Author: jcraddock

It’s that time of year again. Brewski Brothers 2018. This year we head to Long Island for a weekend of cyclin’, fishin’, and maybe some drinkin’.

I flew into Providence and got to visit my family. We went to see auth Sara at her assisted living facility and we had a nice visit, uncle Paulie and cousin Laura was there as well.

 

Thursday was the inbound travel day.  Jim V and Dave drove in from NJ, Rick from CT, and Jeff picked me up from my cousin’s house.  We stopped at Crugnales bakery to get some party pizza, cannolis, tuscan bread, and spinich pies!  Jeff and I were munching on the spinach pies as we boarded the ferry and ordered a beer.  The bar tender could not take his eyes off of us, but we realized he was eying our spinach pies – they were delicious.  We let him know were we got them.  The weather on the crossing was simply spectactular. 

The drive to Blue Point was another beauty ride.  We went ahead and got some gas for the boat to prepare for a fishing weekend in and around Great South Bay.  Unfortunately we tried to get the boat started, but that was no avail.

That night we went to one of Jeff’s favorite restauants, JTs, and we had a great meal, splitting appetizers with the big winner being the steamers.   I also got a Lobster Roll and that was great.  We got home, had a nightcap or 2, and got introduced to Peaches. 

That night we had a couple of inches of rain, puddles of undrained water were all over the neighborhood.  The forecast was a ligher rain for quite a bit of the day.  We walked down the street to the beach, and checked out Great South Bay.  We ended up with some chili fixings and we got a nice pot going – good stuff.  We played some cards, and had a couple of nightcaps.

Saturday dawned bright and clear, and the gang tried getting the boat to run – they ended up getting it to run off an external gas tank vs the inboard tank,  but better safe than sorry we went for a bike ride to Harcners park.  It ended with a bang was my front tire blew right when we stopped!.  At the pavilion hobby model airplane enthusiasts were flying their machines – there was one that sounded just like a jet – really cool.

Dave, Jeff, and Rick went to get sandwiches and a spare tire, while Jim and I hung around at the beach.  On the way back Rick had a hankering for Margs, and Jeff suggested JT’s again.  This time we were on the patio by the water in the sun and it was great – we had some shrimp cocktails and some heavily poured Margaritas while watching the boats go by.

Saturday night was another nightcap night, but we heard a live band playing nearby and they sound great so we started on foot to find it.  The sound carries funny near the water, as they were not really nearby but about 2 miiles away!  It was the end of a block party, we got there for about 5 songs and that was it – still it was really cool and totally worth it.

Sunday was the travel day again, Jim V left before dawn as he had to work that day.  The rest of us went to the blue point diner where everyone knew Jeff, they were asking about his father and such, nice that everyone knows your name – Blue Point is a tight knit community.

Jeff took me back and we have another great crossing.  It was a great weekend.

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Karin and I took a trip to Oregon Wine Country to visit Jim O and Dee to see the total eclipse of the sun. We were at the Redgate Winery for an eclipse party. The eclipse was more than I imagined. We had the eclipse glasses on, but as soon as it reached totality, we took those off. We got to see Bailey’s Beads, Venus came out. I did see some weird orange lights to this day I cannot explain! Anyway, the sun came back with a diamond effect – truly spectacular.
In addition, we had some great food, we went for a couple of bike rides, Karin went for a run – the weather was so nice. We went to the Noble Pig, one of Karin’s favs. We also went to Rogue Farms, which provides the hops and barley for their Rogue Beer.

Karin and I took a quick trip to Gloucester, Massachusetts to go to Carol and Jerry’s 50th wedding anniversary party! Karin was one of the few who actually attending the wedding, albeit she was 3 weeks old at the time! It was a beautiful day, a stark contrast to the “warm hug” humidity of Charlotte. On the way, we stopped at Santarpio’s to get some great New England pizza!

Karin and I took a trip to Columbia, SC for dinner at the excellent Capital City Club Columbia, then to South Congaree for the Rodeo!
We met Karin’s mother Barb watching the cowboys and cowgirls doing their thing. We even saw Jesus the Camel!

There was a somber moment before dinner when we saw the African American Monument on the state house grounds.

Went back to Little Rhody with Karin and stayed at a beach house right on the Ocean that Diane and Jim had rented at Scarborough. Good time had by all. Played some “caaaads” (high low jack, of course), Sunday was the big family party where the family came down for some grilled chicken, lobsters, party pizza, corn – a feast. Karin and I ran almost every day. Went to Cranston where Michael and Debbie threw a big dinner party with birthday cake for Karin!

Karin and I had our favorite vacation in Alsace, France. Each year we celebrate with a homemade Alsace pizza along with some Alsatian wine.

Karin and I took went to Arizona, seeing the state from Tuscon up through Phoenix on to Sedona and Flagstaff. We spent some time at the beautiful home of Richard and Kathy, cooling off in their new pool and tasting some very good margaritas made with one of these