The Bad Idea Bear is following us.

Avenue Q, if you saw it, you will get that reference.

This morning Mark woke up with sky high sugar numbers, and I have an aching back and can't fit my fancy new ring on my finger.  We have apparently been trying to kill ourselves for two straight days.  That's what the Bad Idea Bear does!  He gets in your head and says, "You're not going to eat a huge dinner and have a second drink?  That makes me sad."  And then you do it.

We had a wonderful boat tour all the way up Amelia Island, across the channel, and all the way up Cumberland Island in Georgia.  It was a lot of history and beauty.  Loved it.  That was followed by a fabulous fried grouper fingers, hush puppies, cole slaw, and fries lunch at the historic Marina Restaurant across the street from the Welcome Center.  Delicious and great history and decor.  As we walked back to the car to go to the museum, the Bad Idea Bear jumped in and said, "You're not going in to the ice cream shop?  That makes me sad."  So I went in to the Coffee Shop/Ice Cream shop where they sold Blue Bell, our favorite brand from Brenham TX, and ordered two scoops in a cup: coffee and salted caramel.  So yummy!

Then we enjoyed the Amelia Island History Museum, reading everything in there for two hours.  We learned some new things. It reinforced the history from both the trolley tour and the boat tour.  Then the Bad Idea Bear took us to the Palace Saloon for Happy Hour where I had two drinks followed by walking down the block to the Salty Pelican for a HUGE dinner.  Mark knew they had Ahi Tuna nachos, so he had them and a grilled salmon on a salad.  Both were monstrously huge, and he ate it all except for the last pieces of his lettuce.  I had onion rings, to which I added a lot of salt and pepper, for my appetizer and then a Cajun veggie pasta with grilled salmon.  It came with garlic bread, too.  I ate almost all of it.  I NEVER leave food behind, but this time I only ate a few bites of the garlic bread and actually left some pasta and salmon on the plate.  I was so stuffed I asked for the Key Lime Pie for  dessert TO GO.  lol

Well, we could both barely walk out of there.  We walked across the street to a bench on the Amelia River, which isn't really a river, and watched the sun go down for awhile, watched the train come past the Welcome Center, and stumbled back to the car for the five minute drive to the hotel.  We barely made it into the room before collapsing in bed to digest like a snake with a gazelle in its belly.  We were "Cheesecake Factoried," our phrase for having eaten so much that you can't do anything but lay around and digest.  UGH.  I never ate the Key Lime pie.

So today we woke up and told the Bad Idea Bear to stay in the hotel!  We are going to eat Subway for lunch AND dinner.  We found out where it is on the island last night.  We will be going to Fort Clinch State Park today to explore, which will involve a lot of walking.  Then the plan is to spend the afternoon on the beach.  After all, we are right on it in this hotel and the chairs and umbrellas are complimentary.

So Mark just got finished davening, and I read him this blog.  Clearly, the Bad Idea Bear is on his shoulder because he just said, "Eat the Key Lime Pie for breakfast!"  Don't think I wasn't considering it

There's our boat waiting for us.  The tour was 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m  It was wonderful.

Pajama Dave was our captain.  He was knowledgeable and hysterically funny!

Shrimp boats at the dock.  Shrimping was the biggest industry here until foreign farm-raised shrimp undercut the price.  Now only about 40 boats still go out.  The big industry here is still the cellulose factory.  Lumber trucks go in and out all day long.

There's the cellulose/paper factory.  The cellulose is used in hundreds of products.  Paper pulp is sent overseas to be made in to paper bags.

Fort Clinch at the north end of the island watched out for the channel into the Amelia River from the Atlantic Ocean.  It never saw a battle. 

Wild horses are all over Cumberland Island, GA.  Here's just one of the many we saw today.  They are completely wild and unattended by any humans.  They are the most direct line from the original Spanish horses that were brought here.

Enjoying the boat ride.

After the boat ride, we mailed in our absentee ballots for the primary election.  That felt so good!

Outside the historic Marina Restaurant for lunch.

Can you see the Bad Idea Bear hovering over my shoulder telling me to eat this ice cream?

Inside the Palace Saloon, oldest bar in Florida.  Great ceiling tiles!

Whiskey at the mahogany bar.

Pinnacle cherry vodka and tonic water for me for my first drink.  Then the Bad Idea Bear, kind of named Mark, said, "I thought you were going to order the Pirate's Punch that this place is famous for?"  So, I said, "Hey, that's right.  I"ll have that for my second drink."

Pirate's Punch came in a souvenir cup!  lol

This adorable puppy was right next to us in the bar.

Entrance to the Salty Pelican, which has sunset views!

Mark and his Ahi Tuna nachos. Big enough for four, but he ate it all!  Good boy!

Sunset from the pier.

Pier selfie of two bloated, sick-feeling people from dinner.  We are still not sure how we managed to walk over here and then back to the car!  And it wasn't far either.

All the trees along Centre Street were lit up with little lights, just like Disney World.  Magical.