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Took a Sunday Drive from Tampa South to see what we could see. Lovely countryside – actually, more like continuous, sparsely populated suburbs and industry. Came to the little community of Auburndale and walked around a bit.   On the corner of Main and W. Park St., is the Baynard House, built in 1894. It’s listed in the National Register of Historic Places and was the home of Ephraim M. Baynard, a prominent real estate developer in the area and owner of one of the first citrus packing plants. It’s beautifully restored. You can imagine the owners sitting out on the porch sunning themselves onRead More →

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Renninger’s Antique Center is a huge complex off US 441 in central Florida. They host all kinds of ‘extravaganzas’, one being a Steam Punk Industrial Show. We were fortunate to be around when they had their January show, so hopped up there for a day. Loved exploring all the weird and arcane stuff you’ll find at an event such as this – but more interested in the ‘characters’ who showed up to celebrate a period in American history that never really happened. But Steam Punk is proliferating and I see it spilling into Renaissance Faires and Cosplay events. The more the merrier, I say. HereRead More →

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My daughter, Michelle (‘Mitch), works for WorldVentures, an international travel club. These images are from the international convention in Orlando, FL, called “United”, which also coincided with their ten year anniversary. Mitch and Sara Thompson lead a group of volunteers from all over the world, who, over the course of the event, handle registration, help in the product and souvenir sales area, make sure the close to 20,000 attendees get in and out efficiently, handle any issues and, in general, make sure attendees have a great experience. We were in Tampa so Mitch invited us over to Orlando for the meeting. Grima has accompanied herRead More →

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Gulfport sits on the Boca Ciega Bay South of St. Petersburg, Florida. It’s a laid-back community of tree-lined streets, local restaurants and small art galleries. It has a nice pier on the Bay for crabbing and hanging out and a little beach where we found a volleyball tournament going on, then had lunch at Tangelos Grille on Beach Blvd.   We arrived a little early for the opening of the Blueberry Patch in Gulfport (see previous post) so we drove around the neighborhood a little to kill time. Came across a little green area with a pond, filled with White Ibis. Can’t ignore the birds.Read More →

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Tucked away in an unassuming Gulfport neighborhood is a magical place called The Blueberry Patch. We found out about it when talking to some locals at Cypress Point Park in Tampa one afternoon, so decided we should go see it. It was a volunteer day where people could come in and help clean up a little. Nice people. The ‘Patch’ as it’s called, is ‘Florida’s oldest thriving artist’s retreat’. It’s a venue where people turn discarded items into art, where musicians meet and perform and just hang out. Check out http://blueberrypatch.org/.   One of the volunteers on cleanup day – nice fellow and I’m bummedRead More →

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On a beautiful Friday afternoon we went to City Park in New Orleans. This is one of the nicest city parks of any city that we have visited. We spent time wandering through the different areas of the park, walked around the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden (one of the best we’ve seen), visited the compact, but beautiful Botanical Garden and ended the day at the Friday Concert in the Park. Make sure you don’t overlook this gem after carousing the French Quarter. Leftover water from recent rains made for a beautiful reflection       Lots of secluded areas for intimate conversations  Read More →

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After Abita Springs, came back to New Orleans and this time stayed at Pontchartrain Landing, a nice RV park on the banks of Lake Pontchartrain. Grima found a little alligator friend roaming the shoreline while there. The weather was a little more cooperative (note the word ‘little’), so we had more time to see a bit more of the city. To tell the truth, we weren’t as impressed with the town as we thought we’d be. Perhaps it was the weather, perhaps because we had mostly seen it via Mardi gras scenes we had seen in films, etc. Perhaps the humidity – takes a littleRead More →

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We purchased our Winnebago Adventurer in October 2013 – thought we got a good deal, but, well, that’s another story. It spent the first year mostly in storage save for a couple ‘breaking in’ trips, one to Jackson, CA, and the other to San Luis Obispo. When we finally retired and rented the house, we drove the ‘bagel bagel’ (as our friend Kim baptized it) directly to Texas, a marathon 7 day trip, with a stopover in L.A. to spend Thanksgiving with our son, Jeric. From there we hopped a plane to Chile, returning 3 months later. As I mentioned in a previous post, weRead More →

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Still resting up from our Chile trip, and waiting for a Winnebago repair appointment with Camping World of Denton, we took advantage to visit and do things with Andrew and Michelle. It was the last weekend of March with beautiful spring weather. So we headed down to the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden on White Rock Creek with Michelle and Canaan (Andrew had to work) to enjoy their opening weekend.   Grima, Mitch and Canaan – Got a wheelchair for Grima as her foot was injured and was hard to walk.     So, more to come. Love to hear what you have to sayRead More →