Camino memories

We lucked out and got a chance to reminisce a bit about our 500 mile walk of the Camino de Santiago. Alicia Darius and her hubby, Marino Zara, own a condo in Miami, and they were stopping in there on their way back to the family home Tafalla Spain, outside Pamplona. We spent the afternoon with them, stopping for a really nice lunch at the Versailles, “the world’s most famous Cuban restaurant.

We spent most of the afternoon touring the area of Miami where they live. We checked out the Coconut Grove, Coral Gables and all of the upscale trendy residential and night life neighborhoods. We then retired to their 31^st story condo to spend the afternoon. Marino, who loves to cook, made a Cuban omelet for a snack (which was amazing), and we spent most of our time on the balcony overlooking Miami beach. We even got a chance to watch Ken Jennings win his first match in the Jeopardy Greatest of All-Time tournament. What a wonderful day!

Since we were sort of passing by it on the way back to Beverly Beach, we headed to Fort Lauderdale beach to take in another Whispering Giant, our first of the new decade! Nobody seems to know the name of this Peter Wolf Toth statue, but what we do know is that it was moved here from the Seminole Reservation in Hollywood. That brings us to a whopping 29 of these Giants, just a bit shy of half of the ones that still exist – pretty cool!

Talk to you soon.

Family time

Sadly (or maybe I should say happily), the kids have jobs. The good news is they were able to get some personal time to come visit, that is except for Albert who, working in a retail environment, could not get any time off for the Christmas holiday. Nick and Val arrived just before Christmas, but Karen couldn’t make it until the day after. But we got to spend several blessed days together, playing a lot of Wizard (thank you Peans!), even having Berto join in by proxy.

Of course, the kids couldn’t be this close to Disney properties and not take advantage of that opportunity. Nick and Karen collaborated to get the arrangements made for us to spend a family day at Disney World. The way Disney has fully embraced Star Wars was impressive. An entire section of the park looks like a set for an actual Star Wars movie. The Cantina was there with all the alien characters. Storm troopers appeared frequently to reenact scenes with the likes of Kylo Ren and others.

While we got some rain while we were there, it didn’t dampen the fun, and the kids were ecstatic. We made sure to do some of the old favorites like the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and the Muppets 3D Movie. We also took on some of the newest experiences, like the brand spanking new roller coaster in Toyland. All in all, our day in the happiest place on earth was magical.

While it was way too short, we made the best of the family time together. We visited world famous Daytona, explored the Florida Atlantic coast, dining outdoors when the weather allowed, and playing lots of games. What a way to start 2020 – Happy New Year!

Talk to you soon.