Rick

Unknown to Rick's baby face he turned 30 on Saturday. He doesn't like it when I say he turned 30 but I think it is wonderful. I don't personally know what it is like to turn 3-0 but in my head anytime your age ends in a 0 it is the start of something new. So it is fitting that we are in a new place for Rick's big 3-0 turn. 

I awoke Saturday morning with the idea of getting Rick breakfast. I was so excited to walk into our apartment with a bag of those delicious croissants but when I drove up to Old Town Bakery there was a sign on the door - "Closed for September see you October 1" - WHAT!?... apparently the month of September is a very slow season down here and multiple restaurants close for the month. On the flip side of this statement there are also some restaurants that give great deals for locals, like half off entrees. 

So I drove away from our favorite bakery extremely sad because the beginning of Rick's birthday had just been ruined. I got back to our apartment in time to greet Rick at the gate with a "Happy Birthday -my plans were ruined because these weird Conchs take whole months off during the slow season" The remainder of the day was not that exciting, we both had to work:. My day of work was stressful.. that will be another blog post at some point.

 

We started off the offical Rick celebration with a few Rick Thompson's. The weather was a little drizzly but we decided that biking to dinner was the best idea. We loaded up our bikes with our cocktails and started toward our destination, the marina/boardwalk. Here are some images of the ride to the marina:

 We really like the marina area of K.W... it is great for enjoying the ocean as well as people watching. This board walk is not like Jersey Shore, although I did see quite a beef cake when we were being seated for dinner. He had really thin narrow hips and then his upper body just exploded... he made brother John look like a skinny kid. I don't really feel that boardwalk is the right descriptive word for the area.. it is more of a dock/walkway area that meanders around restaurants and hotels and then it has appendages that go out into the actual marina. The marina is full of many different boats.. there are really large sailboats,pirate ships, yachts, catamarans, center console fishing boats, and so many more. Here is a beauty I picked out as a birthday gift for Rick if I had millions of dollars: 

Rick and I settled on trying the restaurant Conch Republic. This placed had good atmosphere.. the outer boarder of the restaurant is lined with large windows that are on garage rails so they can be completely opened so you get the full breeze of the ocean as well as the chatter of the people on walkways. The food at the conch republic was decent, although surprise surprise Rick stuck true to himself and got a burger :) At the end of dinner a colleague of mine joined us for a drink and then we all headed to Aqua.. 

Aqua is located on the southeast side of duval and is a drag show. If any of you had read my facebook post regarding Rick's birthday and promising no drag shows I obviously broke this promise due to a work related requirement. Aqua is an experience that most people do not get to see.. probably because they choose not to but honestly from my perspective it is pretty funny. One particular drag queen "Inga" is pretty ridiculous.. "she" is first off all like a 6'3"/250 pound linebacker. "She" is "blonde" and wears a ton of makeup and is outrageously wrong yet fabulous. "She" designs and makes all of her costumes.. one of which is a large sequence turquoise green dress with large eyes in the boob area and a mouth for the lower part (I hope you are all imagining this) and then she goes around the room "singing" ridiculous songs and grabbing girls boobs and caressing men... yikes.. while they place money in her, well where ever she wants them to. We stayed for one drink outside of the "danger zone" and two performances and then head to Ricks bar. Thank goodness Rick is such a good sport about the things I drag him to. 

The rest of the evening was spent at the martini bar in the upstairs of Rick's bar. The bartender is a co-worker of mine and she was generous with the drinks. We left Ricks around 12.. got pizza at Mr. Zs and started our bike ride home which was entertaining...

"Thank you for all the birthday wishes and phone calls" - Rick

Hope you all have a great week - GO CYCLONES!!!