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So soon?

March 17, 2025April 7, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

We know, a month between posts and then, bang, two in a row! Two things apply: 1) alone; 2) on a beach!

After East Palatka, we originally had plans for Naples and Tallahassee, but the timing wasn’t right for our hosts, so we tabled those visits for another time and crossed the center of the state on the dinkiest road we could find. Once we wiggled across the state, we met up with, you guessed it, US Hwy 98! Think the lowest version of US 1 (most east) or US 2 (most north). Check it out it; it runs literally right along the water for miles!

Once you get “under” Tallahassee, the road swings left to the water and provides a scenic drive along the Apalachicola coast pretty much all the way to Cape San Blas near Port St Joe on the Panhandle.

Along the way, we were curious about this – come on, it’s Tate’s Hell – but didn’t find the referenced Information Center, just a sign to the forest.

We later found the history. Poor fella. Think we know why.

Cruising along the shore was amazing, and we finally made it to the interesting Cape San Blas (yeah, say it) and our rental ON the water. It’s the big blue condo building that’s losing the battle with the Gulf.

The seawall is indeed a disaster waiting to happen

But oh my, the view from the porches on either side of the condo was excellent!

And geez, what to do? Relax. Daily walks. Rode out the series of storms that crossed the country. And well, caught up on writing. 🤓

With our time here almost up, we backtracked a bit today for some sightseeing.

Proof that there’s not a whole lot to see in Apalachicola

A few blocks from the tiny police station, Leon Wiesener (a former art professor from Tennessee) decided to spend a few of his retirement years building structures from old bottles. The results are on private property but remain open to the public.

Challenge Accepted?

Hang on a second. You were there for a week, right? How about that Travel Challenge card?

Glad you asked 😂😇

Well, yes, we pulled a card, and frankly, after our time in the sun, we stopped for an espresso, ready to admit defeat.

Defeat?

Yes, defeat. Utter failure. Come on. “Every fountain…?” Seriously.

If only we were still in Italy! 😢

Son Tate had a great suggestion; it doesn’t say what k-i-n-d of fountain. How about public drinking fountains?

Duh! We set out ready to go with that but didn’t find a single one of those either. (sigh) After drowning our sorrows with double espressos, we stopped at a Veterans Memorial on the Blue Star Memorial Highway in Carrabelle. While admiring the very well-done memorial, what marvelous sound joyfully tickled our ears over the sounds of the highway? Yes!

Yes! Look, down the street between the Golf Car Crossing (it is Florida…) & the town clock! A fountain!!

Hmm. Now we sure could use some small change.

See! It’s the real deal, an honest-to-goodness fountain!

Now we have but one more of these pretty sunsets to enjoy at this rental unit

Terry and Lynn, here we come. You realize we’ll need to pull a card while in Fairhope. You can help, if you’re not too busy with other things… 😉

Seeking warmth

March 16, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

It was in the twenties the morning in February when we left North Carolina, so we were looking to go somewhere that we could shed some layers. Idea: Let’s head to the other chunk of family that happens to live down in F-L-A! Two of our kids now live about 40 minutes apart. Warmth of two kinds!

Good target. So off we went, and mile by mile the temperature – and correspondingly, our moods – improved! Even luckier for us, these two live near the coast.

By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea

It did not take us long to head for the beach. Hello sunny, but still too-cool-for-a-dip, Florida!

About town

Our son Tate recently purchased his first home (congrats, Son!) in the pleasant small town of East Palatka, less than 30-miles from his sister in Palm Coast. Naturally, we couldn’t spend all of our time at the beach, and small towns are indeed our cup of tea, so small town exploration began!

Found a nice “fixer upper” near the St John’s River Walk

On the trails

Same thing for gardens and trails, if they’re nearby we want to see ’em. Tate had some good ones in mind, and boy howdy, we need the walks! (A bit too much Italian pasta is still hanging around our waistlines.)

Who would have thought that Florida would have a ” Potato Capital” (Hastings) or anything called a “ravine.” Both were lovely surprises!

St John Botanical Garden in Hastings, FL

Sign. Sign. Everywhere a sign… ha! We got tickled by some of the signs we encountered!

Hitting the field

On March 8, we had the pleasure of joining several of the grandchildren at the soccer fields. Well, it was mostly a pleasure – we did have to wake up to an alarm… (Why can’t soccer games start at 10 am?) 😉

So great day, three different games, and one can only remember the energy one used to have!

Royce was prepared to coach a friendly game

It started to rain right after the last of the games, but after a short drive home – and another snack (man, these kids snack!) – the clouds parted enough for us to walk to the Holland Memorial Park right in the neighborhood.

Alan laughed from a safe distance as Uncle Tate sent the three girls on a head-spinning twirl

The family time was wonderfully warm. And the weeks seemed to pass all too quickly. But these two Olsens had to get moving again. We are on the way to Fairhope, Alabama, for a very special event.

Oh-h-h, wait. Last but not least, “Challenge Accepted”

As introduced in the last post, if we plan to stay put at least a week (which we did), we must pull a Quirky Travel Task while in the area. So, here goes, Travel Challenge #02:

$ure glad the “town” isn’t $aint Augustine 🙂 $$$$

Return to familiar territory

February 21, 2025March 16, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

That’s right all this time – over a month – we have actually been visiting and driving and visiting and driving! So, just to put this part of our journey down on “paper,” and heck, for anyone who doesn’t know, see above.

Our Italian adventure ended with a landing in Texas January 14. We spent a few days in Longview with friends Terry and Lynn. Extra shout out for taking care of our girl, Pearl! Of course, we visited. And sure, the boys went looking at the history in East Texas while the girls went shopping or some such thing. Ha!

