The Elusive Dolphins

Karen of RV Travels with Karen and Al, has been graciously sharing places to go kayaking around Sebastian and Fort Pierce, FL since they've been here before. She suggested heading out to the Wabasso Park area, which is a little park right at the Wabasso Causeway bridge. That's where they saw dolphins, and some other interesting things you don't normally see on a kayak outing when they went last year in September.

Eldo stayed home today to watch some of the "March Madness" basketball. He was hoping to see some little unknown college team whomp a BIG NAME college team, just to mix things up a little. A couple of teams did and I can't even remember the name of the little college that beat Missouri, but that's ok, you guys and gals who know basketball do! So Sparky went off to do some serious kayaking, and LOOK FOR DOLPHINS.

Sparky got to the park which is an easy drive from Sunshine Travel RV park. Head down 512 to the Publix grocery store center at the corner of 510 and 512, hang a right, drive straight to the causeway bridge and the park is in two sections, one before the bridge, and one after. Those are Sparky's kind of directions...lots of landmarks or a straight shot so she can't get lost. Pick a park! Sparky picked the second little park. Out comes the Sea Eagle, inflate it, and try out a DIFFERENT seat this time, a traditional kayak seat. Sparky discovered that it's pretty difficult to keep your fanny on the inflatable seat cushion that comes with the kayak IF you wear your lifejacket. It skootches you forward and you feel like you are falling off the seat.

Success! The other kayak seat works great, and Sparky was off in search of dolphins...Never mind the beautiful houses along the waterfront, some with the mangroves cut down in front of them...Hmmmm, I think that's illegal if I remember what Karen said in her blog, illegal to cut down the mangroves, which happen to be one of nature's best defenses against hurricanes.

OK, hug the bend and shoreline, keep track of BIG landmarks so I don't get lost. This is a good landmark! I think I'll be able to find my way back with no problem at all...(Well, I should hope so! says E.) Easy for him to say, he has a built in GPS in his brain...the man NEVER gets lost!

Time to check out some FINS! I saw LOTS of fins today...LOTS of dolphins! Unfortunately, I had the SL-O-O-W camera today...the old Canon 20IS...that shutter is so slow, by the time I saw the dolphin body, got the camera focused, pushed the shutter button, the dolphin was DOWN again. RATS! But I got evidence that there were dolphins in the area....

I also got LOTS of exercise and hard paddling in. I would see multiple fins and dolphins spouting a little ways off, track the kayak towards the forward direction they were heading, and paddle like hell to get there, only to miss THE great shot. Time and time again, I would watch for them to surface, grab my camera, look in the viewfinder to compose the shot, and---TOO LATE! I missed them coming up again. Or I'd race to the spot where I thought they were going to come up, and no dolphins. At one point, my daughter called and I answered the phone, as I was just sitting nearby the shore. I can't help myself, I never can stop scanning the water for dolphins. After chatting a few minutes with her, I spotted a dolphin nearby. This one was CLOSE.  "GOTTA GO, KERRY! Sorry! There's a dolphin coming straight for the boat! Gotta get a photo!" "OKMomBye." She knows her mom and how she's gotta get the photo.

I didn't.

At one point the dolphins surfaced BEHIND the boat. I heard the "FOOPH!" of air, looked behind me, and a pair were surfacing just a few feet away. Spectacular sightings today, some very very close, but not so spectacular camera shots. That's the way it is LOTS of the time with Sparky and dolphins. (Which reminds me of the time Sparky missed not one, but TWO whale breeches, because she was fiddling with her camera, says E.) SH-h-h-h! We know, we know! A lesson to be learned in appreciating nature and remembering it with God's gift He gave you---your memory! Ah, yes...but Sparky's memory is not so hot, so photos are always good if you can get them! And she'll keep trying for that great dolphin photo!

LOVE the Sea Eagle 385 Fasttrack, it tracked really great today...just as great as the old hard shell kayaks I used to have, AND it handled big boat waves really really well....(Uh, Sparky, you didn't have any big yachts bearing down on you in the middle of the channel, did you? Like the OTHER time? wonders E.) Uh, nope! I was careful this time to watch the channel and boat traffic, but that's where you usually find the dolphins, ya know?

Hard to tell if he's coming or going?

It was a GREAT paddle today....saw shore birds, the pelicans, an osprey...

