Easter 2019, Grandchildren, Paige On Stage

Update April 21 to April 27

-- Easter Bunny Arrived in Jefferson

Cousin Leela Reads to Lucy

Holidays in our household are hit and miss. Patti works on weekends and often on holidays, which make holiday visits a challenge. This Easter she was off throughout the holiday so we became the host for overnight visits and the great Easter Egg hunt (Jefferson style) for the grandchildren.

Mary and Ira came up from Connecticut to spend the weekend. Johnny drove down from Maine too. Patti's sister, Mary, had arrived with all the fixings for Easter baskets and an egg hunt. She stuffed the baskets and I made small signs for each basket to make sure the right basket went to the right customer. Mary hid the eggs in the downstairs playroom. It was decided to let the egg hunt precede dinner so we wouldn't have too many preemptive "may I be excused from the table" requests. The kids ram amuck picking up eggs and finding their individual baskets and remarkably everyone seemed pleased with their gatherings.

Olive's New Friend

The guest list included Corinne and her two daughters, Lucy and Olive; Kari and David and their two children, Leela and Louis; Patti's siblings, David, Johnny, Mary, and Ira; plus in the afternoon Marna and Steve came with Paige and Lily. I measure the type of visit by the number of dishwasher loads: in this case, three.

Olive got a chance to really enjoy the rotating playground seat that we have had on hand for a while. We tried her in the seat some time ago and she was too small. She slumped over to the side and was never very comfortable. She's over 15 pounds now and seems to be adapting to the sear better now. It has a lot of things she can pull, poke, spin, and pound with her fist. She delights at the buttons that fire off tunes and she doesn't mind when big sister Lucy joins in and helps punch various buttons to create a racket. 

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-- Paige On Stage - As You Might Expect

Paige - Stage Center

The Flapper

It seems that we get an invitation to see Paige or Lily at various performances on a regular basis. With Lily in Amherst, it's mostly Paige that has local events we can attend. This week she was part of a special show at Worcester State University that featured the music of Stephen Sondheim. He's the musical genius behind movies and shows such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park, and Sweeney Todd. 

The show was titled, Putting It Together, which is a musical revue set in a Manhattan penthouse at a swanky cocktail party. It premiered in England in 1992 and had its Broadway run in 1999. The show takes place at an all-night, black-tie party where an older couple and a younger couple deal with their relationships. When I started watching the show I thought they were in a nightclub, but it turns out rich people in Manhattan have entertainment space that rivals a nightclub. Who knew?

Anyway, Paige was hilarious as she sat at a side table pretending to drink Martinis. She was constantly tipping the glass as if she was draining the last drop. It reminded me of some of her other on-stage performances where she was a bit tipsy, such as her leading role in Guys and Dolls. It was a fun show and I can't wait for her next performance.

-- Retirement Planning

Patti and I met with our Attorney this week to get his view on our retirement plan. He felt that things were well in order and with a few minor suggestions, which we agreed with, we will continue with our plan. He agreed that there was no need for a financial planner given that our preparations have been adequate up to now. Patti may decide to work a bit longer, but not much, and mostly because she enjoys it. We don't need the income at this point. My only job right now is to be sure and plan a week's vacation every month. It occupies my time to plan it, then enjoy it, and then write about it afterward. I'm okay with that.

Our current vacation plans include Vermont and Lake George New York in June, Old Orchard Beach in July, Lake Winnipesaukee Region in September, Cape Cod in October, and something special around Patti's birthday in November. I will have to focus on what we should do in August, maybe the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia or perhaps Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Waters in Pennsylvania? We'll see.

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READING UPDATE: If you understand mythology you will understand why our planet is in the mess it's in today. As human beings, we are victims of mythology and have been since early man (humans) first slunk around looking for grubs and berries to eat. In his book, The Flight of the Wild Gander, Author Joseph Campbell attempts to seek the source of all myths and to help us understand the peril humans are in because we don't understand our own inadequacies. Whether it's the Brothers Grimm or false religious prophets, we must stand fast against the damage of myth makers. It's the story-tellers (see my book, The World's Seven Biggest Liars, for more on this - Available at Barnes and Noble website.) In the meantime, you can borrow this book from me to get a grip on why myths need to be broken.

