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seanlborca · 1 year

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Sean and Phoebes Costa Rica Trip

COSTA RICA

Fishing in the Costa Rican Osa Peninsula

I absolutely love fishing. What is it that I love about it. Can it be the ocean? Can it be the sky? Or maybe it is sitting on the boat and hunting? The great snacks and the fun and adventure of it. Whatever it is… I seem to like it a lot. You might even say that I love it. I myself am the kinda person who loves adventure. I love the thrill and I find that fishing fulfills a desire to hunt and conquer.

Recently I took a trip to Costa Rica. It was supposed to be a honeymoon type trip where me and my new wife bonded in a boat, catching fish. It was a bonding experience, but I am not sure it was as honeymoonish as my wife wanted. The trip was a partial gift and we took the opportunity to fly to Costa Rica and plan a fishing excursion neither of us would ever forget.

We were going to Crocodile Bay; this is a fishing destination that is located in the Osa Peninsula a little way from the main cities and reachable by bush plane. Once we landed in San Jose Costa Rica, we were immediately bombarded with pictures of sailfish. This is the HOLY GRAIL of fish. It is one of the sport fish that is not only beautiful, but it is rare and a hard catch. The pictures we saw in the airport made us super excited and we thought of the prospect of catching one. We hurried out to the front of the airport, and it was like we were plunged in a 90s drama where someone goes missing. There were all kinds of locals with beat up signs yelling the names of passengers or trying to give tourists a ride to their hotel. Honestly, I was a little unhinged and not feeling very great when we saw the man with BORCA on his sign. We approached him and he knew we were going to Crocodile Bay so we got into his car and felt pretty good.

Day 1

Fly – Airport – Hilton Hotel – Dinner – Workout – Sauna – Sleep!

The first night we stayed at a Hilton Property near the soccer stadium. We were on the 19th floor or at least we were pretty high up. We had time to decompress, eat at the restaurant on the 18th floor, listen to the honking of the locals below driving crazily… (I haven’t even gotten into the motorcycle situation there) and then take a dip in the pool and sauna. We were more than pleasantly surprised. We got views of the skybar and took some videos of ourselves.

Pool and Jaccuzi Top of the Hilton: https://youtube.com/shorts/8EhgO2e5gPo?feature=share

Stadium View at the Hilton: https://youtube.com/shorts/SWM1hhlFTTQ?feature=share

Here are some pictures from the first day! Day and Night while we were eating at the restaurant!

Day 2

Breakfast – Fly – Land near cemetery – Lunch – Explore – Rainforest Tour

We woke up at the Hilton and we went down to have breakfast. The coffee in Costa Rica is very strong and even I was having a hard time with it. My wife was watering it down. There were all kinds of eggs and the normal American fare, however there was some Costa Rican influence of fruits, grains and dirty type of rice. They eat a lot of yucca there and all kinds of fruit. I told my wife to avoid the types of food that she doesn’t normally eat since I have had the experience of my stomach reacting badly when travelling. We ate in the sky longue, and it was beautiful. The weather was overcast, and we had learned that it was near the end of the rainy season so the clouds kinda clung to the mountains that we could see through the windows. After we ate, we ran back to the room and grabbed our bags and like everyone made sure we had everything that we needed. Tipping our Costa Rican friends who spoke great English it wasn’t even 8AM and we were leaving for the next airport to take a little bush plain to Jimenez or Osa Peninsula.

We got in our taxi and headed to the airport, unlike commercial airlines they weigh you and the bags to make sure that they have enough fuel to make it to the destination. This is NOT nerve wracking to someone who hates to fly. I am a tough guy all around, but flying is one thing that makes me a little nervous and flying in a tiny plane that fits about 15 people is tough on me. It was a single engine propeller plane. You could really feel the turbulence. My wife and I read our respective books. I was reading the bible and she was reading a romance novel that she was trying to hide from me.

On the plane you could see the stretches of rainforest, you could see giant trees that I later learned were Kapok trees and you could feel ever blip and bump of turbulence. The buildings were not in as bad of repair as I expected from a central American country, many roofs were rusted and it added to the ambience. My wife and I started to get excited when we were over the water, you could see the jewel blue color and the waves from the plane looked like a still on the beach. When we were descending, I got worried because I couldn’t see where we were landing since the pilots head was in my way. As I said we were in a TINY plane. My wife assured me she could see the landing strip and a cemetery…. We were landing next to a cemetery. Really!

The landing was great we got out and admired the interesting culture of their small cemetery. Each grave had fences around it and many graves had silk flowers and interesting tile work. My wife wanted to take pictures of the cemetery and see it more, but I pulled her away anxious to get to Crocodile Bay and see where we were staying for the next couple of days.

A van that the locals call a troupe (troup-ee) is how they say it came to pick us up. We boarded and drove literally around the corner to Botanika a Curio property by Hilton. They were obviously in construction but had finished the main building and one of the main hotel buildings where we stayed.

The property was beautiful. Since the trip was a partial gift we didn’t expect it to be high end. However, the owner of Crocodile Bay had decided to work with Hilton to upgrade his hotel and make it a world class destination. The food was upgraded the rooms were 4 star plus. We were literally in a paradise that we hadn’t expected. We sat with the excursion and tour guide person to set up our trips. We decided on a rainforest tour, a farm/chocolate factory tour and 2 days of fishing. My wife wanted to do one day inshore and one day offshore and as an accommodating and wonderful husband that I am I agreed. But I did not agree to the sloth tour, which I regret to this day.

We had time to get lunch and eating Spanish/Mexican style food was especially amazing in Costa Rica. The flour tortillas in everything were amazing. We ate some quesadillas and tacos dropped our stuff off in the room, walked the property and checked out the boats and docks. Then came back to do our Rainforest trip.

Our tour guide that we had for this tour turned out to be just for us. Tours are not planned for just 2 people but they are so accommodating that they will do a tour just for you. Since we were at the end of the rainy season and they were still in the middle of construction and word hadn’t gotten out yet about the Botanika, they weren’t super busy. We learned that the people of Costa Rica make about 3 dollars American an hour. We asked about the cost of everything and had our tour guide take us to a local store and the gas station. The roads are in not super disrepair, but they were full of puddles and potholes and were all dirt roads.

We quickly learned that American products are stupidly expensive (but man don’t you want that RedBull or Monster Energy drink when you are in the middle of the rainforest), although our tour guide said that it wasn’t as bad other places in Central America since they are so close to the Panama Canal the imported goods were cheaper then say if you got them in Honduras.

We then took about an hour drive up the mountain and the tour guide was looking out the window for wildlife. The first thing we saw was a Roadside Hawk. We pulled over and he pulled out his scope and we were able to get a good look. I suppose I was surprised that it was a roadside hawk and I expected something more exotic.

Soon we would be deeper in the rainforest. I kept asking the tour guide. What it the name of that tree? Of that plant? Of that animal? He would tell me he knew a lot but he did not know the name of all of the trees because there were so many. He explained because of the 12 hours of consistent daylight year-round (the sun sets and rises at 6 AM -6PM) that every kind of tree in the world practically grew there. It was so diverse that you could study your whole life and not know the names of all the trees.

Even though, we still were introduced to the Giant Kapok Tree we saw this tree far off and were amazed at its height. It looked like a giant tree among tiny toothpick trees but really it was a giant among giants. Our tourguide explained that many people thought the Kapok tree was a gate into another world, many Macaws lived in the tree and many animal species depended on it. I realized that it was a gift from God and Costa Rica is a special place where you can see Gods creation displayed magnificently and majestically.

We finally got to see monkeys. We heard Howler monkeys and got out of the Troup-ee we saw two different kinds of monkeys, spider monkeys and the white-faced capuchin. They were really neat with their long tails swinging and jumping through the trees like big squirrels.

We would get in and out of the troupee and the tour guide asked us if we wanted to hike or not. Since we had traveled a lot we told him to cart us around in the van and do roadside rainforest sightseeing. It was interesting to see the Scarlet Macaws which live for almost 100 years and mate for life in their family flocks. Side note-Theses would make good beneficiaries for taxes in Land Trusts. There was one green parrot who had found a window and was pecking at his reflection of himself angrily. The tour guide said it was something annoying that Parrots do sometimes since they are so smart they recognize their reflection as another bird. We traveled up the rainforest and saw a millipede, some cool butterflies’, toucans and a coaxtl which is a raccoon Costa Rican type animal. My wife wanted to see sloths, so we drove close to a wild beach to find the trees the sloths like, but we had no luck. We had fun and took a lot of videos of the different animals on the tour. We got back into the troup-ee vehicle and headed back and ate dinner at the resort.

Bush Plane: https://youtube.com/shorts/QMbMaB9kQRk?feature=share

Bush Plane Landing:

Hilton Crocodile Bay: https://youtu.be/czCL9Z_t9H8

Gas Prices: https://youtube.com/shorts/4qVfbjgjtPo?feature=share

Monkey Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/BJQZ8yvG0Sw?feature=share

Howler Monkey (My wife calling out to the monkey you can hear the Howler answer.): https://youtube.com/shorts/LavwAE4ezpM?feature=share

Squirrel Monkey: https://youtube.com/shorts/ukjtwi3Cgbg?feature=share

Toucan: https://youtube.com/shorts/LpyRfxfARok?feature=share

Costa Rican Cowboy (We saw him on the rainforest tour): https://youtube.com/shorts/16oO-0zAcnc?feature=share

Kapok Tree: https://youtube.com/shorts/9wr7rO5MiMs?feature=share

Brahman Cows: https://youtu.be/b9amuNAOg-s

Day 3

Breakfast – Boat – Inshore Fishing – Lunch – Back at Property

The third day we got up early to eat breakfast by the Hilton. We got locked in our hotel room. All the rooms have a ton of locks. We asked why so much security, and they said that theft was sometimes a problem, so they had a lot of security in place. They had guards that walked around the perimeter of the establishment, cameras, locks on every two doors, and then the hotel itself had a huge door that locked the entire hotel. When we woke up in the morning we were locked inside and couldn’t figure out how to get out. We waved our arms around and pressed different buttons. There technology was better than southern Florida. It turned out you needed to PUSH the door gently after you scan, but why do that? So, we took the Emergency Exit and headed to breakfast.

There were three different breakfasts, there was the American Breakfast, Traditional Breakfast and Costa Rican Breakfast. Since we were there for three days, I decided to try all three different breakfasts. Each was about 25 US dollars and so carried a pretty good price tag even by American standards. The breakfasts were amazing though and came with coffee and juice and so much food that it was way too much! It is hard to say what breakfast was the best. At this property the restaurant was relatively new, and they are very highly priced for Costa Rica so they are attempting to do full table service, 5 course. This ends up taking too much time from the servers though who are constantly trying to keep up with which spoons and forks are supposed to be on the table at the time than with actually getting you something you need like more coffee.

