Gator Basketball & Whitey's Fish Camp

We try to make it over to Gainesville at least once during the basketball season to catch a Gator game. This year I was joined by DS Justin and together we enjoyed a good game complete with a victory over the visiting Arkansas Razorbacks. An unexpected highlight was the surprise halftime visit of the newly crowned NCAA Division I National Football Champion Florida Gators. The Florida football team had just arrived back in Gainesville and delighted the gathered basketball fans and the reigning NCAA Division I National Champion Florida Gator Basketball team. Never in the history of NCAA sports has one University held the Division I National Championships in both Football and Basketball in the same calendar year. DS was suitably impressed (as was I) and I must admit it was the icing on the cake for what was a great "date" with my son.

Normally we host a dinner gathering of family and friends on Christmas day. We open gifts on Christmas Eve night so the kids can be home with their own kids on Christmas morning and then have the rest of the day to visit with other family members. As we were not home this Christmas, we didn't host a dinner this year but we still were able to hook up with dear friends Larry and Charlotte (who always attend the Christmas dinner) for what can only be described as a bit of "early Florida" dining at Whitey's Fish Camp. Alyson's dad loved the clam strips at Whitey's and we always made it a point to eat there during their annual visit. It's fried food heaven complete with smoked mullet and gator tail appetizers.


This last picture shows Charlotte looking over the menu with the flashlight she brought from home :) Charlotte lives and plays by her own rules most likely a direct result of being born and raised in New Orleans and married to a Yankee from Massachusetts. We sit outside at Whitey's as it allows Miss Charlotte to "light up" while enjoying one of the few non-humid times of the year along the banks of the St Johns River in swampy northeast Florida.


Is it too late to still wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year? Oh well. What the heck. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and a single wish and prayer for speedy REFERRALS IN 2007!!!

Peace,
FM & AC