5 Hours To the Palma Maria

Carl - Marylou - Lulu - Me
Pete Rosinola Sr - on wall

Parm and Anna were our servers

It all started with an email from Marylou Zimmerman. She said they were snowbirding home this week from Tampa to Tamaqua - and wanted to get together. We both had visited Dick and Jan Davis out west in May - and wanted to share stories. Nothing is better than a Honda van trip with the 6 Amigos going up the road 2-2-2. But we could not pass up a trip to the Palma Maria to share the good times.

Everybody thinks because we live in Florida and the Palma is in Florida - we can drop by every day for lunch. It is 5 hours from our house to our favorite restaurant! It is so far - and we are old - Lulu had to get us an Embassy Suite to veg out after our wonderful meal. 

We left Tallahassee at 10 AM and by 3 PM we were in our suite. A half hour later - Carl and Marylou rolled in. We got a suite - just in case they wanted to stay - we were lucky they stayed until 11 PM. The time flew by. 

The Palma is just 4 miles down the road from our hotel - after the 3 of them shared a bottle of wine - I chauffeured them to the restaurant. The absolute best part of the Palma - besides the food - is the special treatment you get for sitting at the Tamaqua Table. Lulu has been calling it that for decades. Eating a splendid dinner under the gaze of Pete's picture - is spiritual for Tamaqua people. Imagine having a place like home - from 40 years ago - that is special. 

The Palma existed on Broad Street in Tamaqua from 1950 to 1980. Everyone has stories of eating - working - hanging out there. In 1980 - the whole family moved south - and now they have been in the same spot in Casselberry (30 miles north of Disneyworld) for the last 37 years. Anna - Parm - MaryAnn - and Pete Jr serve up the same wonderful food - bake fresh bread daily - and their pies that are out of this world. When they wanted to invent the term - time warp - they picked this place. Even the prices are surprisingly low - for fine dining. All 4 of us had something different - mine was Sausage Parmesan. Email me if you want prices. 

Carl and Marylou are a trip. They just came back from a month on the Left Coast to visit their son and Dick and Jan Davis. Now next week they will drive to Tamaqua for 5 months. They keep a home in Hometown PA mainly because they have nowhere to put their stuff. 

After dinner - we retreated to our hotel where we gabbed and gabbed until 11 PM. Lulu and Marylou shared a hot tub with other hotel guests - and Carl and I played with gadgets - always a fun past time. 

We wanted them to stay - but it is only an hour to their winter home near Tampa. 

Out hotel is next to Altamont Springs Mall - it beckons Lulu. After that - there is a firm that builds camper vans from scratch in DeLand FL - which is about 20 miles away. I would like to see them in action before we go home. 

Before we drove down - Dick Davis called to video chat. I said 5 hours is far to go for dinner. He said - is there any doubt at all that you are going to do this? Never a doubt Dick - and you were there the whole night. 

Sorry Pete - it is blurred - but you look more like your Dad
this way 

Palma Maria momentos

Pete and Dolly