When is a door a wall & a wall a door?

When you get the crazy idea you're a designer, decorator, architect, and builder all at the same time. "Flow" has been my guiding principle on this wacky trip. Our den definitely has a different feel to it now. With a new chair, and a departing Christmas tree, it should be interesting.

 1941 is the timeframe when this fabulous 2/1 was built. When I closed in the side porch, it made a great office. When we put our Christmas tree in front of the den window, access to said office was impeded. So moving the door to the other side of the fireplace sounded like a great idea to create a bookshelf/entertainment center and "refocus" the room.

 Craftsman bungalow takes on a new meaning when you try to remove old bookshelf. It was "crafted" into the original building. "Should we floor all the way to the wall Bob?" "Why do that Larry? Just going to build a bookshelf on top of it. Don't waste your time!"

 The fun spider web of electrical outlets and switches. I've learned a ton working on this classic home. *Notice the lack of insulation in any pictures?

 Trying to minimize the dust from tearing out plaster with hammer, prybar and reciprocating saw. Worked fairly well, to my amazement.

 Came out pretty smoothly. Of course, there was a Version 2 - needed to remove 9" more - which I didn't shoot.

 Thanks to Dennis Thomas' reno down the street, some decent hardwoods became available - with his permission, of course.

 Framing is new to me. Can you tell? Rerouting electrical is fairly simple, but making sure you've got the support exactly right for an old door that may - or may not - move easily from its old home to a new home is quite tricky.

 Did I mention the outside wall was brick? Yep, sturdy stuff that brick is. Framing was nothing compared to making the first break in brick. Tough to patch brick. Easy to patch wood/plaster. Same tent design, definitely not as successful. Ok, quick tale: on chair about to cut brick, talking to neighbor, and I hear dog on the other side of curtain. "Get out of here!" Don't want him getting covered with dust. So he leaves. I cut hole, and survive. Spot left room by way of door that I had closed... almost. Fine pink dust still covers some corners of our den and kitchen. Lesson learned.

 Cutting with a saw was easy. Figuring out how to get bricks away from wall was daunting. Guess it's true: brick by brick. A few hours later, I'd missed the extended family birthday dinner but made great progress.

 This was the hardest part (didn't take hours maybe 30 min.). Method was mastered and the rest went well.

 End of a long day. About 9 pm and my hands were shredded from dealing with broken brick and mortar.

 A new day means the easier stuff. There is light!

 Now I've got 2 doorways!

 Door actually fit - and closes! And then we had to get a Christmas tree. Couldn't wait a week could we? Noooo. Sliding Tree System developed and utilized daily.

 Old door patched, giving welcome relief.

 Caulk and mud make miracles. Two layers (1/2" & 1/4") drywall ALMOST replicate old plaster system.

 And another wrinkle - new paint. Guess sunshine was too much. We're now covered in WHEATBREAD. Everyone else seems to love it.

Phase II means making things look right from the outside - and cleaning up the fine pink dust that covers everything in the office.

Steppe Lord/Lord Steppe Going Away

Though it's a little over a month old, this was a shot from our Farewell Dinner for Katharine, Daniel, & toddler Henry. They took off for Central America on a multi-month adventure. Read of their adventures at http://lordsteppe.blogspot.com/

To the LAKE in Gainesville!

Wendy treads the path to the lake.

Another horrible day at Lanier.

A little tubing . . .

and the obligatory rescue tow from Pokey.

Grandpa SCORES early birthday booty.

Wendy has to go back to school on Monday, Aug. 1, while the kids return on the 8th. So she wanted one last dip and to visit her parents before getting back to the grind. Ed & Linda have been busy hosts as of late but made room. We repaid them by making sure that Speedy (aka Fast Boat) got stranded out in the channel after Keely and Deacon had a fun tube ride. We're guessing it is water in the gas tank. That's what we're hoping too.

Grandpa Ed's birthday (74th we think) is Tuesday. That gave us another good reason for a visit and some gifts. Grandpa likes presents.

After a couple of days it was time to get back to Atlanta. Need to get our house in order and let Wendy get all her ducks in a row before Monday. But there was one little side trip I thought we should take...

Spot, thanks to the mark on his head, has his 1st car ride.

Nobody seems to be having any fun.

