1989

Florida Visit

Julie, Anne and I again spent Thanksgiving with her family at her aunt’s house then the next following week I flew down to Florida for several days.  I hadn’t been back to Florida in a year and really wanted to see my family.  When I talked to Julie about it, she said that she did not want to go but she saw how much I wanted to, so she said for me to go ahead and go without her.  So, I flew down to Jacksonville on Friday and Mom and Dad picked me up at the Jacksonville airport.  It was good to see Mom and Dad and catch up on the latest family news on the hour and half drive to Gainesville.

David, Me, Mom and Dad at football game

The following day, Saturday, Dad, Mom, David and I went to the Florida vs. Florida State football game which was in Gainesville that year. (The teams alternate every other year between Gainesville and Tallahassee) Dad had been going to the Florida Gator games for over thirty years and for the past dozen or so years had four season tickets. The tickets are in the west stands on about the 30 yard line. There are two seats, numbers 11 and 12 on row 45 and the other two about ten rows higher.  I had not been to a game with Dad for probably ten years or more so it was nice to do so again. Going to games with Dad brought back memories of selling Coca Cola in the stands when I was in high school the year that Steve Spurrier won the Heishman Trophy.  I never cared much for going to the games, too much yelling, all that standing up, sitting down, the rows were so close together that the people’s knees in the row behind us always poked into my back, and you could see the game all that well, but it was nice go to the game with Dad.  The gators lost 17 to 24.  Uncle Cork, who went to FSU, called dad and razzed him a bit the next day about FSU beating the Gators on their home turf.  Dad’s response was, “Wait till next year.”

My brother David had been wanting me to go on a canoe trip with him down the Santa Fe River for a while and he had it all planned.  Here we sit in Mom and Dad's family room while he explained the plan to Dad and me.  On the table in front is a dry bag which we used to store provisions for the trip.

Canoe Trip