Holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas
Thanksgiving came and went for us, obliterated by work. We did get a turkey and the fixin’s, but the turkey was still frozen on Thanksgiving so we ended up cooking our T-Day meal a full week later. Then of course Christmas slid right in on the heels of more work, work, work.
Chelsea and Alex’s dad Ralph came out this year, for the first time in many years, bringing along Oyunaa, his delightful wife of a just over a year (she’s Mongolian).
Since it had been forever that Ralph was here, he wanted to see as much as possible, and they managed a respectable itinerary over their ten days here.
Gumbo Limbo is natural preserve in Boca Raton, right across A1A from the beach, and was the first stop (check out the photos). It’s one of those places that you always want to go see, but somehow never quite get around to; we were all delighted we’d gone. Alex, Chelsea and I joined Ralph and Oyunaa. It’s really a treasure, showing a great deal of information about sea turtles, local birds, butterflies and grasses.
That was followed up a short stint on the beach before we met up with Amanda at our favorite Thai restaurant, Chaiyo.
The day before Christmas Eve, Chelsea and I bicycled to Costco and WalMart, celebrating the maiden voyage of our new Ortlieb panniers. This had particular meaning for us…we kept congratulating ourselves that we were actually trying out the panniers before we headed out on our trip! The maiden voyage was a great success.
Meanwhile we’d bought a dehydrator some months ago and had made one round of beef jerky, which we loved. Despite great intentions, we never got around to making more jerky or dehydrating any vegetables. All that ‘required blanching’ seemed overwhelming. But love goes a long way in producing results.
As seemingly always these days we are on a tight budget, so what to give for Christmas gifts loomed large in our thoughts. Eventually we had things solved except for Alex. Then we realized we could dehydrate a good round steak and give him a satisfyingly large gift of beef jerky. He’d love the jerky, so it was a no-brainer.
It took a few days of paying attention, along with intermittent spurts of activity, but we got it done. Not only was he delighted, but it got us going after Christmas to make our own round of jerky. (Update three months later…we’re still enjoying the remains of our own round of beef jerky.)
Christmas Eve was truly a family affair, with Ralph and Oyunaa, Alex and Amanda, and Chelsea and I all spending the evening together. Amanda baked while Alex cooked (a truly winning combo, yes!), while Oyunaa showed me pictures of her family in Mongolia on Ralph’s iPad.
Chelsea and Alex continued their adventures with a trip to South Beach on Monday, including Ralph, Oyunaa, and Amanda, then dinner at Rocco’s Tacos on Tuesday, where Rocco himself walked the bar. Yes, he walked on the bar pouring shots of Patron tequila into the mouths of the customers at the bar and yes, Chelsea and family were included in this.
Finding Wallets
Right after our New Year’s rides Chelsea and I were back on the road one morning, headed back home, when we found a wallet on the roadway. I knew whoever had lost it had probably already canceled the credit cards, but we did find forty dollars in the wallet, and thought someone would be very happy to get the forty dollars back and would be relieved that no one had the cards.
It took some time during the day trying to track the owner down, with no luck, so we finally decided to borrow our neighbor’s van and drive over to the address, hoping to find the wallet’s owner at home.
After introducing ourselves and explaining why we were there, Ted, the owner of the wallet, invited us in to chat for a few minutes. We at least had bike riding on A1A in common, and we seemed to have a lot else in common, too, based on the few minutes of conversation.
Ted immediately handed each of us a twenty-dollar bill as thanks for rescuing and returning his wallet. Meanwhile Nora invited us to sit down, and kept asking us if we wanted to eat. Chelsea and I were so busy and still had errands to do, so we kept refusing.
She was persistent and finally asked if we’d like to go out to eat, their treat. We still hesitated, thinking of all we had left to do, when Ted reached into the wallet, took out a hundred dollar bill we hadn’t even know was there, offered it to us, and said, “Here, you go out to dinner and use this!”
After some negotiating back and forth, we finally agreed to take the money as a donation for our bike fund. With a laugh, Ted threw in the last six dollars that, again unbeknownst to us, had been in the wallet.
Six utterly delightful hours after arriving, we were finally on our way home, having made some wonderful new friends. We left on a tide of laughter with a promise to see them before we leave. That’s an easy promise to make, as we had so much fun with them, and are looking forward very much to seeing them again.