B. J. and I had not made specific Valentine’s Day plans. We were in the sack chit chatting about this and that when I abruptly said, “Hey, it’s Valentine’s Day; what are we going to do to celebrate?”
We kicked it around a little and B. J. said, “Let’s do breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, a walk on the beach and dinner at Coastal Kitchen.”
In nothing flat, it was in the works. We piled out of bed, threw on some clothes, saddled Little Blue and reined her across the causeway—destination Cracker Barrel.
At the Cracker Barrel, there was a nice log fire in the huge stone fireplace; it was so homey. A table close to the fire made us snug and warm. B. J. and I sat so that we could both watch the fire while we ate. Classic country music in the background put things in a great mood and made us anxious about our upcoming Branson trip.
Julie, our frisky young blond blue-eyed server was ever so congenial and conversational. She perked up our Valentine’s Day pizzazz.
We ordered our favorite Cracker Barrel Smokehouse breakfast. B. J. got bacon and I ordered sausage. We love the rustic décor of Cracker Barrel and B. J. loves to browse the store. She dropped a hint “I want to shop a little before we go to Branson.” $$$(That might have been a little more than a hint.) Consequently, a visit to Colonial Mall got into our agenda. Before going to the mall, though, we dropped by King’s Colonial Ford to get Little Blue shod and groomed. However, She got very fidgety when she saw me looking over a new Shelby 500.
After getting Little Blue into top form and visiting with our No. 1 car mentor, John Lilliston, for a little while, we moved over to the mall where we plundered through a few shops and then decided that walking would be better for us than shopping so we made three loops around the institution. Strangely, this visit to the mall turned out to be a no-buy trip.
Of course, Little Blue would not go home without a visit to Wal Mart.
At home, we traded the feisty Little Blue for the spirited Big Red, swapped our dress clothes for some walking clothes, and headed for the East Beach.
The East Beach was awesome. The sun shone brightly, dolphins were playing a few yards from shore, and there was not a cloud anywhere. A modest west wind caressed us as our walk finally turned into a happy shell-collecting ramble.
The temperature was in the 70’s so I let Big Red’s top back and we went for a fun run through the village. Big Red loved it.
After letting Big Red turn heads and light up the village a spell, I spurred him back to our house where we showered and dressed for our night out at the Coastal Kitchen.
Big Red made double time crossing the bridge and quickly found a hitching rail in the Coastal Kitchen corral.
We climbed the tall steps and made our way to the entrance of the Coastal Kitchen next to the Marina on the River. At the fabulous Coastal Kitchen, everyone was in a mirthful mood. The dimly lighted interior and lively music cast a delightful spell over the place.
The place was abuzz and full of people eating, talking and laughing. Our cute little black-haired greeter gave us a choice of eating out on the deck overlooking the marina or taking a table inside. We checked the deck and found it to be a little too breezy to be comfortable so we opted for the inside table.
Although somewhat smaller and less the big dance floor, the Coastal Kitchen reminds me of the old 20th Century Nightclub in Toombs County, Ga. where we young men took our dates years ago.
Our special Valentine clothes that we only wear on our Valentine’s Day dinner, like Big Red, got a lot of attention. We visited with, cut up, carried on some with the other guests, and got many nice compliments on our “theme dress”. Three girls were dressed in Valentine apparel and we clowned some with them. They were fun.
Then, following our great outing at the Coastal Kitchen, I reined Big Red over to the St. Simons pier, parked him under the moon, where we sat for a long time and listened to the great music coming in on his high performance Sirius Radio.
Well, we had fun on Valentine’s Day; but it is not over. A nice couple has graciously invited us to dine with them and their group at a special place on Saturday night.