(Authored by Lisa)
It took a few days to reverse Hurricane Dorian boat prep -- slowed by a boat wash before putting everything back in place. Ray has coined a new scale for anticipated hurricane intensity -- BTBD (Blue Tape Ball Diameter) scale -- how much tape we had to use to button up the boat. Dorian registered a "medium" (3.25 inches).
Then, our Jacksonville exploration continued. Interesting fact: Jacksonville is the most populous city in Florida, the most populous city in the southeastern United States and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968. I was wondering why the police cars also show "JSO" (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office)!
We tried several new restaurants, including the long-awaited opening of Safe Harbor Seafood in the Five Points neighborhood.
Ray & I hosted the first movie on the OLM pool deck. We had about 25 people; we'll try to show a few more before we cruise out later this year.
We enjoyed glow-in-the-dark indoor mini golf -- early afternoon, when the kids were still in school. There were some interesting holes, including a tilt-table maze. It was a tough course, but several of us got holes-in-one; mv Griffin Admiral had the most, so we decided she won the day. We wrapped up the day with great Asian food and frozen custard.
We watched football in at one of the marina's local pubs. One negative aspect of cruising is the inability to stream regional NFL games outside the local area (unless you are willing to pay for NFL ticket). One of our buddies volunteered for one of the Mad Cowford Improv skits.
We played trivia a couple of times at another of the marina's local pubs. It was fun, despite the fact that our team, Trawler Trash, finished in last place both times.
We are much better at touring breweries -- learning to reduce the volume of planned "tastings" at each stop, and appreciating 4-ounce pours. 😉 We were surprised that Strings Sports had Panthers & Seahawks table markers! Thanks to Tanuki for providing the "Alemobile"!
Ray participated in the marina's dinghy poker run. We had planned to use kayaks instead of our dinghy, but on the day of the event, wind was whipping and I opted (chickened) out.
To get an idea how exhilarating the ride was, check out this video from neighboring boaters on Fortunate 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqZ9Ztd6Tuw. Despite the wind, the first person back was on a paddleboard -- he was sitting, but that is still impressive.
Continuing our cultural tour of Jacksonville, we saw Post-modern Jukebox at Florida Theater, established in 1927, when it hosted Vaudeville acts and silent films. Beautiful venue!
We enjoyed happy hour with great views from Cowford Chophouse.
Interesting fact: "Cowford" was one of the original names for the area -- a place where cows could easily “ford” across the St. Johns River -- before the area was renamed to Jacksonville, in honor of the territory’s first provisional governor, Andrew Jackson, after Florida’s entry to be a U.S. territory in 1821.
Fall has not yet arrived in Jacksonville.
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