Enjoying Florida--Meeting Pam

 Where does the adventure take us today, ask Bindie and Tammie! LOL. They are great travellers, have been all over the U.S. with us over the years. They love to go!

We have reached our destination! Somewhere! Where ARE WE? lol

There is a big bridge.........and a river. And oh my goodness....ALOT OF WIND!!

Well, it 'bout blew my "hair-do" right off my HEAD, and 'bout whipped my pocketbook right off my body!! ha ha LOL....and we had taken a SLIGHT wrong turn, so were running late.....didn't have time to freshen up ANY AT ALL....HA HA. I think I had time to put on fresh lipstick!! LOL

AND NOW we are headed right on up and over that big bridge..........because I am on my way to meet someone special from here in blogland!
She tells me she will be right over there on the right.......I am looking......
yep!! here she is! We run to each other like old friends and our good natured hubbies stand back and smile.
Then we pose for pictures with our beloved dolls. (yes there will be lots of doll pictures in this post, LOL) See--Pam and I both share the love of dolls and have since we were little girls. Now we are just "antique little girls", right, Pam? LOL
We dress them up and take them on various adventures and make lots of pictures---it's our fun hobby. And getting them together is double the fun!

These are our first pictures together. Pam's doll is "Lily Grace" and my doll is "Tracie". I also have an "Amybelle". Even though this is our first picture of Pam and I together, it's not a first for our dolls. See--I was a short term foster Mommie for Lily Grace before she was sent on her journey to her new Mommy, Pam. So Tracie and I had already met her. The dolls were so so happy to be together again! LOL 

(oh, and guess what? Pam didn't give one hoot if I had freshened up/changed clothes from the long drive or fixed my chipped nail polish or ironed a shirt or dress! Nope...she is that kind of a friend)

Oh Pam couldn't have chosen a better place than CorkyBell's for our meet-up! It was amazing! Big, fun, GREAT SERVICE, and so many interesting things to look at.

Lots of goodies to choose from!!

Our suppers were DELICIOUS!! I had the salmon cakes and my goodness....they brought me this HUGE platter of food! Three  big salmon cakes, cole slaw,  yummy baked "tater".

So here's Tracie and Amybelle with their sweet little presents that Lily Grace gifted them with, pretty little fairies to play with!

..........and here's some of the food. The food was really really REALLY GOOD. And so plentiful. We had alot of left-overs.

I had the salmon cakes. And there was fish, and fries, and scallops and  and cole slaw and lots of hush puppies and good things brought to our table. Oh, yes, I think there was even a nice big salad! Oh! and lots of good sweet tea!!

sweet treasures

Tracie, Amybelle, and look--there's Lily Grace and her puppy Bailey! Yep, right up on the table and yes, we allowed it. LOL Other than dogs on the table, we were all so well behaved, right, Pam? ha ha ha LOL Talking a mile a minute we were, just having a ball.

and not to be left out.........look who shows up......Tansy joins us!!! She's a bit "older" than the little girl dolls....and she wears "high heels". LOL

beautiful area outdoors....Gator Landing, outside the restaurant

great views of the water, plenty of nice seating, live music and lots of those warm Florida breezes!

Pam and her hubby, aren't they adorable?

 Truly a real nice couple and we are so blessed to now call them our friends.

if you don't yet know Pam and want to, you can visit her over at her blog: pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/

  she is every bit as sweet and fun and uplifting in person as she on her blog!

We found a nice big long bench and it was a great place to continue our visit

look at Lily Grace in her cute little poodle outfit!

we sure have fun with our dolls!

my dolls had a few lil presents for their friend too. Isn't Pam pretty??

outside dining

Afterwards..........a drive about the small town

amazing big old  house. Wonder how many children grew up here?

old town scenes

I enjoyed seeing and learning about this backwater river. The St. Johns river flows backwards! yep, it flows North! I read it's not really a safe place to take a summer dip on a hot day though....there are water moccasins, MANY  gators, strong currents....AND SHARKS! Yes, bull sharks come in from time to time, enjoying the brackish water of a mixture of salt and fresh water. The river is full of bluegills, crappie ,redfish, flounder, largemouth bass, and catfish. There are also longnose garr, which can get really big, sometimes 5 or so feet...they look scary! 

Our hotel was right on the river. Down at the very end of the sidewalk, you could look over at it

After a good night's sleep, we were up, had the doggies ready and were ready to be on our way.

 I walked over the parking lot to get one last picture of the river, as some boaters drifted by.

I enjoyed driving along Florida's back roads again! Lots to see!

so many interesting things to see on our nation's back roads, and in the small towns. I love the small towns!

look on top of this building! LOL

Look what else we spotted? At first, I thought it was an advertisement.....but nope.........It's actually Elton John's equipment, headed down the highway to the next venue on his farewell tour! Fun to see!

Mercy.....I think we are about to go up and over this!!!!!!

oh yes.........I was right!

and on we go.........to the next adventure!