Getting together with family and friends

Last Saturday Mike's brother Chris and his wife Carole arrived for a few days' visit. They had just been on a cruise to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We've been talking with them about some of the local restaurants and Chris is intrigued with the restaurant here in Sebastian called Squid Lips.

So Saturday night the four of us went to dinner at Squid Lips.

From Chris & Carole's Visit

Chris and Carole ordered the Coconut Shrimp and Fish and Florida Fried Shrimp dinners (which they shared) and Mike had the Grilled Chicken with Black Cherry Glaze dinner and I had the Citrus Salmon dinner. As usual everything was excellent and we all had a good time.

On Sunday morning we went to Mulligan's here in Sebastian for brunch. Chris and Carole ordered the Breakfast Platter and Western Omelet (which they shared), Mike had the Cakes (pancakes) and Eggs and I had the Sunrise Omelet with Hollandaise Sauce.

From Chris & Carole's Visit

After brunch we drove up A1A from Wabasso Beach north to Melbourne Beach and then south from Melbourne on US-1 back home. Along the way

Dinner at Carrabba's

We've been busy the last couple of weeks working around the house and getting ready for Mike's brother Chris and his wife Carole when they visit us this coming week. We're also having Mike's high school friends over for lunch while Chris & Carole are here.

Sears had their lawn mower baggers on sale earlier this month and Mike bought one for our riding lawn mower and he put it on last week and then mowed our front lawn.

Last week we had dinner at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Vero. It was our first time eating at a Carrabba's and we enjoyed it. Mike had the Grilled Chicken dinner and I had the baked Ravioli Parmesan. We were too full to try one of the tempting desserts, but our waiter was nice enough to give us a sample of 2 of them to take with us. The samples looked so good, that we ate them before we left Carrabba's parking lot!

I got a call earlier this month from our friend Mary who is a member of the Indian River Genealogical Society inviting me to come to this month's meeting at the main library in Vero. I went last week and had a great time. Mary was there and so was Carol another friend of ours. There must have been at least 60 people at the meeting and everyone was having a good time. I will definitely go again and will probably join the society at some time.

New window treatments for office and guest room

We've been busy the last 10 days putting the finishing touches on the Oriental guest room. We bought a Levolor Top Down Bottom Up cellular shade from Home Depot and a mirror for the dresser we bought at the consignment shop.

There was a padded cornice valance over the bedroom window that was upholstered with a dark brown material and we wanted to replace the material. Mike and I went to Joann's Fabrics in Vero and took one of the decorative pillows on the bed to see if we could match the red in the pillow and comforter. Mike found a red damask that matched perfectly and we bought enough material to cover the valance and have some left over for a dresser scarf.

I had ordered some curtain panels from Penney's I thought would look good in the office, but when I held them up over the windows

DeFuniak Springs to Sebastian

We got up about 7:30 this morning and had checked out of the motel by 8:30 and drove up to the Burger King to have breakfast. We feel pretty good this morning in spite of having to change our motel last night because of the fire at the Econo Lodge where we had reservations and having to scramble to find another place to stay.

After breakfast we headed east on I-10 until we stopped at the Pilot near Marianna for gas ($3.329 a gal). We reached I-75 near Lake City around noon and turned south on I-75. Mike and I were both ready to get home, so we didn't stop for lunch since we had stuff to snack on. We did stop at a rest area to walk Tinker and give him his lunch.

Our next stop was at the TA truck stop at Wildwood at 2:45 to buy gas ($3.499 a gal) before we got on to the Florida Turnpike. We exited the turnpike at exit 244 at St. Cloud and paid our toll of $4.50 (it was $13.50 when we were driving the RV) before driving east on US-192 to I-95 south.

We arrived at exit 56 on I-95 south at 6:20 and got on County Road 512 east. We stopped at the Dairy Queen next to I-95 and got a peanut butter cup Blizzard for Mike and I before we drove on home.

It really seems strange to not see our motorhome sitting in the driveway! We've unloaded what we need for tonight from the car and will unload the rest tomorrow. We're both ready to sleep in our own bed (Sleep Number) tonight.

Today was one day when I didn't take any photos while we were driving, but we've been back and forth on I-95 and I-10 so much that I've gotten photos of most of the interesting sights.

Courthouse Research & Change of motels because of fire

We checked out of the Days Inn at 8:45 and drove over to the Burger King for breakfast. Then we drove over to the St. Landry Parish courthouse to see if we could find any information on Silas Fletcher (Mike's 3rd great grandfather) and his family. I took my laptop with me so I could look up information on Silas if I needed it. We passed through security and took the elevator down to the basement where the county archives are located.

We met Stephanie in the Clerk of Court's office and she turned out to be a great help. I told her I was looking for marriage records dating back to 1813 and 1820. Some of the records have been digitized and she printed off the 1820 marriage record. She said the digital copy of the 1813 record wasn't that good and she would go upstairs and make me a better copy!

In the meantime, she directed me to the land records and other court records for the parish and I started going through the books. I found Silas Fletcher in a deed index and took a photo with my phone.

From Opelousas, LA

I also took photos of the deeds with my phone. We have so little documentation on Silas and his family in the 1800-1820's that it was great to see all of this. Stephanie was a great help and was very patient when I had to ask her for some help (which I tried to keep to a minimum). By 11:00 it was time for us to leave, so I paid the $6 for the marriage records and we left the courthouse.

We decided to drive around a little before leaving Opelousas and found some beautiful old homes in just the few blocks we visited.

From Opelousas, LA

Acton State Historical Site and driving to Opelousas, LA

We got up at 7:00 and had some coffee before we started packing up to leave Chris and Carole's house. We've had a great time visiting with them even if it was only a few days. Carole offered to fix breakfast for us, but we said we would stop somewhere along the way  and grab something to eat.

We left their house about 9:20 and drove north on FM-167 (FM stands for farm market) and made a quick stop at the Acton Cemetery. Chris and Carole told us that Davy Crockett's wife and children were buried there and we wanted to stop and take photos.

We arrived at the Acton Cemetery and found the gates were chained for vehicles, but we had no trouble getting in to walk around.

There is a huge memorial for Elizabeth Crockett

From Granbury, TX to Opelousas, LA

so it wasn't too hard to find her grave and those of her and David's children.

From Granbury, TX to Opelousas, LA

We walked around for about 15 minutes taking photos before getting back into the car.

From Granbury, TX to Opelousas, LA

We stopped at Burger King in Benbrook to get breakfast before heading

Visit with Mike's brother & wife

Yesterday Mike and his brother Chris drove into Granbury to the Goodyear Tire store and Mike bought 2 new tires for the front of the Vue. Then they stopped at RaceTrac and Mike bought got gas for the car ($3.239 a gal).

While Mike and Chris were running their errands, Carole and I went shopping. We went to a couple of boutique shops and stopped at the Benbrook Antique Mall to browse. Tinker has a white stuffed teddy bear that is his favorite toy and it has definitely seen better days. I found a Coca Cola stuffed bear that is almost exactly like the bear he already has. I bought it for $10 - I checked to make sure it didn't have any beads in the stuffing before I bought it.

Last night we went out to eat at one Chris and Carole's favorite Mexican restaurants Mi Familia in Granbury. Mike ordered the beef burrito dinner and I had the beef taco dinner and some Negra Modelo beer.

We just spent today relaxing at the house before we went out to dinner. Chris and Carole are members of the local MOAA (Military Officers Association of America) and tonight was their monthly meeting and dinner at the Pecan Plantation Country Club.

We went early to the dinner because Chris is selling raffle tickets and he needed to be at the check-in table. While Mike and Chris were out at the