all things anderson

Sailing On the Condor

When Grandma Lee, Mom and Dad came to visit, Lisa thought it would be fun to take a boat ride.  The only problem with this is both Dad and I get sea sick easily.  Lisa and the internet to the rescue.  Lisa searched local boating options and found Condor Sailing Adventures and their unique multi-hull sailboat.  Because the sailboat does not lean in the wind, it helps to prevent seasickness.  As someone who gets seasick just riding in the back seat of a softly sprung car, I was skeptical, but agreed to go for the outing anyway.  We called and made the reservations and met up the next morning with Captain Mike Kirk.  Since the temperature was getting close to 100 degrees, we opted for the mid-morning cruise.

Since Grandma is not too agile anymore, we were concerned about how she would fare on a sailboat.  Our fears were quickly eliminated when Captain Kirk brought out what looked like an easy chair that fit on the trampoline of the sailboat.  Grandma easily boarded the boat and sat down in the chair.  The rest of us got matching chairs and left the dock.  Once out of the marina, Captain Kirk opened the sails and off we went, silently skipping across the water.

The trip was scheduled for two hours, so I was curious what we would do to fill the time since there’s only so far you can go, and only so much to see.  Captain Kirk had the trip well planned though and the time flew by. He told us about the boat, some of his sailing endeavors, and even gave us some good tips on things to do around Pensacola while the family was visiting.  In addition to being a genuinely nice person, he provided not only all the icy cold beverages we wanted (which were a lot when it was in the upper 90s and not a cloud in the sky), but also brought us cupcakes from a local bakery – a nice touch.  Overall, we loved the sailing adventure.  Captain Kirk was a great host and I would highly recommend taking a trip with him for anyone who wants to go sailing.  Oh, and Captain Kirk was right, none of us got seasick.

Trip To Tallahassee And New Galleries

Lisa and I travelled to Tallahassee last weekend with the intention of visiting a pug breeder.  She had a litter of puppies that were spoken for, but it would be a good opportunity to see the puppies, the parents, and the personalities of the dogs.  Since it also happened to be the weekend after our anniversary, we made it an anniversary getaway weekend leaving Saturday and returning Sunday.  Our plans were to meet with the breeder on Sunday so we had to find something to do on Saturday.  Taking the suggestion of a co-worker, we headed to Wakulla Springs anticipating riding in the glass bottomed boat.

Let’s do the math, if the last glass bottom boat cruises leaves at 2 PM, and it takes close to four hours to get there, then you need to add an hourish for lunch, that means we should leave here at 9 PM, right?  That’s exactly what we though but we forgot Pensacola is in the Central time zone and Tallahassee is in the Eastern time zone, so we lost an hour driving.  Disappointed, we figured we would do something else, but after we checked into our hotel room and looked at our options, we figured Wakulla Springs was still the best option.  Thankfully, the thunderstorms in the area stayed away and it ended up being a great trip.

We didn’t know they also had river trips in a more conventional boat.  Since I hadn’t read anything about the spring, I wondered why they offered the option to take a boat trip down a spring fed river.  Within 30 seconds of leaving the dock, I saw why.  An alligator was sunning itself about 20’ from us.  I couldn’t take enough pictures.  Then we saw another…and birds I’ve never seen before…and huge turtles.  Now I understand why they do river trips.  In all, we saw several alligators, several species of birds including an Osprey, a manatee, turtles lined up on a log sunning themselves and some of the clearest water I’ve ever seen.

After the boat trip, Lisa and I decided to go swimming at the source of the spring.  Because it’s a spring, the water is a constant 68 degrees.  Thankfully, the air temperature was in the low 80s so we were plenty warm before jumping in.  And jump in we did.  They had a platform at least 10’ high to jump from. that Lisa suggested we jump from instead of wading in the since we knew the water would be cold.  After Jumping in, we put our goggles on and could see all the way to the bottom, which was 120’ down.  I’ve never experienced water that clear.  We finished the evening by watching nature from one of the docks.  Next time we visit, we will stay in the lodge so we don’t have to leave at sundown.

