East to West to East - March 22, 2016

Tuesday, March 22, 2016 Sleep decreased and eyes opened around 8:00 a.m. After several cups of coffee later and packing a bag to head for boating on the west coast in Cape Coral with people that we know from home. We are geared up and ready for our two hour road trip from Ft. Lauderdale through the Everglades and the Cypress National Preserve Park to Naples to Cape Coral. It will be time for alligator hunting and other sights along the way. There is fencing along the highway to keep the wildlife out and the people in. It sounds fine to me because I do not want to wrestle with alligators. What is our first thing to do? Of course, we stop to get coffee. Not just any coffee. Cuban coffee and food at Las Colinas. The coffee is cafe colatta. You only need a small cup for the strong and delicious yumminess full of caffeine. What else is in our to-go bag? Croquestas/croquettes with ham, Papas Rellenos with beef, Pastilles with guava and cream cheese. Oh and more coffee - cafe con leches. All so good. I am more full from the bites of these samples than yesterday but is a delightful experience to keep us satiated until we arrive in Cape Coral. Around 1:00 p.m., the three of us arrive at our final destination in Cape Coral at Tim and Laurie's house. After meeting their lab puppy and catching up, we pile into their cigarette boat and get whisked to one of their favorite places. It is slow moving through the canal so that we can look into the backyard of all the houses. A nice leisurely pace. My hat on tight. When we get to the open water, Tim guns the boat and I hold onto my hat and the back of the seat. Woo hoo! Wind in your face and warm sun on your body. A good life. After about 20-30 minutes, we arrived at our destination. At a slow moving pace, we pulled between other docked boats so that Tim could fill the boat with gas, then Tim and Laurie worked as a team to dock the boat on the other side of the dock. As we were walking along the pier, there was a boat called Easy Street. Someone offered to take a photo of us near the boat. Laurie then sent the photo to Bruce. So cute! Our first stop was at The Nauti Mermaid Dockside Bar and Grill. We found a great spot at the outside bar where some of us were in the sun and others were not. Beverage of choice served up to our liking. What did we order? Burgundy braised short ribs with goat cheese balsamic reduction and wild arugula, three beef sliders (one special and one original) poutine with grouper, shrimp appetizer. We were all very pleased. It was so nice sitting outside in the warm sun. After settling the tab, we walked around the docks looking at boats before we piled into the boat for our adventure back to the begunnung. Their dog was excited to see us arrive. After several dog pats and more conversation, we found ourselves in the road to head back home. Were we done eating? Yes? No? Maybe? No! Tess found a location for Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. If the light is on, then the doughnuts are hot and just out of the oven. What was the Tuesday special? Buy one dozen and get another dozen free. Of course, we took the deal. There us nothing like the gooey goodness of a melting glazed donut in your miuth. You cannot have just one. Reach for another? Definitely. We arrived home just a short while later. After quite awhile and several pats for Dax, my head found my pillow. A good day. Fun had by all. Smiling. Big grin.

