Patty and I just returned from a great excursion to Florida to watch two Twins games at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. We had a rain delay on the first day but had fantastic weather overall.
One can't beat a cloudless, 85° day with a beer and some baseball. Unfortunately, that's not what we had for the Sunday game. But the rain blew through, and we salvaged a fairly nice day. The Twins won!
Monday was more like it! The beer is a Land Shark Lager, a Jacksonville microbrew. Not bad. (Actually, I've learned subsequently that this beer is linked to Budweiser somehow, so it's off my list, except in cases of extreme duress.) Summit EPA is on tap, as are Yuengling (from America's oldest brewery -- in PA) and Presidente, an extremely timid Dominican Republic beer probably best suited to a really hot day in the Dominican Republic. This photo was taken at the "Drink Rail"; seats one can buy that allow convenient quaffing during the game. Patty and I may get these the next time we're there.
Our trip started from Jacksonville (the closest airport I could get with my frequent flyer points), so we swung through Lake Alfred on the way to Fort Myers. My 55-year-old retired brother Mark has a place there. He was kind enough to put us up for a few days. We put 800 miles on this Bug rental car.
Here's Mark in front of his house. He's proud of it -- and should be.
Patty took this photo of Mark and me at a beautiful park in Lakeland, FL.
Lots of beautiful foliage there, too!
Our trip also included a stop on Marco Island to take my parents to dinner. They seem to be doing well, although my mother still loves to talk about Edina, even though no one else could give a shit about it. But parents will be parents, I guess.
Our trip also included a stop on Marco Island to take my parents to dinner. They seem to be doing well, although my mother still loves to talk about Edina, even though no one else could give a shit about it. But parents will be parents, I guess.
We had some time on the way back to Jacksonville, so we stopped in St. Augustine, the oldest continually inhabited town in the U.S. (It goes back to the 1500s, I think.) It was very pretty and "Euro-Iberian." We had a great lunch there, including some fabulous lobster tacos. We really need to eat more of those!
Overall, I thought this was a great trip. Patty's a bit less of a baseball fan than I am (and had to put up with in-laws), so she may have a lesser opinion of it than I do. In any case, I hope we can go back sometime!
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