Sunday morning we visited a pug breeder.  We spent four hours there playing with the dogs.  I think the pictures will speak for themselves.  We love pugs.  Hopefully we will be coming home with a couple from the next litter. 

Here are some pictures:
Wakulla Springs
Pug puppies

Toad Concert–Take 2

Ok, I think I’ve recovered enough from the concert last night to capture my thoughts on paper.  I got to bed last night at 12:30 AM.  I think I got maybe five hours sleep last night because of the storms that swept through after we got home.  Plastic deck chairs + high winds = loud crashing on the porch at 4 AM.  For a moment, I thought someone was trying to break into the house before I realized the wind threw the chairs against the house.  The chairs would bounce off the house and the next gust of wind would repeat the process.  Thankfully the chairs were hitting the house and not the windows or that could have been bad news.  Enough about the weather.

Seeing Toad in concert last night was one of the few things that I’ve always wanted to do.  They came through Houston once when I was living there but I didn’t know anyone who liked them since I had just moved there so I didn’t go.  I have been kicking myself since.  Then, Glen Phillips, the lead singer came through San Antonio to do a solo show on Lisa’s birthday one year.  I don’t remember what happened, but we ended up not making it to that show either.  I thought I was destined to never see them in concert.  I’ve been to maybe 20 concerts in my life, and this was by far my favorite.  The venue was small with a great sound system and cool atmosphere.  Initially we sat at a table in the back, but still maybe 25 feet away from the stage so we could see well.  As the show progressed, I moved up close with a friend while Lisa stayed at the tables in the back with his wife.  Everyone there seemed to be a big fan so the crowd was engaged with the music.  No side conversations or activities that drew your attention away from the band.  Toad played at least 15 songs for the set and they were tight.  They said they’ve been together for 25 years now and it shows.  Never had an instance during the night where you shuddered because someone missed a note or the band drifted from the beat.  Overall, it went beyond my expectations of them.

After the concert  Glen (lead singer) and Dean (bassist) signed my CD.  They were both very personable and affirmed my feeling that they were good people.  I didn’t get to say much because there was a line of people waiting to get autographs.  Given the chance though, I would have loved to talk to Glen to get to know him.  He always intrigued me.  He’s very simple on the outside (played the concert in a t-shirt and shorts without shoes).  He has a unique way of looking at things that you get a glimpse of through not only the song lyrics, but his blog posts and even comments on his photos.  The thing that draws me to technology is how you can get a glimpse into a life of someone you don’t know through reading on the internet.  You read about their daily life, read links they post, and then share experiences like Glen cutting his arm open thanks to falling through a glass table.  Then you kick yourself for the one time you see them in person, you can’t even as much as ask them how their arm is doing.  I was star struck and didn’t want to pull a Champ Kind talking to Ron Burgundy in Anchorman (go here and search for the word “musk”) and freak Glen out as I tell him about how we could be friends.  No one wants to hear that from a stranger.

Overall, the night ended with Lisa and I walking back to our car and we passed a bar that was still open.  A Toad poster advertising the concert was taped in the window and Lisa pointed it out to me telling me to go get it.  Normally I would ask if I could have the poster.  If you know me, you’ll know that I’ve been to a bar all of once and it was only to meet up with friends, so I’m not fluent in bar etiquette.  I saw the poster and knew I wanted it so I just took it.  Didn’t ask for permission.  Didn’t look back to make sure it was ok, just walked up, untaped it, walked out, and then got in the car and drove away.  Not at all characteristic of me, but I didn’t care.  I wanted that poster.  Incredible end to an incredible evening.  Click on the picture below for the gallery from the show.

Toad Concert

After waiting almost 20 years, I finally attended my first Toad concert.  I’ll write more tomorrow when I can use a more descriptive word than amazing.  Thank you Glen, Todd, Randy, Dean and Jonathan (yeah, they’re a five piece band in concert) for the exceptional show.

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