DISCLAIMER

"To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield"
- Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1833

"live deep and suck out all the marrow of life"
- Henry David Thoreau, 1845

"Some guys, they just give up living
And start dying little by little, piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up,
And go racin' in the streets"
- Bruce Springsteen, 1977

"...to the heart, there's no time for you to waste.
You won't find your precious answers now
by staying in one place"
- Frank Turner, 2009

"The best things in life aren't things
They're living and breathing"
- Michael Franti , 2011

"Well, this world is ours while we are in it
Grab a hold of my hand
And we can take it
Together, our lives are just one passing minute
It could be gold, if we make it"
- Jay Buchanan, 2012

"We've got these times of our lives
Let's take this time to let it show
'cause these are ours.
These are ours!"
-Justin Furstenfeld, of Blue October 2013

"I owned every second that this world could give,
I saw so many places, the things that I did"
- Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, 2014

"No cash in the bank, no paid holidays
All we have, all we have is
Gas in the tank, maps for the getaway
All we have, all we have is time"
- Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, 2014



All written content and photos by Rob Fulfer unless otherwise indicated.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

So, what's in store for 2024, por favor?


Monday, January 1 (12:01 AM) - Happy (EST) New Year from Fernandina Beach!! 
After seeing the new year come in on the chilly, moonlit beach, we turned in for bed with a long drive ahead of us back home tomorrow...um, I mean today.  


"Rivers and roads, (oh) rivers and roads til I reach you." - The Head and the Heart
We crossed many a river on the roads north from NE Florida and SE Georgia toward home today.


Hotlanta
was anything but that as temps continued to drop as we headed north, but the traffic was 1000% better than when we drove down and we made good time getting home with a quick stop for Sunny again in Dublin, GA, (great free dog park) and a quick dinner with Paige in Chattanooga as well at the always solid Glen Gene Diner in Hixson


Thursday, January 4 - We finally had to time to go see the new Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom movie at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) tonight along with our friend, Toney.   Despite bad reviews, the film was OK and watchable for the most part.  


Sunday, January 14 - There's a long, WHITE train a-comin' this way...
Our first snow of the winter season hit today, and we waited it out in the house with ALL our pets since the temps were frigid as well.   In the end we got around 7" of the white stuff.  


Seems our polar bear loves the snow as well.  Shoulda figured that! 


Tuesday, January 16 - We took a little snowy stroll today in our 17-degree weather down to Los Compradres for a late Mexican lunch.   We needed to shake off some of the cabin fever we have since being snowed in for a few days already. 


Thursday, February 1 - Hey, it's not every day that the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile comes to town! But it did today to our local Kroger supermarket, so we stopped by to take a look at it up close.  It's a pretty sweet ride!  We got to talk with the driver (what a fun job!) who also snapped this nice picture of us with it.  Hot dog!  That was fun! 


Saturday, February 3- 
We attended the "Fudge and Flights" event at Cedar Glade Brews in Murfreesboro today where decadent fudge from Silver Fox Treats was made with four different kinds of CG Brews and then paired with those same beers in a flight.  They were all very good and a really interesting and tasty combo.  First up was their Maniac Pale Ale which was paired with a green apple and caramel fudge.  Next was their raspberry-infused Berliner Off Broad (BOB) paired with an orange creamsicle fudge.  Then it was their Native Creatures Belgian-style wild ale paired with a chocolate-covered cherry fudge.  And, finally, their Nuttin' But Fun smoked porter paired with a pecan fudge
We love these guys not only for their beer, but the fact that they allow dogs to come inside, so Sunny enjoyed herself as well getting lots of pets and attention (and treats!).


Monday, February 5 - This evening we went to Mt. Juliet for dinner at the M.L. Rose location there to support New Leash on Life which was getting 20% of the profits today. Our dinners were very good, and it was great to support such a wonderful cause.  


Thursday, February 8 - We took a nice lunchtime walk with Sunny up to Cumberland University to see some of the home opening day for their baseball team's 2024 season. The Phoenix were leading Indiana Wesleyan 2-1 when we left.


