Now that's my kind of Birthday!
🎈Happy Birthday 🎈

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It is greatly appreciated! I usually camp out somewhere for my birthday, some years alone and some years with friends. Most years I camp at the Blue River - mostly because it's close enough to my home and I know some good spots that catching fish is reasonably reliable so that I can concentrate on relaxing and not worrying too much about catching fish. I usually tried to do some kind of essay - written, photo, or a combination. Some years i just cant seem to come up anything. This year, everything seemed to fall into place. The season is late and there was still some color, the weather was great, I caught fish and camp was wonderful - cool enough to huddle up close to a fire, snuggle up in a sleeping bag but not freeze to death sleeping in the back of a pick up truck. Anyway, coming home and posting an essay then, getting all the positive replys really makes the trip special, and I thank you all.

This years selection was Appleton Estates Signiture Jamaican Rum. It's great mixed with Sprite but also is smooth enough drink straight out of the flask on a chilly afternoon without burning your tonsils out. It was a gift from a co - worker but very quickly became one of my favorites.

Capt. Mac: As a cruising sailor, I visited almost all the islands that made rum. My favorite was Mount Gay Eclipse, but it didn't like me. Headache every time. Most all rum distillers have a primo sipping rum: Even Bacardi, the most over-rated and hyped liquor brand. I don't like white rum, but Baron Rothschild in St. Kitts made some good white rum, for a while. I like some of the higher-end Appleton's, the Flor de Cana, Cruzan's Single Barrel(before the newest owners), old Pampero Anniversario(in the leather-covered bottle). I haven't tried the Pilar($$$), but assume it is good. The worst rums are the French ones. Yuk! When I got to St. Croix in 1987, the Cruzan Rum was $1.29 a fifth at Woolworth's. Twice a month it was $.99 a fifth. I said, "I'm never leaving!" But in 1991, I went to Venezuela in my diesel motor yacht, and diesel was $.10/gal, rum was $1.00 a bottle, Chilean wine was $1.00 a bottle, tenderloin beef was $.40/lb, and the local chicas were free, THEN I said I was never leaving! But, after a year, the immigration guys, said: "You gotta go!" Nothing lasts forever.
As I say every afternoon: "It's Rum: 30"! Happy Birthday, Capt. Mac!