James, Diane and Minnie ("Two's" Granny--Jena's maternal grandmother) had their own condo on the beach. We had our own on the 2nd floor of the condos. Jeff, Amanda, GB, Emily and Wyatt (aka JW--pronounced Jay Dubya) Hardigree brought Gary's RV down to the beach and were parked right next door. Rounding out the crew was Katie's friend Devin and her family, Robbie, Darlene, and Dillon Johnson, also in the RV park. How's that for a gang?! Not enough you say? Okay, then Jeff's parents Janet and Jimmy (aka Scooter) drove from Las Vegas, stopped in Gulf Breeze to buy a boat and house and joined us, too! Still not satisfied? Fine. GB, Jeff and Andrew drove to Hahira, picked up Nick and brought him down for the second half of the week, just to satisfy your obvious compulsion to see more names on the blog. I hope you are impressed. I am.
Here are Jeff and Jena relaxing on the beach (or at least posing on a dune as if we were relaxing):
Jeff and Janet walking on the beach. The sand was nice and we enjoyed running/walking on the beach each morning. It was unfortunately cold and windy 2 or 3 days, so on those days we went to the old town or hung out by the pool.
The real motivation for running every morning (our bodies still on Germany time=up early) was to show up at Chez J&D, a little upscale condominium-based restaurant operated for the entire week by James and Diane. On the menu: grits, butter, toast, butter, eggs, butter, bacon (yes with butter), sausage--you guessed it, butter, and potatoes (with butter). The potatoes, alone were worth travelling from Germany, or Las Vegas, or Hahira to eat. Here's a shift of the crew gaining weight like a baseball player on human growth hormones:
If this doesn't make your mouth water, you really need to meet the Hairs and have breakfast with them. This is proof that food CAN actually be love:
After a hot day on the beach, it was time for what Jeff had been waiting for--a low country boil. For the uneducated, that is a SC twist on the good old Louisiana shrimp boil. It is boiled shrimp, onions, garlic, sausage and potatoes. All that boiling is hot work and took a lot out of J-Dubya, but he knew it was time to "hydrate or die":
Oh yeah, GB is driving now, so he and Andrew were rarely around, preferring to cruise for chicks in the Scion (which resembles a refrigerator on wheels, albeit BLING wheels):
While we were cooking, dad sat back and let us do the work, which he usually is right in the middle of. However, he had been sick for weeks. On the drive from Las Vegas, he was actually hospitalized for several days with pneumonia. Not the flu, pneumonia. He got out of bed, drove another 2 days, stopping in Gulf Breeze to buy a house and boat, to see us. We couldn't believe it, and couldn't have been happier to see Mom and Dad. He had to wrap up in a blanket with the sea breeze as he was still fighting the pneumonia. However, boiled shrimp is boiled shrimp, regardless of details like being deathly ill!
Jeff squared (Jeff Hardigree and Jeff Lee, get it? Jeff to the 2nd power!) picking up the low country boil:
Along with the low country boil, Jeff Lee, Amanda and the children have been waiting to get together to have beer steamed oysters (steamed in the same strainer in the boiler pot for about 30 minutes with water, beer and sprinkled with salt and Old Bay). Wyatt "J-Dubya" ate close to his body weight. We even got another bushel to take home to Hahira and repeated the scene for good measure. Yum.
Jeff had to go back to Hahira on Wednesday to get his GA motorcycle endorsement and go shooting at the Duck Pond. Meanwhile, Janet and Scooter hit the road to go back to Vegas to pack up for their move to Florida. Jena, Minnie, Diane and James took a tour of the oldest city in America. The weather was perfect and the tour was rich with history.
Break time for the gang inside the fort:
The next night, we dropped the kids of for the world's hokiest Ghost Tour. They drove around in a "trolley" and went to several lame locations with gallows and prisons and actors supposed to be scary but, according to all involved it was not scary, nor enjoyable. Oh well, tourists be warned.
With the kids occupied the next day, the Jeffs, Amanda and Jena decided to assault St. Augustine and pillage/plunder/shop until our heart's content. Someone caught a picture of us about to plunder the booty:
We found an awesome pizza place in the artsy (somewhat more alternative) neighborhood. This place had great beer and all sorts of interesting pizzas.
We crossed the street for dessert, plus another beer, at this English pub. Why is Jena smirking? Well, read the menu above Amanda's head. You may need to "click" on the picture to enlarge.
Here's Jena "holding down the fort":
Jeff and Amanda are cuddling near the fort. Not nearly as productive as Jena:
James, Diane and Minnie returned to Blackville on Friday. On Saturday, we packed up, bought another bushel of oysters, and headed back to Hahira for Easter and a few days of visiting friends there, staying with the Hardigrees (a full house). We took the boiler right out of the trailer and boiled oysters on the drive. We stood around and ate them right out of the pot. Another bushel down. We should have bought two.
Twas the night before Easter...and we were dying Easter eggs, duh! Jeff did this every year with his great grandmother, Grandma Meedy, then with his mom when Grandma had passed away. Hopefully she can see him and is happy to have given him such good memories and a tradition to carry on.
We got to visit with our friends Susan and TP Perlman and their son James, who is close to the cutest kid ever born (besides ours). He's quite the fan of Peter Pan and smart as a whip. We also had lunch with Rob "Sweetness" Sweet, Jeff's old commander from Moody in the 435 FTS and our friend. Jeff had come to Hahira during the week and had a blast with Rouse, Jeff, Tim, Bruce and the rest of the Duck Pond gang--both shooting guns, then a little imbibing of Belgian and German beers.
The trip was over too soon and before we knew it, Jeff H. was driving us to Atlanta for our flight back to Germany. This spring break really was a booster shot for all of us, a little homesick after 2 years in Germany.
1 comment:
So glad you guys were able to visit the States for a while - looks like you definitely had a good time!
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