Destin, FL Trip Day 5 and homeward....

Forgot to mention that the previous night, we all went to McGuire's Irish Pub.  It was fabulous!  I didn't take my camera, so I nabbed a photo from the web.  They have 1.3 MILLION dollar bills donated and autographed by customers hanging on most every surface.

Really fun - they have the 18 cent Senate Bean soup - and lots of fun Irish Dishes.  


So, on to the next day....Dave invited us to his place for a luncheon with his sister Jean and her husband John.  Neat folks!

While Dave was getting things settled for lunch, Lindy took me on a tour of Dave's condo.  15th floor - this is the view from his bedroom setting area.  Wouldn't you love to wake up to that view every morning?

Jean and Lindy chatting - did I say they were nice folks???

It was John's 83rd birthday the next day, so we wished him a happy birthday!  And no, he didn't get to eat the whole cake!

The view from the 15th floor!  

I may have gotten the photos out of order, but you get the idea....many walks on the beach.  This one at sunset.  Lovely Dick and Lindy!

And a young group of adults asked me to take a photo of them with their camera.....and the obliged by doing the same for us!  Robert tried to Photoshop this to lighten up our faces, but he said the "data is just not there"....lovely photo anyway, even if I did have to drag Dick over into the frame!

If you can't tell, in order left to right -  it's Dave, Lindy, Duane, Karen, reluctant Richard!

 And this is un-retouched.  This is actually what the sunset looked like!  Beautiful!

But our time was limited and the trip was almost over. Back to the Destin Airport the following morning for the flight home. The "dualing Mooney's"!




A lovely day to fly home - this time without too much headwind.

Looking more familiar?  Close to Siler City the trees are starting to turn their fall colors.

And taxiing in for fuel, I spied this hawk perched on a thin post.  He didn't budge as we taxied by.  Lovely trip!

Destin,Fl Trip Day 4 - Habitat Work Day

Dave is retired and volunteers quite a bit....one of his causes is Habitat for Humanity.  He told us a month or so ago that he'd be busy on Saturday at a Habitat workday.  So, we asked him if he could include us!

A fun "work day" on vacation!

Here's the house - simple but functional.  It's 4 bedrooms - the new owners are a fairly young couple with "one on the way", plus two mother-in-laws! The family was there working side-by-side with the volunteers.  They seem to be really nice folks!

  Lovely old trees in the neighborhood.

 Lindy and I first got assigned to do baseboard molding.  Lindy marking studs so I could use the nail-gun to attach the molding.

First piece installed!

Other volunteers doing their assigned work.  The molding was all stored in the living room, so we just would take a piece outside as we needed it to be cut to length/angle.

Another volunteer, Dick, manned the chopsaw all day.  We took him our measurement and angle requirements and he cut the molding (almost always a good fit!)  There were several folks working on molding, so we kept Dick busy!

My turn to get a piece cut!

First finished corner!  A little caulk and it will be perfect!

And so it went, all day long for me.  All around this room, closet, into the hallway and all the way around the living room!

Lindy helped other volunteers throughout the day - this time helping install door knobs.  This volunteer told us that this is his 75th Habitat house!

Hard at work measuring!

Meanwhile, outside the boys (and a few girls) were busy digging a new driveway by hand!

They were forming the entire area for concrete later in the week. Here Dave is actually working with a shovel in his hand... he's  in the dark vest....

Here I think Dave is lazing around, just being the inspector...haha!

Duane and Dave hard at work!

Lots of hands digging thru the roots and grass.

Amazing what so many hands/backs/shovels can accomplish in one day.  They dug out the entire area to about 6" deep.

At the end of the day, the finished driveway form.

And Lindy/Dave getting some last-minute adjustments made for the sidewalk form.  A fun and fulfilling way to spend a vacation day!

Destin, Floriday trip day3 - Naval Air Museum at Pensacola visit

Forgot to mention yesterday that we all went to see Gone Girl - the movie.  We had read the book for book club - a fine murder/mystery/twisted ending book.  The husbands hadn't read the book, but were good sports about letting Lindy and I see the movie without complaint.  We enjoyed the movie and thought they did a decent job of hitting the high points for a complicated story!

Another beautiful day!!!  A little road trip to Pensacola to tour the National Naval Air Museum. 

If you don't like airplanes, you probably will just need to scroll thru this day quickly!!

Seemed like a normal museum....since we'd been to many of them over the years.  But this one was truly better.  More planes in much better condition than many museums.

We took a trolly tour outside around the grounds.  They have a large tarmac with many, many older planes.  (None appeared to be in good flying condition,  just for display/historical purposes).  They wouldn't let you off the trolly, so we just stopped and got a "lesson" at the more interesting aircraft.

Inside the museum was amazing!   Here is Dick next to an aircraft similar to his Fleet that he is currently refurbishing.

A Ford Tri-motor  -  we've seen a similar plane at Oshkosh.

The Blue Angels older planes.

This is Marine Corps One - the very helicopter that Diane's dad flew prior to his retirement in 1962.   Isn't that cool?

Inside shot with Richard Nixon!

The aircraft were squeezed in literally one on top of the other!

A Blue Angels plane for inspection up-close.

And a real-life drone! Much bigger than I expected!



And always when I'm at a Naval museum, I try to find Daddy's aircraft carrier - the USS Philippine Sea

And there it is - decommissioned shortly after Daddy was discharged in 1958 (if I understand correctly since I wasn't born yet!) Interesting side note - there is a much newer ship named the USS Philippine Sea - not an aircraft carrier but a guided missile cruiser. I happen to know that because Robert's friend Elora's brother is on board the current one!

Destin, Florida Trip day 1 and 2

Due to the altitude I picked, we were in-and-out of the clouds a good bit during the flight. Ugggh, and we had headwinds. So, what should have been just a little over 3 hours dragged on for over 4 hours. But, no worries - the air was fairly smooth and we were expecting it. Approaching Destin airport -

Once the controller let us descend, the beautiful area was in full view!

Dick and Lindy have a long time friend, Dave, that lives full-time in Destin.  He happens to own two - 2 bedroom beachfront condos!  One he lives in and one he rents out.  Dick had made arrangements with Dave for us to rent his condo - so he met us at the airport.  The airport is only a few blocks from the beach and the condos!  He was nice enough to loan us his car too!  What a pal!

After getting settled, we all went for a nice long walk on the beautiful beach.

Back to visit Dave at his 15th story condo.  Lovely!

Dinner at a beach bar was a nice ending to a long day.  Lindy and I put together a small puzzle she brought.  Interesting story.....If you notice, there is something familiar on this puzzle.....it's Dick's original balloon!  (One of a kind balloon that Lindy designed - so there's no chance it's a different balloon....)  They were at an event at Callaway Gardens.  Lindy says that the shop owner told her "all those photos were taken at Callaway Gardens".  Lindy begged to differ with her!!!  They had never been to Callaway Gardens before, hence, the photo of Dick's balloon was taken elsewhere.  Regardless, she said she had to purchase the puzzle with Dick's balloon on it!

Day two was just as lovely - we had a relaxing drive with Dave over to nearby Eden Garden State Park.   Beautiful grounds with huge old live oak trees and much Spanish Moss!

Lovely old mansion from the late 1800's.

Lindy snapped a shot of us to prove we really were there!

Back to our condo - lovely view also!  Amazing that almost no one was on the beach.  Dave said that during the "on season" that sugary white sand would be wall-to-wall people!  Sounds like Oct-Nov is the best time to be there!