But the best viewing of all was the dolphins...Never get tired of seeing them, watching them chase fish just under the surface of the water, saw that today, too, watch them play and lazily swim around in circles for awhile, and then move on....Time to move on....Maybe we'll see you tomorrow?

Sparky and Eldo Buy a Boogie Board!

After seeing all the surf yesterday, and the terrific waves, Sparky revisited some wonderful childhood memories of body surfing the big waves on Lake Michigan....Now granted, Lake Michigan waves are NOTHING compared to the BIG KAHUNA waves of the Atlantic Ocean, but when you were a kid, they sure seemed darned big at the time. She remembers being pummeled by the waves, slamming against the bottom sand floor, then coming up for air, laughing and riding the waves again and again, pretending to be a dolphin and diving in the waves. Sometimes she would even lose her breath and swallow some lake water, come up sputtering, and STILL go back for more.

Sparky was DYING to get in the water and ride the waves again...With two sets of adult children coming a week apart and soon, Sparky and Eldo decided to go visit a surf shop in the area, to shop for some BOOGIE boards...the boards that are sort of about the size of a half surfboard. You use them to ride the waves....Sparky AND Eldo are going to have some fun with the boogie board tomorrow, if the weather is good. These guys are having just too much fun!

Skim board--throw it alongside the waves at the shoreline and jump on and then try to do tricks!

We stopped at the Sonic Surf Shop in Fort Pierce on Dixie Highway. It was just a little store, but we found what we were looking for....a boogie board or two.... Eldo was checking out the surfboards, SERIOUSLY checking them out. Sparky became alarmed and immediately put the kibosh on THAT idea. She gently said, "ARE YOU NUTS!?" and asked how come Eldo wanted a SURFBOARD instead of a boogie board. He says, "Well, if I get out there, I might try and stand up on it, but actually, I just want something big enough to put my whole body on to ride the waves." STAND UP ON IT????  Eldo's balance is not much better than Sparky's and there is NO WAY either one of us is going to be able to stand up on a surfboard....No way, no how!  Sparky is visualizing all kinds of injuries at this point....surfboard smacking her in her front teeth (see previous post on dental trauma), a surfboard whacking Eldo in the head, knocking him out....She took a deep breath... "OK.....But honey, a boogie board is big enough. A boogie board will work for us."...So we got one! We got two actually, one adult size and one kid size. Cool! Now we gotta hope for some serious waves when we get back over to the gulf side when the kids come.....

We headed over to a beach on the Barrier Island/Vero Beach area right beside the Disney Vero Beach Hotel. We think it was called Wabasso Beach, but we're not sure. It's a FREE city beach, no charge, tiny parking lot and lifeguarded. Once we get the boogie board to the beach, Sparky wants a LIFEGUARDED beach and lots of people around in case we get into trouble.  Sparky wants a lifeguard in serious, buff shape in case SHE gets into trouble. This one will do!

Gotta be in shape to rescue people!

This guard was working out constantly while we were there, BUT WATCHING THE BEACH, while lifting weights, and he even has stretch bands for additional exercises besides using free weights. There was another guy on duty behind him and the other one was just as buff! (AHEM! I thought you were taking photos of the people at the beach! says E.) Oh! Yeah! The surfers....here they are...one of quite a few surfers....

Some big waves......

A group of kids bringing jelly fish/Man-O-War animals on their "jai alai" sticks to the guards' attention....It appeared like villagers bringing an offering to their native chief by the way it went down. He's standing up on his platform (see above photo of buff lifeguard). He smiled with approval, and gave them the flag for the flagpole.

The purple flag immediately went up with a whistle blow to announce an additional flag was added to the staff. Purple means dangerous marine life....Coulda meant sharks for all we know! There were two shark attacks at Cimarron Beach north of Daytona this week.  Hmmm-mmm, Sparky is now a little worried.....Reports of stinging marine life are on the TV as well the last two days. I asked the guard, how do you decide when to put the purple up? Do you have to have a certain number to put up the purple flag? Nope, they just walk the beach in the morning, and if they see jellyfish or the other type of stinging animal on the beach,  or someone gets stung, they go ahead and put the purple flag up.

Sparky got stung by a jellyfish/Man-O-War back in high school and she STILL remembers how painful it was!




It was another beautiful day at the beach on the Atlantic Ocean side!

