Where everyone knows your name.

We officially "live" in a small town. Within 15 hours or so (most of which were spent sleeping), Brad saw three people he works with. It's pretty funny to hear a chorus of "Hey, Brad!" on the street of this still pretty foreign little town. That never really even happens to either of us in Ann Arbor. I think I like it. Assuming at some point I meet people, too. Ha!

For more of the familiar, Friday we decided to grab dinner at Port 412 again (remember, the soapy tuna?). America's Funniest Home Videos was on the TV at the bar (awesome!), so we decided to sit there. At first I wasn't very excited. There are only two or three entrees (one of which is a sandwich) for me to choose from, so I was feeling kind of over it. But I made a last-minute change in my order, making selections off the small plates menu, and I'm so glad I did. I spared Brad the camera (since * gasp * he might see someone he knows and they might see him with me snapping photos of my food, ha!), but everything looked as beautiful as it did last time. I got a wedge salad, which was pretty good, although nothing spectacular -- but it really hit the spot (and apparently chefs take "minus bacon" as "triple the dressing!"). I also got the crab cakes small plate, which was a strange decision because I've never really liked crab cakes. But these were SO amazing. Less "cakes," they were more fresh crab balls. Tender, light, and very very lightly fried. And they came with two sauces, one a spicy white sauce, the other tangy red. I'll officially go back here again.

Now enough of the familiar! This was our first weekend in St. Joe, so we spent Saturday and Sunday being explorers. Saturday we woke up early and headed downtown for St. Joe's farmer's market. While I love love love the AA farmer's market and will miss it like crazy, there's something to be said for being able to park (fairly easily and for free), being able to walk through w/o getting crashed into by a stroller, and still finding goodies at 10 am. It's small, for sure, but there was good variety (and while not relevant to me, there were two local meat booths, one of which did have fish, too) -- baked goods, honeys, jams, flowers and plants, veggies, fruits. Most importantly... cherries!! My first local cherries of the season. SO exciting! MMMM. I bought a whole quart. Oh, and being held on the bluff overlooking the lake -- not so shabby, either.

After the market, we walked across the street to check on the status of the new local food store -- still not open. Two thumbs down to that! Oh well, a delicious vanilla latte made everything all better.

We took a moment to enjoy our breakfast, plan our afternoon, and scope out our goodies from the market.

Next up, the beach! I've spent some solo time at the beach here, and we've walked around together in the evenings, but we've not hung out at the beach together really, so there was no question that's what we'd be doing Saturday. But, we needed to figure out where to go, as we wanted to try something new. We decided to head about 15 minutes south to the Warren Dunes State Park. I packed us a lunch and we were off.

We were a little put off when we pulled up to the entrance, well, close to the entrance -- there was a police officer directing traffic, and the line was way down the road in both directions. We contemplated just leaving but stuck it out, and it didn't really take much more than 10 minutes to get in, season pass in hand. And I'm so glad we didn't give up, as the beach was, of course, amazing. You drive though the wooded area, then the street opens up and all of a sudden, bam! Sand dunes! And giant sand dunes at that. (With super fire hot sand, we will save the dunes for a cooler day!) With three miles of shoreline, all the beachgoers are spread out pretty well, so if you don't park by the pavilion, there's even plenty of space to stretch out. AND.... the furthest end of the beach allows dogs! Woohoo!!!

Can't wait to bring the pooches!

I make a mean beach sandwich.



Cherries on the beach.



Beach, Bradford, sandwiches, cherries, and Tony.
What else do you need?

It ended up being the perfect beach day. Sunny, hot (but not too too hot), and not-too-freezing water. I love swimming in the lake, and we got to spend lots o' time in it. Woo! Stay tuned for more "Churches explore the coast" weekend -- now I am tired and want to stare at mindless TV from the blowup chair (hilarious).