Rain in the morning that quickly passed. Around 11 am, we moved to mooring 53 in the south mooring field. We are closer to the dinghy dock. We had some chores to do and decided to knock those out. We found a West Marine and a Winn-Dixie next to it about a mile and a half away. We needed a good walk so we decided to walk there and uber back with supplies.
We launched Fat Tuesday and set out. The little motor worked well even when the current was against us. It took 8% of our battery to reach the dinghy dock.
We felt like a coffee between the west marine and the grocery and stopped at a coffee shop in the same shopping mall. Oh Beate!!! The Frisky Cat Cafe was so much more than a coffee shop. It is a non-profit cat shelter/coffee shop, “nationally ranked Top-10 best cat cafes by USA Today in November 2024.” There is a glass front room filled with cats. For a fee, which is donated to cat care, you can go in for an hour and spend time with the cats. Tips and coffee profits also go to cat care. Adoption is the goal for the cats there. Families can also buy a membership to play with the cats. In the room are all sorts of cat perches, posts, towers, hammocks, There are toys on the floor and kids can dangle feather toys on small poles or slide them around the floor. The lattes and teas had names like Calico Mocha Praline and Tabby Crème Brûlée. It was spectacular. Many people were in the cat room, families, and just people sitting with a cat on their laps.
We dinghied back with purchases, had dinner on the boat and then headed back to town for some nightlife and lights.
The pizza line was still present. It was hard to capture. We visited two places on Carol’s list, Boat Drinks and Prohibition Kitchen where there was a band. Boat drinks also had a skeleton of a mermaid, for real.
We wandered through lighted alleys. One of my favorite exhibits was from another non-profit helping the homeless. They had paper ornaments that you could write on and hang on a large wall. It was covered with Christmas wishes and notes. Thought of Beate again.
We also saw a dog there that reminded us of Kelty.
More night lights. Jer, I need you here to help me photograph all of this.
Found our boat easily with our solar lantern on the stern.