all-you-can-jet -- day 28 -- orlando, FL

as far as looks go, today is definitely the worst for my accomplice.  full-on black eyes with extreme puffiness as the subcutaneous fluid continues its gravity ooze downward.  the look is, very much, of being worked over in a prize fight. 


it actually reminds me of being a kid.  when i was 5, my dad drove the family car off the embankment of larimer street in denver into the cherry creek river ... conservatively speaking, it was two stories, straight down ... and of course he wasn't wearing a seatbelt.  his only injury, really, was a severe compound fracture of the arm -- that's what happens when your arm decides to battle a steering wheel (and yes, it breaks the steering wheel too) -- assuming you don't count breaking the windshield with his head (something i know he did four times in his life, for certain, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was twice that much).


he was in the hospital when my mom, my brother and i went to see him.  my mom went in, but my brother and i weren't allowed entry to the room.  


i've never been a person who has taken "no" well, and since my mom was a nurse i'd spent lots of time in hospitals, so i just went the secret backway and walked into my dad's room.  when i saw him his face was severely swollen (probably twice normal size ... which says a LOT, because the entire b1 series have gigantic heads).  he was fully bruised in black, blue, red and yellow.  he had many facial lacerations.


i took one look, turned around and threw up in the trash can of his room.


this, in turn, brought a litany of swearing and blasphemy from my dad "GODDAMMIT!  I SAID NOT TO LET HIM IN HERE!  WHO THE GODDAMN HELL LET HIM IN?" two slaps to the head, a spanking and a chewing out by three different members of the nurses' staff.


i'm proud to say that i've learned from that experience.  i didn't throw up when i saw my accomplice's face this morning -- but did have to spend a fair amount of time saying everything was going to be okay.

a slow start eventually took us to JB's fish camp in new smyrna beach.  this is a place i've been before (it woulda been hard for me to remember had i not put the name on the posting in the arch) and i was looking forward to eating there again. 


i ordered the turtle mound combo with clam chowder.

the chowder was as lackluster as unpeeled potatoes in chowder can get, but the combo was, once again, astounding.  from left to right: clams, rock shrimp, crab, shrimp and oysters.  sauces are tabasco, horseradish, butter and crab boil.  


the rarity in this set are the rock shrimp -- for the most part they're only served shell-on in about a 100 mile radius of the fish camp.  they're known for tasting like small/sweet lobsters.  there's no question they were good, but the stand-outs here actually was the crab -- very possibly the best crab i've ever had (and i forgot to ask what kind it was).

weirdness at the side of the restaurant

view directly out from my table

the lunch was long and leisurely and toward the end i saw that something large was swimming underwater along the walkway i have shown above ... i pointed it out to my accomplice and we tracked it as it swam ... and when it surfaced, it was a manatee ... we walked the pier immediately after lunch and saw a dolphin.

come on ... you gotta love a lunch place where for $20, you get a plate overfull of seafood and views of an endangered species.

the afternoon was going to be low key.  we drove to daytona, and then drove the beach.  it's 10mph of pure bliss.

my accomplice loves that fact that the GPS shows the car in the ocean

it's not everyday that you drive in front of a lifeguard stand

dinner was pecan encrusted catfish

and so ends the penultimate day of actual AYCJ activity.  we'll have one more tomorrow, and then it's all flying on the last day.