Tues, March 28 - Tues, May 2- at River's Edge Marina
14 May 2017
We were up early to begin prepping Mar-a-Lago for her long stay at River's Edge. Last April we left her here for ten days, this year we are leaving her for 5 weeks, including the month of April. Since we also 'abandoned ship' for a month in December, we have the 'to do' list perfected...but it still took most of Tuesday and Wednesday to get everything completed & checked off our list.
But all was not work...on Tuesday evening we joined our Toronto friends for a last dinner. We walked with Patrick & Di into the historic district, to meet the rest of the QCYC contingent at Pizzalleys...David & Linda, and David & Nancy who both rented condos here in St A for the winter. Tomorrow morning we were all heading off in different directions...three couples were driving north, and the Resolute V crew was moving their boat to the St Augustine Marine Center to be hauled out. We all enjoyed happy hour and our meals, and it certainly was fun to see everyone again!
Early Wednesday afternoon we picked up our rental car, and that made doing errands a lot easier. Since doing this long distance cruising, we've found it much easier to rent a car to drive home than book flights that may have to be changed last minute because we haven't ended up where/when we planned. Also, because rental cars from the US cannot be returned in Canada, we simply rent the car for the month, drive it around when we are home, and then return it when we are back at the boat. The bonus is there is no worry about luggage...with the car we take as much stuff home with us as we want (even laundry) and the same with the return trip...very civilized we think!
On Thursday, March 30 we said good-bye to Patrick & Di, then made a quick stop at our favourite St Augustine cafe, 'Everything Bagel' where they make the best New York style bagels. We got a couple toasted with delicious cream cheese to go, and half a dozen bagels to take home with us, and off we went heading north on 1-95. We took the mountain route along I-79 & I-77, exchanged texts with Linda & David who were following the same route, and stopped overnight at Oak Hill. We made good time the next day, and to avoid Friday night rush hour at the border, we decided to delay a couple of hours to stop & shop:). Friday evening we arrived home safely and it was great to be back in town!