Wendy & kids have been working on me for weeks, maybe months, to get a dog/cat/manatee/something. I held out as long as I could (love the freedom of petless life) but felt this would be a good send-off for Wendy's last weekend. As we left town, I swung by the Gainesville Humane Society where we found a plethora of petable pooches. Dooley was very cute but his excitement turned Keely into a quivering mass. Bo got my vote and Keely's approval but Deacon wanted a more energetic type. Uncle Jesse (currently renamed Spot) seemed to be the best of both worlds. He's almost 6 months old and has been practically raised at the shelter. Due to his gene pool, he is somehow mild-mannered, perky, and seemingly loving. Time will tell how good the decision was. For now, he's trying to get used to 4 smelly people and a world that isn't surrounded by chain link or concrete. We'll keep you posted.

Florida Epilogue

Keely says it best.

Having a full day and good night's sleep is starting to clear Florida out of my mind. Before it disappears altogether, thought I'd leave ideas for any intrepid travelers who may think our kind of chaos is worth doing themselves.

First, tell all your friends your plans BEFORE you leave. We found all sorts of good ideas on Disney (thanks Anne & Martin Steib, Steve Switzer, Kelly Crutcher), manatees (thanks Larry Dowd), Miami and Siesta Key (BIG thanks to Johannes & Jennifer Gerz-Escandon), and Apalachicola (thanks Elizabeth Moore).

Due to the flood of info that hits us daily, we sometimes don't pay real close attention to what folks say. Had we been more focused on other families' plans, our Panama City/Destin drivefest-with-no-place-to-stay might have turned out differently. As we find out now - in Atlanta - we drove right by TWO separate families who were spending a week at Seaside. Knowing their plans or making a simple phone call probably would have made the end of our trip as magical as the beginning. Bliss family actually had rented a 5-bedroom home on the beach and had 3 of them open the night we passed on our Death March toward Destin!

• ST. AUGUSTINE is much more interesting than I ever thought. Worth a visit. Touristy - yes - but in a pretty good way.
• DAYTONA is still the World's Most Famous Beach but truly just the PCB of the East coast.
• MARINELAND (now owned by Georgia Aquarium) is a nice diversion (maybe 1-2 hours most) where you can learn much about dolphins and even interact with them - for a fee.
• Kids like DISNEYWORLD. Not as impressive as when I was smaller but still pretty magical. FASTPASS makes all the difference - as does reading a good guidebook like UNOFFICIAL guide. Didn't make it to EPCOT but have heard it's pretty good.
• Wouldn't go to DISNEY STUDIOS unless kids were older than 11 probably - it's good for a half day if at all. STAR TOURS ride is cool, INDIANA JONES STUNT SHOW pull back the curtain on how movies are made, and TOY STORY MANIA is a fun video game/ride but there aren't a ton of actual rides. Since everyone was afraid to ride TOWER OF TERROR, not a ton to do that isn't informational (backlot tour, stunt show).
• ANIMAL KINGDOM is coolest of them all. Literally, having all the plants, shade, and jungle made it much more tolerable in the heat. World of difference being at the other parks. EXPEDITION EVEREST is a great rollercoaster and the KALI RAPIDS RIVER RIDE was the wettest ride I've ever been on - wear flip flops! IT'S A BUG'S LIFE 3D gets pretty scary for about 20 seconds but it's all worth it as good guys come out on top. DINOSAUR ride is on the cusp of too scary for 10 and under.
• MAGIC KINGDOM is a full day's worth of fun - maybe two slower-paced days. SPACE MOUNTAIN is still the coolest roller coaster I've ever been on. IT'S A SMALL WORLD is still the best way to cool off and feel the innocence of being a kid again. MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY makes me sick just watching the thing spin but kids love it. No matter how many knockoffs Disney creates of the DUMBO ride, kids still want to ride them (think it's the control-stick-power-envy thing). HAUNTED MANSION has the BEST first 3 minutes of any ride anywhere. The tone and mood they create while you wait to get on the ride is 10X more terrifying and bone-chilling than anything on the ride itself. Deacon would have gladly exited had I let him. After the ride, he didn't think it was that scary. On the other hand, Keely won't be visiting haunted houses anytime soon. THUNDER MOUNTAIN rollercoaster is a great first for kids (lot like Six Flags' Mine Train). SPLASH MOUNTAIN is the 2nd best water ride and surprisingly long. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and COUNTRY BEAR JAMBOREE have not changed. They were magical in their day, and wonderful versions of a simpler time to those of us who enjoyed them as kids. For new folks, or more edgy kids, they may not hold anything special - though the ride is still packed. Heard the JUNGLE CRUISE is still as campy as ever but the wait was too long.
• If you get a chance to go on an airboat ride anywhere, do it. Fun skimming over the water at high speeds seeing all kinds of nature up close.
• Atlantic beaches are better for boogie boarding and enjoying wider beaches with fun waves.
• Siesta Key was our favorite beach, mainly because we could walk everywhere and we could swim among the pier ruins and find all kinds of sea creatures. The family-friendly vibe of the "downtown" area was just big enough to be interesting and still small enough to seem authentic.
• Swimming with manatees is something everyone should do once.
• Panama City Beach has lost its allure. The almost total lack of view of the beach due to gigantic high rise condos and hotels takes some of the friendly feel of the place away and doesn't make we want to return.
• Family trips should be mandatory. Got so few years to really enjoy each other and share experiences, you gotta grab them while you can. "Going somewhere" is fine but, as an artful plaque in our house says, "The Journey is the Destination". Our kids enjoy the adventure of going places and seeing new things. Staying somewhere is just icing on the cake. The discussions we've had over the past two weeks about different people, what people do for a living, and how life works allows us, as parents, to really talk to our kids. Hopefully, we're sharing values and opinions that will make them better people as well as their kids.