Saturday, February 10 - We flew down to Miami late tonight and stayed at a nice Homewood Suites near the airport in preparation for a 5-night cruise tomorrow.  


Sunday, February 11 - We set sail out today on the Scarlet Lady, our first time on a Virgin cruise ship 
thanks to a great deal (more than half off the listed price) for this 5-day voyage gotten by our friends, Kate and Curtis, through their work for Southwest Airlines.  Embarkation was quick and easy.  Instead of room key cards to have to keep up with, we had light, waterproof wristbands that worked great.  
Before boarding we killed some time and had a good lunch at the nearby Casa Juan Restaurant where they make killer mojitos! 


Our balcony room was not much more than an inside room on the Scarlet Lady.  The layout was a little different than what we are used to but worked out fine (even in the tiny shower). Photo credit goes to Ashlee on this one. 


It was a little overcast, but still a nice, warm day in Miami and the harbor was busy as we took it all in from our roomy balcony. 


Getting service almost anywhere on the boat was as easy as raising your "Ahoy" flag.  Grilled shrimp all day!! 


We got a pretty sunset with our Sail Away Party that included complimentary champagne. 


Instead of a regular buffet or a sit-down large main dining room, the Scarlet Lady has several upscale restaurants throughout the boat that are at no up-charge, but you do need reservations, and tonight we had them at The Test Kitchen.  The six-course meal was not all winners to our tastebuds but overall, in terms of uniqueness (an asparagus sorbet) and presentation (steaming salmon), it was an interesting and fun experience that would have cost a brother well over $100 on the mainland.


They had a Super Bowl Watch Party going on in their biggest venue, The Red Room, that included big screens and complimentary popcorn.  We popped in just after halftime and were only going stay for a bit, but the game was so intriguing and the atmosphere so fun, we ended up staying to the end which included overtime.  Congrats, again, KC.  Quite the juggernaut you've built there. 
It was almost always a party atmosphere on this adults-only (thank God!) ship, but there was plenty of quiet spaces too and the amount of common area places to gather, sit and hang out were aplenty. 


Monday, February 12 -
It was our first Day at Sea today and we enjoyed the mild weather throughout the ship including the fun and unique hammock swing on our 11th floor balcony with a commanding view of Big Blue out there.  We've missed you, Mother Ocean.   


We explored the ship, got some pool time in, played some trivia, and just a had a relaxing and fun time.  Not bad for a Monday!  The highlight of the day was definitely tonight's dinner at Pink Agave, an upscale Mexican food experience. Spoiler alert: this place was the consensus best meal of the cruise, but with a couple of close seconds as well.  


Tuesday, February 13 - Welcome to Cozumel, Mexico!! 
Our first port stop was the island off the mainland that we've been to a few times before.  Ashlee and I decided to do a couple different solo morning excursions but met back up at the port for some fun together in the afternoon. 


It happened to be Fat Tuesday today and the last day of Carnivale for the folks here in Mexico. We were treated to an excellent and detailed dance from some young folks from the area while at the fun and frolicking bar, Alberto's.  We partied with some new friends Ashlee had made on her excursion that included a good amount of drinking...funny how that happens, lol. 


Pretty water and a pretty boat. Walking to and from the ship was enjoyable and we even saw a large barracuda in the clear waters below the pier.  


We got back to the ship in time to catch a performance of "Duel Reality" - a take on the Romeo and Juliet story with high-flying acrobatics, juggling and other jaw-dropping talents shown off by the performers.   It was a ton of fun!  


It was "Red Night" aboard the Scarlet Lady and the entire ship was decorated and festive for this fun party.   We all donned some red clothing and joined in on the fun! 
Dinner tonight was at The Wake, a traditional steakhouse setting.  My appetizer of a New York strip and then my entree of a filet mignon were fantastic, as was all the other food including some decadent desserts.  Yes, we tried them all! 


Wednesday, February 14 - Happy Valentine's Day at Sea!! 
It's hard to believe it was almost 6 years ago to the day that we were able to actually cruise to Cuba.  That was another fun trip.  Today we just cruised by the still-mysterious island country on our way to the Bahamas.  


