American Nirvana!

With the recent 4th of July celebration of America's independence, we figured it was time to provide Nirvana with an American flag.  She now sails proud, with an American flag at her stern!

For the 4th of July For the weekend, Ken and I once again sailed Nirvana to the Mandeville lakefront.  We'd like to venture into new territory, but first we need a GPS and more than 3 days before heading East into the Gulf.  We left home Saturday morning, sailed most of the way, and docked Nirvana that afternoon.  We then walked over to the local bar n grill to meet a couple of girlfriends for food, drinks and live music.  After a couple of buckets of LandShark beer we moved the party to Nirvana's cockpit.  We had a great time with friends and once we called it a night and our heads hit the pillow, we slept really good!  Of course, all of those beers helped us sleep well, but what also helped was our newly purchased a/c and high velocity (squirrel cage) fan.  We purchased the smallest window unit we could find at Wal-Mart and placed it into the v-berth hatch.  With 98 degree temps and high humidity this new and inexpensive purchase was worth every cent!  While we won't have this luxury when anchored, we'll enjoy the a/c whenever we're at a marina!

We woke up the next morning and enjoyed coffee with grilled sausage n biscuits in the cockpit while taking in the views of the lakefront.  There were families unloading their cars for a day of fishing, a couple of guys training their dogs to fetch in the water, and many boats passing by.  After a stroll along the lakefront we returned to the boat, changed into our swimsuits, then walked across the street to cool off in the water fountains.  There were several kids playing in the fountains while their parents looked on.  None of the parents were dressed for getting wet, and we were the only adults in the fountains ... surrounded by a bunch of kids.  We felt foolish at first, but after looking at all of the parents fully dressed and drenched in sweat we realized that we weren't the foolish ones!  After cooling off we were energized and ready to spend the day sailing back to Slidell. 



Cute little family getting ready for a day of fishing, fountains behind the gate

Dogs being trained to fetch in shallow area behind barrier wall

Some of our "neighbors" ... they look ready for cruising!

Beautiful weekend for sailing ... and parasailing!

Another Catalina, and one of hundreds of crab traps that we had to constantly avoid!

We arrived home on Sunday afternoon, then spent Monday (4th of July) enjoying barbecue and swimming at a friend's house in our neighborhood.   We were home by dark, so we sat on our sailboat and watched the fireworks.  Last year's 4th of July weekend included bringing Nirvana home from a long and hot six week stay in the boatyard.  We remember being worried at the time about the beginning of hurricane season and the BP oil spill that was still gushing into the gulf.   Luckily, the spill was finally contained in August and we avoided both the oil and the hurricanes.   Hopefully this year we'll be as lucky!

Hasta luego ... until then.  Mid-Life Cruising!