Now, where to next? We're open to suggestions. Thanks for reading.

Finishing the trip

Easy Rider watch out!

We OWNED old 98 and scared all the travelers.

The ride home was ridiculously wet at times.

In the end, we rented scooter cars and headed up and down old 98 to the delight of Keely & Deacon. Rides and sandwiches gave us our Destin adventure so we headed north to Atlanta.

Going north on 331 was surprisingly tough and the random rain made it tough to see. We managed to survive Florabama and all the other joys. Six hours later we landed in Atlanta, picked up Chipotle burritos, and unloaded in Lake Claire. Kids were still on Florida time but that will fade soon.

Today we unpacked, shopped, and cleaned house to try and get back to normal. It was a wonderful trip overall.

After the authentic and on to the panhandle

So it's not St. Augustine but it's still "The Fountain Of Youth", look at the  brass plaque.

Greg put on a happy face as we invaded his abode in San Destin. The author Rob Wood managed to entertain as we tried to escape the grasp of Florida.

Not being able to find a place to stay in Panama City Beach or Destin, we were extremely lucky to prevail upon the kindness of the Atcheleys - Keri & Greg. Nice accomodations and amazing tree frog serenades.

In the morning, sparkly tattoos and the potential for scooter rides gave the children hope. Keri imprinted such delicate tattoos on both kids that they forgot about everything else we might have done. Leaving was tough but our never-ending trip from Apalachicola through Panama City to Destin exhausted us and felt like a sign to get back to Atlanta.

Just past Apalachicola

So we're not "past" but enjoying the precious downtown Apalachicola and their shipping history

Almost missed the Indian Pass Raw Bar as they were repainting the sign.

Just about the worst sign we could see... other than NO BEER.

The ladies found a way to make do.

You may not be able to see it, but in the back corner there's a stack of cups and a few taps where you pull your own beer. Nothing like it anywhere else in the U.S.A. Thank goodness for Floriday!

So waking up in Apalachicola was less than eventful but that's okay. Getting in late, the swim with the tree frogs was delightful. The mosquitoes we could have done without but that wasn't an option.

After packing up, we headed back into town to see the truly delightful downtown area and shrimpboats on the dock. Of course, the gelato shop sucked us in and might have been the best part of the day. Afterwards, we headed toward Cape San Blas by way of Indian Pass Raw Bar. Wendy spotted the sign to the raw bar before I did, thank goodness. We decided to head on down to the beach for a bit before lunch. Beach wasn't such a mindblower but we did find schools of small fish we could swim beside that was pretty fun. Beach overall wasn't our favorite but it was pretty nice.

