Mom and dad came for a visit to Jacksonville for Thanksgiving and then a week in Gainesville. I think they had a fun time. We ate a lot, exercised a lot, and I think dad even got a few naps in during car rides home.
11/25
Linda prepared an amazing dinner. We had the full group there including Brian, Sara, and Wayne.
11/26
Thanksgiving! Linda of course outdid herself with all the food. We also took a walk along one of the Jacksonville beaches to enjoy the sunshine.
11/27
Went to costco to get some supplies for tailgating and then we all went to southern charm (formerly knowns as Checkers), which was an incredible southern type experience. It's a tiny all you can eat place 'across the train tracks' in Jacksonville. It has one main chef, Art, and 2 side chefs. They serve up fried shrimp, fried fish, corn, grits, fried green tomatoes, collared greens, scalloped potatoes (with scallops), cocktail shrimp, coleslaw, ribs, Georgian cookies, and very spicy blackened shrimp. The food was good and it kept coming and coming and Art kept trying to get you to eat more and more. In the end you are stuffed and then have lots of boxes to carry out. Art is quite the character, told interesting stories, had a strange voice as he walked around shouting things like "get your blackened shrimp", and appeared to have a not-so-secret crush on Elisha. I know dad really loved the place and it will go down as one of their most memorable experiences in Florida. It will go down as one of my most memorable as well. That night we drove home to gville
11/28
I woke up at 5am to park my car up near the wildlife building for tailgating, then it was time to prepare for the tailgating. Around noon, we biked up to the car with our food and beverages. Along the way we passed a couple of gators in the canal that the bike path crosses. Mark and the Yra joined us fur the tailgate, and it was fun. Elisha made some tasty food items and dips and we also ate a lot of the yummy leftovers from Arts (Southern Charm). We had blue (blueberry) and orange (pumpkin) beer for UF and also Elisha made a green swamp drink that we had before at Todd's house (infused with lime, mint, and basil). The tail-gators next to us offered us brats and we played some games with them including giant jenga and cornhole.
We took breaks from the tailgating to walk around and see the massive tailgating around the campus. Dad and I went to the game, which was close for 3 quarters, but the gators just had no offense and lost to FSU
11/29
I gave the parents a bike tour of the entire campus, which took all afternoon as the campus is giant. In the evening we went out to one of Elisha's favorite restaurants, Tijuana flats for Mexican and then to the campus service in the auditorium. Then we went to Mark and the senora's place to watch the Broncos beat the Patriots in OT.
11/30
We drove out to Ichetucknee springs, rented a couple of canoes and floated down then paddled up the length of the state park. The springs and its clear water were beautiful as usual. The birds were of course plentiful and there were lots of turtles sunning themselves out on the logs. Mom had some fun scaring a few to plop into the river. We saw several gar fish and even an otter. We had lunch along the river and even had time at the end to do the short hike to the blue hole. We had dinner at Elisha and my favorite traditional Chinese place in Gainesville, Small House
12/1
We drove out to Cedar Key and walked through the downtown and along the ocean front. We had lunch at the little beach park there and then rented kayaks and paddled through some of the keys in the area. We landed on a beach and walked around a bit. On the way back to our launch site, we spotted a couple of dolphins in the distance. We had dinner at the Gainesville institution of Satchel's pizza.
12/2
We had a sort of rest day. Mom, Elisha, and I biked some of the bike paths around Gainesville and explored some of the trails through the woods in the creek areas. At sundown we went to the bat houses to see all the bats emerge from what dad called the bat condos. Elisha made her tasty lettuce wraps and spring rolls for dinner
12/3
We drove out to the La Chua trail at the North entrance of Payne's Prairie and did the walk out to Alachua lake where we got to get up close and personal with the big gators. We went home for lunch and then drove out to lake Wauburg and the South entrance of Payne's Prairie where we did a hike out to a view point. Along the way we saw deer and armadillos, and at the viewpoint we saw a herd of bison in the distance. We met Todd at the top for margaritas and then had some of their famous burgers
12/4
We biked the 20 mile bike trail from Hawthorne to Gainesville. It was a bit chilly, so we moved surprisingly fast. In the late afternoon, we did some Christmas shopping at best buy and then went out to dinner at Adam's Ribs. The ribs were incredible and my parents said it was the best ribs they've ever had
12/5
We biked to the museum to check out the butterfly exhibits and see the giant megaladon jaws. Then before you knew it it was time to take the parents to the Gainesville airport. We had such a great time with them that it was very sad to say goodbye. But the good news is that we'd be seeing them again shortly after Christmas.
Thanks for visiting Mom and Dad! We had lots of fun!
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| Ichetucknee |
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| around Cedar Key |
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| Tailgate |
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| Dad picking out dessert at Satchel's Pizza |
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| Tasty ribs at Adam's Ribs |
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| Jax beaches |
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| UF bat houses |
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| gator colors |
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| tailgating with Mark, Blue, and the Senora |
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| the short boyfriend |
