2023 -2024 Cruise ~ Weeks 13 &14 ~ December in Fort Pierce

   Our final Taco Tuesday of the year was held on December 19th. This semi-monthly, I-Dock get together blossomed from our usually 12-15 to 24! A few of us invited friends, plus we had 3 additional couples who were transients on the dock. Somehow, we had enough food. I was worried that my dessert would not serve everyone. With my oven nonfunctional, I made a no-bake-cake. Using 2-large, Entenmenn’s Butter Pound Cakes, sliced. then stuffed and topped with fresh strawberries and Cool Whip. Then drizzled dark chocolate over the top. The hardened chocolate and the sliced strawberries made cutting the 2 cakes into 1-inch slices rather challenging! Somehow, I was able to slice dessert so that all 24 enjoyed a great ending to a wonderful meal. Melissa and Mike organized the "Naughty Santa Gift Exchange."  Needless to say, there was secrecy, thievery, bribery, taunting and laughter. Definitely, a hit and a great time was had by all!

 

  
Another I-Dock Taco Tuesday in the books and 24 slices of cake!

     The rest of the week was spent in preparation for Christmas. We left a festive Ft Pierce on the 22nd heading to share Christmas with our family up North. This is PEKABU dressed up for the holidays ~

  

Christmas aboard PEKABU

 
Christmas in downtown Fort Pierce

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 We left the marina during a break in the rains, at 2:15am on Friday morning, December 20th. Somehow, around 6:30, the sun managed to brighten and beautifully color the sky to the East, but it soon hid once again behind the clouds for most of the day. 

 
Sunrise somewhere over Georgia

 

95 N heading to DC

     Our drive was smooth and uneventful until Richmond. . . then the traffic and heavy rains began. and we added 3 hours to our trip. We were exhausted by the time we parked in Greg and Jenn’s driveway.

     Saturday, the 23rd, we headed up to my sister, Debi and Mom’s for our “Steiner Christmas.” Deneen and I had discussed getting together with NO STRESS. So, we came up with a Christmas Pizza Party. The kids brought appetizers and Mom gifted the pizza. No one had to plan and prep a meal, not fancy table setting needed to be made, no dishes, pots and pans to clean, and everyone had all the time to just chat, laugh and enjoy each other. All of us present decided this should become our new Christmas tradition! Now if we could round up the rest of the clan! With another sister and her family in South Carolina and my brother and his family in Italy and the kids having to share time with extended family, it is a BIG  Christmas wish!

  

 

 

     Christmas Eve was relaxed. Greg introduced us to the movie, “Oppenheimer.” It was long, but very well done. After, I prepared a special dinner for Jenn, Greg and Heather. I made sure there were plenty of leftovers for future meals.

     Christmas morning, we drove over to Kel and Chris’ to celebrate the craziness of Christmas with our kids and granddaughters. Some of Kel’s family were also able to join us for a while. The walls vibrated with the excitement of Christmas.   We left close to 6 pm and embraced the quiet on the hour-plus drive back.

      

     Pete and I decided to make it a "2-for" at King of Prussia Mall. Monday, the 26th, Pete met his partner, George at the Yard House while I met Carolyn at our favorite place, Maggiano’s Little Italy. Both restaurants were on the grounds, but separate from King of Prussia Mall. We all had great meals and enjoyed the company, and beat the rush of those returning gifts and hoping to score on the after Christmas sales.

Traffic 95 South of DC

     With things being so busy, we discussed staying an extra day with Jenn and Greg, but changed our minds when we realized we needed detour to our storage unit on Kent Island. With the detour and traffic, we decided to split our trip home. So, we left their home around 9 am, Wednesday, the 27th and headed to the storage. No problems until we got south of DC on 95. Thank heavens we opted for the express lane! We passed miles (25+ miles) of bumper-to-bumper traffic in the local lanes heading south. Of course, all good things must come to an end. The last 3 miles of the express lanes backed up due to the merge. I am pretty sure we saved about 2 hours of traffic delay. We spent the night at La Quinta in Selma, NC. Thursday, the 28th, and our next challenge was in South Carolina, south of Yamasee. We opted to take Route 17 to bypass about a 15-mile backup on 95 South. Though we saved a lot of time, the 2-day trip still totaled 18+ hours. Without the traffic and/or weather, we usually make the trip in about 15 hours.

 
 Route 17 detour in Spotsylvania County, VA ~ Talk about complete opposite of 95!

Complete with a mill with some really cool-looking silos and evening fog

  

     Friday, the 29th was wonderful just to be able to chill out after unpacking, but recouping took a couple of days. The ride didn’t negatively impact Pete’s knee, except for the expected stiffness. Unfortunately, he isn’t healing as quickly as his other knee. He is sore and very achy, with a little complaining thrown in. We believe that the other knee was so bad for so long, he continued to compensate for it long after it healed, so it never strengthened to equal his left knee. PT has modified his therapy so help.

< --  Tillie was the perfect and warm blanket on a chilly day!

 
One of may recent unmanned launches from Cape Canaveral

     On our walk early this morning, I was inspired by the crystal clear air and sky and the beautiful golden sunrise. A beautiful morning for a walk AND photos! I even surprised myself when I processed the photos and found I had a "2-for" with the bird photo! Our New Year’s Eve was quiet and we celebrated with one of our favorite dinners and then watched the Fort Pierce New Year's Fireworks at 9, which were sent off across the ICW from the marina. They were good, but abbreviated, only lasting 10 minutes with a very subdued grand finally. I guess they spent more on the drone show 2 weeks ago.

This morning . . . 

 

and this evening . . . .

    

     Our wish for our family and friends is for 2024 to bring new opportunities and beautiful memories, wonderful friendships, good health, and the kind of happiness and peace that truly matters. Happy New Year!

~ ~ ~ /) ~  ~   K & P