River Beech Pub

19th March 2011

We were invited to see "Southside Cindy and the Sliptones" at the River Beech Pub, Chillicothe.

What a night!

The pub is opposite the Illinois River and has great views, only the week before we saw Bald Eagles in the trees by the river bank.

When you enter the pub you are greeted by a pine bar in front, and off to the right is the resturant again in pine with the stage at the far end. Our friends had reserved a table close to the stage, and when we arrived the band was setting up.

The pub has some speciality foods such as Beef Briscket  or Catfish, however we had eaten earlier so we did not try the food.

The band was superb, Cindy has such a stage pressence, and her voice was amazing. She was accompanid by a Backing singer, Keyboard player, Bass Guitar, Drums, and an Acoustic Guitar. It was not long before every one was up and dancing.

Great band, and a great evening.

Saint Patrick's Day Images from Peoria Illinois

Agatucci's - Peoria Illinois

 

Agatucci's is one of the oldest restaurants in Peoria. Vincenzo Agatucci left his own town of Calascio in Italy in 1904. After working in the Coal Mines, he opened a small grocery store on 2nd Street around 1920. In 1926 he bought the existing building on a small dirt road the furthest point North of Peoria.

During the depression he turned the grocery store into a restaurant to better serve the community, and following prohibition, he purchased a liquor licence (No 13), and it is the oldest liquor licence in Peoria. After the Second World War the family started to make Pizza's as the returning soldiers all wanted Pizza when they returned.

We went with Carl and Mike, and were introduced to Danny and Tony the current owners. They were great, and showed us where the underground room was; that was used during the prohibition period for drinking. Alas we could not go into the room as they have tiled over the entrance, and have placed a booth there as well.

We had their Pizza with Italian Beer. It was just great the beer was light and very refreshing, and the Pizza was a thin crust with lashings of cheese and fresh ingredients. Just a delight.

Tony then told us about a recent attempted armed robbery at the restaurant.

"At first I thought, 'what is this, a joke or something?'" Dan Agatucci, co-owner of the restaurant said. "But then I turned around and saw him in the mask."

Co-owners Dan Agatucci and cousin Tony Agatucci were closing up behind the bar.

That's when the pistol-toting robber ordered the pair to hand over cash. Tony Agatucci had locked the safe and was buying time by telling Scott he didn't know the combination. As the gunman kept his gaze and weapon trained in that direction, Dan Agatucci calmly grabbed a gun kept in the restaurant.

As loudly as he could, Dan Agatucci screamed at the gunman, "freeze!" The intruder panicked and ran out of the front door.

"I don't know if he thought there was an officer in the back or what," Dan Agatucci said.
Dan Agatucci chased the suspect out the door and fired a shot into the air to warn pedestrians that there was a man with a gun. Tony Agatucci grabbed a gun and ran after the gunman, as did his father, Jim Agatucci, who runs the kitchen. They chased him west on West Gift Avenue, firing several shots.

Dan Agatucci said police "came out of nowhere" and made an arrest near robbers home. The entire matter did not last much longer than a minute.

What a story, and what an evening. A well deserved 10 out of 10. We will visit Agatucci's again.

Puerto Rico

22nd February 2011

We arrived in Puerto Rico at around 5:30pm, and took a taxi to the Hotel. We checked in and guess........... yes we ended up in the same room we had when we arrived a week ago the famous 'Bunker' room.

After checking in we took a taxi to the old town in San Juan. The taxi driver was real friendly and talked to us all the way. When we arrived the fare was $21, and as we only had $20 dollar notes available the driver said he was happy with $20 (He had no change available).

The old town is very beautiful and is full of old colonial architecture. 

We spent several hours walking around and enjoying the sights. It was a shame that we saw many poor people sleeping on benches, it made you feel how lucky you are in life.

We decided to look for a typical restaurant that served local food, and after asking several people we came across a restaurant called 'Raices' (In English this means Roots).

The restaurant was super busy. You had to reserve a table outside and there must of been over 20 people waiting. They did how ever have some tables and chairs so you could sit and enjoy the weather while you waited.

After around 35 minutes were were called to say our table was ready and we went inside. The decoration was great, it was made to look like you were at the entrance to an old shop selling everything from hardware to vegetables. On the far wall there was a huge mural painted on the wall that made you feel warm and comfortable.

The waitress 'Marcela' was superb, she took time to explain all the items on the menu. We ordered some drinks (Mojitos), and they arrived in a metal mug with straws. they tasted great. We then ordered our meal from the menu. Silvia choose 'Mofongo' with Cancan Pork Chops, and I choose the Cancan Pork Chops with rice and green beans. We also choose Tostones to share.

