Southern California

Last fall I spent a week visiting friends in Southern California. I enjoyed mild weather and good times while there.

During my downtime I lounged in the beautiful backyard at my friend’s house.

In the morning I take the short walk down to the beach. I watch surfers catch the waves early in the day. I love all the trails along the beach.

We take a drive out to Coronado Island. We walk along the beach, visit the historical Hotel del Coronado and walk the town a bit.

We later stop at La Jolla Cove and watch the sea lions and birds. If you can stand the smell you could have hours of fun just observing wildlife. Unfortunately some get way too close to the animals which is not cool. We also notice a group of swimmers that swim through the cove as a hobby; I guess dodging the sea lions in the process.

We watch a beautiful sunset and then catch dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the way home.

In the morning we have booked a taping of the Price is Right in Los Angelos. We make the drive from San Diego to try our luck on the show. It is my first time but my accompanying friends have been on two times before. It is a long day but a fun experience. One of my friends may have been picked to be on the show that aired March 17th, 2026 – St Patrick’s Day.

The next day two of us need to connect with nature and walk a trail in town. We end up at a nature center where we do some bird watching. Following the trail takes us to a sidewalk path towards the beach. Our path has taken us a bit out of the way so we call our other friend to come pick us up. While we wait for him we watch surfers in action. Our friend arrives and tells us about some of the local surfers. This is a small town surf community where most people know who everyone is.

On our way back to the house we make a stop at the Golden Lotus Temple to admire the tropical gardens there.

The next day I take a visit to Disneyland but more on that in another post.

Our last day we have delicious breakfast burritos and donuts from VG donuts.

It is a great end to a great trip. My flights home are not so great. I end up flying home during a government shutdown. I get about ten minutes in fancy lounge access before I have to run through the airport to catch an earlier flight because my itinerary keeps getting wrecked in real time. The rush to my flight doesn’t even matter because my connection gets cancelled anyway with no chance of getting home that evening. The one fortunate thing with moderate technology is that I see my flight being cancelled while in flight and I proactively book a hotel in Atlanta for the night since I am not getting home. I am glad I do because people are scrambling to find hotels that are not sold out since numerous other flights are cancelled as well. But at least I am on the east coast, closer to my home.

As a frequent traveler you have to expect a bout of travel drama from time to time.

One bright spot about the terrible travel time is the impressive Atlanta airport art. I chose to walk instead of the shuttle and enjoyed all the art on the way to take the bus to the hotel I booked.

Another highlight to my horrible travel days is the flight I am scheduled on the next morning happens to be the last flight for the captain who is retiring. He has an entourage on the flight celebrating, including his family. Thank goodness this fun flight wasn’t canceled and he was able to take this last flight in a joyful way.

Virgin Voyages Cruise

My first Virgin Cruise is on the Valiant Lady on the Dominican Daze: Halloween Edition. Even though I’ve been on many cruises, it is not always my first vacation choice. I am excited about this one to celebrate my friend’s birthday and to visit the Dominican Republic for the first time (Spoiler Alert – Hurricane re-routes us to Mexico).

I start with an evening out in Miami and some Cuban food brunch before we sail off for the adventure.

Bon Voyage. It’s time to explore the ship and sail away from the port of Miami.

Fun music choices in the room. Can’t hook up your own music but this is next best thing.

We are here for my friend’s birthday and we have sail away birthday celebration for her in another’s rockstar room. The rockstar rooms are fantastic if you can afford it.

The wall of the elevator changes. Also the pool bathroom with a view.

Evening Dinner at Extra Virgin, an Italian theme dinner. A big group here is ideal because I get to try a bunch of things and not feel like food is being wasted. We ordered every appetizer on the menu.

Trying to find activities that did not involve drinking alcohol – friendship bracelet making

I was the only one in my group with any interest so I briefly attended a workout dance class and a Salsa class on my own.

My friend and I attended a halloween themed show. We didn’t arrive early enough so we watched the show standing against posts. Unfortunately this made us targets for the show host and we were called up on stage for a game where she had to mummy me with toilet paper. I wore this toliet paper like a badge of honor for as long as I could. So sorry to the cleaning staff at Virgin for my path of trash I laid walking to my next location – trivia.

We have a birthday dinner tonight at Pink Agave where some have splurged to Splash Your Bash. It is a stepped up dinner experience that involves some champagne, food specials and an instant camera. It is a fun experience.

After dinner a few of us reserve a karaoke room for an hour. I don’t think the walls are thick enough to hold all our noise in. I feel bad for people roomed next to us.

Due to the hurricane in the Caribbean we are re-routed to Cozumel instead of the Dominican Republic. I have been to Cozumel before and remembering partying hard there, not being excited about doing that again so I am glad when a couple of my friends want to do a day in Chichen Itza instead. We book an excursion that takes us the long drive to the pyramid complex.

Alter a long hot bus ride where the air conditioner is broken (they actually switched us to a new bus part of the way back) we end up back at the spot where we take the ferry back to our boat. I forget to mention the ferry, which normally sways quite a bit, was extra sway that day due to the hurricane in the area. This caused the bottom level to be unusable unless you had a gut of steel or were heavily drugged. We sat on top trying to not toss our own cookies while we watched others tossed theirs. Let’s just say the transportation portion was not the highlight our day.

Back on the boat we get ready for Scarlet Night which is known for its pool deck party where the majority are dressed in some sort of red attire. But first is dinner and tonight we are at test kitchen. Test kitchen is the Virgin Voyage version of a Michelin type restaurant with small experimental portions of food. At one point in our meal we score a set of free drinks because there is a slow drip from the ceiling onto one of my friends at the table. The food is decent and we have a good time but I hear they don’t really change the menu up as originally intended. It is a dining experience not for everyone.