The Indian Pass Raw Bar was our ultimate goal so we hit it for lunch. Unfortunately, we saw the painful sign of "NO OYSTERS" as soon as we arrived. The only thing that made it worth stopping was the "$2 draft" where you pull your own beer. If you look closely at the pic, in the back left corner there's a set of taps where you can pull your own beer. Never seen that before but I like the authentic element of the place. Corndogs and crab legs were the fare for the day.

The highway and Nature calls...

Cap'n Doreen telepathically calling all manatees. 

It ain't called Crystal River for nuthin'.

Searching for snouts in the water.

Wendy's dream come true.

Got the pedal to the metal once again. Almost there!

So no good shots of us packing all our crap - and tons of sand - into the van and hot-footing it out of Siesta Key. It was a good couple of days but we had a 1pm Manatee Swim planned and 2.5 hours to get there. As Bakers always do, we showed up in Crystal River with 1 minute to spare, though we were supposed to be there at 12:30 for wetsuit fitting and instruction on how to correctly make a manatee your slave.

Since we missed that part, they just rubberized us and a mother-daughter team from Tampa. Looked like something off of Wipeout about to be filmed. Fortunately, it wasn't. Just got on a pontoon with Captain Doreen and she headed away from the dock into Kings Bay. Literally, she just headed about 100 yards away and then said we were to be looking for manatees in the murky water. Of course, they come up to breathe about every 5 minutes, so you just look for their snouts poking above the water like oversized sharpei pups. For a moment I thought, "Oh this is going to be grand. I could have done this from the dock and saved myself $160!" But then, she said, "There are three!" Of course, we couldn't see them but we followed her advice and jumped into the incredibly shallow and vegetation-heavy water.

When I say shallow, I mean anywhere from 6-20' deep it looked. No clue how some of the boats get in and out because I could see bottom almost the whole time. Now the foxtail that grows is really thick and secured in a light muck that clouds the water as soon as you disturb it. Needless to say, flailing legs managed to make things quite difficult to see. On top of that, we've never snorkeled. So now we're trying not to disturb the plants and silt while remembering to breathe. Don't forget the key reason we're in the water - manatee. Now they're all cute and cuddly on postcards and in cartoons but get in the water and you realize that 700+ pounds of mammal can be mildly intimidating. So you're floating like a cork looking down, when all of a sudden this gray-white mass comes into view through the murk and crosses your view like the shadow of Jaws beside that dingy. This is your moment to decide: is this really fun?

Wendy said the first time she realized the enormity of these animals, she panicked a bit. When you find yourself above them and they decide to surface for air, you do feel a certain need to flail away as fast as you can. Then you realize, they could not care less about you. Their sheer mass will move you gently out of their way. They reach their noses up, grab a quick breath, and sink back slowly to their grazing on the bottom. It's kind of like petting a cow.

In that bay we followed around three of them in a cat-n-mouse game. They'd surface here and we'd paddle over to watch them for a moment and then they'd somehow disappear and resurface over there. This went on for about 20 minutes. Think the manatee find it funny, since they don't have fangs to annoy us.

Back on the boat to find happier sea cows. A five minute - just out of the bay ride - and we're in this channel when some are spotted. Back in the water to play hide-n-seek (by law it's "harassment" to chase them or grab them or to anyone infringe upon their rights as behemoths). By this point, Wendy's fingers were turning blue and Deacon was shivering like we were in the Arctic. The water was cool but not frigid. Think the extended time in the water without really swimming (noodles were provided and you mostly glided along the water with your wetsuit providing buoyancy) didn't help. Plus, a wetsuit keeps you wet. So even back on the boat, the sun didn't get to warm you up well.

We pushed on headed toward the Crystal River. This time we got about 200, maybe 300 yards, when snouts were spotted. Back in the water we go. This time we're in the middle of the "channel" where the Crystal River meets Kings Bay and I doubt it was 8 feet deep anywhere. Never seen anything like it but it was much clearer than the other areas we'd been. From the boat, you could almost see to the bottom everywhere. I could stand on sandbars that were 4 feet deep and look around for the hulking masses. This time we found what seemed like 2 moms and 2 calves. Menatees don't hang around womenfolk or kids - at least the husbands don't. So far, we'd been able to reach out and touch the gentle giants as they fed and surfaced but here we had a crazy, cosmic encounter.