"Looking down on cruising" is not our thing...unless it's from an upper deck looking down at our wake in the big blue.  This shot reminds us of our painting in our living room somewhat.   It was another relaxing day at sea, and I even won $700 in a poker tournament!  


"Gunbae!!" means "cheers" in Korean and is also the name of tonight's Korean barbecue restaurant.  This was a VERY CLOSE SECOND to Pink Agave as our favorite food and FIRST IN OVERALL FUN as a dining experience.  We sat with a fun couple from New Jersey and became fast friends over our meal cooked almost entirely in front of us.  We also drank some unknown clear liquor and yelled "Gunbae!" when each of us had to shoot it.   
Beforehand, our foursome also won a free trivia contest that got us each a free drink of choice!  Go, Team Ship-Faced!! 


Thursday, February 15 - 
It was our first visit to the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas today and Ashlee and I booked an excursion to snorkel around the wreck of the SS Sapona which ran aground here during a hurricane in 1926.  It has had quite the sorted history!  Man, what an experience!  The 20-minute boat ride out to it and back was smooth and fun.   Especially on the way back with some rum punch in hand!   The water was not cold and clear as glass all the way to the ocean floor here at 10 to 15' in depth.  We saw a ton of fish and even a sea turtle from a distance.  I even snorkeled inside the ship which was beyond interesting.  Such a fun and unique experience! 


Back on the island, we got picked up by Curtis and Kate, who had rented a golf cart to explore the island.  Curtis did a great job driving on the left side the road (British rules here) and our first stop was Big Al's conch house and bakery.  We got some cracked conch (they've evidently been through a lot of it here based on the photo above) and some rum cake for dessert to go.  


Our picnic spot to enjoy our cracked conch was along Radio Beach and was pretty choice!  The conch was good and the cake was great!  


And our view back down the beach from our picnic spot was pretty nice too...


We had kind of forgot it was Valentine's Day yesterday while here in sunny Bimini, but our other "Sunny" reminded us that love was in the air...especially with her new boyfriend, Hank.  Thanks to Diane's Dog House for the pic and the excellent boarding of our girl during this trip. 


Our felines were doing great as well as we look to have found a great new cat-sitter in Kim's Precious Paws Pet Services.  Thanks to Kim herself for this great shot of Mr. Zippy to whom she gave insulin shots to twice a day while we were gone.  


We spent the rest of our time on the island at The Bimini Beach Club that was exclusively booked for our cruise ship today.  I had a nice rum and Coke while here and Ashlee had some coconut Malibu rum served up in a real coconut. 


It's been a while since we've taken a good shadow pic, but this one snapped by Ashlee on our way back to the ship is a winner for sure!  


Our last night on the ship was blessed with more nice, mild weather which we've enjoyed the entire trip.  We also had a full moon with Jupiter shining brightly below.


2/16 -
We got back into the port of Miami early and disembarkation was smooth and simple. 

We had some time to kill before our flight home, so we Ubered over to The Latin Cafe 2000 for some good food and libations outside on their patio in some beautiful weather. 

We flew home standby with Kate and Curtis on Southwest,
and while we appreciated the earlier flight home, the hassle of it just doesn't seem worth the free flight in our opinion.   We barely got on the crowded flight and had to sit in middle seats.  Yuck!   

When we got back, we were all hungry again, so we stopped by the Sindoore Indian restaurant in Donelson and had some amazingly good food.  


Speaking of food, we did have one more breakfast before getting off the Scarlet Lady this morning, so we made the best of it, especially Ashlee and her French toast burger pictured above.  


Saturday, February 17 - Go Dudley Go!! We've entered Dudley in a nationwide contest for America's Favorite Pet.  Daily voting is free, but you can get more votes with donations to PAWS.org that helps sick, injured and orphaned animals.   
(Editor's note:  as of 2/27/04 Dudley has moved up to 3rd!) 


Sunday, February 18 - We had a Sunday-funday drive today down toward Chattanooga with a stop at Common John Brewing in Manchester where Sunny loves their outdoor patio and astro-turf!  


