Happy 2012

The year got off to a great start.  C&C are visiting and we took our whole “fleet” of kayaks out.  This is the first kayaking I’ve done in 18 months and it’s the first time I’ve kayaked with good thumbs. Having good thumbs makes a huge difference in the enjoyment .
C&C used the tandem kayak and Penny and I used our  singles.  There was a strong wind but it was still shirt-sleeve weather.  I intentionally didn’t bring a camera, which I knew I’d regret, but I thought the logistics of 3 kayaks, 4 people and our gear didn’t need any further complications.  We went down to the end of the bayou, up the little stream and back down the bayou again.
Along the way we saw many types of birds.  A bald eagle was cruising high on the winds, pelicans were sheltering  from the wind in a cove, our winter loon visitors were diving for fish and of course there were a couple heron to be seen.  Penny also saw an otter.
The only thing missing from the experience was a visit by friendly dolphin.  Christy successfully summoned dolphin when we were at Harbordocks so I asked her to do some dolphin whispering for us.  It worked!  Within 5 minutes she spotted a pod moving up the bayou.  C&C paddled over to them and got a good close look.  I paddled further up the bayou and got my close encounter as the dolphin left C&C.
This has been a fun visit with C&C. We were in vacation mode. We’ve eaten at all our favorite places starting with Aloha and including the aforementioned Harbordocks, Fat Clemenzas,  Waffle House, and McGuire’s.  Today we had a wonderful New Year’s meal prepared by Penny.  Of course it included black-eyed peas.  Tomorrow we will likely breakfast at Mother Earth’s.
We went to Pensacola on Friday.  We climbed the lighthouse and then wandered around the restored area before taking a short walk downtown.  Saturday we visited Harborwalk and then went to the outlets.  We toasted in the new year with Champagne.  Today we kayaked, had that luscious meal and cranked up the 3D TV to watch a Narnia movie.
Happy New Year!