After breakfast we headed down to the dock, you can walk about 6 minutes to the pier or you can take a complimentary golfcart ride. We walked down to the pier and along the long board walk to our first boat and met our first Captain.

The first boat we had was a 26ft Boston Whaler that we would use for inshore fishing. We had a captain who would take us out for the whole day but no first mate. Which works out well for inshore. We were going to go out for a full day of fishing, and we were leaving at 7AM sharp. We had a friendly Captain who instructed us that the first thing we would do would be to go get the bait fish. If you fished in America often you might buy the bait or bait fish. Here we need fresh live bait fish and so our first experience would be to go out to some good fishing holes in the gulf bay area. The locals referred to the waters near Osa Peninsula as a gulf because it is a gulf.

We got on the boat and got a comfy spot, and I snuggled up with my wife, it was cloudy, and the surf was great that day we had real choppy water and probably 3 to 5 feet. In the gulf in the morning, it was the calmest and we came to a spot that they called the “mothers belly” basically pregnant belly, because there were so many different fish around the reef that you could catch.

Our first fishing method that we would use was jigging. I never really jigged before, however I do really love to bottom fish, so jigging is a lot like bottom fishing and I was really good at it. To catch bait, we used sabikis. You put on silvery or shiny hooks that catches the fish’s’ eye. There is no bait or fake bait that you mimick is alive by letting out the reel, you just keep reeling slowly up. If you are lucky you will have a line that has 4 or 5 sardines on it by the time you get it up to the boat. You remove the fish by hand and they go in the live bait tank to be used later. Fish love live bait and are fooled by them better than anything else. Makes sense right. We caught about 20 sardines and green runners. In two or three different fishing spots. In Costa Rica you cannot drop anchor because there is so much reef and you would destroy it, so the Captain is constantly circling and angling the boat back and forth over the fishing spots. Bite is on for a few minutes and then the boat needs to be moved back over the fishing spot.

I wanted to bottom fish for a bit and caught a baby snapper and a dog faced Tuna and an Albacore Tuna. I threw all of them back and later regretted throwing back the Albacore Tuna because well, it could have been dinner. My wife and I were joking because the first fish she caught was a jack, and she fought it hard. We joked that she got “jacked” but then that was her theme for the rest of the day. She ended up catching three more jacks. So four of Kind!!! Ha. Every time I thought she had something good on like a sport fish Rooster it would be a jack and I would get upset and stop filming. So, we didn’t get that much footage of her catching her jacks. The overall theme for her that day If we get jacks, we get jacks!

After fishing for the bait and doing a little bottom fishing, we stopped to see some of the big humpback whales which are in the peninsula area calving. So, you see mama and baby whales breach quite a bit, and they are quite large, and it is majestic to see.

The next part of the day was to find the area where the Roosterfish roost. We took the boat for a ten mile plus journey out into the ocean and out of the gulf or bay. When we got into the ocean it was a lot choppier and we were staying close to shore because it was inshore, we tried a couple of spots, but we were having problems since the waves were so high. So, we took another hour trip to find some calmer water. Eventually we got there, and we found a place where it was only 2 foot swells we were probably 400 feet from shore and maybe 60 feet of depth.

We took turns with whoever getting a bite completing the fight. My wife got a jack or two and then I ended up with a Rooster. I never understood why people like fish that you can’t really eat. The Roosterfish is both beautiful and gives a great fight. The fish has a great personality. It jumped out of the water 7 feet and fought me for a good 10 minutes. I finally reeled that fish in and held him in my hands. That fish was smart. I think he knew he was going up to get his picture taken. He wanted it done. We released him, because the roosterfish is really done for the picture, they aren’t great eating at all.

We tried a few other spots and fished for awhile. Since we were so far out since the waves were so choppy we had to head back. We had a great day and I learned why people were so excited by the Roosterfish. We headed back went home, relaxed ate and watched some TV in the hotel.

My wife turned out that on our cloudy inshore fishing day that she had ravaged her skin and burned like crazy. She looked like a cute tomato. Since we are from Florida, and she sees a lot of sun… and because it was cloudy she didn’t wear ANY sunscreen. This was to her folly, me with my Scottish heritage was not as badly burned as she was. She looked at me and told me she would be fine but that her skin hurt to have sun on it. She would need a long sleeve shirt to survive the sun for the next day of fishing. We went back and she was burnt out and she took a shower and passed out.

Humpback Whale: https://youtube.com/shorts/w_9km_pw2Ag?feature=share

Baby Snapper: https://youtube.com/shorts/7w0QSHQVK7A?feature=share

Dogtoothed Tuna: https://youtube.com/shorts/-6e4JBRCCUc?feature=share

Here Comes the Rooster: https://youtube.com/shorts/_t6JDEvVSGc?feature=share

My lovely wife Phoebe Horton Borca with a Jack!

Day 4 Breakfast – Captain and First Mate – Outshore Experience – Lunch – Second Lunch – Swimming – Gift Shopping -Dinner (Italian Night) – Bed

On the fourth day we woke up and my wife was extremely burned from her previous day. She wore one of my black long-sleeved shirts and black pants to try and cover as much of her skin as possible. I told her she would be hot and she let me know that she knew but she had to sweat it out, because if she got sun on her skin it hurt. She slathered on sunscreen, and we headed out. There is nothing like an injury on a vacation to ruin the next vacation day. She pulled herself together and we headed for breakfast.

The property is peaceful in the morning and the vacationers are friendly. In the center of the room complex there is a sitting area and garden. My wife encountered a large bullish looking frog there. In this place you could relax and use your wifi and enjoy the property. Everyone said Hi, as well as let us know where in the United States or world they were from. We met people from Hawaii and from the UK as well as some Costa Ricans. All the elevators to the rooms are keycard locked, so don’t lose your card. At least once on the trip we lost our card and we weren’t able to get upstairs to our room in the elevator and we didn’t know where the stair access was, so we had to go to the main building to get a new card. On the walk up to the main building, the grounds are impeccably kept. They have a night creature tour, which we didn’t do but heard that it was quite nice. You walk the grounds at night and meet all the animals active at that time. They have a suspension bridge over a swampy area that is pleasant to walk, as well as they are working on building bike trails around the grounds. You can pick up a bike and check out all the scenery the gardens have to offer.

Breakfast is my wife’s favorite meal and I enjoy drinking LOTS of coffee. This was the day that we realized you could sit outside in the rainforest setting and enjoy your breakfast. However, we had already been seated inside, but we decided that we would eat dinner on the boardwalk area where they have a mini rainforest garden preserved for your pleasure. I can’t remember exactly what breakfast that I ate, except that I thoroughly enjoyed it and that the wait staff and the chef were very accommodating. One of the servers asked us if we caught any fish and did we bring them back for dinner. And since we had only caught a Roosterfish and a lot of Jacks and I didn’t keep the Albacore, I was upset that I had not brough home any DINNER.

I announced to my wife that today the focus was DINNER and that we would ensure that we caught DINNER! We would feed ourselves. We would feed the wait staff. I was going to go offshore fishing to slaughter fish. And this time, my belly would be full.

After breakfast we walked down the boat to the dock. The dock is on a wild beach. You forget since Florida beaches are manicured and built up for tourism what a wild beach really looks like. Osa Peninsula is on the Pacific side. The beaches are mucky and sandy and have a lot of crabs and crustacean like creatures walking on them. There were always a local or two near the beach walking their dogs. The dock was long and thin and the boats were anchored near the docks but not on them. We walked along the pier at about 7AM in the morning ready for an exciting day. The weather was not quite as good as it was the previous day, but we had come at the end of rainy season (October) and there were storm clouds in the sky hanging ominously. I told my wife that we could handle a little rain and that we would be fine. We went and found our Captain, First mate and boat. The captain’s name was Charlie and he said we would have a great day fishing. We asked him about the sailfish probability, and he said that it was about a 50/50 to get a sail. We asked our itinerary for the day and he said we would spend the first hour getting bait and then we would head offshore. He had radar and so we would avoid any rain as best as we could. He said that it was very rare to cancel due to weather and that they had no problems going out, since it looked like it might rain.

We had a 35 Foot striker boat. I won’t talk about the price tag, but for just me and my wife it was over 2K, but it was worth it since she had never offshore fished before. The striker boat has the captain up top and where you can sit on the bottom.

We got on the boat and Captain Charlie gave my wife a ten-minute explanation of how to use the onboard toilet. She looked like she would rather die than use it, but you never know if you might need it. It is nice to have. The toilet was inside the boat. They also went over what was in the cooler for us to snack on. There were Costa Rican style potato chips, which we loved cookies, and the packed lunches that we selected when we chose our excursions the first day in the lobby. There was also plenty of drinks and some beer. My wife and I do not drink but that option is there for people.

Captain Charlie explained where we could sit and his job was to navigate the boat and sit in the striker tower. The first mate who had been working on the boat for more than 15 years, set up all the tackle and rods and he also fished. However, if he got a bite he would give the rod to me or my wife.

Familiarly, we set out to the different spot to catch bait, we were catching green runners and sardines again in the gulf. We would hang over a spot and sabiki, which is where you have the silvery hooks and yank up and down. We didn’t seem to have as much luck with the live bait as we did the day before where we were pulling up 4 plus sardines on the line. This time it was 2 or 3 sardines sometimes 1. We were drifting more in the bigger boat and I would say we went to 3 to 4 different fishing holes including the mother’s belly hole. The captain would tell us about how far down the fish were. As I have pretty good fishing experience this helped me catch the bait. I was able to drop the sabiki where the fish were and then snag them on the way up. My wife struggled a little more with the sabiki and she suspected her hooks weren’t as shiny as mine. I told her the fake fish were good as if it was dulled a lot it meant that it was bitten a lot. She looked a little upset so I told her not to worry. But everyone knows that you can get discouraged when you don’t get a bite on your line for awhile and someone next to you is. You wonder why and what you are doing wrong. Sometimes, it is just like that and you need to get your grit and move on. Charlie being the excellent captain that he was moved the boat if we didn’t get a bite after a minute or two.

We fished for an hour to an hour and a half getting the bait and filling up the tank. My wife asked what happened to the live bait and would there be enough. We had 20 to 30 fish in the live bait tank. The first mate said that they dumped the tank every night when they cleaned the boats so they needed new bait every day they went out. They showed us the humpback whales in the gulf who were also enjoying the sardines and green runners. Then we hunkered down in the boat and started to head offshore. Captain Charlie said it would be about 40 minutes before we got to the spot. The boat kicked it into high gear and we had a snack and watched as the first mate started to set up the reels for trolling as we headed offshore out of the gulf.

