bobmacliberty

Sigh. How is it that I'm the only one who understands NY state geography? 😉 Buffalo is Western NY. Upstate is north of Albany. Here is what most NYC people falsely think: I agree with Ellen that some NYC people would even include Westchester in their upstate definition. Here is the true fact, officially endorsed by me who knows everything, map of NY regions:

I see what you're doing there. Trying to pull me into an argument about what is considered upstate. Not taking the bait. Nope. 😁

Your Meleti bottle is looking a little low. Mine's the same way. Too many Sea Dog Special Old Fashioneds? I also noticed the Weller and the Eagle Rare "hiding" behind the Knob Creek? If that's the Weller 12, I'll hop in my car and start driving to KC right now.

Reminds me of growing up in Williamsville during the Blizzard of 77. The worst hit areas of Buffalo had 100 inches of snow over 5 days. As a kid, it was a winter wonderland. Not so much for the adults. Some houses were literally buried in drifting snow from 50+ mph winds and snowmobiles were the only way to reach some people. My best friend's parents kept their camping trailer parked about 4 feet from the side of their garage. We packed the snow between the garage and the trailer and made a skip jump.

I love what the Detroit Lions social media team did here:

Can't remember the last time that I stayed up late enough to see this. v10044g50000cdrp25jc77u0dl014hf0.MP4

I haven't printed anything in several cruises. I have the app and I also put the set sail passes in my iPhone wallet and take a screen shot in case the app/internet fails. My wife also has the app and screen shots of the set sail passes, in case my entire phone fails. If both of our phones die, they can always find you in the computer when checking in. Just takes longer.

Scary picture of the snow wall coming off Lake Erie.

We had planned to go there but spent more time at the Alligator Farm across the street than planned. Didn't know it was haunted...that will attract Micheline. Next time.

Congratulations! Welcome to the neighborhood.

I'm so sorry for your loss. RIP Cinnamon.

There is another way to get to the top...join the Coast Guard Auxiliary. The city owns the lighthouse but the Coast Guard Aux. maintains it. They have other duties, mostly recreational boater safety around here.

This one's for you @Ocean Boy. We toured the Amelia Island Lighthouse today. It's only open for tours and the first and third Wed of every month. Unfortunately, you can't climb to the top. I didn't know much about lighthouses but that started with a small presentation covering lighthouses in general, how to tell as a boater what lighthouse you're looking at visually during the day and with timed flashes during the night (e.g. the Amelia Island lighthouse is conical and all white with a black top and flashes once every 10 seconds), and the history of the Amelia Island Lighthouse (which was originally on Cumberland Island). Although the Amelia Island Lighthouse is only 67 feet tall, it sits on the highest point on the island so that the light is 107 feet above sea level. Granite steps Historical Plaque Brochure, for those who want to learn more

Thanks for this. She should know from having cats while growing up, but I'll definitely warn her just in case.

This looks great. I'm in!

Good luck with the closing. Wish we could offer warmer weather while you're here. High of 56 tomorrow. I'll need to wear long pants. ☹️

My daughter's cat Goose is experiencing his first Christmas. He's naturally curious and playful, so he may not mix well with Christmas decorations. One of these things is not like the other Not sure how well the tree will survive

We went to one of our regular local restaurants last night. The food is nothing to write home about, but it has a covered outdoor patio that's right on the beach. They also have picnic tables on the sand. There are no sand dunes there. Great for a burger or fish tacos while staring at the ocean. We haven't been there since Nicole came through. The storm surge damage there was very evident. Sand had been pushed from the beach all the way to the parking lot and covered the area with the picnic tables. Several shallow areas on the beach that are filled with tide water. Looks like they need a bulldozer to rearrange the sand.

