Sunglow Pier

We traded a Luperon week for a week at the Turtle Inn, a few miles south of Daytona Beach.

A mile walk south along the beach brought us to the Sunglow Pier, home of Crabby Joe's bar and Grill.

Crabby Joe's featured great breakfasts, fried oysters, chicken wings in chili sauce, and peel-and-eat shrimp. We visited at least once a day.

The Sunglow Pier offered a spectacular view, here looking north toward Daytona. The beach is open to automobiles (not just 4-wheelers) while the tide allows.

The Daytona Beach Pier was a colorful affair, but it was closed for off-season repairs.

The Ponce Inlet Light, few miles to the south, is the tallest lighthouse in Florida.

Goin' Up the Country

We made our annual mid-October trek up to Amy and Darrell's place in Meriden, New Hampshire, not far from Lebanon and Hanover. We got to see the peak foliage along Route 89 and celebrated Molly's birthday. Darrell built the house, the woodworking shop, and the chicken coop to match.

Even though Amy and Darrell have professional careers in medicine and education, they keep chickens and ducks and grow their own vegetables.

However, it was probably the beef cattle outside the kitchen window that made Amy realize, "Hey! I think I've been tricked! I think I live on a farm!"

Evan's Big Day

Grandson Evan and his parents Matt and Christine visited us last weekend with hopes of joining us on one of our legendary Pickering Wharf dinner cruises. The forecast called for a blustery day, so we formulated a backup plan, a visit to Russell Orchards in Ipswich, in case Salem Sound was too rough for safe and comfortable boating.

When Matt and I pronounced the seas acceptable, we decided to go ahead with both the farm and the cruise.

Evan's first order of business was to select that special pumpkin. Christine has found a nice one, but Evan has his eye on another.

After hobnobbing with the local goose, pig, and turkey population, Evan turned his attention to one of the farm tractors.

Grampy and Mimi got into the act, much to Evan's amusement.

Later in the afternoon, we all climbed aboard Kilty's Wake for our cruise over to Salem. Evan showed a bit of consternation at first--all that water!

However, he quickly adapted and was soon back in high spirits, especially when bouncing over boat wakes. At dinner on Pickering Wharf, he again demonstrated his ability to charm twenty-something waitresses, a talent he had first revealed during August's visit to Popponesset.

Mimi and Grampy navigated the craft back to Beverly, ending an exciting but exhausting day.

Water, Wind, and Fire

For the second year in a row, we took Kilty's Wake out to watch the West Beach fireworks. As dusk approached and the nearly-full moon rose above Great Misery Island, the revelers anchored in Cocktail Cove awaited the show.

We anchored just south of the fireworks barge as the sun set over West Beach. The stiff breeze would be carrying any burning embers eastward...I hoped. The anchorage was continuously patrolled by the harbormaster, the coast guard auxiliary, and the fire department rescue boat. We enjoyed a sandwich supper as we waited.

The display began before the sky was quite dark.

We were so close that the explosions seemed directly overhead.

I even captured the perfect North Shore fireworks explosion...pink and lime green.

The Three Amigos

Joe McShane, John Kane, and Vin Harrington visit the bicentennial tall ships parade in Newport, Rhode Island on July 1, 1976.