Author Archives: 3jmann

West Coast Spring 2019, Part Two

April 4 – 15 With an afternoon to kill that Saturday we made our way to the 4th Street shopping district in Berkeley so that Kris could pick up glasses he’d ordered at Warby Parker and while the girls went off to take care of some shopping, Kris and I repaired to the Sierra Nevada […]

West Coast Spring 2019, Part One

April 4 – 15 A little over a month elapsed between our return from Florida and the start of our next trip which would include ten days on the west coast following a pattern now long familiar to us, two four-night stretches in Oakland with Jessica and Kris and three days in Sacramento exploring California’s […]

Florida in February – Miami, Part Four

February 6 – 20 Our first choice was a German restaurant with inconsistent, but generally positive reviews not far from us.  We drove there and located it after parking, but it appeared closed, not unanticipated given the reviews it had received.  So, we decided to head next door to Tap 79 Gastropub, but it too […]

Florida in February – Miami, Part Three

February 6 – 20 With just the trip out to the Everglades planned for that last day we had a little time to kill in the morning and just before leaving town, stopped in at Cream Parlor for coffee and a snack.  It’s a cute place, decorated in a kitschy fashion and offering a varied […]

Florida in February – Miami, Part Two

February 6 – 20 I awoke the next morning with my back having returned to spasm mode, which meant we weren’t going to do a lot of walking.  We decided to take a combined bus and boat tour with the Miami Double Decker tour outfit.  Deciding to forgo navigating and parking the Highlander, we took […]

Florida in February – Miami, Part One

February 6 – 20 We broke camp in the morning, Joanna doing much of the lifting and bending and then without much ado, took off north for Miami, a journey of less than four hours which would give us time to do a couple of tourist-like activities on the way. About ten miles into the […]

Florida in February – Key West, Part Two

February 6 – 20 I finally got some sleep that night and awoke the next day in about the same condition, so we resolved to head over to Key West to an urgent care unit, fulfilling my unofficial goal of visiting such a facility or emergency room in each state. Unlike our recent experiences in […]

Florida in February – Key West, Part One

February 6 – 20 Knowing a six-hour drive lay ahead of us we decided to stop in at Bennett’s Fresh Roast for another donut and the Cajun Shrimp and Grits we’d passed up the day before.  With a good cup of coffee and donut on the side, we devoured the dish, so tasty with Louisiana […]

Florida in February – Fort Meyers, Part Three

February 6 – 20 We walked over to the Museum of Art, entered and waited a few minutes for our guided tour to start.  Now designated as the official state art museum for Florida, it offers twenty-one galleries of European paintings as well as Cypriot antiquities and Asian, American, and contemporary art. Designed by the […]

Florida in February – Fort Meyers, Part Two

February 6 – 20 The next morning began a full day for us and with a nearly two hour drive to get to our starting point in Sarasota, the Ringling Circus Museum, it became clear we had not sufficiently allowed for the four-hour round trip.  Otherwise, might have considered a different lodging arrangement for these […]