I told the first mate about fishing in Florida and how you need to go about 75 miles offshore into the gulf stream to go offshore fishing. The offshore depths were much quicker to get to and they were more similar with the distance that you would travel if you were fishing in the Florida Keys which is closer to the shelf. Once you were out of the gulf and the waters protected by the peninsula it was only 10 to 15 miles offshore and were in 4000feet of depth. We asked what was in season in that time of year and they said 50/50 for sails and marlins on a day out and that Mahi season was just starting up.

The first mate started dropping the lines in and we slowed down to start trolling. This is when you run lines with bait behind the boat. We had two rods on outriggers, two up top and four in the boat so we were always running six to 8 rods. 2 of the rods had big teasers on them, a couple of the baits were dragged on the surface and a couple under the surface. We had live bait that the first mate showed us that were still alive. The bait was hooked through the eye and then dropped in the water so that it moved exactly like a live fish (because it was). Almost immediately after putting in all the rods we heard the reel start spinning and it was FISH ON! The first mate jumped into action and started reeling in the rods so the lines didn’t get tangled. I told my honey to grab the rod and she had the first fish. She said, “Wait, No! You can do it! I am OK! I don’t want the first fish!” She protested but I handed her the rod and told her to catch it. She exclaimed she didn’t know what to do. The fish pulled out more line and we were telling her pull up and reel down. Pull the rod up to keep tension on the line and then as you drop the reel to keep the tension even you reel in the line. She couldn’t believe how strong the fish was and kept saying she didn’t know what to do and asked for me to help her.

I wanted to help her and was so worried that the fish was going to get away, but I told her over and over, “You got this” and I wouldn’t help her as she whimpered and fought the fish. My worry of the fish fleeing and getting away was very real. The fish jumped and we realized it was a HUGE Mahi. It took about 5 minutes to reel in. We had to get the belt for her and she had to sit down for a bit as well. I did not help her as much as I wanted to be in control, I wanted her to experience the fight that the sportfisherman cherishes. I wanted for her to know that the fish was caught by her. When the fish finally came up to the boat, the first mate leaned over and speared it with the gaff. He hooked it into the boat where it flopped and fought some more. My wife was laugh-crying and she couldn’t believe her eyes. She said it was insanity. I was telling her what a great job she did. It was an absolutely HUGE Bull Mahi. And I said, “Way to go Honey! You got Dinner!” We sat down and took pictures with the fish. She wanted to take pictures with me, so we did it together. After the pictures, we put the fish in the ice cooler and the first mate cleaned the blood up off the boat diligently and put the rods back into the water. We sat down as Charlie congratulated us and we started moving again at about 8 miles an hour.

I started telling my wife that when you go offshore fishing in Florida that you overage about 1 big fish per hour. So I fully expected not to have another fish on for an hour. We grabbed a drink from our lunch cooler, and we sat and chatted and not even 30 minutes later it was FISH ON again. This time I tried again to get my wife to do it. She told me she was happy enough for the entire day and didn’t need any more fish. It was my turn and I needed to get the fish.

I grabbed the reel and it was another MAHI, she was swimming alongside the boat and was a great fight for me. She didn’t fight me as hard outside of the boat as when she got inside. She was so mad she flopped on the deck for a few minutes spattering blood everywhere when she finally calmed down we got a picture with her she was a great size but no where as big as the first bull that my babe caught.

We helped clean the boat and learned a little of the boat maintenance. The first mates and boat captains are super meticulous about keeping their boats cleanly. As soon as we took pictures and put this fish in the ice box (MORE DINNER) he was cleaning. If you clean the blood right away apparently it is much easier to keep the boats clean and with such expensive boats that you take tourists out on, you always want them in pristine condition. Since I was upset that we hadn’t brought any dinner back the day before, and we only had one day left I knew that we couldn’t eat more than 1 fish, in fact the Mahi that babe caught would feed us for a few days. I wanted to provide for others so I asked if I could gift a fish to the Captain and First mate and then if we caught another, I would gift it to the kitchen staff. Captain Charlie said it would probably be OK, but that Crocodile Bay had a 1 day a month for the employees. The crew were only allowed to take fish home once a month. I argued that I wanted to gift it and it was my right, so they finally accepted graciously.

The weather was holding up pretty good for thunderclouds in the distance, we could see storms on either side of us, but Captain Charlie was maneuvering us through them using his doppler radar, which was awesome, and I was impressed by his efficiency of use. Again 30 minutes later there was another bite. This time the fish was on the outrigger furthest away. I told my wife that we were very lucky, and it was her turn. She protested again but took up the rod, talking to herself the entire time. “Pull up, reel down!” over and over again like a mantra. Since the fish was so far away on the farthest outrigger, it took her 6 minutes plus with the belt to reel this fish in. It was a big mama. Like the bull she caught the female Mahi was almost as long as she was. We put this girl in the icebox too.

For the rest of the time offshore we caught 3 more Mahi, my wife gave them all to me and I was happy enough to reel them in. They all gave me a good fight. And I was happy to bring in Dinner for everyone. My wife hadn’t caught a Roosterfish before and I had caught one the day before. So for the last hour or two we went back inshore fishing to see if we could find her a Rooster.

We went back inshore and Captain Charlie found a reef that was 30 feet from shore and we were in 50 to 60 feet of water. There was a good fishing spot above a reef. In this area I caught my dream fish (besides sail) I caught a Yellowfin Tuna. My wife managed to get a beautiful African Pompano and a Jack. We threw the African Pompano and Jack back because we had enough fish for dinner and gifting people at the resort. And well these Jacks were not good for eating. We ran out of time and needed to head back in. So we hunkered down in the boat happy with our 5 Mahis and 1 Yellowfin Tuna a great day of fishing. Back on shore the first mate told us that our fish the yellowfin and the first Bull Mahi would be at the restaurant that night. We also found that you could have your fish packaged and taken to another restaurant that was pretty good to eat at according to the locals.

Done fishing we went back to our rooms and stuffed our laundry bag with our fishy clothes to be cleaned before we went home. We then took showers ate another lunch at the resort and took a dip in the pool. We hadn’t even enjoyed the pool that much since we had gotten there.

After that we went and found a resort worker to let us into the tourist shops. We bought shirts for our three boys at home and a couple of shirts for us.

This was one of the most fun nights for eating. We went back to the hotel and it was Italian night. There was a buffet and you could order food or participate in the buffet. We decided we would do both. We had Italian salads and spaghetti and the head chef came out to discuss how to cook the Tuna and the Mahi for me. He did a breaded Mahi with tartar sauce and he did a seared tuna filet. I can now say that Tuna fresh Tuna like this, is the filet mignon of the sea. We stuffed ourselves and called it a day.

Leaving in the Morning: https://youtube.com/shorts/aAKX4woywfY?feature=share

First Bull (Longer video): https://youtu.be/dPb57fyMVQU

It's a Bull: https://youtube.com/shorts/sU7Aa_fUK44?feature=share

Mahi Sneak Attack: https://youtube.com/shorts/5s6HrMXU4ho?feature=share

Big Girl Mahi: https://youtube.com/shorts/Dl3fKTxZz7I?feature=share

Yellow Fin Tuna: https://youtube.com/shorts/1CPmR1-gCeM?feature=share

Longer Tuna Video: https://youtu.be/qeg87-mTlso

African Pompano: https://youtube.com/shorts/5Nz-JdZpgsU?feature=share

Day 5

Breakfast -Chocolate Factory Tour -Lunch -Swimming -Packing

Last day at the resort in rainy season and it was finally raining. When we woke up we ran downstairs to find that it was pouring. There are umbrellas for guests in many different areas. We grabbed umbrellas and then went to breakfast. I asked the people who worked there if they had a chance to eat some of the fish that I gifted the kitchen staff. They said that they hadn’t but that they were very grateful and that the chef was going to make fish for all the employees that night. This made me feel much better than the first day when I didn’t even get dinner.

I knew as a man who just did two days fishing that I needed to do something for my wife. She had thoroughly enjoyed the rainforest tour and I knew that she would love the chocolate factory tour. So we hung out for a bit and then at 11AM we met to go to the chocolate factory. It was about a 30 minute drive away. On the way there were saw Palm Oil farms on the side of the street as well as Teak Wood farms. These trees grow exceptionally well in Costa Rica. We had a different tour guide, he was more soft spoken and we had to ask him to speak up a bit for us.

We arrived at the farm. It was a traditional Costa Rican farm. The government 50 or 60 years ago had given away plots of lands to people. These plots often had traditional farms. These kinds of farms grew all the food that someone would need. Many of the traditional farms had been lost but on this one everything was organic as well as part of the farm was wild.

It was pouring out and we had big umbrellas. We learned about different kinds of plants as we walked around. They had the cacao trees and different kinds of big cacao seed pods. Our tour guide picked one off the tree and we ate raw cocoa seeds, which were white. The sweet part was the gummy flesh on the outside of the seed. Most locals prefer this part of the cacao plant. We were introduced to many different trees for food inside the farm. My wife ate some white peppercorns off a peppercorn tree and later she regretted it.

After touring a lot of the farm we went to the piece de resistance, a huge Kapok tree. It was incredible to say the least. We took a picture of the tree and admired it. We also drank coconut water and threw the coconuts into a river into a hoop.

After the Kapok tree we went to the main pole barn and we got to try our hand at making chocolate. We saw the process of drying the chocolate seeds. We were able to crush the seeds. To separate the seeds and then crush them into paste and sweeten the chocolate with powdered sugar. Chocolate has many great properties but one property is that it is great for your skin. My wife and I did a chocolate face mask. We then were made a traditional Costa Rican lunch. There was yucca, rice, chicken, beans, green banana salad and it was delicious. There were two chocolate hearts that we had for dessert. We went back to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the day by swimming and eating. The next morning it was back on the bush plane and taking off to the mainland to catch our plane back home.

Neat Plant at the Chocolate Farm: https://youtube.com/shorts/mgG7_9vtGNo?feature=share

Kapok at the Chocolate Farm: https://youtube.com/shorts/1Fq9mx38M20?feature=share

Chocolate Farm Pole Barn: https://youtube.com/shorts/pKfuvHhSSQs?feature=share

Chocolate Farm Separating Chocolate: https://youtu.be/5enBsUNoHAI

Chocolate Facemask: https://youtu.be/714ljFpYEKk

#sean #borca #costarica trip

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mollydsails · 2 months

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March 28 - Another day traveling north on the ICW in sections we have not traveled before. Our day started at Bull Creek, which is near Hilton Head. Rainy and dreary start to the day. We passed by the Hilton Head Light. This lighthouse was custom built for a marina/ resort on Hilton Head.