Think of it like Medical School. A lot of work to learn something but worth it. Plus in both cases, when you're done, you can talk about things that most people don't understand. 😜

In case it wasn't obvious from Greg's reply, whiskey (or sometimes spelled whisky) is the over arching style of liquor. Bourbon is a subset of whiskey that meets the criteria that Greg mention. Scotch whisky (aka Scotch), Irish whiskey, Canadian whiskey, Tennessee whisky, Japanese whiskey, etc. are all other forms of whiskey that either informally have a common approach to distilling, or in some cases have more formally mandated requirements for ingredients, aging, etc. Scotch for example must be distilled in Scotland to be called Scotch. Also adding to Greg...the taste of a single malt can vary, sometimes fairly significantly, from one batch to another. Blended whiskeys are designed to have a more consistent taste since variation in any one malted whiskey is minimized when blended with other malted whiskeys. My approach to learning to like bourbon started with Tennessee whiskey...Jack Daniels. I liked a Jack and Ginger cocktail. The ginger ale helps "water down" the whiskey taste. I then "graduated" to Old Fashioneds and Manhattans with bourbon. They're still cocktails with mixers, but the mixers are limited so that the taste of the bourbon stands out. Next step for me was bourbon on the rocks. Ice kept the bourbon cold (so easier to drink) and watered it down a bit as the ice melted. I then started moving to bourbon neat...just bourbon in a glass. I'm still drinking the lower proof (lower alcohol by volume) bourbons (typically in the 90s range) as the higher proof (100+) is a little "hot" for me. I'm working my way up to enjoying the higher proof stuff. There are many other bourbon cocktails out there. A Manhattan and an Old Fashioned are perhaps the most well known, but others include more flavorful mixers that minimize the bourbon taste. Micheline does not like bourbon at all, even though she takes sip of my drink regularly to confirm that she still doesn't like it. I ordered a smoked pecan old fashioned the other day at a restaurant that was very sweet (almost too sweet for me) and had a very smoky, pecan taste to it. Micheline took a sip and said that she could almost drink that, since the bourbon taste was largely masked. Other good bourbon cocktails include the Mint Julep (a Kentucky Derby favorite), a Kentucky Mule (a Moscow mule but with Bourbon instead of Vodka), and a Kentucky Lemonade (essentially bourbon and lemonade). I've seen several bourbon cocktails with blackberry and raspberry. One of my favorites, that I made by accident, is a Raspberry Bourbon Lemonade. 2 oz bourbon, 1 oz Chambord, 4 oz lemonade. Royal bars tend to not have lemonade, so I would bring a couple of glasses back to my cabin from the Windjammer. I'd bring a glass to a bar and have the bartender put the bourbon, Chambord, and ice in a glass and I'd top with the lemonade. Do a search on best bourbon cocktails and you'll get a lot of great ideas. Have fun. I'm only about 3 years into my bourbon "journey". Everyone was talking about it, and it felt like I was missing out. It's an easy club to join.

I get it. We're not right on the ocean but being able to walk to see it anytime you want is just...worth it. I was working in Southern California in the early 90s when they were having bad wildfires. A woman's home was burned to the ground and she planned to rebuild. A news reporter asked her why she would rebuild in a place that could have another wildfire. Her answer was that there are risks of natural disasters everywhere...floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornados, fires, etc. She'd rather live in paradise and potentially have to shovel the ashes of her house, than shovel snow. Interesting perspective. When it comes down to it, everything that really matters to us can quickly be loaded in a car. Everything else can be replaced by insurance. The hassle of needing to rebuild would definitely be painful, but the risk is worth it to me.

I'm guessing Fort Walton Beach.

I've got friends in Ponte Vedra Beach who recently moved from their house on the ocean side of the Intracoastal Waterway to the land side. It was partly because their kids are all grown and they didn't need as big a house anymore, and partly because they wanted to get a little further away from the coast for storms/storm surge. It's amazing how much of a difference moving 3 miles to the other side of the ICW makes in terms of storm impact (and house prices 😁).

We're good also. A little beach erosion from the storm surge, but nothing like the video posted earlier. We have a series of dunes between our houses and beaches that provide natural protection. No other significant impact.