The party continues to the pool deck where we try to sneak in to see the show but my short self is unsuccessful. Note to self next time get there early.

After the show it is onto the pool deck where some dance in the water. I decided to participate in this tradition, although I didn’t fully submerge even though strangers were encouraging me to do so. I briefly continued the party to The Manor but the crowds were so thick I decided to call it a night.

The next morning we do a caftan brunch at The Wake. It is a nice way to start our day at sea.

I take it easy at brunch because my cabin mate and I signed up for a bungee fitness class. It is not as easy as it looks and we are very unserious for the 30 minutes we are there.

I got out of class just in time for happy hour at The Dock. It was almost impossible to get a seat but luckily I eventually found a couple, even if I had to practically fight someone for the seats I had already claimed. The happy hour includes mediterranean small bites, the downside is there is a limited area that serves the food (the bar is not is not part of it). The food went so quickly that I only have this cocktail picture to show for it.

Costume night

It’s back to the room to relax and get ready for costume night since we are celebrating Halloween. We put on our costumes, some face masks and have some drinks on our verandah.

We head down to the promenade area to watch the costume parade/contest and to people watch. Lots of creative costumes. We take some fabulous group photos in a Photo Booth but unfortunately many of them never make it to our emails due to poor technology.

Tonight there is also a costumed dance party with an 80’s cover band. We have fun dancing and people watching from the balcony.

The day wouldn’t be complete without a late night stop for pizza dressed as pizza.

I start our last full day with Ramen from the Galley and a walk around the deck. Today we are stopping in Bimini Bahamas. Instead of visiting the beach club or booking an excursion we decide to rent some golf carts and create our own adventure.

The line to take the trolley to the main area is very long. We decide to walk instead, it is not too bad of a walk. My friend has a name of a company recommended for the rental. It takes us a few minutes to find the right company but when we do we easily negotiate a good rate for two carts.

Our first stop is at a conch restaurant. No one is hungry yet but I watch a guy demonstrate how conch is harvested. We plan to stop by later.

We stop at a restaurant to enjoy the view and a drink. Fish parts are thrown in the water to cause an impromptu shark show. We watch the birds and sharks for a little bit then move on to a partially secluded beach. We spend the rest of our time hanging out and admiring the bright waters.

We return to the ship. Some in the group have reservations at Gumbae, the Korean restaurant on the ship. Gunbae is an interactive restaurant where the food is cooked in from of you and a series of drinking games are played. Each player will forced to drink Soju. I even won one round which the prize was the rest of the bottle of soju. Usually the patrons are seated with people they don’t know and the drinking games are ice breakers but they let our group sit together, perhaps because we are a larger party.

Dinner takes a while so it’s late when we get out. There is a dance show tonight. I stay out for a little bit to watch the bizarre show.

Despite my late might I once again wake up before sunrise. I take a walk and have a breakfast before we disembark and start our journey home. I had an amazing time and would do a Virgin Cruise again if the opportunity arises.

North Georgia

I made another trip recently to northern Georgia. It is early fall but I do start to see some leaves changing. It is a nice time of year to enjoy all that part of Georgia has to offer.

I visit Gibbs Gardens, the large botanical garden north of Georgia. Luckily it is zinnia season. I see the large display of flowers they have for the season. I love their Japanese garden as well where you can see fall peaking through.

I also do a wine tasting at Ott Vineyards.

We also do a short little hike to Amicalola Falls State Park. The hike is pretty easy until you get to the stairs of Amicalola Falls in order to view the falls at all the different heights. It is a bit of a workout.

Top of Amicalola, we drove to the very top

We also visit a mushroom farm. It is interesting to see how mushrooms are actually farmed. I spend way too much money at this farm store.

I also pick up some cut flowers. They are pretty but get beaten up on the long drive home.

Finally I visit an orchard store and had a nice dinner in the town of Blue Ridge. It is a nice ending to my visit. I always enjoy a getaway to North Georgia.

Wisconsin and Minnesota

A litttle while ago I visited Minnesota and Wisconsin to visit a long time friend and attend a wedding. While I was in town I managed a bit of sightseeing.

I started with a quick visit to Hudson, a cute town on the border of Wisconsin. There are many charming old houses in town. There are also two cute pink Airbnb’s marketed toward girl’s trips.

The downtown area is cute as well. I take a walk by the water and stop for lunch at a post office converted to a restaurant. I have to order cheese curds.

The wedding today is at a charming winery about 30 minutes away.

The next morning I visit Paisley Park, recording studios and sometimes residence of the artist Prince located outside of Minneapolis.

I also make a stop at the famed Lake Minnetonka talked about in the movie Purple Rain. I did not purify myself in the waters.

In the afternoon I stop by Minnehaha Falls for lunch and to admire the waterfall. The park has nice trails along the water. Coincidently today it is hotter here than my home state of Florida. Luckily I am used to a good sweat when I am enjoying nature.

Later that day my friend and I take a walk to see Willow Falls near Hudson.

We also tour downtown Minneapolis which I learned has quite a milling history. You can see all the prominent brand signs on the buildings.

We go to the observation level at the Guthrie Theater for better views.

Lastly we drive by First Avenue, the historic club known to host big acts, especially the local artist Prince when he was still alive.

I was supposed to leave a day earlier but I realize a band I like is playing in St Paul the following night. I change my flight and book a historical hotel slash old custom house in the heart of downtown St Paul. While it is a generally safe city, it looks like it is in a state of transition. I look forward to returning to see the changes in the future.

It is such a brief trip that I plan to return and try some restaurants and all the other things the city has to enjoy. Plus it is really good catching up with an old friend.