Hilton Head Lughthouse

Not too far from HH Lighthouse we came upon a sunken sailboat just off the channel. The boat must be a recent hazard to navigation, as the Coast Guard broadcasted a hazard to navigation security notification throughout the day.

How did this happen??

The Port Royal Sound crossing today (4 miles) was quite rolly. The seas were only 2’ or so but they were persistent and annoying.

Molly D was transiting northward at a fairly low tide. The lower water helped Molly D go under two bridges with less than ideal clearances at high tide.

The Ashepoo-Coosaw Cutoff was a nail biter. The tide was an hour before low when we transited the cut. The navigation charts showed many areas in red/orange/yellow. Those three colors are not boater friendly. The colors delineate areas of shallow water, where red has the shallowest depth. We had several areas of red depth. The lowest depth we saw was 7.6’.

Chart of the Ashepoo-Coosaw cut. The red triangles denote hazardous water depths.

Molly D also transited through another shallow water depth area. This particular area was at the end of the cutoff where it intersected with another sound. Fast current. The turn into the sound was a sharp left turn. At that turn the depth dropped to 8.6’. A few yards from that turn the water depth rose to 34’. Crazy!

Molly D is anchored for the night in a creek off the South Edisto River. Very calm. Very serene. Only one other boat anchored here. There is a natural wildlife park dock on the nearby island. Very picturesque. And what a clear view of the sunset!

Anchoring position on the South Edisto River

Park dock

Natural beauty at its finest!

Sunset!

Tomorrow is another travel day. Molly D will make her way into Charleston. She will stay in place for 3 nights. Yay!!!

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ourxcountryadventure · 1 year

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March 17, 2023

Lucky Day Y’All 🍀

Happy St Patrick’s Day! We all climbed into our varying shade of green duds to celebrate St Patrick’s Day. The weather was rainy as forecast and we had purposely planned our visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame for that reason. We paid for the audio tour and appreciated the guide through the exhibits. The museum is large. We spent three hours and still feel that we didn’t see everything. What a testament to Country Music.

After the Hall of Fame we walked to Broadway to Margaritaville. Jules had this stop on his bucket list for the Friday Highway Happy Hour with Buzz Brainard. He wanted to check it out even if we couldn’t stay for the show. He and Syl went upstairs to see the stage and the set up and we had lunch and watched the excitement build as people flowed into the bar to wait. There was a live musician who was playing at the front and it was fun to get a feeling of the Broadway Scene. Some excitement at lunch as I felt something crawling around on my arm and on inside my shirt. I reach a hand in the front to see if I could find whatever it was and I did! A big black bug that I immediately flung away from me whilst screeching. (No formal identification was made, however, I named him the Boob Bug.) The BB happened to find its way to our neighbour’s bare leg and she started screeching and stomping her legs to get rid of it. No one noticed a thing - everything goes in Nashville.

The street was building up a fervour for Friday night. There were lineups just to cross the street and party buses and bikes and golf carts and trucks of every sort. There were cowboy boots and rhinestones and fringe and St Patrick’s Day green stuff. It was a PARTY! And it was set to go to the wee hours of the night.

We walked down to the Hilton and Syl went to get the car and we loaded up to head to our third planned destination, Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Centre. What an amazing place. I am including pictures as I am unsure of how to capture the opulence. Perhaps if we return we will plan on spending a night or two there. We shopped in some of the nice stores they have along the concourse and bought some of the famous Nashville GooGoo Bars, watched the riverboat glide by on the indoor river and saw the DJ making the radio show for WXM NASHVILLE (the radio station is the Opry.

Afterwards the Pro Bass/Cabela’s was a quick stop for Julien, Dad and Syl. It is the biggest one they have been to and includes even a shooting range; if that’s your thing. Syl got the hat that he’s been wanting and Dad got some shirts.

Then it was off in search of the famous Banana Pudding at Edley’s Barbecue in East Nashville. What a lovely and lively neighbourhood. It is the place where Oprah Winfrey grew up and is filled with sweet homes and businesses. The restaurant is next door to Reese Witherspoon’s store, Draper James which was unfortunately closed when we finished our meal. The lineup was short when we arrived but grew exponentially while we were there. The hostess was great and got us a spot in a short time. We all had something different but all delicious and topped it off with the Banana Pudding which was divine.

Back to the hotel for our last sleep in Nashville. The Leafs won their game, Julien got his Uber Eats Pizza (we couldn’t convince him to try anything different on this trip). We spent another great day in a wonderful place. We certainly had the luck of the Irish today. 🍀

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deestimes · 1 year

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Living the Dream Day 353

Day 353 – “Living the Dream”. Monday, 4/18/2022. It was a Rainy cold start to our driving day. The restaurant was closed in the Hilton Garden Inn this morning. No cook available. So, we headed to the McDonald’s drive thru. Coffee was hot this morning, not like yesterday. The West Virginia hills are alive with the most beautiful purple flowering trees. So lovely to look at. It must be…

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unpack-my-heart · 4 years

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i am no bird (no net ensnares me)

The first time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, it was a rainy Tuesday afternoon in January and he’d been drunk on a fermenting promise to himself that was becoming slippery. So slippery was this promise that at any moment he feared he’d drop it, and it would splatter on the floor, messy and irrecoverable. He was nineteen years old; old enough to know better but young enough that his hare-brained decisions could be written off as the recklessness of a youth not yet over. When he’d told the others that he was planning to leave, with the phone crackling wildly under the strain of their seven way conversation, they had all whooped loudly, cheering a victory that he hadn’t yet won.

“I knew this would be the year you’d leave, Eds! I could feel it in my dick”

Fucking gross.

After he’d chewed Richie out for being crude, faux-annoyance honeying his words, he’d remained silent for a very long time, listening to the others trip and stumble over each other, babbling about how good emancipation felt, how the air had never tasted as sweet as it had the day they’d left, the day they’d left Derry and never looked back.

He’d planned to leave, had always meant to leave, had gotten as far as idly scrolling through flight schedules late at night, the moon watching him with her soft, sceptical gaze, but something held him back. The invisible red tether that cut deep welts into his heart tightened viciously whenever the thought of leaving fluttered through his brain, butterfly smooth. His mother tugged on the tether, and reminded Eddie that his wings had been clipped a long time ago.

When Richie left Derry, nearly two years ago, Eddie hadn’t cried. Dry-eyed, face bright and free from tear-tracks, he’d rubbed soothing circles into Richie’s back as Richie cried, great heaving sobs that dampened Eddie’s almost-scratchy jersey sweater. He’d cried on Eddie’s shoulder for eons of time that they didn’t have, until Richie’s phone began to buzz fiercely. Eddie’s eyes remained firmly, petulantly dry. They’d remained dry when Richie told him, in a voice thick with sorrow, that out of all the Losers, out of all the people he’d ever met and even the people he hadn’t, that his Eds was his favourite. Eddie’s eyes remained dry when he watched Richie shove his guitars and the half-broken metal box full of old mixtapes into his half-broken old car that wheezed almost as much as Eddie did. The car sagged under the weight of Richie’s entire life, with no room for Eddie to clamber in, to mould himself around the suitcases. Eddie’s eyes remained dry as he watched Richie drive mouse-slow out of the driveway, and they’d remained dry when Richie shouted out of the window,

“I’ll never forget you, Eds! Not ever! I’ll always remember you and those fucking shorts!”

Those shorts remained folded away in the back of his wardrobe, unworn, unloved, almost-forgotten.

Eddie didn’t leave.

The second time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, he was twenty-four years old, and working full time at the pharmacy that he’d spent so many wasted hours in over the years, queueing up dutifully, waiting for the prescription to be filled, jittering from foot to foot, as if the verruca cream piled haphazardly on the shelf to his left would leap at him. He’d hop from foot to foot, wondering whether these pills would stop the bruising of his heart, or the mocking voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his own, “you’re cracked you’re damaged you’re ruined”. So many years and so many sugar pills, enough to turn his stomach and make his teeth itch.

The pharmacy was much the same as it ever was, a stagnant pool suspended in the centre of the roaring sea. Aisles of cough syrup and dandruff shampoo bracketed the counter, and Eddie spent his days drumming his fingers on the counter, each pound of each pad against the dull white surface a declaration, a plea.

“You’re never going to leave if you don’t do it now. Rip the band-aid off, Eds, and stop being such a fucking pussy!”

Richie was right in that very frustrating way that Richie was always, always, right, especially when it came to Eddie and his pathological tendency to self-sabotage himself into oblivion. Rather than cradle his life in both of his hands, a fragile little thing that needed nurturing, Eddie had instead condemned it to a solemn existence of apathy and a pretentious sort of melancholy, all the while staring at the little white pills that he’d taken for so long; the little white pills that took the pain away only until they didn’t anymore, lined up neatly in their piss-coloured plastic bottles on the shelves of the pharmacy.

He’d packed his bags with all the gusto he could manage that evening shoving t-shirts and pressed, crisp chinos into an old, dusty rucksack with wild abandon, until he stopped. He stopped, and stared at the bag, really stared at it, and dropped the sweatshirt he’d been holding to the floor. He hadn’t packed his favourite books, the movie ticket stubs he’d saved from when Richie took hilton see the new Star Wars and Eddie had complained bitterly about how ridiculous it was until he’d annoyed Richie so much that he’d been dragged forcefully from the theatre, and they’d gone for burgers instead. There was no room for his favourite shoes, the sweater with the holes in it that Bev had leant him when he was cold and then given to him because the dull purple made the green in his eyes shine brightly, a freshly cut lawn on a summer morning.

Eddie emptied the contents of the bag onto the floor, and stepped over it. Tomorrow, he assured himself, tomorrow he’d leave. Tomorrow.

Eddie didn’t leave.

The third time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, he was thirty-three years old and couldn’t remember why California called his name so loudly, why its siren call echoed across the country, fingers beckoning, seducing. California, a nihilistic melting pot of overworked and underpaid wage slaves who bowed to the corporate bell and submitted themselves to the scrutinizing eye of the Silicon Valley start-ups. That’s what his mother had told him when she’d loomed over his shoulder, pin-ball eyes scanning the screen of his computer. There was nothing there for Eddie, a pharmacist with two degrees under his belt but no actual understanding of how the world worked beyond the safe confines of his small town existence. Highways, supermarkets with more than ten aisles, electric cars, save the turtles, sandals in winter and heatstroke in summer, sweat on your upper lip and tan lines on your knees. California.

His phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Is this Eds? Eds Kaspbrak?”

“Don’t call me that! Uh … Who is this?”

“It’s … Rich. Richie?”

A question, not a statement, as if the caller is asking, is that okay? Is it okay that this is Richie?

“Richie? Richie who?”

A pause that stretches like tar, sticky and black.

