Vacation Mode

We are trying our best to get into "vacation mode" and make the best of trip to Florida. We were invited to dinner at Wayne and Lisa Abdul's home Friday night. They have a really nice home in Lutz. We arrived at 6pm and Wayne was busy grilling burgers on their patio. The meal turned out great and the broccoli/cauliflower salad Rudee brought was a big hit. We visited with them the rest of the evening catching up on everything from the kids to life at work. We had a great time and the evening went far too quick for us. Thanks guys.

Saturday we decided to do some motorcycle riding. We headed towards the coast and ended up in Port Richey at Catches Restaurant for lunch. We found this place last May and enjoyed their food. We sat out on the patio again where we had a view of the water and boats. The food was good but the waitress was new and could use some more training.

After lunch we headed south from Port Richey to Tarpon Springs. We toured the famous Sponge Docks which are more shops than dock but it was fun. The sponge industry was started in the late 1800's by a Greek immigrant who discovered he could harvest the sponges from the bay by hooking them. In the early 1900's divers came to this area and began harvesting them using deep sea diving techniques they perfected in Greece. Needless to say there is a very large Greek influence in the area that is visible in the restaurants and gift shops. Here are some photos of our day.

We headed back to the 5th wheel in time to get ready for dinner. We had invited my cousin David and his wife Linda out to dinner. They have been great with my Mom and Dad. Linda had been taking my Dad to dialysis on Saturdays when he couldn't drive and there was no shuttle available. David was always doing little things for them. Our taking them out to dinner was just a small token of our thanks to them, they are two great people.

We picked them up at their house and went to Lazy Susan's restaurant which is at a golf course between Dade City and Zephyrhills. Rudee had made reservations since we had heard about how good the food is. We arrived for our 5:30 seating and there was one other group in the dining room, otherwise we had our choice of tables! The food was really good and we enjoyed our meal and our company. They even had my favorite, fried green tomatoes!! Ummm good! We lingered after dinner just talking and then dropped David and Linda off at their house and headed back home.

Sunday we are going to get together with old friends Dave and Cindy Myers. Dave and I worked together at the Sheriff's Department and have known each other for 20+ years. We haven't seen them for a few years and will have a lot to catch up on. I'll keep you posted.