Our last stop today was atop Monteagle Mountain at the amazing Sewanee Natural Bridge which has now been taken over by the state as a designated Natural Area.  


Thursday, February 29 - Happy Leap Day!  
This evening Ashlee and I attended our first Nashville Predators game in quite a while.  It was a stocking stuffer gift I gave Ashlee for Christmas along with a free burrito from Moe's and a couple Preds Christmas ornaments and stockings which we picked up tonight.   The boys are doing pretty good with a 6-game winning streak and are currently in the wildcard hunt for the playoffs this season.  Tonight's opponent was the Minnesota Wild and by the time we left in the 3rd period the rout was on with a final score of 6-1 Predators! 

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR'S FUN


We've now welcomed our 5th cat to the household - yep, five.  This is Letty and, like me, doesn't photograph that well due to her interesting, but dark, torty coloration, but, damn, is she a sweetie (also like me!).  She was the last of a litter of six that we were fostering recently and gets her name from a character in the Fast and Furious movie franchise as were her siblings ("the fast and the curious").  Several factors led to us deciding to add another member to our family.  First, as mentioned before, she's super sweet.  Second, she gets along famously with Sunny.  Third, she's the eventual replacement for Zippy who we know is in his twilight years (or might outlive us all just for spite).  


Saturday, December 9 - We had some great take-out for lunch today from a food truck here in Lebanon called Just Fish.  Their catfish filets are sublime!   While Ashlee isn't a big fried fish fan, she thought their "Just Spaghetti" sides (two of them) made a great meal as well.  We'll be back!!  


Wednesday, December 13 -
We headed out late this afternoon to jump on the JW Starlight 4D Christmas train experience and bar in the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel.  This has been our only Christmas pop-up experience so far in Nashville this season, but it was a fun one including a great cocktail of coffee liqueur and local Greenbrier Distilling whiskey


The holiday classic, A Christmas Story, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, so we had to go see it on the big screen.  We chose the Green Hills Theaters (recliners!) to take it in and it was a nice follow-up to our pop-up bar experience.   



Ashlee and I finished first and third, respectively, in the regular season of our fantasy football league this season!
  On to the playoffs!! 


Saturday, December 16
 - We threw a Christmas Party entitled "Let's Get Lit" tonight that included a boozy shuttle ride to see Christmas lights.  We had a great turnout with folks coming from as far away as Chattanooga and Pennsylvania.  And I drank too much (shocker), but otherwise it was our usual fun time despite a little rain throughout the evening. 


Tuesday, December 19 -
We went to see the new film, Wonka, at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) on Tuesday Bargain Night.  The film was a pure delight and very well made.  


Saturday, December 23 - We exchanged presents tonight in our house full of pets
since we are heading to Chattanooga tomorrow and then on to the beach for the week after.  


December 24 -
We loaded up today to head to Chattanooga for Christmas Eve with Sunny at Paige, Andy and Ella's house.  We started a new novel by Tom Hanks via audiobook called The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece. It's a long one which we need for our drive to Florida and back this week.  
We had a great time exchanging presents, eating some great food, and playing a hilarious game of "What Do You Meme?" from the makers of "Cards Against Humanity." 


December 25 -
We hung out at Paige's for Christmas Day and despite the rainy weather, had a nice time with family.   


December 26 -
We loaded back up today from Chattanooga and continued south for our beach vacation in NE Florida.  The weather was crappy, the traffic was worse, and the only highlight was seeing the pretty Forsyth County Courthouse in Forsyth, Georgia, when we got rerouted off the clogged-up interstate south of Atlanta.  We are familiar with this building and town from watching the "7 Little Johnstons" TV show
We did find a great, free dog park at the Dublin, GA, Welcome Center and wanted to give a shout out to them for their great facilities.   Sunny was also a real trooper in the car for the long ride. 


It was well after dark when we finally got to our very nice pet-friendly condo in Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, Florida, just a couple blocks said beach and met our friends, Mike and Eileen, and their little dog, Callie.  Sunny loves little dogs and Callie was no exception.  They got along famously right off the bat.  