Flip-Flops, Maddi's, O'Connor's, Siam 9 the Same Week

Update April 14 to April 20


-- Flip Flops Has Flip-Flopped to The Local Tavern

Mahi Mahi Tacos 

What's in a name change? At the Flip Flops restaurant on Main Street in Holden, it amounts to the bakery being removed, the walls covered with barn board (newly hewn) and a few minor menu changes. The tables and chairs have changed too, but not for the better. The food and drinks at The Local Tavern are still fine, so that's good. The Mahi Mahi tacos were just what I wanted, and to my surprise, I ate all three this time. Generally, I take one home.

Patti had the Mediterranean wrap, which was more than she could eat, so at least we had some leftovers from her order. Looking out the window, I was wondering when the Blue Plate across the street would finally be knocked down. It's been closed for a while, and I'm not sure what's coming in to take its place, but the fencing is up, and the heavy equipment has been sitting in the yard for weeks. They could knock it down and clean it out in an afternoon. We'll see.

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-- Maddi's on Water Street is a Fun Place

My old office at 65 Water Street

I saw this restaurant featured on the Phantom Gourmet and realized it's actually been here for a while; we just haven't made it a point to check it out. We finally stopped in on this Water Street Bistro, Maddi's, on Monday. The restaurant has an eclectic menu and offers a variety of its own specialty drinks. However, when I ordered my usual Johnnie Walker Red on the Rocks, they reported they only had Johnnie Walker Black (always more expensive). What can you do? You can't switch to a three-dollar beer. So, you suck it in and get the more expensive black, which unfortunately my taste buds can't distinguish from the Red. Life is such.

Patti had the Citrus Cooler 'Tini, which was very cool. I got the Flat Iron Steak Press, and she got a wild interpretation of a BLT. I'm not sure what was in it, but it looked great. Across the street, out the window, I could see the building I worked in when I was the Director of Marketing for InstallX and SecureX America. I built their first websites and had a lot of fun doing it.

-- Olive and Lucy Made their usual Tuesday Visit

Lucy In a Creative Mood

The girls visited us as usual but, no visit is ever "usual," with these two. They bring a fresh interest in new things each week. Lucy hadn't painted for months and all of a sudden when Patti suggested it, she was very enthusiastic. I put painting smock on Lucy and prepped her paints. She proceeded to entertain herself for quite a while. When she was done with paints, she moved to markers and made some exciting artwork. Mostly she takes these gems home to show her Father but occasionally presents one or two to us. Olive demonstrated her increasing capacity to roll over. She gets stuck on her own forearm, but she is determined to keep rolling the best she can. 

-- Lunch with Ray at O'Connors

I met with Ray for lunch, and we spent a lot of time discussing retirement, which is a condition we share now. He's been at it a little longer than me, and his wife is also retired. In my case, Patti is only semi-retired. We also talked about the trip he and Nia are taking to Greece for the month of May. That sounds exciting. Nia is Greek, and so they have plans to backtrack some family ties when they get there. Having lived in neighboring Turkey for two years I can understand the attraction to the exotic travels that Greece provides. It's the core of history that still affects our modern world today. I have no desire to go back, but I'm glad I got a chance to travel there years ago. By the way, lunch at O'Connor's was such a large order that I have a lot of leftovers. Usually, the lunch portion doesn't overwhelm, but this time it surely did.

 -- Relatives visit for Easter and so we started with some Thai food at Siam 9

Patti and Mary waiting for dumplings at Siam 9

I'll report on Easter in next week's blog entry. But, the night before, when Mary and Ira arrived from Connecticut, we went to Siam 9 in Holden. It's a small place, but it is genuinely a stop we like to make when in the mood for something different. The dumplings are outstanding. When we stopped in, we saw neighbors at nearby tables, and that's not surprising. There is a vast collection of food choices nearby, and it's less necessary to ride into the city to find what you are looking for.

And speaking of "looking" for something, be advised you have to turn in at the hardware store and drive along the side of the building to find Siam 9. It's definitely worth seeking out, but it's a bit out of sight of the road. See you there.


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READING UPDATE: I have a natural fascination with historical figures with my surname. The Wright Brothers, Author Richard Wright, Frank Lloyd Wright, etc. My interest in these namesakes is what got me started reading about them, but over the many years, I have developed a growing interest in them beyond the flimsy connection of the same name.

