Hidden Gems Wednesday Wanderings

This is not Teddy, Thurston Howell's teddy bear on Gilligan's Island.  As far as I know, Teddy is still on the island. Thurston remembered to take his white pants and an ascot home, but he left poor old Teddy behind. 

This is Bobby Bear.  He has been a companion of mine for many years.  He wears a leather jacket and sports a Bobby Kennedy for President button. I have many political campaign buttons, but this is the one that Bobby likes to wear because he is a bear of excellent refinement and discernment. 

American history was irrevocably altered by the assassination of Robert Kennedy.  And not in a good way. I'll save more discussion of that for my political posts.

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Yesterday was our 25th wedding anniversary!  Yes, Alison and I have been married for 25 years! She is amazing, and I feel like the luckiest son of a B on the planet!  

We were going to go out last Saturday to St. Simons (where we had our honeymoon), but the rains were constant, and we 1) didn't want to leave alone our increasingly neurotic 13-year-old Cocoa Bear and 2) we didn't want to walk around all day in the rain.

That left us with our intensely romantic anniversary day plans - his and her annual eye exam appointments.

Both of us needed our prescriptions adjusted, so both of us are getting new glasses.  For Alison, she wanted to change up and make a different fashion statement.  Me?  Just get me what I had and git-er-done.

They did say two words to me that got me mildly shook up - EARLY CATARACTS.  Another little hint that I am aging.  The eye doctor indicated that it was pretty common.  Will I need cataract surgery someday?  He thought so.  When will I need it?  He wasn't sure.  Three years from now? Ten years from now?  Who knows?

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The biggest thing I notice in my vision is that I need more light to read by, and driving at night is more of a challenge than it used to be.

Hopefully, not having to read tiny, scribbled numbers and words from a multitude of accounting clients will help ease my eye strain.

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Wait.  Why did I call this Hidden Gems?

Oh, yes.  In addition to the eye exams, we, on impulse, went to St. Simons!  On our anniversary!  Woohoo!  

We debated many of our traditional favorites - The Crab Trap, Barbara Jeans, Tramici.  We felt like Italian but felt like something less fancy than Tramici (it's good, but it likes to stick less common ingredients into their dishes and to downplay the major function of American/Italian food - CHEESE). Finally, we chose a place we had never been to before - Sal's Pizzeria.

Well, even with GPS, it was a buggeraboo to find.  It was on a part of the island we had not been to much, and we circled a block several times to find it hidden in an alley slightly off the back of a street.

It was fantastico!  They believed in large servings (we got plenty left to take home) and in the power of CHEESE. Alison had Lobster Ravioli, and I had Chicken Parmiagana that was floating in a sea of CHEESE.

It was worth the effort to find and a wonderful anniversary dinner.  I can't show you pictures of the meal, because I didn't take any.  Honestly, I never take pictures of my meals to post on social media.  I just don't do that sort of thing.  If you want to do that, that's fine. To each his own.  I don't want to.

Ok. Well.  The truth is I'm eating it before I even think about taking a picture of it.

Wanderingly Yours,

T. M. Strait