The weather is sort of weird, though...Lots of intermittent rainshowers off and on ever since we've gotten here to Vero Beach/Sebastian, FL., for the last eight days... Every day, you can count on a rain shower or a drizzle lasting moments or longer, usually occurring in a very small area...Drive a little further, the sun is out, and the rain clouds are elsewhere....It keeps things interesting as far as planning outdoor activities, that's for sure! Locals say that's common, and it's very unusual to have rain last a half day or all day....We've had that, too!  Maybe we'll see you on the beach tomorrow!

Surf's Up!

Eldo was ready for some BEACH today...We chose Fort Pierce Inlet State Park to get our beach fix today. It's located four miles east of Fort Pierce, via the North Causeway. It's the historic beach of today's U.S. Navy Seals...the half-mile beach is great for swimming, snorkeling, surfing and probably scuba diving--there's a reef 100 yards from shore, although picnicking on the sands sounded good enough for us! You can canoe or kayak on the Indian River Lagoon or go fishing. There is a walking trail called the Oak Hammock Trail, about a 30 minute walk through gumbo limbo trees-don't you just love that name? There are red bays and lots of oaks.  There's also a terrific bike trail that runs through the park to the picnic areas and a really nice playground.

There are two separate sections to the park. The smaller part is the state park, and the other part is the Jack Island Preserve, which is 1.5 miles north of the park. So lots of exploring can be done in this area, either on foot or by canoe or kayak. We didn't get to much today other than the beach, we were fascinated with the surfers, the surf, and Eldo loves the beach. Could it be because it's spring break and there were LOTS of bikini clad young girls out today? I thought so! You'll notice Eldo is not using binoculars, heh, heh..He doesn't need 'em...the girls were all over the place. What's funny was, some of the girls out on their boards were spending more time adjusting their tops and pulling up their bottoms, than surfing. Eldo kept watching for a wardrobe malfunction, but it didn't happen!

There are FOUR boardwalks over the dunes to access the beach...we picked the surfers side of the beach. The surf was definitely up today...BIG waves, LOTS of people surfing--with boards and with their bodies....Even the little ones were learning how to read the surf and get up on their boards!

We saw a jellyfish washed up on the beach...it looked like it had exploded...later in the day, at another beach we passed, we saw the yellow flag up for the surf, and then a purple flag. The purple flag means "stinging animals" at the beach. We wondered if there were a lot more jellyfish coming up in the surf today....Swim at your own risk!

This dude looked like he was a California surfer dude...he was pretty good on his board...we saw lots of good surfers out there...They were fun to watch....and easy on the eyes, too!  :-)

Even if the waves weren't all that big, the kids still managed to get a lot of action on their boards of all sizes and lengths....

Sparky had fun looking at all the people, especially the little kids having one at the beach. These little guys were really having a ball in amongst the rocks that lined the inlet on one side of the beach...She missed a photo op when the little towheaded blond had to pee....She could have shot a photo without revealing anything but a fountain stream coming out of a little bathing suit! But the moment passed. As well as it probably should have.....

We had a wonderful, lazy day at the beach today with our little cabana, our picnic lunch, and all the time in the world to watch the clouds roll by, the college kids struttin' their stuff on spring break, the little ones making sand castles, dads and moms showing their kids the surf, jumping the waves and the beautiful weather.

Sparky's Maiden Voyage in the 385 Sea Eagle

After having inflated her Sea Eagle one time, but not being able to get it out on the water because of wind and bad weather since then, it's been two weeks since the weather has cooperated and we've been near water for her to try it out. Today was the day!

Here's how it went....The Sea Eagle 385 Fasttrack was to be put in at Wembrow Park in Sebastian, a nice picnicking park with a boat dock and launching ramp, off highway 512. With great confidence, Sparky unloaded the kayak bundle from the car with Eldy's help. She unwrapped it, got all the gear out--the life vest, the paddles, the repair kit (just in case), the air pump and hose, and the nozzle--nozzle? What nozzle? You mean, the special nozzle that inflates all the valves? Oh, crap! It's back home in the zip loc bag labeled "kayak parts" in the overhead cupboard...All Eldy says is, "JEANNIE......." and heaves a big sigh, gets in the car, and starts back to the RV park and rig to get the nozzle so Sparky can inflate the boat, he has to drive a distance of about 5 miles. Meanwhile, back at the park and the boating ramp, Sparky all of sudden remembers, that maybe she DID have the correct valve inserter. She checked in the little orange canister of stuff that is the boat repair kit, and by golly, it was there!