This biography, Wilbur and Orville by Fred Howard may be the one and only book you need to read if you only have time or interest to commit to one book. The author takes you through their childhood, their early interests in mechanical things up and through their eventual success in introducing the world to sustained, powered, controlled flight. This was no small task. Their personal genius was really the result of an unrelenting determination to seek answers where others had not begun to question.

If you want to read it, let me know. 

Anniversary Dinner, Grandchildren Visit, Writing, Reading, Dining Out

Update March 31 to April 13


-- Every Five Years in Vegas - Maybe Not

Patti at Sonoma

When Patti and I got married, we went to Las Vegas. On our fifth and tenth wedding anniversary, we flew to Las Vegas to celebrate. This was our fifteenth year, and we decided not to go to Vegas. That doesn't mean we didn't celebrate, we just were less flamboyant about it this year. 

Sea Scallops 

We did elect to go to one of our favorite flamboyant restaurants, the Sonoma at the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester. We have been a fan of the Sonoma Restaurant for many years and when the Chef moved to Worcester things only got better. It's closer to us, you can find them open for breakfast and lunch - seven days a week. That's just not likely to happen with haute cuisine establishments. But, it's a hotel, and they have guests with needs. So, we are the incidental beneficiary of the arrangement.

Patti went with the Filet Mignon, and I had the special Sea Scallops. Both were delicious, and Patti even had leftovers, which I got to enjoy the next day. In effect, I got a surf and turf out of it. We split a desert, as usual, as we couldn't resist. Maybe we will do Las Vegas five years from now?

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Olive Makes a Break for it.

-- Grandchildren Keep Tuesday Jumping

Olive has enjoyed playing in her play yard for many months. It has four flexible overhead arms that are perfect for hanging various toys that she can grab. When she's particularly aggressive, she can make the arms swing and sway. Today she rolled enough to put her legs into a flexed position, and when she exploded her energy, the arms nearly caved in. The opposite corner of the floor mat curled up, and the whole play yard nearly toppled over. 

She was clearly busting out of the place, and nothing was stopping her. She's able to roll over, and now that makes her twice as curious as she can propel herself toward enticing new objects which she can explore and decimate. I sense that we have practically outgrown the play yard and we need a better cage.

The young Dick Wright

-- Continuing to Catalog Dad's Columns

When Dad was writing his twice-weekly columns for the Worcester Gazette, he became fully entwined in the local political picture. His commentaries extended to how the schools were run, how the city planners ran trash pickup or street cleaning, to municipal budgeting and the tendency of the incumbent City Manager, Francis McGrath, to bedazzle the part-time city councilors.

The sixteen loose-leaf binders with copies of his articles have been a very time-consuming task to review and edit. I'm still working on how to preserve and present them for the family and for the general readership. 

-- Lucy is a Gamer - Board and Electronic

Lucy with Candyland

Lucy likes to play a variety of electronic games on her tablet. The games are instructional in math and language as well as fun. She also likes traditional board games. Even though she is five, she still wants to play Candyland. She likes to win, mostly. But, if she loses, I can generally get her to try again.

She knows the object is to win, to get there first. But, she has a hard time understanding why she doesn't get a favorable card draw each time. Her concept of chance is very narrow. There is no chance aspect for her. She just wants to win. And for you to lose.

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READING UPDATE: I have just finished reading, My Father Marconi by Degna Marconi. His daughter provides a personalized view of the life and times of the inventor and scientist that made the first trans-ocean radio broadcast in 1901. Guglielmo Marconi is today remembered as the father of wireless communications. Little would he have suspected just how prolific wireless would be in today's age? His early fascination with electricity, another scientific Adventureland of the day, occupied a lot of his youthful time making experiments and daydreaming about what he could accomplish. And, as usual, we discover that governments, who refuse patents, and challengers, make the difficult road he was on even more so. Eventually, he became the toast of two continents as he proved that worldwide communications were possible.

Four Grandchildren Celebrate Lucy's Fifth Birthday

Update - March 17 to March 30, 2019

-- Lucy Turns Five

Lucy Displayed Some Cards

Fast on the heels of our returning from Tampa we encountered the whirlwind that surrounded Lucy's fifth birthday. As is typical with children today, there was more than one party, ours was a small version allowing Lucy to really be the center of attention without competing with too many other kids. The usual impatience expressed by five-year-old children is magnified somewhat for Lucy. She was ready for presents immediately.

