Man, I have been bad about capturing some of this summers activities. Stacy, Nick and Sharon visited us a few weeks back and I never posted a single picture. Emily said she put some stuff on her blog so that makes me feel a little better. I also went Phoenix for work and had time to catch a baseball game (very nice stadium with a retractable roof), so I thought I should post a couple silly photos with co-workers from that trip.
 |
| The family photo at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens...minus Emily (she took the pictures) |
 |
| Diamondbacks game in Phoenix: Evelyn and I with Randy Johnson |
 |
| Diamondbacks game in Phoenix: Not sure who this guy is with me and Mindy. |
And finally the big family vacation of summer - we went to St. Augustine Florida for a week last week and had a great time. We basically went to the beach 3 times a day and did one touristy thing each day. We went to the Alligator Farm/Zoo, Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, St. Augustine Distillery, and the Castillo de San Marcos. The Castillo is the oldest masonry fort (made of Coquina stone) in continuous U.S. There is evidently an older one in Puerto Rico. The Alligator Farm's claim to fame is that they house all 24 species of crocodilians - evidently they are the only place to do that which was pretty cool.
 |
| Got off to a good start on day 1 when a wave took me down and raked me on some broken shells. |
 |
| Tour and tasting at the distillery. Great place and philosophy. bought some Gin and Vodka. |
 |
| Some love birds :) at the Castillo |
 |
| Family at the gates to the city |
 |
| Drew and Emily at the Alligator farm. |
 |
| Some lounging gators. |
 |
| Emily next to model of tallest man at Ripley's museum |
Drew said he wanted to see some "biology" on this trip and boy did it deliver. We say all kinds of critters. The highlights for me we seeing lots of Osprey (may favorite bird) and dolphins. I tried to put a list together of what we saw based on memory (which isn't' good).
Birds: Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret, Green Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Boat-tailed Grackle, Brown Pelican, and lots of other shore birds and "gulls" which I have never taken the time to learn to identify.
Other: Raccoon, Whip Snake, Dolphin, Coquina clams, Sand Flea (Mole crab), Sea Anemone, and tons of lizards.
On the way home we stopped by a Nu-Way hotdog joint when passing through Macon. I had always wanted to try them ever since I saw them on that Hot Dog Show on PBS covering the best dogs in the U.S. They are known for their red/pink color (photo doesn't do it justice) which also penetrates into the dog (Diane wouldn't eat them because of this - she is so uptight). Unfortunately the original store in downtown burnt down back in march and thus is currently not open. So we didn't get to see that landmark. I assume they are rebuilding on the original site. Soon as the kids and I bit into the chili dogs, we were like "hey, this is Cincinnati Chili!" Evidently the founder was Greek which is also the origin of Cincinnati Chili. I've never had anything like that outside of Cincy. So crazy to find it in Macon GA. Wish it was closer to Atlanta (even though Diane's hamburger was evidently a dry puck...that's what she gets for not buying what they are famous for).
 |
| Some dogs from the iconic Nu-Way Weiners in Macon Georgia! Chili dog rocked. |
St. Augustine was a great town and beach with plenty to do. We would definitely love to go back!