She calls Eldy immediately..."Uh, honey...I've got it! I wasn't such an idiot after all! I put it in the repair kit canister, it's right here with the boat!" Silence at the other end for a moment, then Eldy says, "OK, I'm coming back." He had almost gotten all the way back to the rig. He gets back, says absolutely NOTHING about what an idiot she is, we get the boat to the water, and Sparky gets in the boat...

No photos of her setting out in the boat, no camera phone handy, and Sparky's point and shoot camera has gone to the Best Buy repair center, so we're without a camera for the moment. Sparky forgot that we had brought the SPARE Apple non-working iphone 3G for a camera for the kayak paddle today, it was in her pocket, but more about that later. We COULD have taken a photo of the maiden voyage and Sparky paddling off into the wild blue yonder in her Sea Eagle Fasttrack 385, but we forgot we had the spare phone. Off she goes on the Sebastian River!

The Sea Eagle 385 is TERRIFIC! It tracks really straight! No pitching, no yawing, it paddles as well as a hard shell kayak, and Sparky should know, she's had several different hard shells over the years. She just had one slight itty-bitty problem, the seat. It's a boat cushion style seat with two inflatable parts and for some reason, the back part went flat almost immediately out on the water. There are a number of reasons this could happen, so Sparky tried to figure out what it might be. It was a sight to behold, for sure....Ever try to fix a seat in an inflatable boat which has just a teensy bit more wiggle to it? Scoot forward off the seat, reach back, unhook the seat, blow it back up, hook it back up, and scootch back onto the seat again without losing your paddle overboard in the process. It would have made a funny home video to see Sparky's contortions trying to fix the seat, for sure!

Off she went again....this time the bottom half of the seat went flat. Sparky thinks that the seat cover material may have gotten caught in between the valve stems on both parts of the seat but she's not sure. She decided to just keep paddling. Actually, the bottom of the boat is a nice fit to the butt, and it was very comfortable sitting on the deflated bottom half of the cushion. So comfortable, that she continued her paddle for a couple of hours more, enjoying how great this boat handles as compared to the Sea Eagle 330 which pitches and yaws and blows all around in the littlest bit of wind. Sparky is VERY happy with the 385...Now if she can just get the seat to work right. When you are wearing a life vest, it pushes your butt forward on the bottom cushion, so it's not as comfortable on a longer paddle. Sparky is thinking about substituting a different style, more traditional foam paddling seat for her boat...

Sparky managed to get a couple of photos with Eldy's old iphone, the 3G....She decided to take it instead of Eldy's wonderful iphone 4S with the terrific camera, even if she did have an Aqua Pac to keep Eldy's camera in. It's just better to take an older camera phone just in case, and who wants to mess with a plastic encased, enclosed camera in a plastic pouch anyway?....Eldy's old phone to the rescue! She managed to catch on camera phone this osprey who happened to have a fish he was working on, but he didn't like having his picture taken. He took off with the fish shortly after.

Time for a little rest break, Eldy's old 3G phone captures the moment! Not a bad closeup for an aging camera phone, longer distances are hard to get a clear photo.

Awhile later, after viewing tons of shore birds, pelicans dive bombing for fish, it's time to get back to the dock. It's windy, and Sparky is getting tired.....Sparky pulls up to the dock, climbs out of the boat, leans over to get her paddle out of the boat, and PLOP! The camera phone fell into the water! OH, NO! Sparky grabbed it quickly, and Eldy's old phone was rescued from a waterlogged demise with just moments to spare. IT STILL WORKED! The camera still works! Woo-hoo! and WHEW! Glad it wasn't Sparky's Motorola Atrix, or Eldy's iphone 4S.

Whatever she decides about the boat seat, the boat itself is a KEEPER!  It was a VERY enjoyable paddle today....Sparky LOVES her boat, the 385 Fasttrack, and highly recommends it!

Captain This, Captain That....

You'll never see so many captains as you do when you vacation in Florida....It seems EVERYBODY is a captain...Of course all the boat rentals are run by captains, well, duh, Sparky, you gotta be a captain to take people out on the water! At least, you do if you run a reputable boating company. There's a captain by every name you can think of, and of course, there's the famous Captain Morgan which is a rum company.....Even the restaurants are named after captains! Like Captain Hiram's Resort/ Restaurant and Sand Bar which is located in Sebastian, FL.