Cousin Leela Helps

She felt it was out of order to have a meal, have cake and ice cream, knock down the pinata, or play pin the tail on the donkey. She wanted gifts first. But that was not to be. We maintained the traditional order of events with the exception of the pinata, which came after gifts had been opened.

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-- Gifts and Candy

The pinata had been filled with candy and it was my instinct that, while having not known about it in advance, I was now in a dilemma on how to hang the thing and let the kids take whacks at it with a small bat that had been provided. My decision was to remove the two cars from the garage and hang the pinata from one of the overhead door railings. I was able to adjust the dangling height to allow the kids to get a fair whack at it.

Finally, some cake

Ultimately, the pinata was burst open and the candy fell to the floor. All of the kids grabbed up as much as they could. We then turned our attention to pin the tail on the donkey. There are no "pins" as such, rather, the tails are stickers that you attach to the target. Lucy was incorrigible about peeking under the blindfold so her tail landed pretty much on target. Lucy hates to lose.

-- Where Did Five Years Go?

Sorting Candy

Now that Lucy is five years old she will begin regular kindergarten in the fall. We have only this summer to have her visit every week to spend a whole day with us. Since she was one year old and learning to walk we have had her on Tuesday. Now that Olive has arrived and will be one year old in August we hope to have her be a weekly visitor until she reaches grade school age. With both of them in the house, it has been an exciting challenge to cope with the pre-schooler and the near-toddler together. 


-- Torsion Bars and the Dodge Charger

1971 Charger

As a kid growing up I became fascinated with the torsion bar suspension on the Chrysler products of the day. When I bought my Dodge Charger in the 1970s it had torsion bar suspension and I was still fascinated with the technology it represented. No other manufacturer was using the design. While rummaging through some old files for something I needed for a client, I found this picture of my Dodge Charger. I bought it when I lived in Mystic, Connecticut. I used it to commute to Hartford and Norwich where I had offices. It was equipped with a CB radio, which was probably the highest tech, other than the torsion bars, that I had on the car. I wonder where it is now? Probably crushed. Too bad.

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READING UPDATE: T.S. Eliot: A Memoir is a revealing biography of the Nobel Prize-winning poet constructed from the writings of Robert Sencourt, who had left his work unpublished during his lifetime. After he died, the writing of Sencourt was edited by Donald Adamson and the result is a fascinating look behind the scenes of this important and eccentric poet. He was more than a poet; he was an editor, essayist, philosopher, educator, and a playwright. Born in the late 19th Century he was educated in New England, including attending Harvard. As serious as anyone can be when you are a literary figure even in your own time, it's fascinating that he was a prankster and maintained a longtime friendship with Groucho Marx.

Clearwater, Art and Photo Museums, Salvatore Dali, Columbia 1905

Update - March 10 to March 16, 2019

-- Visits to Tampa Museum of Art

By Robert Indiana

On Sunday, we went to two great museums in the Tampa area. The first was the Tampa Museum of Art, which is along the River Walk. The second museum was the Henry B. Plant Museum on the grounds of the University of Tampa.

The Tampa Museum of Art moved into a brand new facility about ten years ago and is itself, a piece of art, having won some awards for its architectural design. Its collection of ancient art, as well as modern art, is extensive.

By Michael Pavlik

Featured during our visit was an exhibit of famous American artist, Robert Indiana. You may recognize the "iconic" use of the letters LOVE in a stacked format with the letter "o" tipped at an angle. This piece was not copyrighted by Indiana back in the 1960s and so has become a bit ubiquitous. He was also famous for his creation of a large piece of art which spelled out: "eat." That's all. It was hung on one of the exhibits at the New York World's Fair in 1965 and created a virtual riot when folks began to assume that the building it hung on was a lunch counter. It was not. It was art. Many works of art were on display from artists from around the world including the glass structures built by Michael Pavlik. 

