Blogs from Florida, United States, North America - page 51

To me, half the fun of traveling is the planning and anticipation. Last summer I knew that I wanted to take a big trip in 2017 so I started toying with destinations. Where to go? I don't tend to re-visit but there are many places still to see. I've traveled extensively here in the USA but there are still six states on my "To Do" list including Alaska, Oregon, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Maine. I will visit these states but not in 2017. I've been to most of the Caribbean islands but I live in Florida so not high on my list. Central America is awesome and my excursions to Mexico, Costa Rica, and Belize did not disappoint but that area is close by and relatively easy and inexpensive to visit. The only country in ... read more

When we went on our trip to New York State and Niagara Falls, Canada we did not realize how many wineries we would visit and the amount of wine we would have accumulated during that time. As we started to buy more and more wine we decided it would be a great idea to share these bottles with some of my girlfriends. So the time had come and it was time to share some vino with my girlfriends. I wanted it to be a nice intimate experience with just a few friends and some good food to share. For this wine tasting I decided to create a few cheese boards. I do not know too much about pairing wines with cheeses so I asked 319 Wine and Cheese for guidance. 319 Wine and Cheese(http://www.319wineandcheese.com/) If you ... read more

We slept in a little today. Then got up, got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. The hotel had a hot breakfast available. After breakfast we had a little bit of time to just relax so we watched TV before heading out to go to the ship. I knew where the National car return was so I made a left out of the hotel parking lot and soon my GPS was having me turn around. So, I followed the GPS and lo and behold we discovered that National/Alamo/Enterprise have moved to a location at the port. We returned our car and waited a little while for the shuttle to take us to the cruise terminal just a mile away. After going through security and checking in, we had about a 20 wait until they started calling ... read more

Sunday, April 18, 2010 url=http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1pyo6WL-1AWKLZy8Qscx6YG6fbgEuHbYtH5Bm919-zFWJV81EMHPnJMz9LHOWpG0Qyka16CBJcRr6WuG4MPFDKXQ/DSC09014.JPGimg=http://public.blu.livefilestore.com/y1phOvrBY5M4jtJUI-gOpbjHjsTNh7-Ai20ad27NAaj9bl2CnOHIlyNsZhx8FfZfndnNNp2JHh0wAH4izA8wiUMeQ/DSC09014.JPG My husband, Bob, is famous for taking me on fabulous trips: Peru, Belize, Curacao, Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska, the UK (5 times!), 6 Shuttle launches, 3 Caribbean cruises and so many other great venues. But when he suggested we drive ONLY 50 miles to an event held April 9-11, 2010, I was a bit apprehensive, to say the least. I wasn't aware that the largest ATV, Mudbuggy, Monster Truck riding area in Florida was on our radar--over 800 acres of pure bliss if you want to get down & dirty! Located just a smidgin east of Punta Gorda, the Redneck Yacht Club conjures up a down... read more

June 19, 2017 Picking up where we left off... Last night, we enjoyed our last supper in Cuba at a paladar in Cienfuegos. The host has plans to expand in order to accommodate cruise ship passengers in the future. It was a fitting near farewell to our new friends Ralph and Jorge as we enjoyed a tasty meal and fellowship. We should that before supper, we enjoyed cocktails on the rooftop of the Union Hotel, dating from 1869. There, we discussed the issues of the day and broke the Facebook embargo with Jorge. He thought it would be easy for us to find him and was shocked to see how many people of the same name exist in the Chicago area alone. We enjoyed a great view of Cienfuegos, including the energy infrastructure--a Soviet nuclear power ... read more