The calf in this pair (tot was only 450 pounds) slowed a bit and started eyeing me a bit. I'd give a backscratch every now and then. Then he'd get his face closer. Not like you're looking at a whale's eye. More like a bulldog with that wrinkly face. Tiny eyes but you could tell he was curious. Then he followed me for a bit, then he actually turned and looked at me straight on. Wendy said she thought we were going to kiss. I can assure you if that was his/her decision, my desires would not have mattered. Kissed I would have been. But alas, I remain a frog. No princess kissed me today but the odd "connection" I'll remember forever. Of course, then she did the same thing with everyone else. Slut! But I was FIRST! Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah!

So the whole thing took about 3 hours and it was well worth it. If you ever want to try this, I highly recommend it. These Crystal River Manatee Tour and Dive folks were great.

We were so pumped up we drove 90 minutes to a Golden Corral in Perry, Florida to load up on carbs and carbs and carbs. Being bloated and pruney we figured we might as well head on down the road as nothing in Perry seemed interesting. To Appalachicola we went. Just after sundown we made it and a beautiful, quiet, speed-filled drive it was. The Best Western welcomed us with open arms and even told us how to get to our destination tomorrow - the Indian Pass Raw Bar. Happy Manatee Dreams to you all!

So, we're not done

Maybe some Big Olaf Ice Cream will calm them down.

Guess we're not the only ones with this idea.

No that's not me on the old stone pier.

Thought I'd posted but then we had a do-over. Much better evening after ice cream, a good walk, sunset on the beach, and a good walk in the water. Painfully beautiful here at Siesta Key at sunset. This was our last day and our first day without afternoon/evening showers. Perfect timing.

Another day in Hell.

Wendy's personal Hell is a Lobster Roll for lunch.

Deacon's is doing laundry instead of eating ice cream.

If you're in Siesta Key, skip the Old Salty Dog.

Started simple enough: late awakening, cartoons on the foldout, then the beach. Wendy got a special lunch from the Lobster Pot for lunch while we had sandwiches. We found all kinds of fish in the surf by the pier and just swam and swam watching all the undersea adventures (tied in well with watching Flipper last night). Then we started thinking about leaving.

Yep, tomorrow is the end of this dream. Laundry needed to be done. For some reason, bathing suits need to be washed. Don't get it personally but I'm just the driver. The village has this great little outdoor laundromat so we thought we'd get things cleaned for the next stop. Unfortunately, I checked our bank account and realized that a babysitter had sat on a check for a few weeks so we're in the red. Not good when you're out of town. Scurried to find a branch of our credit union, borrowed some of Deacon's money (Boyd forgot his PIN) to do the wash, and lit out to take care of the bank issue on the mainland.

Keely followed me and slept in the van while I got somewhat lost then found. In the end, I got money. Of course, I had the remaining quarters so they couldn't dry the clothes we started to wash. Then my cell phone died and they changed all the street signs so I couldn't get where I needed to get. Much consternation followed and then we were reunited. Wendy wanted happy hour oysters so we hit SKOB again. Kids Roy Rogered and we sucked down a dozen. Then we tried the Old Salty Dog on a rec from an old college friend... I mean past. It stunk. Must have been a bad night but the only good thing was the draft beer - and it was just ok.

So now we're back and killing the last hours of sunlight. Pretty sure it'll include a walk to Big Olaf's Ice Cream shop and a tour of the beach. Then we decide what your next stop is. Probably Homosassa Springs/Crystal River to find the elusive manatee. Keep tuned in!

7 - Siesta Key for a full day

Keely renovates a sandcastle for posterity

Harry Heron stands way closer than we can imagine

Waking up in the same town and not having to drive is exquisite. Siesta Key is what I imagine Key West would be like for families or folks too hampered to make it way down south. It's got a little village where you can get food, drink, and chaos while there's a pristine white sand beach just 200 yards in the opposite direction.

The water here is amazingly blue-green and only about 5 feet deep for 50 yards out. Diving with goggles allows you to see tons of tiny fish and hermit crabs. There's no boogie boarding/surfing here as everyone just seems to sit in the water. It's tres relaxing.

Relaxation is key at Siesta Key.