We last explored the murals of downtown St. Pete in 2022, so before this trip, I checked out the Shine Mural Festival website and added a bunch of new and unseen murals to our Google map. Below are...
Blog posts from Florida
Weekend in Florida: food and drink
Restaurants I really wanted a Cuban sandwich so the first stop after getting our rental car was West Tampa Sandwich Shop. We each got the 'regular' size which was plenty. I got the honey (Obama...
Weekend in Florida: a bird sanctuary, beaches and nature parks
To pass some time between lunch and when we could check into our apartment, we stopped at Weedon Island Preserve and walked the boardwalks to a few overlooks. Didn't see a lot of wildlife or birds...
Weekend in Florida: overview and where we stayed
For years we have been taking a trip to Florida's Gulf Coast area in the January / February time frame to visit family, usually driving and staying for 1-2 weeks. This time we found some good...
Florida’s Sun Coast: Sarasota sights
During our two weeks in Sarasota we were a 10 minute walk from Crescent Beach so we visited multiple evenings. Even when the color wasn't great we were entertained watching the pelicans and terns...
Florida’s Sun Coast: restaurants
During our two week stay we tried lots of restaurants, ranging from classic breakfasts to a beach cocktail spot, and from in-restaurant to take-away. Breakfast Original Word of Mouth - Quite busy on...
Florida’s Sun Coast: breweries
With two weeks on the west coast of Florida we had multiple opportunities to explore local breweries. First up was Corporate Ladder, our favorite brewery in central Florida - we stopped by three...
Orlando 2023: EPCOT
Sunday was our day at EPCOT. I set an alarm for 6:55am to join the first virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy but didn't get in. We slept a bit longer and while enjoying my fancy cold brew, I...
Orlando 2023: Mills 50
On Saturday we didn't want to stay in the hotel room (or at Disney Springs) the entire day, so we took an Uber to the Mills 50 area to check out the street art. While we did find a few murals to...
Orlando 2023: Disney Springs
Our hotel was an easy 8 minute walk to Disney Springs, so the first night we went exploring. The temps were on the chilly side but most places with outdoor seating had heaters set up. After...
Orlando 2023: intro
I had intended to visit Disneyworld with my sister's family in 2021 but that trip was unfortunately cancelled, leaving me with an unused 2-day ticket. After perusing forums and making several calls...
Manny’s Memorial Weekend
We traveled to Florida (my fourth trip in less than three months) in mid-September for my Dad's Memorial service. I am not going to get into too much detail here but we made it through the...
Week in Florida: Eat + Drink
Other Breweries Good Liquid Brewing - We originally planned to go to the South Manatee location, but at the last minute we noticed their newish location in Sarasota that was a little easier to get...
Week in Florida: Oyster shucking
After returning from our afternoon in St. Pete - my Dad informed me they had purchased 2 dozen oysters from Detwiler's! I had him pour me a glass of champagne and got started shucking. We ate them...
Week in Florida: Daytrip to St. Pete
We started our afternoon in the Edge district with cuban sandwiches at Bodega. We ordered at the outdoor window and grabbed an open table inside. We were so hungry we ate everything before thinking...
We’re vaccinated – let’s go to Florida!
After completing our second vaccinations, our first activity was driving down to Florida to visit family. Since we drove and were staying with Leandra's folks we brought Pasha, who definitely...
a little more about Ireland
Eric reminded me last night that I never created a page for our Ireland trip last November. This is partially because I spent December traveling back and forth to Florida and time just got away from...
Tess McDonald, 1919-2008
As many of you now know, my grandmother (gram) passed away last Friday evening, a mere two weeks after she spent Thanksgiving with the entire immediate family in Florida. I have been back and forth...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London + Manchester, UK (Dec)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)