A blog by Cameron and Shannon

Posts tagged with “St. Augustine”

Things that happened on our vacation to Florida; or: my hometown may or may not actually be the setting of a quirky Southern novel; or: the blog I have started to write no less than 8 times.

Wednesday, July 23rd

by Shannon

Discussed:books Florida Live Oak Patches the Horse St. Augustine

1 Comment

Well hello there, everyone. First of all, I really have started writing this blog EIGHT TIMES, yet somehow manage to not succeed in actually finishing. This is mostly because I don’t know how to articulate the awesomeness of our visit (to my old) home, which, as always, started as a nice relaxing vacation and disentegrated into a whirlwind of trying to visit/do/see/eat as much as possible before leaving. As you may or may not know, I am from an extremely small town (Live Oak, Florida). As I’ve lived a few places since then, I’ve come to realize exactly how small it was - to give the short version, there are no chain restaurants (except for fast-food), we did not have a Wal-Mart or franchised video rental places until I was 16 years old, and, oh, yeah, we had a hamburger-eating horse as a celebrity. Also, we have stores called things like “Good Stuff” and “The Opportunity Store” and “McHale’s Specialty Store” (which apparently specializes in mystical figurines and 75% normal size suits of armor). And, also, this:

However. Up until this point I kind of thought, oh, these are all things about the town I am from, how quirky and funny, la-de-dah. And then I realized I AM EXACTLY LIKE THIS. Read More »

Travel Report: Florida

Thursday, July 17th

by Cameron

Discussed:barbecue donuts fried corn fried okra gator Indians Lake City Live Oak Orson Scott Card R2-D2 Ray Bradbury ribs St. Augustine the beach wine

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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!

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Welcome to Marverous!

Monday, March 17th

by Cameron

Discussed:Anthony Bourdain Branford curly hair hide and seek ice cream sandwiches Little Ceasar's Spring Break St. Augustine St. Patrick's Day Valdosta Vilano Beach

6 Comments

Hullo, my good friends! Welcome to Marverous Dot Com.

I’m sitting on the couch, watching Anthony Bourdain watching an Ghanian tribe make cornmeal over a fire. I have a Guinness, because it’s St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a pleasant evening all-around.

However, I’m not that big a fan of St. Patrick’s day. I usually forget which day it is (this year included — I thought it was on a Tuesday and then Shannon pinched me when I picked her up from work) and I can’t say I’ve ever drowned myself in green beer and shamrocks. Plus, I’m not Irish — I’m mostly Cajun, which is cooler anyway.

On St. Patrick’s Day four years ago, however, I was on spring break in North Florida. I was staying with my friend Caleb in Branford, FL (pop. 695), and we drove to Valdosta, Georgia to meet up with a bunch of folks at the Wooden Nickel Pub. I met Shannon that evening. I also remember not getting anything to eat because I was low on money, and Ray played Hank Williams (I think) on the jukebox, and apparently the Wooden Nickel has since been closed down and relocated, and the food wasn’t very good anyway (or I was just bitter because I didn’t order any). In any case, today is our 4-year anniversary of Meeting Each Other.

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