Caloosa Outing
3-6 November 2011

Pictures by Feldgoise
Pictures by Nancy Miller

The Caloosa Winnies first camping weekend of the season started off with a wonderful reunion of the members sharing the summer stories and celebrating Thanksgiving! 25 coach families were in attendance and Happy Hour on Thursday was a lively event! Dinner main dish of Swedish Meatballs was served by the hosts, with the members contributing delicious side dishes! Our ever popular Ice Cream Social followed dinner with lots of choices to make sundaes! The evening event was a “Cranberry Race”. Teams were formed for the relay race – each team carried real cranberries on a spoon back and forth to teammates which made for a fun competition. The winning team members:  Bob Ross, Ed Tyndall, Carol Mastro, and Cathy Goebel. Each winner received  a can of Cranberry Sauce for their prize! The rest of the evening was spent playing cards and games. 

Friday morning dawned a beautiful sunny day and our pancake crew was busy at work cooking sausage and making pancakes to order. After cleanup we caravanned to Fish Cove Miniature Golf and formed teams for a fun hour of golf. The winners for best scores were Cathy Goebel, Jim Brand and Nancy Miller. After lunch, 2 rousing games of Beanbag Baseball were played under the pavilion. It was the ladies versus the men, with a playoff game. Talk about noise and cheering!! It was a gret time! The winning team was headed by Captain Frank Cipolla. Members on the team were Pete Wightman, Jack Bleakley, Al Goebel, Jim O’Neill, Bob Ross, Nick Sanborn, Bud Swift, Jack MacGregor, and Charlie Zucker. You guys need to join our Florida team for GNR!! Soon it was Happy Hour time and a caravan to Village Fish Market for dinner at a local restaurant.  After dinner many people played games in the rec hall. 

Saturday morning was our traditional Potluck Breakfast with so many wonderful dishes prepared by our gals! At 10:00 am Presidents Charlie & Ellen Zucker presided over the business meeting which was a lively time! Charlie welcomed our new members, Jack & Sandy Bleakley.  Charlie thanked everyone who attended GNR and helped with the many tasks. Jerry Miller, Florida State Winnie Gators President thanked all the members who traveled over 200 miles to attend the October state meeting.  Jerry Miller, Director,  presented the Slate of Officers for 2012; Presidents Pete & Corinne Wightman, 1st VP Ed & Pat Tyndall, 2nd VP Bud & Sue Swift, Secretary, Jim & Sally Rayburn, Treasurer Jim & Jane O’Neill. Elections and installation will be at our December meeting. 

In the afternoon some of the ladies we dubbed the “Pinners and Cutters” helped work on costumes we are making for the March State Rally.  The rest of the afternoon was spent visiting, shopping, and getting dinner started. Soon the delicious smell of roasting turkey filled the hall! At 4:00 pm Happy Hour commenced. THANKS to Bud Geng and Ed Tyndall the turkeys were carved and all the side dishes appeared for dinner at 5:30 pm. We have the greatest cooks in this chapter! After dinner was settled it was time for a”Pumpkin Bocce Ball Game”.  Teams were formed and the object was for each team to roll a small pumpkin toward a big pumpkin and points were awarded based on how close the team members were to the big pumpkin. A lot of laughs and cheers from the crowd! The winning team: Lois Hogan, Ellen Zucker, Al Goebel, Diane Cipolla, and Chris Ross. THANKS to everyone for being good sports! Cards and games were on tap for the rest of the evening. 

Sunday morning breakfast was served at 8:30 am consisting of fruit, bagels and donuts. It was soon time to travel on with the anticipation of our Christmas Party happening in December. THANKS to all the members who pitched in to help in so many ways this weekend. THANKS to the officers for co-hosting! We invite travelers to attend our weekends, check our website www.winniegators.org for details.