What we did on our summer vacation

Brett and I took a roadtrip to Atlanta in June for a week. We hadn’t been since late 2022 when we both got the flu and ended up spending 2 days in the hotel and then going home 2 days early.  We lived there for years before moving to Florida so we were going back to visit old friends and visit some of our old favorite places. We usually stay out in the suburbs near friends but this time we rented a condo in midtown. The first night we were there a storm came in and I shot the above with my phone on our balcony.

The next night we had an early dinner with friends and was back at the condo right before sunset. I went up to the pool deck on the 24th floor and shot the above.

Another sunset the next night with clouds moving in.

Just a few blocks from our condo was this old white house on Spring Street and it was interesting how all of these tall buildings are going up around it but the house remains. After a little research I learned it was a funeral home built in 1928 and was granted historical landmark protection. Margaret Mitchell (writer of Gone With the Wind) had her funeral here as well as other Atlanta notables. It’s going to be renovated into a restaurant and event space.

One afternoon we stopped at the famed Dekalb Farmers Market. It’s a huge building with so many different types of food from all cultures. It’s always packed and since we were not home we didn’t buy any perishables but lots of snacks to take back to Tampa.

One afternoon we headed over to Little Five Points neighborhood. Back in the 80’s this was the cool punk area to hang out in. It was filled with vintage and thrift stores and it was fun to people watch. The area has gotten a little more mainstream now and is known as an artists mecca. The anchor store is the Junkman’s Daughter. This was a great thrift store back in the day but now it’s mostly tshirts and souvenirs.

The black building above used to be the Little Five Points Pub and I saw the Indigo Girls play there back in the late 80’s before they were famous.

We were back at the condo one afternoon to take a break and I noticed how bad the traffic was going through Atlanta at 2pm in the afternoon. Rush hour traffic is all day there.

I went up to the pool deck to snap the above. There are so many cranes here. Most are high rise resident buildings going up.

The frog topiary on the next block from our condo. I took a lot of pictures as we were on the go all week going to see old sites and a new one so I have a few more posts coming on our trip. It’s amazing how much the city has changed in the 22 years we’ve lived in Tampa although a few things were still the same.

SkyWatch Fridaylinkup party

Some Boston Independence Day history

Brett and I made our first trip to Boston in October of 2019. We usually go out west to go hiking in the fall but this year Brett said he wanted to go to a city. New York was out because he grew up there until late high school and I traveled there for work for many years. I had also been to Chicago and we wanted to go somewhere different so we picked Boston. There’s so much history in this city and I don’t think we really appreciated it while we were there. We were busy eating and sightseeing.

We stayed near the harbor (our hotel was the silver/blue one in the middle). We had the Boston Tea Party Museum out our back door (in the water on the left).

What we celebrate today really started here. Demonstrators boarded the tea ship at night and threw the tea overboard to protest the Tea Act of 1773.  This protest accelerated the American Revolution. From Wikipedia – The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, a tax passed by the British Parliament in 1773. Colonists objected to the Tea Act believing it violated their rights as Englishmen to “no taxation without representation“, that is, to be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a parliament in which they were not represented.

The statue is of Samuel Adams (who’s family owned a brewery). He was one of the Founding Fathers of the US and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

A view of the city from the water.

We saw a lot of flags here.

Another statue of Samuel Adams. This one is in front of Faneuil Hall (which was getting a facelift when we were there). It opened in 1742 and was a meeting hall at the time with Adams giving speeches encouraging independence from Great Britain. It’s still open as a marketplace.

We spent an afternoon walking through Boston Common, the oldest city park in the US. It started out as a cow pasture and was used by the British as a military camp right before the Revolution.

Paul Revere started his midnight “one if by land, two if by sea” ride here. You can read about it here. 

Another prominent figure in the Revolution was William Dawes Jr, who also made a ride to warn of approaching British soldiers. He is said to be buried here in the King’s Chapel Burying Ground.

Some of the headstones in the King’s Chapel Burying Ground, established in 1630. It is the oldest cemetery in the city.

By the end of the week we were tired of walking and took a bus tour around the city. It went by the Granary Burying Ground on the edge of Boston Common, established in 1660. Many Revolutionary War patriots are buried here including 3 signers of the Declaration of Independence. Samuel Adams (gravestone above. I took the picture while we were stuck in traffic.), John Hancock and Robert Treat Paine as well as Paul Revere. Ben Franklin’s (who also signed the Declaration) parents are buried here while he is buried in Philadelphia.

