Fielder’s Choice
Pam and I set foot in four states Thanksgiving week. It was all part of our 30th wedding anniversary celebration.
The states included Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, Maryland, Tennessee again and Mississippi again.
Things looked to hit an early snag. We departed the Memphis International Airport late Monday afternoon, Nov. 25, and arrived at the Orlando International Airport a couple of hours later.
Pam had a rental car lined up for us. But come to find out, I guess because we were just going to drive the rental car to Palm Beach and leave it there, we had to have a major credit card. We do not.
I suddenly recalled one of my favorite movies, “The Terminal.” An Eastern European man (Tom Hanks) is stuck in the airport in New York when he is denied entry into the U.S.
We moved over to the next rental car business at the Orlando airport. And, thankfully, a kind gentleman worked with us, so much so that we decided to rent the car for the week.
We ate our “day-of-our anniversary dinner” at IHOP on the drive to Palm Beach. I was starved; it was great.
This was our first trip ever to Palm Beach. We’ve been to Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando several times, and I went to Boca Raton in high school for a baseball camp.
We fell in love with Palm Beach. The beaches have to be some of the most beautiful anywhere. The weather was wonderful – 80s for the highs and 70s for the lows.
And, of course, we had to sample the restaurants.
On our first full day we had a late lunch at Dave’s Last Resort & Raw Bar in downtown Lake Worth. As we Burlesons normally do, we started with some raw oysters. I then chose the fried shrimp and Pam the shrimp cakes. The key lime pie was great, too.
The night before Thanksgiving we ate at Hurricane Alley in downtown Boynton Beach. We dined outside and were disappointed initially because a kind lady came to our table and said, “So sorry, but we are out of oysters.”
But it turned into an enjoyable experience as I enjoyed the mahi mahi and Pam the New England lobster roll.
Our eating out wrapped up the morning after Thanksgiving with brunch at John G’s in Manalapan. Wow!
We went to the Palm Beach Zoo one day. We chose it, in large part, because we went to the New Orleans Zoo back in 1989 on our honeymoon.
We also took in a late show Thanksgiving night. We saw “Knives Out” at a theater in Palm Beach on the day the movie was released.
Due to rates, we had chosen not to take a direct route from Palm Beach to Nashville, where Emma and Erin were visiting with Pam’s family.
On Friday, we flew to Baltimore, where I bought a Ravens cap, and then to Nashville, getting there about 11:15 p.m.
As we landed in Nashville, we had to stay on the plane a little longer while police came on board, handcuffed a guy in the back and escorted him to the terminal. We found out later, from a news story, he was arrested on several charges.
The next morning our fabulous dining experiences continued with breakfast at Sun Diner in downtown Nashville.
Then relaxing with family and watching football was a great way to wrap up a wonderful 30th anniversary journey.