A blog by Cameron and Shannon

As you are probably aware, Shannon and I share an affinity for Florida, and venture there on a fairly regular basis to visit her family, hang out with friends, and satisfy our need to occasionally locate ourselves next to a gulf and/or ocean of some sort.

We attempted (and succeeded) at all of the above. I just unloaded our car (yes, it always takes us a few days to unpack; my suitcase is still open on the floor of the living room), and the following items were in our trunk:

• A copy of the 1977 board game Dungeon Dice
• A handpainted ceramic R2-D2
• An Apple Keyboard II (brand new in plastic)
• The Rolling Stones’ “Out Of Our Heads” vinyl LP
• A deer pelt

Pretty run-of-the-mill for a Florida trip, really. We also ate like kings, finished a fair amount of our vacation books, went to the beach, visited with some Indians, and successfully completed Ed & Barb’s Donut Challenge. Read on!

How did we come upon those items, you ask? Well, you’ll find out later. There are other items I’d like to bring to your attention first.

I. Assorted Delicious Food.

Like kings, I say. We feasted like … well, “kings” isn’t particularly accurate, as we were not “feasting” in the traditional sense (chandeliers, goblets, pig with apple in mouth, etc.), but the real truth — “gorging ourselves at every opportunity” — is somewhat less picturesque.

Actually, to be fair, most of the gorging was accomplished by yours truly. Between pork roast, steak’n’sausage on the grill, fried gator (shot by the father-in-law), an oyster po-boy, pizza, and no less than four plates of ribs, I am lucky to still be alive.

You know what I’m talking about: your plate of pizza, pasta, steak, fried chicken ice cream, pick your poison — that sucker looks fabulous when you first dig in. A few minutes of devourment later, that teriyaki dippin’ sauce isn’t tasting so great, and soon enough, you’re so full that you never want to look at another plate of said food again.

Ribs are the only food that doesn’t trigger that reaction for me. They’re just as tasty at the beginning as they are when I’m blearily reaching for rib number 9, 10, or whatever. I’m pretty sure I could commit suicide via rib consumption if I wanted to.

All that to say I ate a lot of ribs on this trip. Two of the rib destinations were fairly unremarkable, but I’ve got to tell you about Cowboys and Two Sisters.

Cowboy’s BBQ. BP on right.

Cowboy’s is north of Live Oak, attached to a BP. You’d never know it from looking, but their ribs are some of my favorite. We make a point to stop in whenever we’re in the area. They also serve fried okra (a must; Famous Dave’s notably fails in this area) and fried corn on the cob, which is just as awesome as it sounds.

Shannon won’t eat corn on the cob, but loves fried corn. Strange girl.

Shannon’s dad used to take us there when we were in town, but seems that he’s transferred his rib loyalties to a different establishment, 30 miles south in Mayo, FL (pop. 1,009). It’s pretty much the only thing on Main Street, but man, I’d drive for 100 miles to get to this place.

The unassuming exterior of Ribtopia.

Best. Ribs. I’ve. Ever. Had. That blackened crust smelled amazing. The ribs themselves were basted with something honeyish that really took them to the next level. Also, $9.99 all-you-can-eat ribs on Fridays. Seriously, folks. Ribtopia.

Fried corn: Better than the fried corn at Cowboy’s.

For the record, take my advice and don’t ever eat four plates of ribs in a week. Even now, as you read this, you can feel your intestines nodding in solemn agreement.

II. The Beach: Have You Heard Of It.

We drove out to St. Augustine to visit with friends and stay a night in a nice bed & breakfast — The Carriage Way, which I heartily recommend (great food, clean rooms, friendly owners, nice rates, and so on).

Check out the cool phone.

We spent the next morning on the beach. I don’t have any pictures of the beach proper, as I didn’t want sand in my camera, but it looked like it usually does. We waded, relaxed, and generally had a great time soaking up some much-needed sun before our return to the landlocked nowheresvilleness of Nashville.

I actually read a book on the beach for the first time ever — a beach trip in high school always involved a board of some sort. It was pleasant, though insanely bright — I generally prefer a porch for my outside reading. Now, we shall segue into:

III. A Fair Amount Of Books.

I finished Xenocide, and also the last book in the series, Children of the Mind. Both were good; conclusions can be found in detail in my comment here. The Bradbury stories were both fine reading; the first felt somewhat like one of his older short stories, but I can’t put my finger on which, and the second was outlandish (even for Bradbury), but his passion for Moby Dick (I’ve read Green Shadows, White Whale and let me tell you, he has a lot) gives the climax a lot of fuel for such a short novella. The McSweeney’s book was quite amusing, I never had a chance to pick up the UFO casebook, and the rest lay unopened, for now.

IV. Some Indians.

V. Ed & Barb’s Donut Challenge.

Ed & Barb’s Donut Challenge is where you stay up all night long, and go to Ed & Barb’s Donuts and have a fresh donut when they open at 5:30am. I’m not sure who invented said Challenge, but suffice to say that it had been attempted (and failed) once before, and nobody had actually ever been to Ed & Barb’s, anyway.

This looks far more boozey than it actually was.

So, we toughed it out all night, with the help of some not-too-drinkable Wal-Mart wine, bean dip (not for me; this was right after Two Sisters), records, guitars, pure determination, and the fact that we don’t get to visit all that often these days, so why the heck not.

Urrrrrg … donuts.

Success! Here we are at Ed & Barbs, 5:30am, eating donuts. I was choking mine down. Seriously. Those ribs were still settling.

For more fabulous pictures of Ed & Barb’s Donut Challenge and the rest of our vacation (and some pictures from a recent trip to SC), visit this photoset on our Flickr.

VI. Sources Of Items

The board game and the R2-D2 were in our friends Eb and Allison’s attic, left there by previous owners; the Stones LP I nabbed for $1 at an antique store in St. Augustine, the Apple keyboard was $5 at the Opportunity Store (“Opp Shop” to locals) in Live Oak, and the deer pelt was shot and tanned in 1981 by Shannon’s father. I’m not sure what we’re going to do with it yet - what do you do with a deer pelt? It doesn’t really “go” with IKEA stuff. Nevertheless, we shall treasure it.