Shopping!

     Jay and Martha were our designated drivers for a truly mariners shopping excursion.  Here in St. Augustine is the Sailor’s Exchange.  From the small outside storefront, appearances are deceiving.  It is a treasure trove of parts and pieces, whose inventory must be 4 to 5 times that of Bacon’s in Annapolis.  My first thought as I entered was that I wished that Pete’s dad could see this place!  Dad was not only a boater, but a tool and die maker, machinist, and garage sale/bargain finder extraordinaire!  What could not be found here, we scouted for at West Marine, the most important being paper charts of the Floridian inlets.  With our ocean travels, we are not comfortable only having electronic charts.  Should we lose our electronics, we would be “up a creek” as we are in unfamiliar waters with no backup.

     We had a great lunch at a bar on one of the creeks before dropping the off guys so they could head back to the boats, but not before checking out one more stop at a second hand boat shop. Now I have to figure out where we are going to store the fishing rod Pete got such a good deal on and if he finally catches a fish, what do I do with it!  We girls also checked out a second-hand clothing shop, then gathered the makings for sundaes for later this evening and the wines for Thanksgiving.

     The Tree Lighting Ceremony took place in The Square at 6:45 this evening just outside the Marina.  We all walked over to check it out.  It is a little strange to here “Let it Snow” when it is 70 degrees out, but everything looked very pretty and “Christmasy.”

The tree, the grand stand, the trees of the square and the buildings of downtown were lit for the holidays.
Somehow being in shirt sleeves in 70 degree weather just makes it a wee bit hard to believe
Christmas is coming!

      It was a nice walk over the Bridge of Lyons back to Jay’s home for the ice cream sundaes. Peggy returned from her Relay Run, where her group took Second Place overall and took First in for costumes.

     Tomorrow’s the race. The St. Augustine Yacht Club is hosting their final race of the season, The Commodore's Cup.  We ladies will be racing Brunelle under Captain Martha while the guys will be racing Seville under Captain Dan.   We will see how it is done. This should be verrry interesting.

                           ~  ~ (\_~ ~ ~     Kathy and Pete