After a quick jaunt in Ric's car over to Winn-Dixie to get late night supplies (Coors Light and Pepsi) we popped on over to our usual first spot, Beef O"Brady's. Ric quickly returned his car to my house, put the drinks in the fridge and ran back here. We shared a couple pitchers of Coors Light and each had a plate of 10 wings, him: parm garlic, me: hot buffalo. Place was kinda dead being only 2:30 pm on a Thursday but we chatted with an older man who said he's been a Sebring resident for about 10 years. Retired but seems to make it his mission to visit many bars in town since he had more than a passing familiarity, it seems, with any we asked him about. He suggested we try the Blue Lagoon up Rt. 27 a bit since they have the nice-chested young lady bartenders after 4pm. Around 4pm, we made our way, on foot, there, to check it out (yet not anticipating any thrills to be had about seeing "nice-chested" ladies).
I liked the place. Still walkable from my house (albeit a good half hour if I hobbled at my usual pace) this place was half neighborhood bar, half sports/Hooter's style bar. And for a Thursday afternoon, it was packed. (We found out from a few people we inquired to that here in Highlands County, the weekend usually starts around Thursday afternoons.) We talked a bit with some middle-aged guys over to Sebring for golfing. They'd just finished a round and were settin' in for some chill brews. One of the guys, said he's from California, was really asking a lot of questions. Ric was irritated by him but I was my usual mellow beer-filled belly self and entertained his interrogations fairly well. They weren't obnoxious but they did come across as self-confident entitled rich guys. I think they were fascinated to see a couple of gay guys out here in the middle of Trump Country. After Ric and I finished another two pitchers of Coors Light and another set of buffalo wings each, we hopped into an Uber and were going to go right to Dimitri's but our Uber driver, like so many other people we've talked to over the past several months, recommended Cowpoke's Watering Hole so I convinced Ric we make our way there.
As soon as we sat at the outside tiki bar there, we were just in time to participate in their Thursday afternoon trivia and, though the questions were pretty difficult, we actually came in second place and won a $20 gift card. This place too was also packed but the crowd did seem a little younger, on average, than Blue Lagoon. With our pitchers we had Cajun Shrimp drenched in flavored oil served with garlic toast for dunking (awesome) and Southern Capresi (Basil and mozzarella on fried green tomatoes...really good.) After a couple hours here we moved on to our final destination for the night, our ol' fav Dimitri's. Now, mind you, we'd been eating non-stop but, well, their pizza is just that good. Ordered the usual Margharita and tried a pie of Tuscany Chicken which tasted a bit like BBQ to us (sun-dried tomatoes made it sweet). Of course more pitchers here. Since there was karaoke Ric got up and did his usual Simple Minds ditty.
From Dimitri's on Ric kept remarking how fucked up he felt but I've seen Ric fucked up many times before and he didn't seem that outta it. I was actually quite sober-ish. I didn't blackout once and later went naturally to bed once Ric had passed out. We of course spent some time in my jaccusi once we got home from Dimitri's around midnight and Ric being Ric, though I asked him to keep it down, woke up my neighbor Mary who poked her head out her door to see what was going on. I do find this a bit abrasive since I had my porch lights on and she could have clearly seen it was me and a guest by looking out the window. No need to appear at the door turning her carport lights on as she did as if to say "WTF!" Um, I never make a peep and I even keep my TV/computer volumes down to be respectful so don't give me this attitude. But at least she didn't say something admonishing us or anything, maybe she really was just confused as to why there was a commotion coming from my usually pitch-dark and silent house.
Ric made his way back home in the morning and seems to only have a small hangover. So all in all, another successful Sebring Town Paint. How much though, you wonder? Ah yes, we really should change the old saying to paint the town green since we sure spread a lot of it when we get together. It split fairly evenly with me taking a bit more of the pie chart since I treated him a smidgen for his just-passed birthday. Altogether, both our shares combined, my rough estimates:
Winn-Dixie: $25
Beef O'Brady's: $84
Blue Lagoon: $40
Uber 1: $18
Cowpoke's Watering Hole: $60
Uber 2: $18
Dimitri's: $46
Uber 3: $16
TOTAL: $307
Ya. You KNOW we'll get the Drink Package if we ever go on a cruise together.
Oh, speaking of cruises...
Guess what I'm doing tomorrow?
Stay tuned for next week's TRAVELOGUE post!