Christmas Parade

OK, so normally when we're on the road we don't know a soul and we don't really socialize with anyone, other than polite chit-chat along the lines of "that's a cute dog you have there" and "where are you from?". But while we're on Pine Island we actually have friends (!) and we love spending time with them. Scott and Deb are great people- they would literally give you the shirts off their backs without thinking twice. They are wonderful hosts and they LOVE to have a good time. We got onto the island on Tuesday, but we didn't contact Scott and Deb until Friday. We wanted to get settled in a little, plus we knew they had company down from Michigan and didn't want to interfere. But on Friday afternoon, Dave called Scott and told him we should be arriving this coming Monday, but then we surprised them by walking up their driveway about 15 minutes later (Dave LOVES doing this type of thing!). We ended up spending the entire evening with them, hanging out at their great place right on one of the canals. We had WAY too much to drink, but I have to admit we had a ball. It was just great to see them again.

And then, on Saturday, they were taking part in the Christmas boat parade, with about 20 or so boats all decorated for the holiday. The idea is that the boats meet at the local bars (which are all on the water) and they form a parade and go up and down the canals, where the people who live along the canals are sitting with their friends and family and watching all the decorated boats go by. Scott and Deb insisted that we come over on Saturday afternoon and ride on their boat with two other couples (so eight of us in total: Dave and I, Scott and Deb, Mary and Paul, and John and Betty Lou). We agreed-it sounded like fun-so we showed up at 4:30 Saturday afternoon, but we kind of didn't even think about it being a Christmas event, so we didn't have on any of our Christmas "finery" (which, actually, we don't even own). Deb came to the rescue with a couple of Santa Claus hats, so we were good to go. But I think you can tell from the pictures that we were slightly under-dressed for the event. And, yes, Theresa and MaryEllen, Dave DID wear his little elf-hat the WHOLE night!!!!! And it was WAY fun! Deb drove the boat-she normally does and is just an EXCELLENT "captain"- and all the boats went up and down, all lit up and decorated for the occasion. Some of the boats' decorations were just GREAT, but my camera doesn't take good night pictures, so I don't have any to post. There had to have been literally hundreds of people lining the canals and cheering and clapping-and Scott was loving every minute of it, yelling relatively "crude" stuff at everyone as we went by! Scott and Deb's pontoon boat was sponsored by The Ragged Ass, a really fun bar here on the island, so after the parade was done, we all went over there and got free beer and pizza (those of you who know Dave will realize he was VERY happy about this!).

We were supposed to go out on the boat this afternoon (Sunday) for a little run out to Sanibel Island, but it was quite windy so we had to postpone for now. And, frankly, we needed a day off! We must be getting really old because partying both Friday and Saturday EXHAUSTED us-we're REALLY not used to this! When we left a message with Scott that we were taking a raincheck, he called back and told us the American Legion was having a big all-you-can-eat breakfast for only $6 per person. So, yep, we HAD to do that. So all eight of us who were on the boat Saturday night met up again for breakfast-gee, it seemed like a totally different group of people-all of use were fairly quiet, articulate, polite...!

After breakfast we just came back to the rig and hung out the rest of the afternoon. I did a couple loads of laundry while Dave watched some football. Later in the afternoon we went for a nice bike ride from the park down to the end of the island - maybe eight or ten miles total, but one of the first times we've biked together since we left home. It was really nice to just pedal along and chat and look at stuff. I'm posting a picture I took of a palm tree that had all these....things...hanging from it. They kind of look like grapes, but when you get closer they appear to be more like nuts or something-pretty weird-I don't think we've seen anything exactly like it before so I thought I'd throw it onto my page here just for grins.
Anyway...Scott and Deb are leaving tomorrow morning for a few days down in Key West and won't be back until Friday, but they left us keys to their house and invited us to come over and fish or hangout or whatever we want to do. I think we'll be taking them up on the invite-they have two cats and one of them LOVES to come outside, so Dave will fish in the afternoons and I'll let the cat out and sit in a lounge and read my "Nook". It sounds WONDERFUL! And by the time they get back, it'll be just a couple days until Christmas...still hard to believe.