“Oh shit!”

Remembrance slammed into Eddie, sucker-punch strong. He remembered a tangled mop of dark brown hair, often flecked with paint. He remembered bucked teeth and freckles that skated across skin like grains of sand tossed up in wind. He remembered the lisp, and the gangly limbs that hung awkwardly, octopus limbs that were too long, too grabby, too energetic.

“Richie fucking Tozier!”

“The very same, Eds. Gotta be honest, I was sort of hoping you wouldn’t pick up, that some housewife would answer all, ‘he doesn’t live here anymore’, but … here you are.”

“Here I am.”

“Still there.”

“Still here,” Eddie confirmed, and his gut trembled with the sort of embarrassment that hung in the air low and heavy, like smoke. Like smog.

“I’m in California,” Richie says eventually, “got a sweet little place on the oceanfront, if you ever … y’know …”

Oh. There it is. The static that had been buzzing around Eddie’s brain when he thought of California, the angry bees that stung him for not remembering finally subdued, finally dropped down dead, because Richie was on the other end of the phone, still lisping, voice a little deeper, a little hoarser, a few too many cigarettes and not enough sleep, perhaps, but he was there, and Eddie had remembered.

“Ocean front, you say?”

The most reckless thing Eddie had done before this was leave the house during a torrential rainstorm with only a showerproof coat, knowing full well that the long fingers of Flu would be tapping at his arms in the morning. Now, here he was, sitting in a tacky sea-food restaurant, pushing prawns around on his plate, with someone he hasn’t seen for over a decade, and he’s drunk. Not too drunk, he can still see without his vision blurring, can still count all of the wrinkles that texture the canvas of Richie’s face, and the freckles. He’s not too drunk to wonder whether these are new freckles, or whether these are the same freckles that he used to stare at when they were lying in the quarry, shirts off and chests to the sky, sunning themselves like heat-starved lizards.

Nevertheless, here he is, Richie Tozier, stuffing paella into his face with one hand and waving wildly in the air with the other as he talks through bites of rice.

“Do you remember when you got kicked out of band?”

Richie groans, wounded.

“Don’t fucking remind me, I was scrubbing the deck for weeks after that old trout rang my mother. Real pissed she was, insisted that trombones are certainly not supposed to be used for such nefarious activities. I still think she shoulda’ been more adventurous”

“I’ll never forget the look on her face, Rich, she was so ready to beat the absolute living shit out of you!” Eddie brayed, stray pieces of pasta escaping his mouth as he spoke, disgusting, but in the dim light of the restaurant, Eddie didn’t care.

The wind whipped at Eddie’s face when they staggered out of the restaurant three hours and ninety dollars later, and Richie grabbed at Edide’s chin roughly.

“You never left, did you?”

“You know I fuckin’ didn’t”

“I shouldn’t have left without you, I never should have left you there.”

Eddie pushed at Richie, gentle enough not to hurt but with enough force that Richie staggered backwards. “It wouldn’t have made a difference. I’ve grown roots, Rich. I’m … I’m stuck there, like one of those plants that hibernates over winter but blooms in summer. I would have dragged you down with me.”

Richie readjusted his grip on Eddie’s chin, and tipped Eddie’s head up. Their eyes met.

“I nearly kissed you when I left, you know.” Richie said. “I really nearly did, got this close, but you looked so …”

“So what?”

“Fine. You looked fine. You didn’t even cry.”

Eddie blinked. “I cried every day for a month after you left. Then every other day for at least six after that. I cried so much my mother sent me to the fucking doctor because she thought I had hysteria.”

Richie barked out a laugh, a sad wet noise that sounded more like a sob. “I left you.”

Eddie pushed his face up, out of Richie’s grip, and pushed his lips against Richie’s trembling ones. The kiss is small, timid and Richie wrapped his arms around Eddie’s shoulder and clung, limpet-like.

It doesn’t last. Richie’s crying too much.

The next day, Eddie leaves.

The fourth time Eddie decided to leave for the bright lights of the big city, he leaves, and never looks back.

(this has been sat in my drafts since early March.)

#reddie #eddie kaspbrak #richie tozier #richie tozier x eddie kaspbrak #it fandom #it fanfic #it 2017 #it 2019 #fanfic #my writing

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thelittledarkrose · 3 years

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Hello from rainy Hilton Head Island as Thursday was my twin niece's 7th birthday and we'll be back on Tuesday! Might have to push back on the days for the giveaway! So far I've had a lot of fun, looking forward to getting back in the pool when the weather clears up.

#Personal #Little update

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txmpx · 3 years

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「

hi! i’m toni and this is hopefully my last character until christmas! my discord is toni#4182 and this is the mess i like to call eleanor.

TW: none.

{natalie alyn lind; female; bisexual} look who it is, eleanor greengrass! the youngeat child of tbd and lincoln greengrass. she is a fifth year slytherin, who is a part of salazar’s army. some describe her as assertive, but she has also been called ruthless.

」

↳𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖈𝖐 𝖎𝖓𝖋𝖔

eleanor greengrass ; ; eighteen ; ; fifth march ; ; birthplace

↳𝖈𝖑𝖚𝖇𝖘

slug club ; ; potions club ; ; dueling club ; ; magical creatures club

↳𝖍𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖞

early life tba

her dad had always told her to stay neutral, it was easier that way, it’s harder to get hurt or implicated if you were neutral but eleanor had never listened to her dad, he was always away and while not an absent father, he simply couldn’t control eleanor. she was a force to be reckoned with. she was hard to control and even harder to pin down. gryffindor was the house eleanor was meant to be in, she was meant to be like her dad but that never happened. slytherin was the house for her, she found it easier than most to fit in. making friends easily and excelling in her academics.

friends were difficult to make for eleanor, she was more reclusive than she should have been. her house was normally loud so she didn’t find a need to talk most of the time, often finding solace in her own company compared to her siblings. though to say she had no friends was completely inaccurate. yaxley and parkinson were notorious names in the wizarding world. it was the three of them, mostly outcasts and definitely not the most popular but they had each other and the influence they held over each other was far too much.

eleanor was in over her head - figuratively speaking. salazar’s army wasn’t something she intended on getting involved in but where tweedle and dee and tweedle dumb went, eleanor followed. blood supremacy wasn’t a major thing in her family and she didn’t really understand it. but her friends seem so adamant in what they believed in, eleanor couldn’t help but believe it too. she was an impressionable young girl with a major crush, if they’d have asked her to kill someone she would have done it in a heartbeat. the tensions of her beliefs came to a head at home, nobody seemed to believe the same things she did - she was an idiot to them, it was stupid of her to get so involved in something that was bound to fail but she didn’t care, she was happy even if it meant mostly isolating from her family.

↳𝖆𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖙𝖎𝖈𝖘

matching charm bracelets / speaking before thinking / following your dreams / experimenting with new things / family time / always early / you need to be more confident / leaving voicemails after the beep / never letting go / quiet sundays

↳𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖙𝖞

↳inspired by ; ; paris hilton ; ; regina george ; ; cher horowitz

persistent ; ; confident ; ; supportive ; ; joyful ; ; optimistic ; ; bossy ; ; boisterous ; ; enigmatic ; ; fanciful ; ; presumptuous

+movies ; ; adventures ; ; watercolouring ; ; sailor moon ; ; stand-up comedy - the beach ; ; being scolded ; ; rainy days ; ; being confined ; ; red grapes

↳is the biggest hype-man to ever exist, you've got a quidditch game? she's donning your colours and supporting you. you've got an exam coming up? i don't study it so explain it to me. you're too scared to talk to your crush? well hey come over here. she's an overall positive influence on shy people. ↳has a strict skin care routine, if she doesn't follow it, she breaks out really bad and has acne prone skin, and it hits particularly bad in winter. ↳always on board the latest fashions, though tends to wear baggy clothes for comfort when she's not in his uniform. her wardrobe is a mess, one day he can be in all black, the next she's in one of the most colourful outfits ever, she's unpredictable. ↳

↳𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖙𝖗𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖘

rebellious princess ; ; spoiled brat ; ; everything’s better with sparkles spirited young lady ; ; the youngest ; ; beauty, brains and brawn english rose ; ; the fashionista ; ; lipstick and load montage beautiful all along ; ; blondes are evil ; ; daddy’s little villain dark magical girl ; ; blondes have more fun ; ; hot witch

#∘⡊ ☾ ˚⊹eleanor⊹ — nor #∘⡊ ☼ ˚⊹eleanor⊹ — muse

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johnschneiderblog · 3 years

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Rainy days in S.C.

No, this isn’t my feeble attempt to photograph an alligator in one of the local lagoons; it’s a puddle in the parking lot outside our rented condo.

The same weather system that has buried other parts of the country in snow this month has thoroughly drenched Hilton Head and environs.

Temperatures here seem to be averaging 30-40 degrees warmer than at our home in Michigan, but sunshine has been scarce.

According to the forecast, better weather is imminent.

#John Schneider #Hilton Head weather #lots of rain

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xxwill40xx · 3 years

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Rainy Weather on a Friday means Vinyl Day! ☔️✨ Coldplay - A Head Full Of Dreams 2LP, Christmas Lights Limited Edition Blue 7in Single, Arabesque/Orphans Limited Edition 7in Double Single Keuning(member of The Killers) - Prismism Limited Edition Red LP with actual music video prop cutout signed Mark Stoermer(another member of The Killers) - Another Life Limited Edition Numbered LP this one is 80/500 The Killers Logo Sticker Radiohead - Ok Computer 2LP Bring Me The Horizon - Post Human: Survival Horror LP Janet Jackson - Number #1’s Target Limited Edition Red 2LP Britney Spears - Swimming In The Stars UO Limited Edition 12in Single Paris Hilton - Paris UO Limited Edition Gold LP Kehlani - It Was Good Until It Wasn’t UO Limited Edition Clear LP Selena Gomez - Lose You To Love Me/Look At Her Now UO Limited Edition Cassette Single #vinylcollection #coldplay #bringmethehorizon #radiohead #thekillers #keuning #markstoermer #janetjackson #britneyspears #parishilton #kehlani #selenagomez https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpUvLVB_cG2Mligd-FrgIyvgaY4rPnlFUUS9M0/?igshid=104v4cbimbq2c

#1 #vinylcollection #coldplay #bringmethehorizon #radiohead #thekillers #keuning #markstoermer #janetjackson #britneyspears #parishilton #kehlani #selenagomez

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lovemesomesurveys · 4 years

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What color... Are your second best friend's eyes? -- Is your math binder? I’m done with school. Is your English teacher's hair? ^^^ Is your bathrobe? I don’t have one. Was the shirt of the last person you spoke to? Black.