It's been raining for the last five days off and on, so we have been limited to exploring the coast by way of highway A1A and Highway 1. Highway 1 runs along the Indian River, and as we were coming back from a driving tour up and down the coast, we headed over to highway 1. We got hungry (Sparky is ALWAYS hungry!)  and saw Captain Hiram's Resort and Sand Bar. We heard live music coming from the restaurant/sand bar, so we decided to stop and get an appetizer or two.

It was a COOL place as far as the atmosphere! Not so much for the food, as Yelp will tell you. That's an app we use on our smartphones to check out local places to eat and visit. Here's a link to the layout and offerings of Captain Hiram's. The main thing you need to know is, it's family friendly, there's live entertainment, if you sit outside, you are sitting in a TRUE sand bar---there is sand under your feet and you're gonna get sand in your shoes!

Food is just average, but the atmosphere is really fun....We enjoyed it. Would we come back? Not for the food, but yes for the appetizers or a happy hour special and to see the entertainment. We really enjoy live music and live bands when we find them. We really like sitting out by the water and having a bite to eat, listening to music, that's one of our favorite things to do.

One of the other things we did today was drive up to Cocoa Beach. Eldy had heard a lot of things about it and wanted to visit it, as he'd never seen it. We had a campground to check out in Melbourne, an Outdoor Resort park. We visited that first and found that the park was completely sold out as far as sites, it was an older park and everyone was packed in extremely tight. If you see their brochure, they don't show you the tight camping sites, they show you their pool, which is across the street on oceanfront property and which is very beautiful. We saw a mini Winnie trying to negotiate a tight corner turn, run over the curb BIG TIME so it seems a big rig would have a very difficult time getting in and around this park.

On to Cocoa Beach..There is a pier there with a bunch of restaurants...and of course Cocoa Beach is a hangout for young kids, it appeared. The pier and structures and restaurants seemed to be run down, and the whole atmosphere at the pier was a little on the depressing side. Like this had once been THE place to come for spring break and now, not so much. On our way back through Cocoa Beach, we stopped at Ron Jon's, a well known surfing store open 24/7 and 365 days a year. It was quite the place!

You can buy one of Ron's custom made surfboards, but not cheaply!

We enjoyed our car ride today on highway 1 and highway A1A...the houses along the ocean are AMAZING!  Yet we saw some big mansions started and never finished,  and then, quite a few for sale along the ocean..Hurricane damage was not noticeable. We saw a figure today, that 44% of the houses in Florida are valued at less that what people owe on their mortgages...That's really tough for the homeowner to bear....A great buyer's market out there, that's for sure!

Tomorrow, Sparky is hoping for decent weather to get out in her Sea Eagle 385 for the first time.....

"If You Got Any Closer....

....you would have to enlist..." is the title of the National Navy UDT-Seal Museum brochure. Because Fort Pierce is fairly close to us, and the site of the first training center for underwater demolition experts, it is the home of the museum to honor the Navy SEALS. We wanted to visit it today, the perfect thing to do on a very rainy day.

This is the closest you will ever get to seeing what the Navy SEALS do and how they do it and that's why the title....Anything really current about them is highly classified--this is a trip into the past to see how the underwater demolition teams (UDT) came to be, how they developed and honed their skills through the years to become the elite, secretive team they are today.

The museum is right on highway A1A, 3300 N. Highway A1A to be exact.  The UDT refers to the Underwater Demolition Teams, the precursor to the current navy SEALS team today, that were so critical to WWII.

The teams of Scouts and Raiders as they were first called, were critically important in the history of WWII, and the concept for this type of team was formulated in 1944 after many marines were lost because of natural obstacles. The call went out for a team to be developed.

It was very interesting to read the first hand accounts of the men who fought for our country and cleared the foreign waters of obstacles and bomb hazards for the landing troops in Japan, Korea, and the beaches in Europe and to see the actual obstacles that were placed to keep our troops from landing on foreign soil. This is something we'd never seen in all the stories about WWII and the movies.

There were at least five different kinds of obstacles placed in the waters and on the beaches--all designed to impede or stop our troops and vehicles from landing...."hedgehogs"--teepee looking structures, a "horned scully"--placed in 6-8 feet of water, tetrahedrons--pyramid shaped concrete, and more..