The meal arrived on metal plates and in metal bowls and was spectacular, it was also immense we could easily have fed 4 or more people.

The food tasted as good as it looked (11 out of 10), and we will both remember this night for a long time. My Pork Chop was over a foot long.

The food was just too much so we took a doggy bag, and returned to the Hotel.

The next day we flew back to colddddd Peoria taking our doggy bag with us, and we finished the meal for supper that evening.

If you have been following this Blog series I thank you for taking time to share our adventures. This was a Holiday of a lifetime, and we feel so privileged to have been able to make this trip.

British Virgin Islands - The Final Days

19th February 2011.

We woke earlier to set sail for Cooper Island. The wind was in our favour today so we made good progress. As we were on our way a Dolphin came close to the boat, but left before we had time to get a photograph. After 3-4 hours we arrived, and fixed the Yacht to a can. We had a quick lunch, and then took the dingy to the island. We browsed the local gift shop, and bought some small items as souvenirs. We then made our way to the bar to buy ice for the boat. While there we had a quick cocktail and Silvia made friends with the local barman. After a short while we headed back to the yacht before the ice melted.

Silvia Carrie and myself then got back into the dingy and motored to the nearby beech. There were lots of Pelicans diving into the sea to catch fish. When we beached we noticed we had a puncture in the dingy, but we thought it was not too bad, so Carrie and Silvia went into the sea with Silvia's best friend (The inflatable dolphin). I decide to explore the island a little, and took some pictures of the vegetation, a wild goat, and an island lizard.

The island was deserted, however in several places you could see where construction had started, but then had been abandoned. The ruins were covered with cacti and wild brush, so I assumed they had been left for many years.

I then went to the sea to do some snorkeling. In the meantime Carrie went to check the dingy, and decided we needed to make a repair. As we had no repair kit she swam back to the yacht, whilst Silvia and I carried on enjoying the warm sea and the fish. We saw several Green Turtles enjoying sunshine

When Carrie returned, she advised she could not find a repair kit, and no other yachts nearby had one either, so we made a temporary repair using Duct Tape. I then used a pump to blow up the dingy while Silvia swam back to the yacht. After about 30 minutes we managed to get the boat inflated, but in the meantime the tide had gone out and the dingy was high and dry on the beach. Carrie and I struggled to get it back into the water, and eventually manged. By this time the dingy had inflated somewhat so I had to add more air before we motored back to the yacht.

 Silvia and Carrie swam back to the bar to see if they had a repair kit, and I stayed on the yacht with David drinking a glass of wine while we listened to some music and talked about many things in life.
The sun was very hot but a light breeze on the yacht made it very enjoyable.

Silvia and Carrie returned to the yacht with news that we had no luck getting a repair kit. So we decided to spend the evening on the yacht enjoying the night sky and each others company.

We woke early the next morning. There was a stiff breeze of around 40 knots, and as we sailed back to Tortola the boat was inclined at 40 degrees. Again the wind was against us so we had to tack several times to make headway. David tried to make some drinks below deck, and we could hear him laughing loudly to himself as the boat bucked and swayed from side to side. How he managed to finish without spilling any I will never know.

After we went below deck, and it looked like an earthquake had hit the yacht. This was the first time I took the helm and steered the yacht. It is amazing how you can feel through the wheel when the yacht is happy with the actions you are taking. I will make a sailor yet!.

We arrived back in dock at the marina on Tortola, and spent the rest of the day removing rubbish, washing down the deck to remove the salt, and giving the cabin a clean. We then went to the marina to take our laundry, and spend the evening at the bar. I ordered us all a Jambalaya. It was absolutely delicious. We had a few drinks while Silvia and Carrie went into the pool. We stayed until around 10pm, then returned to the yacht, where Carrie had made a supper with the remaining provisions.

We stayed up for several more hours before going to bed.

The morning was our last day. We had to collect the laundry, buy some items to make minor repairs to the yacht, and spent a little time sight-seeing. we then returned to the marina to say thank-you and farewell to David as he was staying one more day, then took a taxi to the airport at beef island. The taxi ride took around 30 minutes, and was very strange as on the island they drive on the left side of the road with left-hand drive cars, so seeing around the mountain corners was very difficult.

At the airport we were surprised to see Chickens and their Chicks wandering all over the place even on the runway side of the airport. We were then on our way to Puerto Rico for our final afternoon/evening before returning to Illinois, but that will have to wait for my next blog.