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Joe H

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On Tuesday I retired from my industry. I spent a great deal of time debating how I would go out, how I would end a career that I absolutely loved, that enabled me to chase and realize many dreams that in college I could only fantasize about one day pursuing, let alone achieving.

I turned down dinner, turned down being the guest of honor, turned down a reunion or two.

Rather, I left my tradeshow's annual convention in Orlando and, after changing to jeans, drove two hours to have a glass of wine. You'll see it in the foreground of the photo that I've attached.

There's another photo but the glass in that one is almost empty. It took a while for the sun to set in Clearwater Beach.

Whatever else I did in life I retired properly.

Then I drove two hours back to Orlando.

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Rather, I left my tradeshow's annual convention in Orlando and, after changing to jeans, drove two hours to have a glass of wine. You'll see it in the foreground of the photo that I've attached.

There's another photo but the glass in that one is almost empty. It took a while for the sun to set in Clearwater Beach.

What was the wine?!

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Full bodied, mouth coating and jammy as the sun set; any other night, any place else it would have been bar swill perhaps from a box. Two hours into my retirement, watching the sun set on Clearwater Beach it may as well have been Dal Forno.

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I know almost every foot of every pier and beach from Myrtle Beach to Old Orchard. I know every causeway that people drove over to evacuate.

My friends owned and managed those piers and parks. What they and those who live there survived-what they are going through- is unimaginable.

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Congratulations! While we have never met, i have loved reading your posts. Thank you for your thoughts.

Did you ever visit Pontchatrain Beach in New Orleans when the amusement park was there? The Zephyr roller coaster was the stuff of legends when I was a kid. That restaurant there, the Bali Hai, was impressive to a young person, too.

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Congratulations! While we have never met, i have loved reading your posts. Thank you for your thoughts.

Did you ever visit Pontchatrain Beach in New Orleans when the amusement park was there? The Zephyr roller coaster was the stuff of legends when I was a kid. That restaurant there, the Bali Hai, was impressive to a young person, too.

I never rode the Zephyr but I know some of the history of Ponchatrain. They had a Rye Aeroplane (considered the greatest wooden coaster of the "Golden Age of the 20's) style coaster from the same designer which opened in 1929, a year after Playland's. Cedar Point also had a wooden coaster similar to both called the Cyclone which opened in '28 and stood until '57.

Never ate at Bali Hai. Thanks for the nice words!

jparrott,

I believe that Barry Richards lives in New Orleans today. In the '60's he was D. C.'s version of Jerry Blavat and Jocko Henderson doing a lot of rhyming, calling himself the Boss with the Hot Sauce (which Blavat also called himself). In the late '60's Richards did a 180 degree turn and picked up a psychodelic persona: http://www.barryrich.../sellsheet.html Also: http://barryrichards...ages/about.html

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