Last Day In Ft. Wayne

 6-23-2021 - Wednesday

We thought we would take it easy this morning and give the Croxtons a break.  Jim had an appointment at 9:30, and we thought Dixie would like a morning to sleep in.  But then Dixie texted us that Xavier, their great grandson, was coming over for breakfast -- actually, to go to breakfast with us, because Dixie does not cook.  So I got Joe up (at 10:00) and we headed over to their house.  On the way out of the campground, I noticed the name of the dog park I wrote about in yesterday's blog is "Camp Canine."  

We briefly visited with our camping neighbors before we left the campground, and they told us about a very nice campground right at the bridge on Lake Huron, right before you cross the bridge into the Upper Peninsula.  She said at night they have a community bonfire, and you can see the lights on the bridge.  I think it is Camp Cook (dispersed campsite) at Mackinac City.  I wanted to make a note of it somewhere in case we get a chance to go there, but I can't find it on RV Parky.   I will have to check further into that.  It certainly sounded interesting.

We got over to Dixie's about 10:30, Xavier came in just a few minutes later, and then Jim got back from his appointment.  We hadn't seen Xavier for a few years, probably 4-5.  He didn't stop growing!  He will be a Junior at the University of St. Francis in Ft. Wayne this fall, and plays on their baseball team.

Dixie modeling my sunglasses.  See how much taller she looks with Xavier sitting down.

Dixie rode in the Jeep with Joe to breakfast, and Xavier drove me and Jim in their car.  There is no dieting going on this week.  Breakfast was good and plentiful!  After breakfast, Joe drove me over to get a hair cut.  We are still looking for Joe an elephant, but I did find him another mastadon.

From there, we went back to Costco to get more strawberries, since Dixie has half an angelfood cake left.  On the way back to their house, on their street, I had seen a house with blue pots and red flowers in them that really looked pretty, so we stopped to get a picture.  And just a little further down the street is a mailbox post with purple vining flowers.  We don't grow these things in Arizona.

I cropped this more to show up the blue better.  It is really very attractive.

So back at the house, we decided to start our game of Mexican Train early, then break halfway through and go to dinner at Coney Island.  This little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in downtown Ft. Wayne is an icon here.  We have been here several times over the years, as has most of our Vincennes family.  We got lucky and found parking in back, and the last table inside.  This place has been in business since 1914, the year Joe's dad was born!  They also are known for their real coke bottles.

When we left here, we drove through Foster Park, another Ft. Wayne icon.  It is a beautiful park, has lots of flowers, a golf course, baseball fields and walking paths.  Lots of trees.  Next to it are beautiful homes, some are probably considered estates, so we checked them out too.  Once back at the house, Joe took Jim a ride in the Jeep, and Joe got to see a bit of the countryside here.  Then we resumed our game, took a break for cake and strawberries, and finished at 10:30 instead of 11:30.   Joe was trying hard to beat me, but I won the game again tonight.  Time to leave town before the tide turns.   We've had a lot of laughs these few days, shared a lot of memories.

We really enjoyed our time here, saw a few family members including the new one, Bryson, Dixie and Jim's great-great grandson.  Jim is suffering from short-term memory loss, so that was sad to see, but otherwise things seem pretty good for them.  They still love their new home, and Dixie is getting to do her gardening again.  We said our goodbyes and hope to see them in Arizona this winter.

So it's time to move on tomorrow, time to head to Florida to see our grandbabies there.  Andrew turned 8 today so we missed his birthday, but we should be there early next week.  We didn't get to see him at all as a 7 year old, nor Catalina as a 4 year old, so we are really eager to spend some quality time with them.  We lucked out with the weather here, had cool, cloudy days, but tomorrow it is supposed to heat up, and starting Friday, they have thunderstorms predicted every day for the next week.  Definitely time for ME to get out of here!  Florida, here we come -- no hurricanes, please.