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Month: August 2015

RIP Bavarian Pretzel Factory

Posted on August 30, 2015 By Tom 1 Comment on RIP Bavarian Pretzel Factory
Restaurants

Dead BPF

Bavarian Pretzel Factory has closed its doors. The owners say that they will continue baking breads and taking orders for specialty goods, but the restaurant is gone. I guess the “curse of the RandomConnections review” strikes again.

It was Keith Dover who discovered the body, so to speak, and alerted me via text. He had placed an order for potato salad, but when he tried to call about it, there was no answer. I had to run a few errands, so I swung by to see what was happening. At what should have been a busy lunch time, there were no cars in the lot. I peeked in the window, and all of the furniture was gone. While their website still seems active, a quick check of their Facebook presence confirmed that it was closed.

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Old School Consumer Electronics

Posted on August 20, 2015 By Tom 3 Comments on Old School Consumer Electronics
Gear, Local, Miscellaneous

Don Jones Stereo-21

Our television gave up the ghost. While it was a fairly modern hi-def LCD TV, by today’s standards it was quite small. We still hold to the old “TV as furniture” ideal, and kept it in a cabinet in a corner. This was actually a design decision, as we have picture windows overlooking our back yard and lake, and didn’t want a large TV interfering with that view. Perhaps it got jealous of the big new TV in our newly remodeled basement. Who knows? The upshot is that on Wednesday I found myself heading out to buy a new one.

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The Remote Savannah

Posted on August 18, 2015August 19, 2015 By Tom 4 Comments on The Remote Savannah
Paddling, Photography

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin! Lowcountry Unfiltered on the Savannah River.

We missed our traditional Second Saturday trek with Lowcountry Unfiltered. Laura and I were still in Florida, and Matt was tied up with moving. Several others of our group also had conflicts, so we decided to postpone the trip to the third Saturday. For this trip, we decided to tackle a wild and remote section of the Savannah River. We would be putting in at Burton’s Ferry Landing and paddling 15 miles downriver to Cohen’s Bluff.

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Florida Wrap-Up

Posted on August 10, 2015August 18, 2015 By Tom No Comments on Florida Wrap-Up
Travel

Indian River Paddling-2

The time that I was in Florida and not in the Keys I spent a LOT of time on my my kayak. I was probably out everyday. My typical MO was to head out after having a cup of coffee. Sometimes Amy would join me, and sometimes Laura would. We even got Amy’s dog out on a boat for the very first time.

Indian River Paddling with Laura-1
Luna's First Paddling Trip-011

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Key Largo Getaway – Part 2

Posted on August 7, 2015August 17, 2015 By Tom No Comments on Key Largo Getaway – Part 2
Travel

Key Largo to Key West-58

So far our Key Largo getaway was going just like we wanted – lots of pool time, some kayaking, good food, and several delicious rum-based drinks. On Wednesday we decided that we’d had enough direct sunshine, so we decided to ride a bit. It seemed a shame to get this close and not make it all the way down to Key West, so we set off in that direction.

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Key Largo Get Away – Part 1

Posted on August 4, 2015August 17, 2015 By Tom No Comments on Key Largo Get Away – Part 1
Travel

Key Largo Evening-2

It’s been a stressful few weeks. We have been making trips to Florida to help out with Laura’s mother. While I’ve been able to make the trip to Ireland, Laura hasn’t had a vacation. So, on this latest trek down to Florida we decided to extend trip a few days and head down to Key Largo for an escape.

We drove down on a Monday. The drive from Fort Pierce to the Keys is not the most exciting stretch, until you reach the end of the Turnpike. There, US 1 takes over, and the two-lane route leads over wetlands and mangroves. While beautiful, the area is fenced, and there is nowhere to stop. Eventually we reached the bridge crossing Blackwater Sound and arrived at Key Largo.

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The Big Business of Piracy

Posted on August 1, 2015August 13, 2015 By Tom 3 Comments on The Big Business of Piracy
Travel, Weirdness

Vero Pirate Fest-25

We were running errands up in Vero when I spotted the following sign along US 1:

Family Friendly Piracy

Hmmm….”3 Days of Family Friendly Piracy.” Sounds a bit…oxymoronic to me. Truth be told, I’ve always thought that the Disney ride “Pirates of the Caribbean” was a bit weird, long before the movie series even came out. I’m not a prude, but a ride celebrating raping and pillaging just didn’t seem quite right. Sure, the real violence has been sanitized into something suitable for kids, but given historical realities and real incidents of piracy off the African coast, I’m often left scratching my head over the popularity of pirates.

We had some free time away from household duties, so we decided to check out the Vero Beach Pirate Fest.

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