A Land Adventure: Green Turtle Bay

Green Turtle Bay! We approached Green Turtle Bay with our spirits high; the warm sun that afternoon made it bearable to be outside, and we were within close range of a hot shower. It was the perfect time to carve our pumpkins. Using a variety of knives and other sharp objects, Grace created a traditional jack o’lantern. I carved a cheerful spider to honor Charlie, the spider who lives above our bathroom and helped me overcome my arachnophobia.

Our entrance to Green Turtle Bay was comparable to the finish line of a marathon. (Probably. Neither Grace nor I have ever run a marathon because why run when you can sail.) Donna and Dan of Syzygy and Marty and Jerry of Monarch were waiting for us at the dock and were cheering so loudly that a guy on a boat nearby said, “What, did they not sink or something?” How right he was! (See my last blog post on the leaky packing gland.) We were invited to Monarch for dinner and were fed warm drinks and the most delicious pork and squash meal one could’ve ever dreamed up. After too much prepackaged boat food, there is nothing quite as marvelous as eating a fresh, home-cooked meal, particularly when that meal takes place inside a boat with good company and heat.

We loved Green Turtle Bay so much that we stayed for a week. They had a beautiful workout facility with an elliptical and a great shower. Their office had free coffee and desktop computers with fast wifi. I had the best week! Apparently I have not adapted to boat life as well as I thought.

Our most important project was to fix the packing gland, which we did in record-time (half of a day). We also ate dinner at the famous Patti’s, a truly unique experience: the restaurant was all decked out for Christmas, the waiters were wearing colonial-looking clothing, and Backstreet Boys was playing over a speaker. My dinner roll came in a flowerpot.

After some debate, we decided to rent a car (a car!) and drive (faster than six mph!) to Nashville. We found some entertaining live music, didn’t die at the hostel, and were able to meet up with my college friend Autumn and her boyfriend, who were lovely tour guides and took us to their favorite pizza place. We even got to stop at the Parthenon replica and visit the Ann Patchett Parnassus bookstore, where we found several live goats wandering around to promote the book “Goat Yoga.” I purchased “Lilac Girls” by Martha Hall Kelly, which I would highly recommend.

We ended the Best Week Ever with our friends Tim and Ramie and their friend Australian Michael. We joined them for the tastiest steak tacos, and then Grace showed off the dancing skills she learned in college by teaching everyone the popular and also terrible “Wobble.” I, not really one for dancing, documented the experience and will upload it to the blog when I figure out how to use Youtube. Stay tuned.

Halloween yay

Grace

Nashville

Friends in Nashville!

Nashville got the best of this fellow

Land of the Lakes

Thank you to Rick and Nancy for the Loop guide books!