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-- Henry B. Plant Museum at The University of Tampa

Minarets 

Library of Tampa Hotel

Henry B. Plant is equally famous as Henry Flagler for their efforts to turn Florida into a destination for visitors during the early part of the last century. In fact, Plant is credited with having more railroad track, more trains, and more hotel rooms than Flagler. Plant seemed to work the north and west coast while Flagler worked the east and south coast including Key West. When Plant built his famous hotel in Tampa, it wasn't finally constructed when he expanded its requirements to include over 500 guest rooms. Each had its own bathroom (except on the opening day when three rooms to a bath were the norm until everything was finally finished.) The Hotel prospered and then later, with the depression and war it began to decline. It fell into the hands of the state, which finally turned it over to the University of Tampa, which used it for dormitories, classrooms, and administrative offices. Up to this day, it still functions for administrative purposes, but the west wing is totally devoted to a museum that describes the history and grandeur of the heyday of luxury hotels in Florida.

-- Visit with Relatives in Clearwater

After our tours of the Tampa Museum of Art and the Henry B. Plant Museum we drove out to visit relatives who live in Clearwater. Patti's nephew is a graduate of Maine Maritime and has been working for years installing gas turbine engine systems for power plants around the country. They gave up life in Orlando for the more peaceful pace of Tampa a few years ago, and we have to agree that they live in a wonderful neighborhood in a great city.

--  Salvadore Dali Museum in St. Petersburgh was Unusual

Dali Museum

Why should we not expect the Dali Museum to be unusual? The works of Salvadore Dali reside principally in a museum in Spain that he established and in this museum in St. Petersburgh that was established by a married couple that had spent a lifetime collecting his finest works for their private collection. They lived in Chicago and were invited by someone to endow and donate a museum devoted to Dali and his style of art so that the collection could be kept together. The outcome is a rare type of museum for such an established artist. There is no lack of room to accommodate his work and works by others of his contemporaries and new artists that carry on his vision.

A special exhibit was in place when we visited which provided a dedicated look at the two most celebrated surrealists of our age: Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. The exhibit shows the alternative view of the world that both artists wanted to show and compares how they compare and contrast in their approach, technique, and vision. It helped to see Dali's work in comparison to another artist to better understand what he was trying to do. It's also interesting to realize that as he got older, the artist tended to move away from his most severe surrealism toward a more conservative approach to art.

-- Florida Museum of Photographic Art

FMoPA

We have often found that photography earns only a passing treatment at art museums as if photography was a secondary medium for painting and sculpture. But, this museum devotes itself exclusively to photography, and that focus really adds to the depth of the presentations. There were various themes on display, but one gallery was called Lost and Found in America and featured three artists that have specialized on the nature of "self" in their art. It was fun to see the compositions created often featuring the artist him or herself as the focal point of the art. Each of the artists has messages they are creating. Expressions of their views and opinions, if you will. Some of it was disturbing, and some were confusing, but enough of it came through that we found the exhibit imaginative and inspiring.

-- Vacations Bring Out the Need to Eat

From left to right: 
Patti enjoyed a Mojito at the Columbia Cafe on the River Walk; this time upstairs in what is actually a restaurant and bar servicing the Tampa History Museum. It was very hot outside, so we elected to eat inside instead of on the outside deck. On our exit day, Tuesday, we had an early lunch at the original Columbia Restaurant - 1905 in Ybor City, which features seating for 1,700 in 15 rooms. By the time we left, the place was almost full. And just before flight time, we stopped at the International Plaza near the airport and had a hamburger at the Taps restaurant. They feature a lot of interesting beers, but we went with cocktails and wine. "Taps" was an appropriate place to end our visit to Tampa as we were airborne before midnight.

-- Home At Last and a Visit from the Girls

Olive with her Toys

We got home on Wednesday and on Thursday had the granddaughters visit. Olive was in a good mood all day, and Papa had a chance to feed her one of her bottles. Lucy was her usual energetic self and spent a lot of time playing with the stuffed Easter bunnies, the Bubble Maker, the Lego farm animals, the pillow castle/fort in the playroom, entertaining Olive with peek-a-boo, sliding the wheeled hassocks around as race cars, stomping on the snow-melt on the deck as we watched the snowman dissolve, play hide-and-seek with Papa, plus a good amount of reading including two new books, Stuck, and Lost and Found. Paige visited in the afternoon and helped with more reading to Lucy. She also shared her phone app that has the filters Lucy likes to play with to make funny faces. We limited that to a 10-minute session; otherwise, she would sit with the phone for hours. 

