Saturday in St. Augustine

Everyone has been hearing about Sailor's Exchange, this great mecca for an amazing amount of used and some new marine STUFF, so all eight of us were set to descend upon the place this morning. Dan dropped me over at The Anchorage Motel dock so I could go get our car and Jay and his car to transport all of us to Sailor's. With all nine of us in the store at once, there was barely room to move around, but move around we did and everyone found treasures that couldn't be passed up. Dan found two of my dad's books which he told me to buy so I could autograph them for whomever! Well with both books on the counter, Maureen proclaimed she wanted this book because it was written by her friend's father. Little did we know that the owner of Sailor's Exchange was a great fan of Bill Robinson! He ended up giving us all incredible deals on our purchases and had all sorts of questions about the GREAT Bill Robinson. I had to laugh, because every other time we have been in there, we use Jay's name to try to get deals----little did we know! The morning wasn't complete without a trip to West Marine, and we all dropped another bundle! Jay then lead us to Hurricane Patty's for a very atmospheric and delicious lunch out on their deck.
The girls decided to ditch the guys and do a little shopping in the afternoon. We hit Christe Blue's consignment shop and enjoyed looking, only Betty had any success, but it was fun anyway. Then off to the Publix to get a few things, especially the makings for sundaes. We had decided to eat aboard our own boats for dinner, meet in downtown St. A after dinner to watch the lighting of the Christmas tree and all the decorations on the square, and then head across the Bridge of Lions to Jay and Pegg's for dessert. I actually think I overdosed on chocolate. I didn't think that was a possibility! Pegg finally arrived home just as we were finishing up our sundaes. She had been gone since Thursday taking part in a cross Florida relay run with twelve other women. They had done very well, so she was glad she had taken part in it. Tomorrow is THE RACE. Two years ago Jay had signed Brunelle up to sail in the Commodore's Cup sponsored by the St. Augustine YC, so when the race was postponed from last Sunday to this Sunday it seemed inevitable that we would race again. This time the CCYC has two boats entered in the race, Dan has convinced Glen and Maureen that Sevilla should also race. SO it's going to be the boys against the girls! We'll report on it tomorrow.
~~~_/)~~~M&D

As I walked up the dock at The Anchorage Motel I noticed this blue heron. He let me get pretty close before taking off.

Saturday evening was the tree lighting ceremony on the square in downtown St. Augustine.
My little camera doesn't do too well with low light without a tripod, but you get the idea of the crowds and lights.