out on the (home)town

Over the weekend, we joined some friends to "play tourist" right here at home.

We'd been planning this "day-cation" for several months, but it seems the stars had to align for it to happen ... between our busy schedules, caring for Buddy (he's doing very well, by the way!), waiting for a great weather day, etc. And then, finally, we made it happen!

We went on a sightseeing cruise here in Delray Beach, aboard this yacht:

The Lady Atlantic sails the Intracoastal Waterway from downtown Delray Beach south to Boca Raton, then back again. For 2 hours we passed beautiful scenery, including posh homes (ok, they're actually over-the-top mansions) along the shore. You can see some of them here, behind Sal:

For the first half of the trip, the captain narrated and we learned some interesting things (I love that kind of stuff!). I didn't know that the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway was dredged by the military to create a shipping channel that would be protected by a barrier island between the waterway and the Atlantic Ocean ... this was to guard vessels against torpedo attacks coming from the ocean during wartime.

We also learned that Delray Beach was named by farmers from Michigan, who arrived here looking for a better climate. They originally named our city Delray after a neighborhood in Detroit that's also called Delray, and then added "Beach" to make it more appealing to prospective visitors and residents. Works for me!

Sometimes it's nice to be a "tourist" where you live, right? ... we loved seeing our hometown from the water, a new perspective.

Afterwards, we enjoyed some pizza together in our quaint downtown ... good friends, good food, good times ... so nice!