6/10 - Not All Storms Disrupt Your Life; Some Clear Your Path

As usual, Erik was up early at 4:30 am awaiting the dawn on the aft deck.  Renee was up by about 5:30 am to join in.  This mornings sunrise once again did not disappoint! 

So why not take a couple picture of it? 

Ok.....just one more for good measure

One of many shrimp boats going in and out passing by the face dock that we are on.  This one, if you look closely is named 'Owen & Devin'.   We had to takes it's picture and send it to our son, Devin.  About 200 feet down from us is a seafood company and ice house.  The boats come in continually and fill their holds with ice that is made by a couple of monstrous ice machines on the roof.   They grind it and blow it into the boats holds with large hoses.  It looks just like the insulation we blow into the walls and attics of our Habitat homes :-)  

'That's My Boat' (said in my best Forrest Gump voice)

Renee sure knows how to party it up hard on this trip!  lol One of MANY pages of notes and homework that she has been working on over the past couple days.   She will likely still have to ask Erik how much the tip should be at dinner tonight....hahaha

While Renee worked on class work a good part of the morning Erik walked her bicycle (with a flat tire unable to hold air) over to the local bike repair shop to get a new tire.  The owner, Kevin, shared a little about the challenges (storms) in his life and about how he ended up there in Apalachicola working at a cooperative which eventually helped him to open up the bike shop.  While fixing the bike he handed Erik a pair of gardening snips and invited Erik out into the garden to freely cut as many flowers as needed to make a nice bouquet to bring home (there it is again....boat=home) to Renee.  A very nice gesture by him.  

On one of our excursions today we walked through part of a very old cemetery that had a self guided tour talking about the history and all of the notable people buried here.  We almost had to dig a grave here for Renee.  Just prior to arriving here we were riding our bikes and turned into an alley that just happened to consist of very soft, deep sand.   Promptly Renee bit the dust and fell onto her caboose and got covered in the fine sand....OUCH.  We think mostly it was just her ego that was injured more than her bum....Erik might have to check that out later to verify though :-)  

We moved on and toured the Orman House.   Thomas Orman was a poor guy showed up in Apalachicola with almost nothing but through hard work and vision became a cotton trader and built quite an empire.   This classic Antebellum style home was absolutely gorgeous inside (we forgot to take pictures...oops)

After spending the day site seeing and riding around town we made our way back to the boat where we rested for a bit in the cool A/C and showered up.  We then went Tamaras, a restaurant down the street for dinner.  More growth was experienced by Renee in the realm of seafood deliciousness.  Today Erik actually talked her into trying a few bites of his dish which was a seafood medley.   She actually allowed on her palette half an oyster (tasted alright, but she didn't care for the texture) and some scallops (it taste like chicken, right?)

Sign outside of the church where we attended an AA meeting
A lot of truth to this statement

After Dinner we walked down the street to the historic Trinity Episcopal Church to attend the local AA meeting.   As we entered into the hall at the church we almost immediately recognized John.  He was a nice fella that we had met and spoken with for a while two mornings earlier outside of the crack house (remember, AKA - Apalachicola Coffee & Chocolate Company).  We had learned the other morning that John and his wife had completed The Great Loop a few years ago and liked Apalachicola so much that the ended up moving there shortly after they completed it.   What we did not know, until this evening, was that John is a long standing member of AA.  A really nice and intelligent guy.   He was attempting to convince us that we should move there as well.   He said they have a high demand for teacher and affordable housing (maybe someday....not just yet)