Bonus Visit from Granddaughters, Vacation to Tampa Florida

Update - March 3 to March 9, 2019

-- Weekend Visit from the Girls

Adjusting Wiki Stick

We are leaving for vacation this week, so we won't have our usual Tuesday visit from Lucy and Olive. So, we had them over on Saturday. And because of returning on the following Wednesday, we arranged that the girls can visit us on Thursday the week we return. Although the schedule is changed, we will still get our usual quota of visits for the month. That's a good thing.

Lucy was fascinated with something called a wiki stick, or something like that, which was shapable, and sticky, so she could make things out of it and then stick it on something. She created a series of characters and then with some help from Nana she mounted them on paper to form images. 

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-- Snow Person Returns to our Deck

Shoveler

Later in the week, Patti used one of the shapable objects as the mouth on a snow creature she built on the back deck. On the weekend before our departure, we got hit with a very large snow storm. The snow was heavy and wet, but undaunted, Patti shoveled all the snow on the back deck into a large snow pile and from this hardened pile of snow carved a snow person. The snowperson was taller than the deck railing and featured salt and pepper dispenser caps for eyes and the wiki stick shapable forms for a mouth. It was not a particularly handsome snowperson, but Patti was sure he could survive for a week until we got back from Florida. I was not so sure. As it turned out, the thing was about a foot shorter when we returned, but it was surely a sad, saggy, version of its original self. 

-- Tuesday is Travel Day to Florida

Airport Lounge

On Tuesday, March 12, we flew to Tampa non-stop. We had researched the flights to Florida during what is considered a peak time (considering college spring break) and folks trying to enjoy a break from winter weather in New England. After working our way through the various flight options, we managed a Non-Stop from Hartford to Tampa on a round-trip basis for a total of $347 for both of us on Southwest Airlines. Until we got this bargain the costs were easily topping $700 for airfare. The only hitch was that the flight down left at 7PM and the return flight left Tampa at 10PM. Those are not generally convenient hours, but for us, the savings was worth it. 


-- The River Walk in Tampa is Impressive

Amalie Arena

We have been to the River Walk in San Antonio, and we have always enjoyed what it had to offer as a vacation destination. There are other river-walks in the country including a modest three-quarter mile river walk park in nearby Providence. But, the Tampa River Walk was more than we expected. It is situated in such a way that many of the major attractions of the city including museums, theaters, attractions, and restaurants adjoin the river walk. You can reach everything independently, or you can reach them from the river. It's very walkable, which makes it affordable too, as you can park your car once and visit several venues on the same day. We parked at the Amalie Arena, which is the home of the championship Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey Team. The team nickname, "Bolts," appears everywhere on signs, t-shirts, and buses. The city has embraced baseball, hockey and even has an AFL football team now. 

-- Food in Tampa was a Highlight

Patti at Columbia Cafe

Something that caught our attention right away was the Columbia Cafe. On other trips to Florida, we had enjoyed visiting the famous Columbia Restaurant in St. Augustine where the food and ambiance were outstanding. We knew the original Columbia Restaurant was in Tampa in the Ybor District, so we planned to visit it on this trip. We didn't realize one of the "Cafe" versions of the restaurant was on the River Walk. The menu, the ambiance, and the service were reminiscent of the big restaurant, so we enjoyed our first vacation lunch there on Wednesday. At the cafe, you are on the water and can choose to sit inside or on the expansive deck. The weather was perfect, so we ate outside.

-- Hey, Open Up!

When Do They Open?

We toured the walkway, and one of the venues we passed was the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. This was a beautiful venue, and outside along the river walk, they had an Air Stream trailer set up as a mini-bar. You could get anything you wanted and enjoy the seating area outside the Straz Center for some shade. Patti and I arrived a few minutes before they opened for the day, but when they saw Patti sitting outside, they opened early to take her order. Good thing they did as we were thirsty. Now that we had checked out the city and the river walk we made plans for how we would take it all in during the coming week. It was an ambitious schedule.


