There is much more to the Adelaide professional sports summer than cricket. In December, less than a block from our house is the Australian car racing.
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There is much more to the Adelaide professional sports summer than cricket. In December, less than a block from our house is the Australian car racing.
We returned to Adelaide in time to catch the second half of a T-20 World Cup doubleheader match, the important half: Australia v Afghanistan. Why the important half? Because Rashid Khan plays for Afghanistan and the Adelaide Strikers and Carol loves him.
We attended three more T20 World Cup matches including the semifinal. The most fun was Pakistan v Bangladesh. Adelaide Oval has rarely rocked so enthusiastically.Next up at Adelaide Oval was a One Day International between England and Australia. At 50 overs per innings it is a match two and half times longer than a T20 match.
Meanwhile the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) was underway with the Lady Strikers playing well at times and not so much at others. We love watching women's cricket. They play the same game but the women are more expressive.A funny thing happened on the way to the WBBL championship.
The summer of cricket continued with Australian Test cricket with two matches with the West Indies followed by three against South Africa. We got the Windies at Adelaide Oval.Local favorite, Travis Head scored a career high 163 as Australia destroyed the Windies.The Strikers tease us throughout the season. They begin with three wins, followed by horrible losses. Then Striker bowling bowls as no team ever! Striker bowling embarrasses the Sydney Thunder into the worse offensive performance in BBL history, all out for 15 runs! How bad was this thumping? The match was over before our best bowler, Rashid got an opportunity to bowl!
Between the sale of our home in Florida and return to Adelaide, South Australia, we spent a homeless month in the US. CJ was impressed with his 3-day PGA tour school instruction.
On the weekend
of our 40th anniversary, we visited St. Augustine in search of Ponce
de León’s Fountain of Youth. Never did find it. Guess we’ll just grow old with
the rest of you. We did find good restaurants and Castillo de San Marcos
National Monument. CJ cannot pass up a good fort.
The trip to Key West is 475 miles. There are over 67 keys in the archipelago.
The
100-mile drive from Key Largo to Key West is one of the most relaxing drives of
all time. The scenery is magnificent and between the scenery and atmosphere,
drivers seem be overcome and chilled by it all. Few places in America can one
observe cars mostly doing the speed limit or even driving under it. On this
drive, everyone is chilled and soaking up the atmosphere of the ever-changing
Key’s scenery. Few are driving over the posted limit and those who are not by
much.
Each island is unique. The bridges connecting them unique. In places, old bridges have been turned into fishing piers. In others, they are part of a walking and bike trail. In one case only a part of the bridge has been refurbished and it leads to a little island which has a restaurant.
The first afternoon in Key West we lunch at Waterfront Brewery. It has decent pub food and craft beer. We decide on Cuban cuisine for dinner dining at El Siboney which is excellent.
A popular gathering place with good views is Sunset Pier.Dinner our second day is at Santiago's Bodega. This is a tapas restaurant with great food and an even more impressive selection of wines by the glass. We share 8 glasses of wine from around the world; all excellent!
We wished we could have gone to the Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson but one must book significantly in advance and this was a spare of the moment get away.
We drove to the Keys through Orlando and Miami. We return through the Everglades across the Tamiami Trail. Unfortunately, we do not have time to stop for tours.
With an overnight in Ft. Meyers, we return on US 19 through St. Petersburg and Crystal River.