I took this as we were flying home. I’m sure the view was much different back in the late 1700’s.

SkyWatch Fridaylinkup party

 

A wildlife boat tour

While Brett and I were on our staycation on Manasota Key we took a boat ride/dolphin tour one morning. The boat wasn’t full since it was a little chilly so it was nice to have room to move around. We went down the intercoastal and out to Stump Pass to get out in the open water.

We passed several boats that were still stranded from Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Idalia. Ian (in 2022) did a lot of damage in the area. They still hadn’t fully recovered and Idalia came by (in 2023).

We passed an adult and a juvenile bald eagle that were sitting on a spit in the middle of the water. Looks like Junior followed Dad down to see how to get a drink of water (or catch a fish?). A little farther down we passed the nest. One adult was sitting in the tree. Thinking this is Mom.

As we made our way out of Stump Pass we could see dolphins swimming around nearby and lots of pelicans diving for fish.

This one had a big fish in his pouch.

We saw so many dolphins. Some were swimming right up against the boat and I couldn’t fit them all in and some were far out. It was a fun morning just floating around watching them come up for air.

On our way back we saw a handful of white pelicans napping on a spit.

We went in a few channels and this was a common sight. Many of the docks were still waiting to be fixed. The cormorants were taking advantage of the dock pilings not being used. Eighteen months after Hurricane Ian hit there were still a lot of roofs still covered and a lot of construction going on. One of the restaurants we ate at on the water had just recently opened back up after being closed for over a year. The waitress said everything in the restaurant was brand new.

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom Linkup

Staycation on a new beach

Brett and I had a week long staycation in mid-December. We drove 2 hours south to Manasota Key, a barrier island off Englewood (south of Venice, Florida). We rented a old condo right on the beach and spent the week just hanging out. We got down there too early to go to the condo so we took a long walk next door at Stump Pass Beach State Park. The weather was mild, around 60 degrees, and we had the park almost to ourselves.

Someone had made a shell tree.

On the beach side looking towards town. It’s weird seeing an empty beach. The shelling was pretty good and I came home with a jar full of shells.

We hiked down the beach and then back up the backside of the barrier island.

When we got to our condo we spent some time just chilling on the beach.

We were going to have an early dinner but I told Brett we couldn’t leave until sunset and I’m glad we waited. This was the only night we had one. This was the view from our condo.

As the sun went down I ran out to the beach to shoot the above with my phone.

This was taken from our living room.

We spent some time reading on the beach and went for long walks. We went on a long dolphin tour but more on that later.

One morning we drove up to Venice and walked along Caspersen Beach, know for a good place to find shark teeth. There were many people here with sifters looking along the rocks for them.

We then went to the Venice fishing pier and had lunch nearby. It was a little chilly this morning as we walked on the pier.

The last day we were there was sunny and warmer so we spent some time hanging out on the beach and walking around the area.

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom Linkup

 

A weekend with the Mouse

Brett and I drove over to Disney (not to a theme park though) in early June for a one night road trip for our 29th Anniversary. After checking into our hotel we headed over to Disney Springs to walk around a little bit and have an early dinner. I’ve only been here in the winter and it was so hot even at 5pm. After walking around for a half hour we decided to go ahead and eat early and then head back to the hotel.

Our hotel was nearby (not a Disney hotel) and we could see the fireworks from the theme parks in the distance. A nice little storm moved through at the same time and we got a great lightning show from our window.

A quick video of the fireworks (on the left) from the Magic Kingdom and the storm (on the right).

After a quick breakfast at the hotel we headed to the Disney golf course. Brett was going to play a round of golf and I was driving the golf cart (I’m not a golfer, maybe some day though but it’s fun being out and driving the course), This Mickey cart was out front at the clubhouse. It was so cute (the carts everyone uses looks like a regular cart).

There was a little bit of color along the course.

We saw a lot of raccoons along the course and they come right up to the carts. We had caught up with some guys playing ahead of us and they told us that people are feeding them. One guy said he came back to his cart from the hole and a raccoon was up in his cart digging through his snack bag. There are signs warning not to feed the wildlife but no one seems to listen anymore.

