We’re vaccinated – let’s go to Florida!

by | May 14, 2021 | Food & Drink, Travel, USA Travel

After completing our second vaccinations, our first activity was driving down to Florida to visit family.  Since we drove and were staying with Leandra’s folks we brought Pasha, who definitely enjoys the open lanai (even if she does not understand why we go in the pool).

Pasha by the pool

Pasha occasionally gets bossy with Al, but despite his expression here, he is quite tolerant of another dog in the house.

Al holding court at the kitchen table

Pasha and Al

This was a working trip, so we were on our computers during the day, but had the evenings free.

Most nights we stayed in. Leandra made her from-scratch bread that we enjoyed with a Spanish tapas spread, including cheeses, jamon, and other goodies, and another night managed to pull together a paella.

getting my Dad addicted to my homemade bread

tapas dinner   the doomed paella w/ a lovely wine

We even managed to sneak down to Sarasota for a quick visit to see my Aunt Joy’s new place!

visiting Aunt Joy's new place

One night we went out to Michael John’s Restaurant in Bradenton. This was our first indoor-dining experience since March 2020! It was great, from the spicy mahi-mahi bites (pictured below) to the Cabernet beef tips, and we left satisfied. We’ll definitely look to return on a future trip.

MJ's steak house - so tasty   our first dinner indoors in over a year! (sea bass bites)

Notably, we also learned about several reels of old 8mm video in the garage. We’ve now brought those back to NC and Leandra has started to convert them to digital.

my Mom in 1971!
Leandra’s mom in 1971!

Tagged with: Florida

Our Itinerary

2025 Trips

Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls, Argentina (Feb)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)

2024 Trips

San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London, UK (Dec)
Manchester, UK (Dec)

2022 Trips

Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)