-- Golf at the Famous TPC Tampa Course

Ready for Golf

Until just a few years ago, the TPC Tampa Bay golf course hosted annual events of the Champions Tour (formerly Senior Tour) where the greats including Arnold Palmer, Hale Irwin, and Tom Watson played and won. It's not often that we get a chance to play golf on the same course as the greatest professional golfers and we didn't want to miss that chance as this was the perfect time of year to hit the course. We scheduled an early afternoon start for two reasons. First, it was cheaper; and second, it allowed us to get in some practice time and to enjoy a great lunch at the famous Cuatro Restaurant at the Club. It turned out that as a result of renting golf clubs, instead of having our own with us, we had a few difficult shots that put the bite on us. I got a couple pars despite that handicap, and we had a lot of fun. If I play it again, I will be sure to use my own clubs.

-- Busch Gardens Was Worth the Trip

Cheetah Hunt

We had been to Busch Gardens about 15 years ago and were looking forward to another visit. Patti made a point to get onto the highest, fastest, scariest rides right away. She rode on Cheetah Hunt first thing. It was as wild a ride as any roller coaster she had been on. I wouldn't know as I sat this one out. We saw all kinds of fun things and the weather was perfect. She also went on Sheikra, a ride I couldn't even watch. These things are made to pull your eyes out of your head.

-- Dining in Elegance on the Serengeti 

The Overlook

It was a great day, and the rides, the animals, the restaurant were all great. I know it's hard to believe the restaurant was good, but we did not settle for the quick food options that most families employ; instead, we went for the elegant, linen and silver approach to our luncheon at the Overlook Restaurant. The "overlook" is just that. From our elevated porch view, we could look out and see the giraffes, the elk, the zebras, the rhinoceros, and all the other animals on the grounds surrounding the restaurant. This was everything you would see on the Serengeti Safari ride. In fact, we watched as the tourists, standing in the back of a truck, rode through the park. I was happier to be inside. Later, we took the train that ran through the Serengeti area and saw all the animals there too. Back to the restaurant; the food was a buffet style prix fixe affair, and it turned out perfect. The choices were great, and portion control was in our hands. That made it ideal. 


-- Florida Aquarium, Dolphin Cruise, and the American Victory ship

Friendly Shark

On Saturday we returned to the River Walk area and visited the Florida Aquarium, including a ride on the Dolphin Cruise, and the American Victory cargo ship in the harbor. All of this was right off the River Walk and so was convenient and cost-effective. Park once, and then you can visit a wide array of local attractions. We have been to aquariums many times, and it never ceases to fascinate us to see the local creatures as well as the exotic imported creatures that aquariums present. The sharks and manta rays continue to excite visitors wherever we go, and it's always fun to see them and imagine just how dangerous they can be without that thick sheet of plexiglass. 

-- Special Visit to Important Ship

Not Her First Time Steering a Ship

The American Victory ship was a special visit for us. Whenever we travel, we take the time to visit ships in port that represent the history of our country and our military. We have seen submarines in Chicago and New Hampshire, Battleships in Massachusetts, North Carolina and New Jersey, and the Aircraft Carrier, Yorktown, in South Carolina. We always learn something new on these visits and can't but be impressed with the courage and determination of those who sailed on these great ships. But, until this trip, we hadn't seen what could be called the work-horse type of ship that helped our military fight its battles in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; the workboat. It was designed to be a freight carrier, and lightly armed was not really sent to do battle. It was designed to bring food, ammunition, weapons, medicine, and soldiers to war zones. This particular ship is actually still fit for duty and is one of only four ships left in the country that annually goes out to sea. It was a real treat to go aboard a working war vessel and imagine what it must be like to take this ship into harm's way. 

-- Dolphin Spotting in Tampa Bay

Cruising for Dolphins

The real highlight for us at the Aquarium was the opportunity to cruise out into Tampa Bay aboard their 72-foot catamaran and chase after dolphins. The bay is filled with bottlenose dolphins, fish, birds, manatees, and sea turtles, all of which you might see on the trip. We did get to see the dolphins dive under the boat and chase after each other in the open water. The catamaran is an ideal platform as it's wide and steady in the water. The boat has a full bar, and we enjoyed some cocktails during the cruise as it seemed to add elegance to our tour. Surprisingly, the prices so far for things like snacks and drinks seemed reasonable compared to other vacations venues.