Sun - Feb 11/18

As usual, CBS Sunday Morning was on the "watch in bed" agenda. This is Florida and this is news for an hour and a half without the usual traffic jams, hit and runs, homicides, toddlers shooting siblings, robberies, cars hitting buildings or driving into bodies of water and the daily "do you recognize the perpetrator in this surveillance video" - not to mention "minute by minute" weather. I said I wouldn't mention weather - I lied. (grin)

Stu sent a picture that I didn't know he had taken (at the park's Valentine Dance last night). Now Charlotte can prove she didn't come alone (I'm always taking pictures for the blog; but never a "selfie").

Also, as usual, Sunday is always a "work in progress." Plans for the day just evolve.

First thought was to go to the Old Spanish Spring Sugar Mill Grill and Griddle House. Each table is equipped with a griddle on which you cook your own pancake. There is a choice of a variety of pancake flour mixtures as well as ingredients you can add (blueberries, bananas, peanut butter, pecans, chocolate chips, apples  or apple sauce to make your own pancake. Sausage, bacon, ham eggs, etc. are also available.

The unfortunate part is that it is inside the De Leon Springs State Park ($6 admission). The good thing is they post the wait time for the restaurant at the entrance. We usually go on a weekday to avoid the long wait. Today it was 2 hours so we did a U-turn and headed to Palatka, FL.

Our destination now was Ravine Gardens State Park to check out the Azaleas. Ravine Gardens State Park in Palatka traces its story to the Depression-era jobs program. The Civil Works Administration, in 1937, named it the nation’s outstanding CWA project. We have done this drive a few times previously and really enjoyed the unique views as we drove through the park. (See Blog Fri - 3 Feb/17)

Once again, we just got as far as the entrance. Visitors could still walk the park route; but cars were no longer allowed on the road due to erosion caused by Hurricane Irma. Again, we made a U-turn and went on to our next choice.

Our final option was to go for lunch at (Charles) "Corky" Bell's Seafood and Steaks at Gator Landing (The Devil's Elbow) on the St. John's River, East Palatka, FL. 

It is always crowded. I usually park in the first parking area that just looks like a field. I dropped Charlotte off so she could get a table while I waited for a parking spot to come available. That took about 10 minutes.

When I went inside after parking Charlotte said the wait time was an hour. We passed the time talking to a nice couple who also are staying in their motorhome in Florida. They live in the Great Smokey Mountains of NC which is really one of the most scenic areas in the USA. 

We were lucky enough to be seated in about 20 minutes. Charlotte indicated we would take the first available table, inside or out, and this may have made seating a little quicker. We were seated outside on the rear deck. The waitress inserted a table umbrella to give us shade from the full sun. 

A guitarist was setting up under the larger blue canopy over by the bar area. He played a nice variety of songs while we ate.

Charlotte decided on Mahi-Mahi w/Sweet Potato and Cole Slaw. Her meal arrived with my Baked Potato. They quickly brought Charlotte's Sweet Potato and we swapped.

My choice was the 1/2 slab of Baby Back Ribs and Shrimp w/Baked Potato and Stewed Tomatoes and Okra over Rice. Both came with Hush Puppies. The food here is always excellent and the prices are really reasonable.

We enjoyed the ride, both going and coming, with the top off. We varied our route coming and going. The day turned out better than originally forecast. The skies cleared out as the day went on and the temps hit almost record mid-80's F which was 14 F above normal.

I had completely forgotten about the Valentine's Day Parade at OMS. Thanks again to Stu I received photos of the event.

Just a TV evening tonight.