Christmas in Florida

Christmas is just supposed to be white - not just dreaming about it  - but actually have some honest snow on the ground. Go sledding. Make a snowman or a snow angel. Have a snowball fight or throw a few at unsuspecting cars rolling down Seminole Ave.  In our childhood memories, Christmas is always white. 

OK, maybe not this year.  After Clearwater Beach, we headed to Gulfport where we left the boat (and Millie) for a few days to have a little Christmas time with our kids in Portland, ME.  Please don't worry about Millie. We found her a very posh pet hotel for the week.  She had lots of walks, good buddies to hang out with and even had a nice bath before she returned to Egret.  

This dude was one of the most authentic-looking Santas we've seen.  Forget the Palm Trees and blue water in the background, and he could be straight from the North Pole.   

From Gulfport, we moved a few miles to St. Petersburg where we would spend Christmas.  St. Petersburg was great fun with tons of museums, restaurants, and activities going on along the pier right next to Egret. We enjoyed a Christmas Eve service at the local Episcopal church but it wasn't the St. Paul's pagent.    Sadly, we were caught by the same cold front that enveloped the entire east coast and our temperatures plummeted to the low thirties.  Relative to the rest of the east coast that's not too bad, but when you're living on a boat - it's pretty chilly. Unfortunately for Millie, she got a much-needed grooming right before the cold weather so she was a bit cold on our walks. And then, a few days later, sadly for Millie, she had a bit of a mishap in her transition from the boat to the dock one morning.  Her take-off was good but she must have slipped a little and only managed to land her two front paws on the dock. From which point Roger was a little slow to react and she went in the drink.  No worries; a quick shower to get rid of the salt water and she was as good as new.

"Docktails" are a tradition among the loopers, and they are pretty much what they sound like. This, however, was the largest one we have attended so far.

These folks in Gulfport went all out!

A pretty impressive display in the rigging of a sailboat.

St. Petersburg

The Chihuly Collection of glass blowing was pertty impressive.  We also enjoyed the demonstration. 

We gained newfound respect for Salvador Dali at his museum in St. Pete. We both studied him a bit in college and realized there's much more to his art than some melting clocks.