Sun and Fun - March 21, 2016

Monday - March 21, 2016 What? What? I am late for work. Oh wait. No work today. No real thoughts about work. No real thoughts about snow. I am thankful. I am thankful for natural vitamin D. I am thankful for sun. Oh boy. I woke at 8:00 a.m. but actually got up around 9:30 a.m. The morning was filled with at least three cups of coffee and conversation. Guess what was next? Food! What should we have to eat. Oh wait. Guess what? We have leftovers from yesterday's lunch. Actually not leftovers but the lunch that we ordered at The Deck. Mahi Mahi wrap for me and grill cheese for Tess. We cannot forget the Sun Chips. Crunchy goodness. The pool and sun was calling to us around 1:00 p.m. The pool was a short walj to the pool. No other person was there. It was like it was our own private paradise. Sunglaases and hat all in its place. Lounge chairs situated any where we want to put them. Over here. Over there. No wait. Just where we had them before. Just kidding. Once situated, all done. We know what we want. Bring. On. The. Sun! The suduko book stayed unopened on the lounge chair. Tess read passages from her book. Selfie taken by the pool. All this in the name of relaxation. Can you do it? I bet you can. You can do it. I know you can. Fill in the blank. If I had a certain amount of vacation time and enough cash, what is the simplest thing you could do to get away from normalcy? I would .................. . What would I do? I would eat, drink and fun with friends in a new environment. That is what i like to do. Our next adventure was to take an uber ride to Las Olas Boulevard around 4:00 p.m. Around 5:30 p.m., our first stop is to Pan 'E Dolc, an Italian bakery, for a very and small cannoli. We ate one delicate bite at a time. Of course, we are having dessert first. What I did not realize what our next stop was going to be like for yumminess. Is that a word? We walk down the street and across the street to Cafe Europa just before 6:00 p.m. You walk through the door into an indoor-outdoor area. What do we see as we walk into the main part of the restaurant? Gelato! I have never had gelato so I sampled a dark chocolate. Oh my. Oh wait. What is that around the corner? A dessert case. All types of Italian choices. We decided to hold off making a decision for the moment because we decided to sit in the indoor-outdoor area. After perusing the menu, we decided on a combunation of gelato and espresso called Affogato. I had mine with hazelnut gelato and Tess had hers with stracciatello. It is hard to explain but my taste buds were having a field day with delectable taste of this combination. I could have had more than one but decided to move on to a new selection. Next up is caprese salad and beef carpaccio. Caprese is one of my favorites but the beef cappaccio was thinly sliced and better than expected. Are we done yet? Not yet. The topper was an espresso macchiato. Hazelnut for me and caramel for Tess. These were served with two little almond cookies. I cannot decide which one is best. The whole experience was to die for. A must have experience. Around 7:30 p.m. Daniel arrives to pick us up for our next destination for dinner. We are thankful for light food prior to arriving at the Canyon. We are seated at a two topper made into a three topper. There us ysually a long wait but we were so lucky! Daniel and Tess knew the waiter and the owner. One of their other friends who works there phoned in an order of desserts for us. More to come on that. First up is their famous Prickly Pear which is a nice smooth margarita. After looking at the menu, we decided on three small plates - tuna tartare with wasabi cream on the regular menu and strip steak with arugla salad with chimicurri sauce and pulled pork soft tacos from the specials menu. All three plates were simple but not simple in flavor. Are we full yet? Have declared uncle? No way! Our two desserts are in the way! Peacan pie with cinnamon ice cream and berry bread pudding. The. Best. Dessert. Ever. Every bite was bursting wuth flavor. What did we have to pair it with this night? A port. Not just any port. A 20 year old tawny port. Let's see if i can ever beat this day. Homeward bound and bed around 10:45 p.m. Buenos Noches!

Food. Food and More Food - March 20. 2016

Sunday, March 20, 2016 Rise and shine at 8:00 a.m. or so. Tess and Daniel was already downstairs. Coffee brewing. Several cups of coffee down with the hazelnut cream added for a little bit extra zing. The mornung included patting of Daxter, the family dog, and just plain lounging until we were ready to hit the road for brunch. A wonderful rye bread with best tasting butter to hold us over. Wr hit the road after Alex walked through the door aroybd 11:30 a.m. On tbe road to find brunch near the water. We settled on The Deck Restaurant at Sea Club Resort. We sat at a table right across from the icean. A beautiful sight to behold. I love the ocean view. Unfortunately there was no brunch to be had. We started off with a bloidy mary and spinach artichoke dip. There was nothing specual aboyt the bloody mary in a plastic cup. The vuew was great. It was a positive. At some point a short while later, Tess found a fantastic brunch on line that was back where we started. As we were unable to cancel the rest of our order, we asked for our food in a to-go box. After paying our bill and piling into the car, we headed back towards Shooters, the next stop, around 2:00 p.m. Shooters is more of what I like in general. There was an hour wait so we proceeded for an outside bar for the wait and a beverage. A little Vitamin C goes a long way. Musician playing the steel drum. As soon as we sat in chairs on the lawn, a table opened up that we quickly moved to as quick as we could. There were so many delectable menu items including the smoked fish dip that we had for appetizer as well as the Spanish chorizo omelet wuth a side of sime incredible bacon for me and challah frwnch toast for Tess. Perfect view, perfwct company, perfect food. The waiter was very friendly and accommodating. He treated us well so we did reciprocate. If coese, we did. We appreciate the hard work of wait staff. This is a great start to another vacation day. There was something we knew but did not really care was that brunch ended aroubd 3:00 p.m. and dinner with friends was at 6:00 p.m. What did this mean? Piling into the car and heading home to lounge in the couch until it was time to go in a few hours. Dark Knight Rises on the tube and lounging whereever we could find. We were finally on our way to North Miami to visit Carlos and friends at his house. We were thankful for GPS on our next adventure. Traversing through the streets of Florida on a lovely warm evening, then driving into a gated community trying to find the correct number house on a crowded street lined with houses. The three of us were welcomed with open arms into their home with other family, friends and dogs. The house was filled with items from their travels as well as an open loving atmosphere for entertaining out in their screened living space. The menu consisted of a delicious cerviche with no fish but had a delicious palm of hearts with an Ecudorian flare of popcorn. The entire consisted of chicken pasta with alfredo and cheese topped with real parmesan. Oh my. After many conversations and stories that were either mentally translated from Spanish into English or with a Spanush accent, we had a necturine and strawberry tart with vanilla uce cream. Yes. Life should be centered on family, friends, food and fun. This day met all my criteria to learn about life in other places. After a majority of people left, we had a tour of their home that several stops back to the front door area for some jelly beans. After listening to more stories as we relaxed in their living room, we walked out their door around midnight for our 40 minute drive back home. What dud we do when we got back? Red velvet cake and/or ice cream. Satiated and tired, i walk up the stairs to the comforting feel of a mattress and pillow.