Was the shirt of the last person you kissed? I don’t remember, it was years ago. Is the kind of jam in the fridge? Purple; it’s grape jelly. Is your MSN font? I don’t use MSN, never have. Is that even still a thing? Is your bathtub? White. Are the socks you're wearing? White. Is your home phone? Black. Is your cellphone? Coral. Is the last pair of earrings you wore? Rose gold. Is the hallway walls? White. Is your alarm clock? I use an app on my phone, which like I said is coral. Is your favorite book? I have way too many favorites to choose. Is your dream house? Hm. I’m not sure what color I’d want my dream house to be. I always think about the interior. Is your dream boyfriend/girlfriend's car? *shrug* I wouldn’t care. Is your computor chair? I don’t have one, I go on my laptop on my bed. Is your tightest shirt? Uh, I don’t have any tight shirts. Is your tighest pair of pants? Most of my jeans are dark wash (dark blue), with the exception of a pair of black jeans. Is/was your school mascot? I’m not sharing that. Nails does the last girl you laughed with have? Burgundy. Are your pets? Tan, white, black. Is your bzoink profile? I don’t have one. Is/was your locker? Never had one. Is your most itchy and uncomfortable sweater? I don’t own any itchy and uncomfortable sweaters, only comfortable ones. Is the frame your favorite picture is in? Black. Is your favorite CD case? I don’t have any CDs. Do you... Enjoy your job? I don’t have a job. Find shyness attractive? It can be cute. Have someone to call your own? No. Drink at least one glass of Pepsi every day? No. I don’t drink soda anymore (except the bit I drink with my medicine cause I have to crush my pills and I mix it with soda). I used to drink soda everyday for a long time, but it was Coke or Dr. Pepper mostly. Swoon over accents? Some are attractive. Use violence to get your own way? Never. Smoke cigarettes? No. Keep track of all the things you need to do? I sometimes make a list or set reminders if needed. Spend too much money on makeup? I haven’t bought any makeup in like 3 years. Spend too much money on books? No. I use Kindle Unlimited, which is a subscription service that gives access to a shitload of books for a low monthly price, but I’m on my mom’s account. Get everything you want? No. Prefer guys with hair or bald? With. Say 'obvi'? I sometimes say “obvs.” Read books about vampires? I was into the whole Twilight phase back in the day when the books were coming out. Know anyone who is trying to have a baby? I don’t know, maybe. Treat customers at your work nice? Have dark eyes? Yeah. Have bright eyes? No. Have a display picture of only yourself on facebook? Yeah. Aspire to look/be like Paris Hilton? No. Listen to music or watch TV more? I watch more TV. Have a display picture on bzoink? I don’t have Bzoink. Sleep during class? I never did that. Have the guts to shave your head for cancer? I would donate money to a cancer research charity. Have more then four piercings? Nope. Have a lot of money on you right now? No. Know anyone who is anorexic? No. Talk on the phone or MSN more? Neither. Go online shopping? Yeah. That’s how I’ve done all my shopping in recent years. What's the best... Kind of cookie? Sugar or shortbread. Location to have a romantic kiss? I don't know. It's not so much about the setting, really. It's moreso how it's done and how the person comes onto you. <<< Yeah, it could take place anywhere. Although, I do think it’d be cute to share a kiss at the beach with the sunset behind us or a cute photo op at Disneyland. Location to have a romantic date? Somewhere cozy or like overlooking the ocean. Veggie in salad? Spinach and green onions. Sickness to pretend to have when faking sick? I never had to pretend cause I actually felt sick often enough, but I do admit to exaggerating or milking it a few times :X Way to sit on a couch? Uhh sometimes with my legs to the side or “criss cross applesauce” lol whatever you want to call it. Outfit to wear on a date? I’d go with a nice pair of jeans and a cute, dressy top. Junk food to have at a sleepover? Pizza and chips. Way to get your mind of someone? I’ve always had a hard time with that.

Salad dressing? Ranch. Kind of shoes to wear to the beach? My usual sneakers/tennis shoes/whatever you wanna call ‘em. I never, ever wear sandals, flip flops, or any kind of open toed shoe, so. Way to get over somebody? It takes me a long time, but it just starts to ease up over time, really. One day turns to two, then a week turns to weeks, a month to months, etc. Time keeps going and it just starts to get easier eventually. Especially if you don’t see or talk to them anymore. Fruit in fruit salad? I don’t eat fruit salads. Way to propose to someone? I don’t plan on getting married or having that happen for me, but I gotta admit the cheesy, kinda over the top ones can be cute. Music to listen to if you're sad? Sad, relatable music. Thing to do when you're staying up all night? Scroll through Tumblr, surveys, watch YouTube/listen to ASMR. Way to cheer someone up? Try to do something they enjoy, maybe get some food or something, and help take their mind off whatever. Well, unless they want to talk about it. Book to read on a rainy day? Whatever I happened to feel like reading. I wouldn’t choose a certain type of book because it was raining. Time to go to bed? My norm this year has become like 7 or 8AM for some awful reason. Today it’s already 820AM and here I am... Time to wake up at? Lately, I’ve been getting up after 3PM, sometimes after 4PM. Party makeup? I didn’t have party makeup. Way to get someone to like you? Ha, I’m definitely not the one to ask. Thing to sleep on? (Other then a bed) Uh, but beds are the best thing to sleep on. Way to do your hair when having a bad hair day? My hair is always just up in a bun. Video game to play all night when you can't sleep? I used to do that with The Sims, but it’s been a couple years since I last played. Now I play Animal Crossing for a bit, but mostly I’m just scrolling through Tumblr, doing surveys, and watching YouTube. Girly movie? I have several favorite “chick flicks.” Joke to tell? I love punny jokes. Movie to watch when you're in the mood for something scary? Oooh there’s so many to choose from. It would just depend on what I felt like watching. Way to show someone you love them? Telling them of course, but showing them is very important as well. Spend time with them, make their favorite meal, surprise them with something they like, do something with them that they enjoy, write them sweet little notes, etc.

#personal #text #survey #surveys

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hamonsurveysoverdrive · 4 years

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Curvaceous

What color... Are your best friend's eyes? Dark brown

Is your math binder? Not taking math this year. Is your English teacher's hair? Grey? Is your bathrobe? Don’t have one Was the shirt of the last person you spoke to? No idea. Was the shirt of the last person you kissed? He was not wearing one. Is the kind of jam in the fridge? Red, purple. Is your MSN font? Old survey is old. Is your bathtub? White. Are the socks you're wearing? No socks. Is your home phone? No home phone. Is your cellphone? White. Is the last pair of earrings you wore? Silver. Is the hallway walls? White Is your alarm clock? I just use my phone. Is your favorite book? Depends on the version, I guess. Is your dream houuse? Grey Is your computor chair? Dark green Is your tightest shirt? Idk Is your tighest pair of pants? Black Is/was your school mascot? Red and black. Nails does the last girl you laughed with have? I don’t think her nails were painted Are your pets? Valentine is white with a little brown, and Merlyn is brown with a little bit of white. Is/was your locker? N/a Is your most itchy and uncomfortable sweater? I don’t buy uncomfortable sweaters, I feel like that defeats the purpose. Is the frame your favorite picture is in? Black. Do you... Enjoy your job? N/a Find shyness attractive? No Have someone to call your own? Yes Drink at least one glass of Pepsi every day? God no Swoon over accents? Some accents Use violence to get your own way? No. Smoke cigarettes? Yes Keep track of all the things you need to do? Not well Spend too much money on makeup? Sometimes Spend too much money on books? Yes Get everything you want? No Prefer guys with hair or bald? I like both, but if they’re bald they have to have a beard Say 'obvi'? Only ironically. Read books about vampires? I read Interview With a Vampire... Know anyone who is trying to have a baby? Yes Treat customers at your work nice? N/a

Have dark eyes? Yes Have bright eyes? No Have a display picture of only yourself on facebook? Yes Aspire to look/be like Paris Hilton? No Listen to music or watch TV more? Listen to music Sleep during class? No Have the guts to shave your head for cancer? I don’t see how it would actually help, but I would if I needed to. Have more then four piercings? No Have a lot of money on you right now? Nope Know anyone who is anorexic? Not that I know of Talk on the phone or MSN more? Wow. Go online shopping? Sometimes What's the best... Kind of cookie? Pumpkin chocolate chip Location to have a romantic kiss? Don’t care Location to have a romantic date? Concerts Veggie in salad? Lettuce, onions, bell pepper Sickness to pretend to have when faking sick? Stomach problems. No one’s gonna follow you to the bathroom to make sure you actually did anything. Way to sit on a couch? ...comfortably. Outfit to wear on a date? Depends on what you’re doing. Junk food to have at a sleepover? Pizza, raw cookie dough Salad dressing? Caesar. Kind of shoes to wear to the beach? Flip flops Way to get over somebody? Get under somebody else Fruit in fruit salad? Berries. Way to propose to someone? Romantic and personal. Music to listen to if you're sad? Something distracting Thing to do when you're staying up all night? Mess around online Way to cheer someone up? Depends on the person Book to read on a rainy day? Anything Time to go to bed? Between 11-2 am Time to wake up at? 1030 Party makeup? Maybe a little more extra than normal Way to get someone to like you? Be yourself Thing to sleep on? My bed... Way to do your hair when having a bad hair day? Fix it until it’s decent. I have short hair, I can’t just put it in a messy bun lol Video game to play all night when you can't sleep? Animal Crossing Girly movie? My favorite is How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days, don’t ask me why, I don’t know Joke to tell? I don’t really tell a specific joke. Movie to watch when you're in the mood for something scary? Classic horror Way to show someone you love them? Depends on the person

#surveys #survey

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mercurykelly · 5 years

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Day 9 - Stormy weather

I sleep until eight and it feels great – I needed a lie in.

It’s raining again today. I’ve had several cold and rainy days in a row and am hoping to hit better weather soon. I leave the Hotel Granluca and Austin with regret and add them to my list of places I want to revisit. It’s a late start—I don’t get away until about 9:30 and waste another 30 minutes looking for a Starbucks. A cold brew, breakfast sandwich, and banana bread are just the ticket. As I’m leaving the drive-through I think to look at the mileage and it’s 2655.

I head southeast out of Austin on Hwy 290 and at I-10 head east. When I stop for gas, I find a text from my husband warning me about bad weather in Houston. Must be exceptionally bad if it made the national news. Sure enough right before I get to Houston the rain cuts loose – downpour doesn’t do it justice – we’re talking deluge – with windshield wipers on high and barely coping. I and the rest of the bumper-to-bumper traffic creep carefully through downtown Houston – it’s a total white-out with a few vaguely visible outlines of random skyscrapers.