It was a beautiful morning out on the course and after a big lunch we headed back home. It was a perfect quick getaway.

SkyWatch Friday

More from Bok Tower Gardens

Peter Rabbit still hanging around long after Easter.

Some different plants growing at the Bok Tower Gardens in early May. The first one is a balloon cotton bush. I would love to have one of these in a pot in my yard but they are not native to Florida. The 2nd one is a type of pitcher plant. I just recently got a hanging pitcher plant and repotted it so we’ll see how that one does.

This tiny black racer ran across the trail in seconds, before I could even get my camera up to my face to take a shot. I found him in the bushes a few minutes later. He was really skittish.

One of the big koi fish looking for a handout.

I’m not sure what these are. They were in a different pond and there was a feeding station next to. Luckily I had a few quarters so I fed them a handful of fish food while I was snapping these with my phone.

One of the many views at the top of the hill near the carillon.

Palm tree reflections in the big pond in front of the carillon.

I always snap a few shots of the carillon when I visit.

Before heading home I took a little road trip to the cow pastures to look for the wild whooping cranes. I had recently heard that one of them had disappeared and had been missing all winter. The one was still there, far out in the pasture. It was sad to see it all alone. I hope it finds a mate soon.

SkyWatch Friday

Road trip to the other side

In early May Brett and I took a road trip to the Fort Lauderdale area to visit his relatives. It’s just a quick 4 hour drive from our house in Oldsmar. We always pass this old historic spot at Yeehaw Junction. The old Desert Inn Bar was built in 1889 and has been standing in this spot since then. In 2019 a tractor trailer truck ran into the side of it and did a lot of damage. Original word was that it was going to be restored but that hasn’t happened yet. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.

The new hotel addition of the Hard Rock Hotel can be see from almost any of the main roads through Fort Lauderdale. We passed it on the way to a restaurant during our stay.

We were in our hotel room before heading out to dinner and Brett was looking out the window and saw this large iguana walking towards the hotel. I jumped up and grabbed my camera and ran down. He was already in this palm tree when I got to him. That doesn’t look like a comfortable spot.

I saw a lot of these lizards everywhere we went. It was the first time I really noticed them around.

A sun halo high up on our way to lunch.

We were checking out of our hotel and Brett went to get the car. I looked over and saw a tiny bird sitting on the sidewalk. I walked right over to this black throated blue warbler and he let me pick him up. He must have hit a window. I put him on top of the bushes and by the time Brett came and we loaded the car he flew off.

Heading home over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. They were repainting the yellow cables. I can’t image being high up in those little boxes painting while cars are whizzing by. The view is probable amazing though.

BLUE MONDAY BADGE

an image of a red sports car with a lady caricature going at Vroom Vroom high speed, Senior Salon Pit Stop Vroom Vroom Linkup

 

Red, pink and orange in November

The Atlanta Botanical Gardens still had a lot of color blooming when I was there in early November. Atlanta hadn’t gotten a lot of cold weather yet and it was warm the morning I was there. We were hoping we would get to wear our jackets on this trip but that wasn’t the case.

Beauty in the gardens including the blooming lady statue behind the waterfall.

The trees also had a lot of color. I took a ton of pictures with my phone so more to come on this visit.

Inspire Me Monday

Sightseeing in Atlanta

It was a little weird standing under Georgia 400 during our trip to Atlanta in early November. We found this small park that runs along the Chattahoochee River as we were heading north to have lunch with a friend. After lunch we stopped by the park and got out and walked around. It was loud standing under the major highway that is at least 4-5 lanes going each direction. I have driven on this highway a million times when I lived here but never thought to stand underneath it.

Most of the trees were in bright colored leaves with just a few still with green leaves. If you follow the trail that leads away from the highway it starts to get quieter. We didn’t go too far since we still had a lot to do that afternoon but it was a nice quick stop.

The next morning I headed out early for a walk around Piedmont Park before going to the Botanical Gardens. I love this spot on the lake in the middle of the park where the buildings reflect off the water. The park was busy and there was a movie being filmed in one corner of the park. I couldn’t get close enough to see what was going on though.

The trees here were just starting to turn colors.

SkyWatch Friday