December 
27 - This was Sunny's first vacation and first visit to the beach.  She was a little spooked by the waves but seemed to enjoy the visit.  As mentioned before, she was great in the car on the long ride down as well and is great to travel with. 
We were able to walk down to the Salt Life Food Shack and eat out on the patio with the doggies.  The food and drinks were great here! 


 We stopped by  Mocama Beer Company this afternoon where I had a pretty good beer and Sunny used their facilities (a fenced in picnic area out back) and we were so happy to see they had brewery cats here.  Besides this calico (who looks a lot like our Doris), Ashlee also spied a torty among the brewing facilities. 
We also had some libations and some damn good warm pretzels at Hofbrau Amelia, a German beer garden in downtown Fernandina Beach. 


December 
28 - After a lazy morning and so-so weather outside, we ambled over to T-Ray's Burger Station (yes, it used to be a gas station) for some outstanding fresh cheeseburgers and fries.  
We put Sunny in for a nap afterwards and strolled a little in the charming downtown area of Fernandina Beach.  We popped in some stores and had a nice couple of libations at Amelia Island Brewing Company.  We like this town! 

 
We had a great bonfire arranged on the beach tonight and were even graced with a full moon and sky full of stars.  The dogs enjoyed it as well.  


An added bonus to our amazing moonlit beach bonfire was seeing the launched Space X Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center down the coast a good ways. 


December 
29 - We did a little road-tripping today since the weather was sunny and beautiful, but still pretty darn cold, so it was better to see the area from the car mostly.  We headed back north a bit, and our first stop was the historic Horton House on beautiful Jekyll Island.  The walls of this amazing structure are made with seashells and are still standing after being erected in 1743, making it one of the oldest structures in the state of Georgia.  


The windswept Jekyll Island beach was pretty quiet thanks to the time of year and windy conditions.  


The beautiful St. Simons Lighthouse was all decked out for Christmas.  We enjoyed a late afternoon stroll around this pretty town's waterfront, saw a couple dolphins cruising through the harbor, and had a good dinner at Iguanas seafood restaurant


What the "H" is up with this bridge?  We headed back toward our condo as the sun was setting as we crossed the awesome Sidney Lanier Bridge spanning over the Brunswick River.  It was from this bridge earlier we saw a very unique and giant "RoRo aka Roll on-Roll off" automobile container ship from the European company, Wallenius Wilheimsen.


December 
30 - We had some more time on the beach today and Sunny continued to enjoy herself except for a little wariness of the waves.   The wind still kept it a little cold, but not awful. 
We had lunch that consisted of some pretty good pizza outside with Sunny at First Love Brewing along with some of their excellent beer.  


It was kind of a bummer today to stop by the Amelia Island Lighthouse, the oldest still in existence in the state of Florida (circa 1838), and have the gate closed despite the fact that the grounds are supposed to be open on Saturdays.  Boo!! But still a beauty, even from a distance.   
We had dinner (sans the snoozing Sunny) back at the walkable Salt Life Food Shack which was again great. 


December 
31 - New Year's Eve started with a fantasy football battle between me and Ashlee for 3rd place unfortunately since we both got beat in Round 2 of the playoffs.  Ashlee inched out a come-from-behind win to get some revenge over my regular season win over her.   We both had a pretty successful and fun season this year. 


It was our last full day at the beach and it did not disappoint with sunny skies and some dolphins cruising by our beach area.

Our early dinner at The Boat House was incredible along with great drinks and good live music.
  We hung around a little while downtown afterwards and wanted to see the NYE "shrimp drop" at 7 PM, but we were stuffed, it was getting cold, and the drop looked a little lame (dropping from a bucket truck - big whoop), so we headed back to the condo instead and relaxed the year away.  


11:59 PM - We strolled over to the chilly moonlit beach at midnight to ring in the new year

  Happy (EST) New Year from Fernandina Beach!! 


2023 was a weird, wacky year with a car wreck, a motel room for a cat, another new cat, a return to Bonnaroo and also a lot of fun and laughs along the way.  This year's collage turned out great.
Bring it on 2024!!