East of Houston the weather gets scarier—with several dark funnel shaped clouds hovering just above the car– and me trying to decide what to do if one of them touches down. Then the rain gets even heavier (but the funnel clouds disappear, thankfully). I move to the right lane and slow to a crawl, take the first exit, and wait out the downpour at a gas station.

Even with rain and storm delays it’s looking like I’ll be in NoLA a day early and I am so ready to be there. I had hoped to make it to Lake Charles tonight, but the storm messed up that plan--I will have to stop in Beaumont instead. I try to get a room at a Hilton Garden Inn, but they are booked solid due to the storm, so I end up in a marginal Holiday Inn Express. The best part of the day ends up being a meal at a Mexican restaurant called Amacate that is walking distance from my room. It’s super cheap and good – a decent margarita, great salsa and chips, and tasty chicken mole enchiladas.

The room is not the best, but at least there are no bugs in the bathtub. Man oh man, I am so happy to be close to New Orleans. I call and book an extra night with the Hotel Mazarin. Four nights in one spot with no daily loading and unloading of bags and cooler. What a concept. I can’t wait.

#roadtrip #traveladdict #traveling lady #Houston #Texas #chicken mole #Texas storms #downpour #funnel clouds

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inwintersolitude · 5 years

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Out of all 24 hours, which one is your favourite? I wouldn’t say I have a favorite hour of the day.

Have you ever been in a lighthouse? Yes, I’ve been up in the Harbour Town lighthouse on Hilton Head Island quite a few times. And maybe the Marblehead lighthouse, too? I can’t remember.

What are the names of the neighbours to your right? I don’t know. They recently moved in and I haven’t met them.

Left? Mike, and I can’t remember his wife’s name.

When’s the last time you actually sat down and watched the sun set? I don’t remember.

Are you on a laptop or desktop? Laptop.

Do you ever make your own surveys? It’s been around 6 or 7 years since I last made one.

What colour is your shower? White.

Where do you order your pizza from? There are a few places in town that we order it from.

When is the past time you had a serious talk with someone? Yesterday.

What time are you planning on going to bed tonight? Whenever.

How old are you, your parents and your siblings combined? 171.

The last time you went out of town was? Almost two weeks ago but that was just for a doctor’s appointment in a nearby area. Last time I traveled and was away overnight was about 2 months ago.

And where did you go? Delaware, for my sister-in-law’s baby shower.

Have you ever been bit by an animal? Just budgies, guinea pigs, and a puppy. Never a harmful bite.

Where is the person you miss the most right now? In Seattle, getting ready for his next flight.

Have you been paying attention to the Olympics much? My husband and I watched them this past February. Mostly figure skating and skiing and snowboarding.

How often do you take naps? Not very often.

I know you don’t wanna talk about it, but when do go back to school? I’m completely done with formal schooling. Unless I decide to go back for another degree someday.

Did it rain today? No.

What was the name of the last dog you pet? I don’t remember.

Do you find that you have a certain meal you eat every time you go to certain restaurants? There are a few restaurants where I have a usual order. But most of the time I like to try new things.

Are you constantly judging people? No.

Have you ever had anything stolen from you? Yeah, my old bike when I was in college. Someone was going around campus cutting locks and stealing bikes from bike racks. After that, I started using a steel U-lock with the bike I bought to replace it. Makes it virtually impossible to steal.

Think back to your freshman year in high school, what was the first class period on your first day of school? Oh jeez, that was half my life ago. I don’t remember.

What colour is your bike? Black, blue, and white.

What word can you not stand to hear people say? “Y’all.” Even worse is when people say “all y’alls.” Southern slang is just weird to me.

When was the last time the power went out at your house and how long was it out for? About a year and a half ago. Due to a bad thunderstorm.

What room of your house are you in? The living room.

When there’s a full moon, does it make your room really bright for a few days? No, since the wooden blinds do a good job of blocking light.

What is the temperature in your city right now? 31 F.

Which would you rather, a snowy day, sunny day, rainy day or cloudy day?: Either a snowy day or a cloudy day. Rain is alright as long as I don’t have to go out in it. And I don’t like sunny weather.

How long have you ever spent away from home? Around 2 weeks, I think?

Ever had to get any stitches? Yes, when I underwent kidney/bladder surgery.

When did you last use a post-it-note? I don’t remember.

Would you ever want to own your own restaurant? No.

Do you have a fan in your bedroom? No. Well not a ceiling fan. We sometimes put a window fan in there, if it’s the right temperature to have the windows open.

Have you ever seen the White House? Yes.

How about Niagara Falls? Yes.

What about the four corners, have you ever been there? No.

Have you ever played any variation of the padiddle game in a car a night? If not, you should wikipedia it and play it. It can be fun with the right people? I’ve never heard of it.

The most recent staircase you went down, what did it lead to? The living room, from the upstairs hallway.

Have you ever thought about what life would be like if we all slept during the day and were active at night? Yes, sort of. Not very in-depth.

What colours are the counter tops in your kitchen? Kind of a speckled tan/gray color.

Has your luggage ever been lost at the airport? Did you get it back? No.

Which major body of water do you live by? The Potomac River.

Who is the last person that you took a picture with? My husband.

What type of food do you eat the most? Hard to say. I have a pretty varied diet.

When is the last time you were stuck in a fairly long traffic jam? I don’t remember.

Do you have certain friends that you hug every time you see them? Yes.

What do you enjoy most about your life? Sharing it with my husband.

When was your most recent trip to an aquarium? June 2016. My husband and I went to one in North Carolina.

What do you like in your salads and what dressing do you prefer? I like many different kinds of salads and salad dressings. But my favorite is probably southwest salads with romaine or spinach, avocado, chipotle ranch dressing, either black or pinto beans, shredded cheese, and tortilla strips.

Last time you changed the light bulb to the lamp that you use in your bedroom? About a year ago when we replaced the bulbs with Philips Hue wifi bulbs.

Does sleeping past 12 or 1 in the afternoon make you feel like you’ve wasted a lot of your day or do you enjoy the extra hours of sleep? Both, haha.

What is your state most famous for? The first English settlement in the U.S.... the tech industry and all the government contractors in the D.C. area... and most major events of the Civil War took place in this state.

What was the last thing you signed your name in cursive on? Probably a receipt.

How many times in your life have you seen a shooting star? You mean a meteor? Quite a few times.

Have you ever witnessed a tornado? I’ve seen the beginning of one forming, before I lost sight of it behind the trees.

How many times a year do you go out of state? Around 5-6 times.

Has your best friend ever moved away? My husband is my best friend. We live together. I’ve had former best friends move away when I was growing up, though.

If it has one, do you ever use the notepad function in your phone? Yes.

What website do you visit the most often? Reddit.

How good would you say your memory is? I think my short-term memory is pretty average. My long-term memory is really good, though. I have a surprising amount of vivid memories from when I was only 2-3 years old.

About how many times during the night do you wake up from your sleep? I usually don’t wake up during the night. Sometimes I do, but just once.

Are there any air fresheners in your house? What kinds? Nope, we can’t use any artificially-scented stuff around the birds. Birds have very sensitive respiratory systems.

What scent of candle do you burn the most? I don’t burn candles anymore, now that we have the birds.

For what reason did you last cry? I was really missing my Grandma.

What’s one thing you’re glad you’ve done recently? Bought all the equipment I need to start an indoor hydroponics garden.

How long have you been taking surveys? Since I was 19.

What kind of surveys do you wish there were more of? Themed surveys about certain topics. Like a survey about traveling, or hobby-related stuff, or relationships.

#survey #surveys #personal blog

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bike42 · 3 years

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Kentucky Derby Weekend April 29 – May 2, 2021

Wednesday evening, we took Sox the cat downtown to Bailey’s condo, then came home to pack (the cat hates to see suitcases). I can pack for a hiking trip with my eyes practically closed, but this kind of trip took some thinking! I had to match shoes, purses and jewelry to all of my outfits, and then of course there was my hat. Since we’d decided to drive the 6+ hours to Louisville, space wasn’t an issue and we were able to load our car with hat boxes, a large bag of snacks, yoga mat, pillows and suitcases!

We were up at 6am on Thursday, anxious to get going, and we were on the road just after 7am. As we were packing last night, Jeff wondered if our iPass was in the new Audi – I thought it was, but we didn’t check. We had decided to travel straight down through Illinois and skip the Chicago madness so I was thinking tolls wouldn’t be an issue anyway. But as we got to Janesville, we recalled we still had the one toll near Rockford, so I checked the glove box – the iPass was not there. It had been in our old Audi, so I thought it was odd that we’d have moved it to the other car – we haven’t travelled to Illinois since February 2020. Then Jeff said he thought he remembered that our new Audi has a built-in toll pass?! I got out the manual and sure enough! It led me through the steps to get it activated, and I was able to get it set up just moments before we hit the Illinois border.

We had rain through most of Illinois, but decent traffic and no major slowdowns even though there was a lot of road construction. We turned east at Bloomington toward Danville, IL which started us reminiscing about our 2013 cycling trip down the length of the state.

The trees were more leafed out than ours and it seemed to get greener with every mile we traveled. As we got south of Indianapolis, we saw our first Waffle House, so we stopped the Waffle House in Taylorsville for our favorite breakfast (regardless of the time of day) when we’re in the south (waffles, eggs over easy, split a side of bacon).

We arrived in Louisville and checked into the downtown Hilton Garden Inn just before 3pm. That left us ample downtime for yoga, naps, catching up email from the day, and showers before our 7pm dinner reservation at Vincenzo’s.

So many experiences already on the trip feel novel, packing last night, a six-hour road trip, and now checking into the nicest hotel we’ve stayed in since February 2020. Once upside to the pandemic and its quarantine is the pure appreciation I have for the ability to travel again!

The restaurant was an easy walk from the hotel, and even though we’d checked the weather app before we headed down from our room, we were surprised to have sprinkles on our faces when we stepped out onto the sidewalk. No worries, Jeff had his rain coat and I had my beautiful poncho that I’d bought in Paris two years ago on a rainy April day.

We had a great leisurely dinner, four courses and a bottle of wine. It was nice to be dressed up and out together again. The staff and service were amazing, and we tried to chat a bit with the gentleman we thought was the proprietor (Vincenzo?), but he seemed to have limited English (or hearing). We’d heard on the local news before going out that that town of Louisville was so excited about this week-end – several hotels and restaurants were booked full – and that’s news!

After dinner, we walked through the Fourth street party area, which was fairly subdued at 6:30pm but we expected it’d be hopping later. There was a friendly guy on the street having a cigarette, he was a beer salesman named Scott from Appleton, WI. He was excited to tell us all about what to expect at the derby, how crowded this area should be right now (in a normal year), all the famous people he’d previously partied with here, etc. He’d have gone on all night, but his wife was calling him from a nearby table telling him his dinner was getting cold!

