, the water is still warm, the day time temperatures are very comfortable and the humidity is almost a non-issue. just to paint a mental picture, I have been wearing baggies and a T-shirt for most of the day, when I went body surfing for over an hour I was just wearing baggies (no wet suit or rashy) and never once felt cold. In the evening I'll wear light longs and a long sleeve sweat jacket and never feel cool... (temperature wise - I always feel "cool" its a narcissistic thing).

While in Cocoa Beach we went window shopping in a few Surf Shops, among them "Ron Jon's" and "Cocoa Beach Surf Co." but it was only when searching further down the coast towards Sunset Beach that we came across the home of "Island waveski's". Now I have an Island Waveski back in Vegas, they are the biggest manufacturer of Waveski's in America and were the guys who originally imported Macski and Kolaski Waveski's from South Africa. So finding myself in the mecca of North American Paddle Ski's country what could I do... My new Ski is being shaped as I write, its a super quick model, the newest design that allows super sharp carving whilst stable enough for aging fat asses like myself. The Ski is being custom shaped just for me, keeping with tradition I'm having the Australian Flag graphed on the under side (down under) and waves on the rails... it should be brilliant !

After I had placed my order, paid my deposit and arranged delivery I borrowed a Ski from the shop, walked across the road, crossed the beach and spent the next hour or so on the waves. Let me just say this... my lack of fitness is embarrassing, it took me a good five minutes to recover from each paddle out... my lats are cooked and I almost found religion when facing a big set that I didn't think I was going to make on one desperate sprint. I left the water highly endorphined and pleased to be back on the beach.

One of the consistents we have managed to keep for the last week or so has been finding Indian Food, Cocoa Beach was no different... The taste of Goa gave us a very pleasant introduction to food from the Goa region of India... its always such a pleasant experience for us eating in Indian restaurants, there is never disappointment and they really look after vegetarians.

When we woke up this morning it was windy and a little overcast, so we decided to head on up the road... since we have made the decision to drive to New York rather than board the Dogs and fly, we need to cover another 1000 miles or so to reach our destination. Today's stop over is St. Augustine, its a very beautiful town and one that so far Annmarie and I are very keen on. We have decided to stay here at least another day because there is just way too much to see. Its a very old town, with some building boasting a 400 year history... when your used to Vegas, 400 years is pretty impressive from a historical point of view. We had just a small taste of it since we got here late, but after 18 holes of miniature golf and a quick bite, we went on Ripley's believe it or not Ghost Tour of the towns Historical District. I must say it was a blast, we didn't have any paranormal experiences but the history was very interesting.

Tomorrow we are going to see more of the Historical down town area... unless the weather is great, then it'll be to the beach !

Simmering in Sarasota

Its winter.... apparently ! at around 82 degrees and 58% humidity winter just loses its sting. La-Poo has been swimming in the Gulf every day, and I'm sweating as I write.

Sarasota is very nice, its clean and has a beachy feel, the Gulf is just like its described... just about a mill pond... not a wave in site. Its odd in a way, even in the Caymans there are waves, but here on the gulf its as flat as the horizon. The beaches on the other hand are amazing, I would describe the "sand" as powder, Annmarie says its like Flour and although we differ on the description I'm sure you get the picture. Each step on the beach squeaks, for the most part its spotlessly clean but in comparison to the water in the Gulf its self, it borders on dirty. The water is crystal clean, I waded in the water a short while and a school of four small rays swam past my feet, obviously unconcerned with my presence.

We have been exploring Sarasota a little, its been primarily the beach and walking the dogs. But we also went to a place called St. Armand's Square, its the snooty part of town and of course managed to calm Annmarie's frayed nerves all be it for a day, they were having a Porsche show and that made a pleasant distraction for me.

Last night we went for drinks with some friends at the Sarasota's Brewing Company, all in all a bloody good night out, the beer was good, there were four or five sporting events on as many 150 inch plus screens and at least everyone not driving managed to get plastered.

Lakeland Layover

As seems to be becoming the norm, instead of taking it easy and having a short day and going to the ocean. We completed the task at hand and drove to Lakeland. Now we have an additional 2539 miles on the clock, have consumed just shy of 164 gallons of gasoline, covered three time zones, slept in 6 different beds and most importantly taught Poosie to chase Sticks, Stones and most recently Pine Cones (see picture).

Finally we will be staying put for a few days... we will of course be visiting more of Florida in the coming weeks but for now resting is just fine. Lakeland in pretty cool... a little far from the beach, but it rained today... which is a first for this trip and we found an Indian restaurant which is brilliant. Having spent a week surviving on toasted cheese and tomato, veggie burgers and Starbucks coffee... having Aloogobe Masala for dinner was like eating a home cooked meal after a term at boarding school.

The weather in Lakeland is amazing... I went for a swim in the hotel pool after we had booked in and then for a long walk in my Baggies and a T-shirt. I don't know if winter is supposed to be like this in Florida, but if it is... see ya, I'm going surfing !

Alabama the Heart of Dixie

Annmarie wanted to put in her 5 cents of the trip so far, these are her words:

We arrived in Tennessee yesterday Dec.11th. we stayed across the street from Graceland, Elvis Presley's mansion. it was much smaller then expected, he bought it when he was 22 in the 50's so back then it was considered big! the tour took us through his home, pool area and the trophy hall full of gold albums and his famous jumpsuits he wore on stage. it was really neat and so sad at the same time. what a time that must of been, that house felt so lonely now. Memphis was scary...we went to look for a restaurant and we were the only white faced people. So we left today and drove thru Mississippi and stopped off at a Starbucks (Arkansas still holds the record for the slowest service) but Mississippi came in second, its unbelievable! so we tried to get thru as much as Alabama as we could desperately trying to get to the ocean but we only made it as far as Dolthan, Alabama. We found this town to be very charming. We had a great dinner at a place called Charlies. They put together a Cajun pasta just for us vegetarians...between new Mexico and Alabama there is no such thing as a vegetable or green salad, just iceberg lettuce and lots and lots of steak! Alabama is very beautiful and the people are really sweet. They don't say happy holidays here they actually say have a merry Christmas.. there are churches on every corner and Confederate flags everywhere. literally Methodist and Baptist. Although Vegas has the most churches per capital its not the same you just gotta see it to believe it. we are going to head to Tallahassee Florida tomorrow so we hope to be in Lakeland Florida to see our friends Mark and Bonnie. after that we head out to the Siesta Keys (the whitest sands you'll ever see they say) and then to Sarasota to look at property. we are almost there! will let you all know and I hope you are having a great week too!

(Warrick Back) That's pretty much the sum of it.... today was a long long driving day... we covered three states in all... Tennessee, Mississippi and now we're in Alabama... I must say, Alabama is aw some.... the towns are very clean (or at least Dothan where we are staying is - "Birmingham and Montgomery not so much"). Troy university is in Alabama and we have seen both campuses from the road... huge brick buildings, very impressive looking... almost like Michaelhous in fact. for interests sake we picked up a homes magazine. For the same price that we sold our place for in Vegas, we could get a 3500 SF home, 5 beds, 4 baths, Pool, Barn, Granny Flat, Basement and on 6.5 acres with great views. Not bad if you consider that the temperature right now is 65 Degrees F and apparently according to our waiter there is no better place in the world.

Right now we plan to head towards Tallahassee and beyond... since we had such a long drive today I doubt that we'll try to get all the way to Tampa or Sarasota tomorrow. But both Annmarie and I agreed this morning that we were in need of some salty air and I am in desperate need of some salt water on my skin, so were heading to the ocean and we'll just figure it out from there.