1st Annual Florida Hang

**Shug** · 01-23-2011, 21:01

I just looked at the shrimp again!!!!!!!
Ghaaaaaa.
Shug

**JaxHiker** · 01-23-2011, 21:07

Awesome Terri! Kudos for going the extra mile!

Muskrat, I think I have some pics of some of the DO dishes (not the desserts unfortunately).

I'll let Flack address the state park issue. On Sat the ranger seemed to be cool with what we showed him at the various sites and how the straps are on the tree. Sounds like they're willing to write a letter on our behalf!

**dpitalo** · 01-23-2011, 21:15

Originally Posted by Shug

I just looked at the shrimp again!!!!!!!
Ghaaaaaa.
Shug

They were delicious...as was the cobbler and the chocolate cherry surprise and the pork tenderloin and the gumbo and the dutch oven pizza and a nanner puddin' and...well, I think you get the idea.

**gargoyle** · 01-23-2011, 21:16

50 folks and shrimp!!!! Now that's a hang.
Awesome!!

**Shug** · 01-23-2011, 21:16

Originally Posted by dpitalo

They were delicious...as was the cobbler and the chocolate cherry surprise and the pork tenderloin and the gumbo and the dutch oven pizza and a nanner puddin' and...well, I think you get the idea.

You are hurtin' me ........

**JaxHiker** · 01-23-2011, 21:18

Oh hell. I just wasted a couple hour's worth of work and just realized my damned PS action to resize everything wasn't saving like I thought it was. Here I go again...

**Grinder** · 01-23-2011, 21:38

+1 on all the previous superlatives.

This was a first class operation thru and thru.

Thanks to all the organizers for their efforts. I can't say enough about the food!! Multiple entries at every meal. I feel like I gained five pounds.

Grinder

**Flackfizer** · 01-23-2011, 22:13

I also wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who was so wonderful to Bearfinder (Felix). He is an amazing and challenging kid, but he is so deeply connected to wilderness life, animals, and nature and is really building an identity for himself as a woodsman. It gives him such pride and feeling of accomplishment. The fact that everyone treated him as one of the gang just made him swell with pride. Tim and Terri taking him kayaking with you and Sandy sharing her dogs with him (Tim and Terri as well) just made him so happy, and I really appreciated how sweet you all were with him. So thanks again.

On the way home he was all wistful and dreamy and started to say how he did not like "this modern world of ours" since there were no new places left to explore. He said, that sure there are other planets, but it will be hundreds of years before anyone really explores those. Instead he was nostalgic for a somewhat imagined heavily romanticized "Age of Exploration" in which he can roam free and escape to inhabit is wild elemental side. Seeing that there are other grown ups who share that idea and connect to the outdoors as he does gives him real strength and courage to face a world where most kids he encounters can't imagine as he can, don't read as much as he does, and don't dream as big as he does. They certainly don't hear the call of the wild as he does. So once again, thanks for being good friends and great role models for a little nine-year-old who is just learning that he is happiest when his bed is swinging from a bough.

**Gumbo** · 01-23-2011, 22:30

Felix was a delight to be around. Always happy and always respectful of his surroundings, he is an amazing kid! The dogs loved the attention they got. I think they are sorry to be home!

**L.D. Cakes** · 01-23-2011, 22:45

I had a wonderful time....AFTER I FINNALLY GOT THERE! No mishaps this time, I'm in Vero now and will load pics in the morning. Great weekend with the hikes on the FT and the paddle at Alexander Springs was marvelous! The sunrise this morning over a mist filled lake can't be beat...all from my hammock sipping coffee, Shug Style! Great meeting each and every one of you and I'm still trying to put names with faces, avatars, trail names.
Cakes