We had a lazy Friday morning, then we were out on the street at 9am to walk to waterfront park. Our hotel was a great location, and we found it was a beautiful day. It wasn’t long before we were peeling off layers. We walked along the Ohio river, east to the converted railroad bridge called the Big Four Bridge, the headed back. The river itself is muddy and filled with debris, but the Waterfront Park was fabulous. All of the people we encountered were so friendly – many greeting us with “Happy Derby!”

We had tickets to tour the Louisville Slugger factory and museum at 11am, so we walked back along the waterfront and found it in a funky part of old town (Main Street) – the area that had been known as Whiskey Row at the turn of the century. We really enjoyed the tour. Since I’d booked it last week, I had this song lyric with “Louisville Slugger” trying to work its was to the front of my brain. I took to google when we were having lunch later and figured out its from Mary Chapin Carpenter’s song “The Bug.” It goes: “sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug … sometimes you’re the Louisville Slugger, baby, sometimes you the ball … “

After lunch we wandered into the Evan Williams Experience, where we sampled Peach Mint Juleps – yum. Back to the hotel, we had a nap, then showers – ready for our next event at 3:30pm. This was an event booked by the group where we got our tickets: Princeton Sports Group. It was billed as “Derby Eve at Buffalo Trace,” but we weren’t sure what to expect. We got to the lobby and found we were a busload of people, and we were headed to the Buffalo Trace Distillery, about an hour away in Frankfort! Our guide and driver were great, they plied us with cocktails and information about bourbon and the trip went fast.

When we arrived at the distillery, there were three other packed busses, so we had a wait a bit to get through the temperature screening and get assigned to a guide. The distillery had a policy that everyone wear masks (except when seated in the tasting room), even outside, and some in our group were pretty vocal about thinking that requirement was ridiculous (especially the group from Texas!).

While I enjoyed the tour of the rickhouses (3-4 floor buildings where whiskey is aged after its barreled), and the room where the empty barrels were stored, I was disappointed that we didn’t get to tour the actual distillery – I wanted to see the chemistry! None-the-less, we had an enthusiastic tour guide and it continued to be a beautiful day and we enjoyed the beauty and the history of the property while we waited our turn to enter the tasting room. There we were socially distanced at spots with 5 shots laid out for each of us – a vodka (too strong for me just straight), and three bourbons with progressively better quality: Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, and Blanton’s Single Barrel (we’d been introduced to that last month by our nephew Calvin, a far superior bourbon). We thought the tasting finished with their Bourbon Cream (like a Bailey’s) which was yummy on its own, but they served it with a shot glass of root beer and when we combined the two – we found heaven! Since it was Derby time, they finished the tasting with a demonstration of making Mint Juleps, and we each were served a large portion of that!

After the tasting, we had some time to shop, so we headed to the store and bought a bottle of their Bourbon Cream (they sell out of Blanton’s as soon as its bottled, or we’d have bought that too). By then we were mildly buzzed and in need of food.

Back on the bus, we travelled about 20 minutes before stopping at Jeptha Creek – an event center where we had dinner, more drinks, dancing to a bluegrass band and playing a little corn-hole in the yard. During dinner, we sat with two couples that had arrived on another bus – also their first Derby experience and we enjoyed trading stories with them.

On our bus back to Louisville, our guide decided it was time for bus Karaoke (using the music on his phone and holding it up to the microphone). One guy, who didn’t seem particularly gregarious, got up to sing, and sang very well as the bus lurched along the interstate. We sang all the way to the hotel, a fun night.

We awoke Saturday morning to another beautiful day, and had a leisurely morning with a hotel room workout and breakfast. We had the local NBC affiliate that had full time coverage from Churchill Downs and we watched the first two races on TV before heading out. The gates opened at 10am, but that felt too early to go, yet there were plenty of partiers already there.

We headed out of the hotel about noon. It was a bright sunny day and neither of us were prepared with sunscreen, so we walked around the corner to the CVS drugstore. As we walked down the street, we were greeted with shouts of “Happy Derby Day,” and nearly every vehicle driving by stopped as asked if we wanted a “shuttle” to the track. Our hotel offered a shuttle for $40 per person (which I thought was excessive), we could have driven our car and parked at the University lot and walked from there, but we’d decided we were going to take an Uber (I really want to think the best of people, but it seemed like a bad idea to jump into a car with someone who’s just taped a “Derby Shuttle” sign to his car for the day).

As we walked into CVS, a confrontation broke out between a store employee and a young black man who was accused of having stashed something inside his coat. You could feel the tension in the store, and it put me on edge too. Other employees were suggesting the manager hold the guy until the police arrived. We grabbed a bottle of sunscreen and went to the checkout, where the clerk was almost too distracted to check us out.

As we walked out the door, the managers had wrestled the man outside and the police had arrived. The scene quickly was surrounded by others that were taking videos on their cell phones. We moved around the corner, and didn’t see how it resolved, but it went quietly. Perhaps the manager was wrong?

Last month, we both got new iPhones, and are still struggling with having to sign into apps we haven’t used!? Ugh. We both really struggle trying to recall passwords that our phones have been so diligent about remembering, or allowing us to use face recognition. After a bit, Jeff succeeded in getting into his Uber app, but then his credit card had changed since we last used Uber, probably in NYC in 2019. My nerves were still on edge, and I was a bit panicked about standing here outside CVS with both of us focused on the phone, Jeff with his wallet in his hand and his credit card out. I pulled out my phone and was able to log into my Uber and my credit card was still active, so I said “I’ll order the Uber and you can work on your account another time!”

We had a great Uber driver, Onfraus. He had a Green Bay Packer emblem on the front of his Jeep. His girlfriend is from Wausau and he knew a lot about Madison. He asked if State Street was still the place to be, and was shocked when we told him of the devastation after “protests” turned violent last year when windows were smashed and businesses looted after the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis. We all agreed it didn’t make sense - the wrong people in the wrong place, with a demonstration of anti-police effort. His calm wonderful manner helped calm my frayed nerves. A lifelong Louisville resident, he was helpful in explaining where he had to drop us, and how to walk to the track from where he dropped us, and also where to find the Uber pickup lot to get our ride back to the hotel after the Derby. It was just over three miles - $45 with tip (surge pricing).

It was easy to figure out the way to the track, we followed the colorful crowd. Lots of young adults - many of them quite drunk already. I was surprised that many people had chairs, headed for the infield lawn which is where the party really happens, we’d heard. We followed the crowd to the gates, went through security, but our tickets wouldn’t read in the scanner - oh no. Our panic was relieved when a supervisor told us we had Clubhouse tickets, and we were at the infield gate, the wrong gate. They led us out and we worked our way against the crowd for a bit, and felt like was walked all the way around the outside of the track until we found our gate. I’d worn shoes for comfort and was glad to be walking before sitting for the next six hours or so.

At the Clubhouse entrance, things were more civilized and the crowd was scarce. In fact, due to COVID, they’re operating at about 40% capacity - so for someone like me that likes my personal space, this was perfect!

We found our seats - the first two seats in a box that was set up for just four, but could accommodate six. Every other box was blocked out with a tarp to maintain physical distance, so we had perfect sight lines to the finish like right in front of us. We were in the covered section, so no need for that sunscreen after all (but we saw quite a few people who could have used it).

There was a race roughly every hour, so we fell into an easy pattern of watching a race, then exploring the grounds in between races. This year for the first time, all food and drink were included in the ticket price, so we grazed on food and I sampled most of the specialty cocktails: Mint Julep, Whiskey Spire (cranberry) and the Lily (vodka and grapefruit).

For me, the neatest part about being onsite was standing at the edge of the paddock. Not only was the people watching amazing, but it gave us a close look at the horses. They’d be led around the circle, some seemed proud to be on display, some were fighting being led around, then they’d pull them into a cubicle where magically the tiny saddle would be strapped to the horse, then another lap or two, photos with the owners / VIP and one last parade past with the jockey onboard. How cool it was to see that up close. I’d never noticed their lightweight boots, and the small stirrups that seemed strung up too high. From the paddock, the procession would move under the grandstand and out onto the track where they’d parade by, before heading around the track to the starting gate (which was out of our view, but we could see it on the large video screen). The only downside to being there in person is the race happens so fast and with the crown noise and the garbled speakers, we couldn’t really tell how the horses we’d selected we’re doing!

We were joined in our box by a dapper young man, Jackson and his girlfriend, Danni, from Miami. Jackson split his time growing up between Middleton WI with his dad (attended Edgewood High School), and Louisville with his mom. He’d been to the derby many times before, but this could have been his first time trying to impress a girl with his knowledge. They were cute.

In the box kitty-corner to our front right, there were Louisville police officers. They primarily spent their time scrolling through their social media feeds on their phones. Later in the evening, two started smoking cigars and snapping photos of themselves. It seemed inappropriate and was noxious to be around, but the smell of cigar smoke was pervasive throughout the day regardless. As we were heading out to explore between races, we stopped to ask them if it’d be safe to walk the three miles back to our hotel after the race. They looked at us like we had two heads!

The actual “Derby” the twelfth of fourteen races during the day. It was the only race we actually bet us, choosing Hot Road Charlie (Jeff pick which finished third), and my pick, Rock Your World, finished in seventeenth place. We’d added the favorite pick of the day, Essential Quality to our trifecta bet (it came in fourth). Almost, but that doesn’t count in horse racing, so we lost our $200 but had fun doing so!

We hung around for a bit, enjoying some last-minute people watching, then joined the stream of people heading out of the main gate. We turned right, towards the Uber lot, which meant we were once again walking against the crowd leaving the infield – many were now very drunk, most were sunburned, and some were being carried. It seemed to be a zoo at the Uber lot, and the app showed our same driver, but it’d oscillate between 20-30 minutes away. The crowd and the noise of the Jesus Freaks yelling at the crowd through bad speakers was making me crazy, so I lobbied to start walking.

We walked with a smaller crowd, but many of them pealed off as we strolled through the U of L campus. We walked past large house parties, still going strong. After a mile, there were only a handful of us still walking towards downtown, but it felt good to move and the neighborhood felt ok. Several people that we’d pass would shout out friendly greetings, and we just kept moving, only slightly creeped out by the recommendation from the police that we don’t try to walk back to the hotel.

It started getting dark as we got close, but by then, it felt like a normal evening stroll. It felt great to get to the room though and jump into the shower to wash away the dirt and cigar smoke from the day! We were probably both sleeping by 9pm!

On Sunday, we were up before our alarm, so we got dressed and finished packing up and we were crossing the Ohio back into Indiana before 7am. An uneventful drive, and great to be home in the early afternoon and still enjoy the day.

#KentuckyDerby

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