Cold to Warm - ME to NH to FL - March 19, 2016

March 19, 2016 - Saturday Oh happy day! Tess and I are traveling to Ft. Lauderdale. Florida. Russia started his vacation early by staying at Willow Run. It also allowed me an opportunity to finish my shopping and packing as well as see most of my friends either at Easy Street or the Liberal Cup before leaving. Slates coffee and muffin before I hit the road for our next adventure. My car needed some petrol for the trip to Portsmouth. No issues and plenty of gas for the first leg. Tess was ready to go around noon. We were dancing the jig. Sunglasses required. Beautiful sunny with a slight chilly breeze. All is good. GPS securely working to guide us in the right direction. We know that we are headed south. We know where New Hampshire is located. We know where Portsmouth is located. However, neither one of us has been to the Portsmouth airport at Pease. I-295 bound on a nice leisurely drive. What more could you ask for? A few tolls to be paid along the way. It reminds me that I need to get an easy pass. Across the Maine border into the New Hampshire border and down familar streets to the rotary is all familiar. The GPS guided us the rest of the way to the airport. I usually drive with the GPS if in unfamiliar territory so I tend to miss or am unaware of street signs. It is not a good thing. We drove by the long-term parking lot and to the terminal. What's next? Food. Definitely. No chain restaurants. Where do you go? Downtown. Tess knows the way around Portsmouth. We make our way through the streets and drive pass the British Beer Company and until we found a parking garage. We walked across the street not in the crosswalk. Food and beverage on our mind as it was going to be a long trip. As we walk through the door. I automatically steer towards the bar. Seats were found near the end of the bar around the corner so we can see everything. People watching is fun. Do you have a red? Yes.bthey have a nice red on draft. Were you thinking wine? I do love red wines too. Cabernets or red Zinfindel or Tempernillo. No pinot noir for me. Anyway,I wanted avocado in a chicken sandwich but settled for a cobb salad with chicken, avocado and bacon and other unimportant things. Tess had a salad with yummy cranberries and other unimportant things. Around 3:16 p.m.,we received a text that the plane was delayed. We still finished and tabbed out to be there two hours ahead as recommended. We walked back to the car around 4:00 p.m. I had thought it was great that we had a parking space that was not far from the entrance/exit but realized it was not as convenient because traffic was backed up to pay and leave. If you have a credit card, then you are all set. If not, you had to pay cash down near the entrance. Quite a few people were paying with cash. Why not just pay with a debit or credit card? It really was not that long to get out. All set. Paid and ready to go. I am driving on a wing and prayer with Tess being a great passenger driver telling me which direction to turn. I seem to get more directionally dysfunctional as time moves forward. Anyway, all us good on this beautiful sunny day. What more can you ask for than free parking at an airport? This is another positive point to drive to Portsmouth besides an inexpensive flight. There is no garage to park in. All open air. We shall see if my car is covered with snow when we gwt back. We walked into the terminal. One place to check in that is in a small area. There was about 6 other people waiting to check in. Flight delayed because the plane had not departed yet because if the storm. At some point, a passenger came in and started giving the check-in agent a hard time because she had not received notification that the flight was delayed. It was totally unnecessary. Tess and I had already checked in on the night before and printed our boarding pass for this no-connection flight. If you paid for a carry on, then you can walk to security around the corner. Security was no problem. Nice and friendly people but serious about their job and our safety. No pre-TSA check for me at this airport. Short and sweet. Distraction from cute security guy. We met a woman who had taken the bus down from Machias. I thought that we drove a great distance. I was proven incorrect. A good people watching opportunity people with children to a person with a cat in a carrier to couples and father and daughter traveling together. All aboard! We are getting ready for an 8:00 p.m. depature. Tess is boarding in Zone 3 and I am boarding in Zone 6 even though we sit next to each other. All situated with luggage over head and backpack under the seat. A no-frills airline. Seats do not recline. No movie or radio. No free snacks. There were options to purchase snack packs and beverages. A good deL. I am all okay with this part. There were a few empty seats but were told not to change seats that would shift the balance. We kept ourselves entettained. The flight attendant looked familiar from a long time ago. How do we pass the time? How to devise a plan in an indurect way. Hilarious! Entertaining for us. Ha! The pilot would turn on the seat belt sign on numerous occasions but no turbulents were comin our way. We finallt landed around 11:30 p.m. Daniel had circled at least twice before picking us up outside the luggage area. It is amusing to get into the back of a two-door car but ut us even more amusing to get out of it once we landed at our home base for the next few days. We chatted and watched part of Tremors abd Dusk to Dawn on ScyFy channel until my head hit the pillow around 3:00 a.m.