From cold old NYC to sunny FortLauderdale

It was Spring Break for some states and a nightmare for us in terms of loud students chatting into the night in adjoining rooms to ours.

Covered

How serendipitous was this...the photo prompt for today was covered and the bathroom wall at Michelle's Scrapbooking store in Palm Beach FL uses the covers of books to cover the walls. 

It was at the end of a long day of glorious art activity and then the end of what seemed a long ride to the store and there in the bathroom was jst the photo I needed for today. I have taken other photos during the day.

Here's Dyan getting all wired up

And a typical shot of Dina and her cheezy smile

The crowd of adoring fans and art makers...

My tags at the end of day one...

But I must also include here a recount of the text messaging conversation I had last night during dinner at my accommodation.

Last night I went to the very windy Tiki bar for dinner. One ordered from the take out place in the "hotel" a relatively divey motel, thank god I'm getting it for nothing. Anyway the time started out with a few other patrons there and I had to share it with someone so over the course of about an hour and a half I sent texts to Sue and Bernadette and here is the bulk of mine interspersed with a couple of Bernadette's questions...

OMG. Chose this place partly because it had a restaurant. The "bar maid" has just told two relatively drunk patrons who just arrived that "things will get interesting" soon when I start drinking. Their response would you like a shot? She's just had it!

The new patrons names are Spanky and Randy

I thought it was interesting when Bob and Mindy from up state NY were here but they pale into insignificance.

Bernadette asked:You have to find out the barmaid's name!

Darlene

Spanky has just shared that she worked down here in 82 in a whorehouse

She is now saying she struggled as a nurse with the younger generation

And Darlene has had her second shot

Surprise surprise Spanky and Randy have just revealed they started drinking at 10 this morning.

Bernadtte: Oh I thought Spanky and Randy were blokes.

Uh uh Spanky is in pink and very tanned

I need to start a list of words one shouldn't attempt after a long days drinking ... realistical is one. Oh and now ... phonomenemeal

Darlene  has just given them vanilla and peach snots I'm sure she said snots...and Spanky's wise reply was "that would make a good sipping drink" as she downed it as a shot

Three guys have arrived one it would seem is an NYC cop and they have just said last night they went to a bar that is a real dive bar!!!! What the heck is this on their scale of things. It is only 7:20!

I just broke to Darlene it is only 7:15 oh my another woman has arrived saying her night last night was so messed up she lost her keys and then her cigarettes and then the young guy took her up to her room. A dive bar book needs to be made from these texts. 😎
I got home safely and my room is far enough away from the bar that closes at 2. The door is locked. 

Travel to USVI

 The day began early with the ever reliable Franklin picking me up at 48th Street and this time to JFK for an 8:30 flight to St Thomas.
Today was a new airline- Delta. I have to say it was speedy to check in and then to get through security.
It was good to have large glasses of water and a tiny snack offered. That's all I really needed and then my bag was there- what more could one need.

 I've chosen to stay again at Bluebeards Castle Hilltop Villas. Not only are they reasonable priced, the views of St Thomas Harbor are fabulous. I came to check in with a little trepidation given the experience I had last time. This time it was such a different experience. Admittedly it was different personnel and she welcomed me back and couldn't be more helpful. 

The blue sky and the cloud patterns are fantastic.

Traveling to Crocodile Camp

An early breakfast

After our night in Khama Rhino Sanctuary/Camp near Serowe, Botswana. It was established in 1993 after the Ngwato Land Board gave the land around the Serwe Pan to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary Trust. We enjoyed breakfast amongst the bird life..

Yellow Horn bill or "flying banana"

Francolin and Yellow Hornbill

 Having fortified ourselves we headed off on a game drive through the reserve and saw impala, warthogs, zebra.... and rhino were also seen.

Wildebeest

Saw the back end of many an animal

she looked right at me

Red headed weaver bird

We stopped they appeared

This time we stopped where they were

Some housing along the way

Ostrich as as hard to photograph on the run as are emus.

we stopped to stretch our legs- he was fishing in the river with his mates.

 Information from the advertising for Croc Camp says "Crocodile Camp is a 12km drive from the small town of Maun towards the Moremi Game Reserve in Botswana. Situated on the banks of the Thamalakane river, Croc Camp hosts an abundance of bird life with the occasional hippo or crocodile visitor, all of which can be viewed while enjoying spectacular sunsets from the bar deck."

Our room for the night

Can you see the water at the edge of the trees?

Monday in Memphis

There was no better way to celebrate Martin Luther King Jnr Day than to visit the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. The museum is at the Lorraine Motel and it would appear that thousands of others agreed with us about it being the best place to be on MLK Day. It is a great chronology of the civil rights movement particularly in this area. The day was misty rain all day-  I greatly admire the determination of others who waited in the rain for the chance to go through the museum. Luckily we got there early enough to avoid the waiting in the rain...the lines were still long to get around to see the exhibits.It is a truly uplifting place.

We had some luck when we got back to the Peabody as we got to see the ducks go back to the Duck Palace.

Sandra the duck was a bit recalcitrant venturing onto the edge of the fountain as opposed to swimming in the fountain

The Duck Master in all his glory

The history of the ducks- it may be easier just to go to the Peabody website to read the story!

Sunday night's juke joint- taken using hipstamatic

And another

Sunday touring

Can one come to Memphis and not go to Sun Records? Perhaps but we went again so that those of our group who hadn't been there could experience the place and the event that was the subject of the Broadway show "Million Dollar Quartet".

The seats in the diner waiting area with the names of some of the stars of Sun Records.

We had to wait for the tour so I made the most of practicing my depth of field lesson from my photography class.
I also used the tour as a way to practice a little more of my photograph and to do some of my homework.
We again have to take portraits of strangers- this time closeups.  I may cheat and use my portrait of Elvis as our teacher said we don't have to use faces but could use shoes, hands etc as our focus for the shots.

Elvis' guitars- a portrait of Elvis!

One of the microphones set up in the studio which still has people using it to record.

After the tour of the studio we climbed back in to our car and headed off to Clarksdale MI which is home to Morgan Freeman's "Ground Zero" juke joint. Unfortunately it was closed and so we contented ourselves with some snaps from the window of our car. It was so cold out.

Ground Zero- trust me it is better looking inside!

A bit of a drive around the town we used our collective memories of the place to find different points of interest. But what we really needed to find was food. Nothing appeared to be open then we spotted a place with a blackboard out the front declaring that it was open and had some interesting looking food.
How lucky were we to find "The Lady at the Levee". The food was fabulous...

The menu

We sat down to an enormous meal and it was not only tasty but also cheap...

I was trying to get the light metering right- I like the naturalness of this shot.

We met Joyce the owner of the restaurant- she talked about the area, and running a business in Clarksdale and life in the south. She was so generous with her time and her skill as a chef- she cooked a special order of bread pudding for us to share and try. Great food, great company and a great day!

Joyce of Lady at the Levee

Travel to the Keys

It was time to head out from South Beach and travel to the Florida Keys.
We chose the slow road.

the vegetation

The road

Some of the bird life on the way

More of the road

Our final destination for the day- Marathon