In Search Of Pie: Welaka!

Oh Yes! You didn't think I'd forget my old friend pie did you?


Welaka! A new found favorite spot in what those who know all call "Old Florida"!
 I think perhaps a few hundred folks live in the village limits, but this little bar / restaurant seems to have it all goin' on!


Just check out this sign!

 Num! Num! Num!
 One of the weekly specials is the 17 shrimp dinner. Yes, 17 shrimp (and big ones too!) cooked however you want, fries, hush puppies and the always present southern coleslaw! Get this: $9.95!

 Unassuming, just like I like 'em!

Nothing fancy, but clean as a whip. The locals flock here and we ate here many times during our stay, each time delicious!
 They also have free WIFI and so our laptop was always with us.

They sell T-Shirts and great food and see there in the front? A pie counter!

....And when you go to Florida, isn't it a given that you eat Key Lime Pie?


 They have a local woman  who makes all the desserts, including peanut butter pie and a frosted strawberry cake I had to order one day too!

The crumbs you see stuck to my filling were from an oreo cookie cheesecake!


Never the less, this dessert was scrumptious with a nice flaky pastry and tart-ish filling and because Dick doesn't like Key Lime Pie, I got to eat the whole darned thing! YaaY!


I would definitely recommend it!


All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

The Turtles of the St John's River

Dick loves turtles!

...And we were so lucky to have been able to see them every day on a log near our dock.

This cute one is, (I think...) a

Pseudemys floridana peninsularis

Peninsula Cooter

They were so cute! They would crawl up on this semi-submerged piece of an old dock and sun themselves. See how they hold their arms and legs out and sort of surf?

  Wheee!

And this guy on the right is what I think is a

Florida Redbelly Cooter

Pseudemys nelsoni

Hi Theodore! Need a hand up?

All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

A Cruise Ship On The River?

Life goes full circle and will provide the answers to your questions. 
You just have to wait long enough!

One morning as we sat relishing our coffee and being on vacation, Dick was suddenly pointing and yelling: "Look!"


I always hate it when he does that and as always, refused to look and demanded he simply tell me what I was to look at.


He finally won out and as I was looking in disbelieving wonder out the window of our little cottage, he grabbed the camera and flew out to photograph the amazing thing on the river.


It was a cruise ship!

 We were so surprised, but as I flung myself out the door, Dick handed over the camera ...

 ...and we ran out to the end of our dock to gaze upon the sight just like proper tourists should!

 She started to turn in the channel...

...And around the river bend she sailed... 
Us standing there on the dock for a few minutes
... Still stunned and in awe!


Now, I have to go back in life to a couple of years ago. 

We woke up one morning in St Augustine and it was so foggy! It was American Thanksgiving Day and also the morning we had to leave. As always we were grumpy at the thought of leaving Florida. I pulled back the curtain of our motel room and couldn't quite make out what was docked at the marina that is beside the Santa Maria Restaurant. It looked like a cruise ship but I didn't believe my eyes because of the fog. Who would have a cruise ship in St Augustine?  Because we had to leave, we didn't have time to walk down the docks and see what it was. 

I have always wondered since....


This ship on the river looked like what I had seen that morning in St Augustine!


So then after taking these photos, we had breakfast and decided to drive back over to Palatka to visit a couple of Pawn shops there. It was a few hours later when we drove up and over the huge bridge that brings you to the city and I couldn't help but laugh! There, at the docks in Palatka, was the same cruise ship of the morning!
Of course we parked and walked over!

We walked down the dock and there was nice young man in uniform with pamphlets in his hands. We explained seeing the ship on the river and in St Augustine a couple of years ago and he agreed it was likely the same one. They sail for a week's cruise and currently were tied up serving lunch in the dining room, located in the aft.

American Cruise Lines 

... The American Glory

This ship sails the river  on what they call the
Great Rivers of Florida Eight-Day / Seven-Night Cruise
and this link takes you to the descriptive page.


The ship's capacity is 49 and boasts all the luxuries we've all come to expect.


I tell you! It's now on our Bucket List!

Life gives you the lessons you need and the answers to all your questions.  One of my questions now is how comfortable are the beds in the cabins?

All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

Pigeons From Palatka

Pigeons live in the park where the boats dock in Palatka.

 How could anyone not love these precocious birds?

Don't take my picture woman! .... Does my butt look fat?

Notice the bands on this bird's legs?

 A gaggle of pigeons? No bands here... Hmmmm...




All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.

Moonshine Madness!

Now, I don't know if you all have ever heard of a fella named Junior Johnson or not, but I'm pretty darned sure you've heard of a thing called Moonshine!


Up where we are, I have heard rumors, (!) that you can buy a type of liquor brewed in a home made still from certain locals, but that would be illegal and I have certainly never bought any.....


I have heard rumors that it is made with potatoes or corn. Fermented in a metal barrel type thingy and the distilled droplets are liquor.  Legend has it the stuff will make you blind, crazy or just very sick.


I don't know any facts or proof about that, but I have heard of Junior Johnson and the roots of many of the old Nascar racing legends and that most of them learned how to drive by running moonshine through the Carolina's before they could hardly see over the steering wheels of cars!

Follow this link to read about Junior's running days.


Junior is just one of the most famous and he actually went to jail for that exact activity. (He explained that he was just doing what his Daddy told him to do and I for one believe him...) 

Born Robert Glenn Johnson Junior on June 28, 1931, he is one of the good old boys we all fondly acknowedge as a racing legend.  

During his racing days he was one of the early superstars of NASCAR in the 1950s and 1960s and won 50 races in his career before retiring in 1966 to go on and become a racing team owner.  
 The movie The Last American Hero starring Jeff Bridges is supposedly about his racing career.

He now produces a line of fried pork skins and country ham and oh!


 His name graces a label of legal moonshine.


Piedmont Distillers Inc is the official website address link and there's lots of serious information there including the other products they sell. Apparently, they are the only legal moonshine Distiller's in the US.


This is the bottle we found and bought.

The product is only sold in local states and we managed to find this bottle in Myrtle Beach. 

Of course we had to buy it! See why they call it white lightning?

The picture on the label has Junior in overalls, looking very much a bumpkin. He's really not a Bumpkin, even if he has the big old accent, but a successful businessman. The car however, is the real deal and I believe I've seen that exact same one. It's suspension is fortified with multi-shocks and the trunk holds a wooden box to hold the bottles of shine safe for the road trip. They had to be wedged into a box so that the sharp, fast corners wouldn't tumble and break them all!

See, the thing about this alcohol is that it's apparently made from grain, not corn or potatoes, so it has few carbohydrates.  I can't find any information on it's ingredients, so that's only here-say.

The inside of the label gives all the flavors and names they make.


So we tasted it. 
(You can't help but notice our bottle isn't full.)
And Dick loves the stuff!
I, on the other hand, didn't like the bite, but that's just me. The actual taste of it is good, fruity and sweet. It's smooth and seems to have a tendency to run down Dick's throat without any problem what so ever!


Just another chapter in history! Moonshine is such a part of the legacy of the south. Half romantic and half sort of sad.... 


I'm always glad when any of it gets preserved!
(Like Dick will be once he finishes the bottle!)

All of these photos were again shot and loaded directly from my Nikon P90 and then posted without alteration of any kind.