Guscio: Old Town parade toasts Budweiser Clydesdales

We had a terrific time last week with the Clydesdale and most of Bluffton at the Old Town parade.

The horses arrived at about 3:30 p.m. on a beautiful sunny afternoon at the corner of Lawrence and Calhoun Streets.

It is quite something to see them up close and watch as they are prepared to be hitched to the Budweiser wagon. They are all beautifully groomed and all of the brass fittings shiny and bright. What a wonderful treat it was for all of us.

Victoria Meek, who is from Niagra Falls, N.Y., read about the horses being in Bluffton and brought her Dalmation "Molly" to see her brother who is the Budweiser Dog. That was a special fun thing. Molly was very well behaved and she, too, like her famous brother, took all of the excitement in stride.

Some Blufftonians gathered on Calhoun Street were Catherine and Maria Ghys, Nancy Pogue, almost the entire Vaux family with all of their chickies in tow, Kate and Mike Hughes, Dorothy,Will and Campbell Guscio, Garfield Moss, Earl Nightingale, giving out water at “The Pearl,” his new restaurant on Calhoun Street, throngs of children full of excitement and many thirsty folks enjoying the Budweiser beer especially brewed for this occasion.

Driving in the Sunshine State

We have traveled many miles this past week.

My niece Sarah Paris was married in The Ribault Club at Fernandina Beach, Flora., this past weekend. The Ribault Club is a charming 1920s era club named after Huguenot explorer Jean Ribault, who was the first recorded European visitor to the area in 1562.

Fernandina Beach is a part of Jacksonville known the "Isle of Eight Flags" and is the only municipality in the United States to have had eight different National flags flown over it since Ribault arrived.

We drove down part of U.S. 17 and A1A, the old routes along the Florida coast. Before I-95 was built, these roads were filled with all sorts of souvenir shops and stands selling citrus fruit and wacky things like alligator skulls, baby alligators to take home and dried alligator hides. We used to drive down to my grandparents’ holiday house in Delray Beach and stop at these spots for a cup of freshly squeezed orange juice and some fruit to take home.

Now I-95, which was completed in 1987, massive development, hurricanes, freezes and citrus diseases have done away with most groves. The citrus stands can now no longer depend on passing tourists stopping to purchase the fruit. We went through patches of buildings falling apart and abandoned to beautiful areas of shopping centers and brand new subdivisions.

The area we went to - Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach - has old and new buildings and houses.

The historic town of Fernandina is very charming. It is filled with turn of the 19th and 20th century houses and buildings and sits on the Amelia River which is also part of the Intracoastal Waterway.

It takes about two hours to get there from Bluffton and it would be a great weekend trip.

There are many bed and breakfast places and cute eateries along with the famous Palace Bar in the old part of town.

Take your bicycles because it is very bike friendly.

Don’t be chicken about chickens

Would you love to have chickens?

I have an idea. There is a place from which can rent chickens and a coop for your trial period.

If you decide to cry “fowl not,” you can send them back no questions asked.

Go to www.rentacoop.com for information.

To return them, they have to be in good condition of course.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Guscio: Old Town parade toasts Budweiser Clydesdales."