You see these as you walk up the front path to the museum..You also see a Huey helicopter, a captured Iranian gun boat, and mini submarines.

Fort Pierce is the "birthplace of the underwater warrior"....The story of how the underwater demolition teams got started, the history of the Scouts and Raiders as they were called, the importance of these "frogmen" in previous wars, their equipment, are all laid out in exhibit hallways and well organized.

In the north gallery, the evolution of over 60 years of naval special warfare is displayed with firearms, photos, knives, diving and marine equipment. There are mini audio tours of stories that are declassified and now can be told.

In the newest section, awaiting funds to expand and engage visitors, you can see the actual lifeboat and story of the SEALS 2009 rescue of a ship's captain that was held hostage by Somalian pirates along with some of the other vehicles that the SEALS use...including a HUMVEE manufactured in Sparky's former teaching hometown of Mishawaka, IN....

We heard a veteran taking a couple of guys around. He must have been one of the Underwater Demolition Team guys...He was wearing a tee shirt with the SEALS logo on it and was telling lots of stories to two gentlemen were were listening with rapt attention...stories all about the equipment, a bomb going down the smokestack on one of the ships--what war he didn't say...We didn't want to eavesdrop as it appeared to be a special private tour, so we moved on...But we would have loved to have heard some more of the first hand stories!

There is another section to the museum that is practically empty....there is an architectural plan and dream to finish it some day, but they need another million dollars to complete it. It will be an amazing completion to an interesting museum, with much more excitement--video murals, interactive portions to enhance what is already there and to add to the visitor's enjoyment and knowledge. It appears they are struggling to raise funds to complete the museum, as so many special interest places are...We hope that it will get completed some day...This is a tribute to an amazing, elite, highly trained group of men who protect our freedoms. Because everything current is highly classified and top secret, you can only get a hint of how tough the training and missions are today.....

The last thing we did was visit the museum store...there we saw a tee shirt with the following inscription:
"The last thing going through Bin Laden's brain was a Navy SEAL bullet."

On the way out, there were blocks with engraved names of contributors to the museum's efforts to raise funds to complete their project. My favorite was this one......

We enjoyed our self-guided tour today....8.00 for adults, children 6-12--4.00....and we recommend it to anyone passing through the area....It makes you very appreciative of what the Navy does to protect our citizens and preserve our freedoms.

Top O' The Mornin' To Ya!

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, or St. Paddy's Day at the folks in Melbourne, FL like to say. We heard a lot about Megan O'Malley's Restaurant and Pub's BIG St. Paddy's Day celebration in downtown Melbourne. Exhibitors, bands, bagpipes, (one of Sparky's favorite things to see) green beer, Irish dancers, Irish bands AND a parade. It's an annual tradition in Melbourne for all of the above.....Time to go to Melbourne, Eldo. He's so agreeable, we did!

It was fun! A terrific parade with the usual old cars, politicians, bands, but there were some additions that you don't normally see, which we enjoyed.....Pest control companies advertising...Ever see one of those cute Truly Nolen cars in Florida? They look like mice! I don't know anything about the company, but they sure have cute cars! There were the Molly Roger Roller Derby girls and they had energy and pep! There was the New Jersey contingent kazoo band. They were awesome! :-) wink, wink!  A percussion drum group that had the best rhythm going and got Sparky almost dancing in the street.....A very Caribbean sounding group....

And of course, there are always cute kids either in the parade or watching....This young lass was enjoying her fire truck ride with her mom and dad....

After the parade, we walked around and saw how much Melbourne REALLY gets into St. Patrick's Day.....There was green beer and a portable street bar that pulled up in a trailer, and the bar stools came out of the sides of the trailer. It even was complete with an upper deck. We walked around and looked at all the great St. Patrick's Day spirit that was so evident. We heard the bagpipers...They were AWESOME!  When they played "Amazing Grace", it brought tears to people's eyes.

Everybody was wearing green and I mean just about everybody....

This is not your average family, that's for sure! What great St. Paddy's Day spirit!

There was so much wearin' o' the green, it felt like everybody was Irish! We really enjoyed our day today, and Eldo even got to have his green beer.  Hope everyone had an enjoyable day for St. Patrick's Day!