Today I am up on Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula on a road trip suggested by frequent reader, Randy. It’s the part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that juts up into Lake Superior. Definitely Paul Bunyan land. I drove my Jeep for 6+ hours yesterday to get here. Randy was up here last summer and sent me some flyers highlighting the many waterfalls in the area. You might … Continue reading Unexpected Hobby …
I flew out to SmallCorp this week for our spring board meeting. On my way out, I stopped in to check out the new Delta World Club (above) that just opened at MSP – a benefit of my new airline credit card. Related: Taking Flight It was the first time I had stopped in an airline club since I stopped working 7+ years ago. I … Continue reading Back In The Club?
The media is promoting tips for a “Low Carbon Footprint Travel” for the upcoming summer vacation season. I saw it posted in NerdWallet and a couple other places. The facts & thinking look like they are pulled from an insipid White House press release. They highlight that cars emit 3x as much carbon as trains per passenger mile (.47 vs .17). There is no reference … Continue reading Dubious Green Summer Travel Tips
(This is NOT a sales pitch / associate link article) I’m back to trying the travel hacking again. I started rotating credit cards and banking miles before the pandemic interrupted everything, but quit when everything shut down. A few friends suggested I start again, and I just signed up for a new Delta/American Express Reserve Card. This is the first card I’ve had where I … Continue reading Taking Flight
In Celebration, Florida – not far from where we stay in Margaritaville resort – there is a great looking Italian restaurant. We have never eaten there. For me, Italian food is perfect for cold weather, not the Florida sunshine. I can think of a number of good comfort, food restaurants like that in Florida. Never been to any of them. For me, the four food … Continue reading Florida Four Food Groups
Our friends and us sometimes debate the “vibe” of snowbirding in Florida versus Arizona. I would guess that about 2/3rds of our friends opt for Florida and 1/3 opt for Arizona. We were undecided until a few years ago when my wife noted that although we’ve been to both many times, when we’ve chosen Florida over Arizona at about a 3:1 ratio for vacations over … Continue reading Sunshine State Snowbirding Vibe
Our January-March snowbirding trip was sadly interrupted by a family emergency two weeks ago. My wife’s father passed away unexpectedly, but peacefully. After the funeral, we decided to come back to Florida for a couple more weeks and flew back yesterday. In doing so, we found ourselves oddly packing for the same exact trip we packed for last month. I consider myself an expert packer, … Continue reading Packing – It’s Always Something
Mr Plow came and scraped out our driveway this morning. It was just as I got back from walking our dog. I only knew because I received an alert on my phone that there was “motion detected” on our driveway. I watched him on my phone as he cleared everything … from 1,561 miles away in sunny Florida. I saw my neighbor (Hi, Mark!) in … Continue reading Mr Plow & January Snow
We’ve been in Florida for a little more than a week so far, and so far so good. This is the 4th year we have had an extended snowbird trip and we are getting good at it. In particular, the packing went well. It’s amazing that we can live here for 2.5 months on just what you see on the luggage cart in the photo. … Continue reading Packed Tight for Snowbirding
We’re back in Florida this winter, snowbirding from the Minnesota cold. One bucket-list item I got to do today was drive down the sands of Daytona Beach in a bright red Jeep with the roof panels taken off. That was fun! Recently, I’ve been reading about people’s disappointments with some of their bucket list experiences. It started with THIS POST on EarlyRetirement.org, where people shared … Continue reading Bucket List or Garbage Can?
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