Vital to the war effort, the Big Inch Pipeline originated in Longview TX in 1942 & transported oil 1,476 miles

When we left Texas, we were headed to Virginia for visits and annual medical appointments. Due to a pending winter storm forecast to hit the deep south particularly hard, we hurried off with a plan to hunker down in Gilbert, South Carolina, hopefully between the wintry north and the bulls-eyed south.

Thank you, Louis & Lisa for hosting our quick stop at the lake house in Alabama. It was great to see you!

From one beautiful lake house to another!

Hmm, we travelers sure do miss the WATER. Cold weather coming or not!

The Jan 21 snow flurries did nothing to deter the Grill Master

“Snowed in!” ㋛ 😄 It was quite nice to relax for a few days, getting used to being in America again. Wow, the traffic and food prices were a heck of a readjustment. But this part of the road trip plan came together perfectly as we watched the pretty lake while the snow melted just in time to get back on the road to Virginia.

In Virginia

You’ve heard the saying, “We plan, God laughs?” Well, we didn’t know it, but that’s how this visit was about to go. First for the good stuff. Step one: Hello to Mom, Daddy, and family! And delivering gifts from Italy!

The shipment of ceramics arrived (unscathed!) from Sicily 🙂

Illness Time Out

And then… the germs hit and put a hard stop to the rest of our plans, visits, and family photo ops. But after a week fighting off cooties all was fine. Super most importantly, Mom shook off those germs, too.

But, with the next set of appointments already scheduled in North Carolina, we had to continue south to the (hopefully warmer!) Bolivia. No, not that Bolivia, the area just below Wilmington. If one must stop for medical appointments, then these “ones” prefer to book close to WATER! 😏 But bummer, it’s still jacket weather.

Our rental on Oak Island was only a few blocks from the beach, so between visits with the docs, we absolutely had to take a chilly walk in the sunshine along the shore.

And now, introducing, “Challenge Accepted”

While we were in Virginia, Jeff and Caitlin gave us a new travel game for our time on the road. Gosh, they are clever! 😘

To make it our own, we decided we’d pull a card anywhere we’d be staying at least a week.

And here it is, Travel Challenge #1.

Hmm, seems like this one is right up our alley! Sounds like fun, right?

“Obscure,” huh? Okay, how about the “Mary’s Gone Wild Visionary Folk Art Garden and Doll Baby Village?”

As time goes on, we will share other challenges and the results.

Now, it’s cold just about everywhere in America, right? There’s golly whopper snowfall in the Hampton Roads area we just left. While here in lower North Carolina, there’s no snow; it’s just below our ability to stay warm. Our little beach house can only get to 66 inside!

What’s a gal to do when she rolls out of bed and the scale needs to be retrieved from the car for the traditional Friday Morning Weigh-In and it’s only 26 degrees outside? Layers, Baby, layers!

What? What’s wrong with my outfit?? Yo, buddy! You’re also getting on the scale!

Alright. Alright. That’s enough of this crazy cold. It’s time to head further SOUTH! Florida, here we come!

“Arrivederci e Grazie,” Italy!

January 16, 2025January 21, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

We tried many times, on different days, with different conditions, even in different moods, to take one picture that accurately reflected the splendor of the landscape of Sicily, but doggonit, we were never happy with the results. Perhaps what we see lies in the vastness — the blue sky and/or water, the undulating mountains, the play of shadows and light, the patchwork of farms, or just the many shades of green. Our eyes saw what a couple of amateur camera operators just couldn’t capture. Really can’t imagine it during prime growing season.

How does one say goodbye to such an amazing country? Well…. heck, we’ll just ramble on about things that caught our goofy attention.

Across the country, olives and grapes were constants. From small to gigantic groves and vineyards. And in the north, plenty of apple orchards, but what we didn’t expect was the oranges that were everywhere, especially in the south. Trees and fruit of all sizes! Two-to-fifteen-foot trees and golf ball- to softball-sized citrus! Growing where? Like, every- and anywhere!

Porsche? What Porsche? Look at those oranges!

We like ambling along in the car, seeing things at our own pace. But boy howdy, does Italy have trains. And they move durn fast – more than 100mph! Interestingly, it’s a network of quiet, efficient electric trains.

With all its mountainous terrain, Italy also has an extensive network of tunnels, covering a total length of approximately 1,600 miles. We marveled at the length of many of these tunnels as we made our way through the country. Once we realized there’s a sign posted at the entrance to each tunnel that displays the tunnel’s length, it became a game of sorts trying to capture a photograph of the longest ones as we passed through.

On the way to Trento in the north
(2752 meters / 1.7 miles)

A few random shots just for fun:

Try as we might, we never did adjust to the European timing of meals. Seemed like we always found ourselves looking for a bite to eat in the mid-afternoon, when the restaurants were closed between lunch and dinner shifts. But somehow, we still managed to consume w-a-a-y too many carbs with all that tasty pasta, bread, and gelato. 😉

Todd, however, made a major adjustment. After almost two months, our tea-drinking captain finally gave in and tried Susie’s espresso at a cafe in Alberobello. Declaring, “Hey, that’s not bad,” he went over and ordered his own. By the time we made Sicily, he was ordering doubles!

Sometimes the espresso came w/small treats
(not bad for less than $2)

Even in Italy, time did what it always does. Flew by!

All too quickly it seemed, our 85-days were up, and we were heading for the “uscita” (exit).

Can’t fight reality, right? Nor can we bring all of our loved ones over here to live. So, we drafted a note in Google Translate to bid “our” fisherman farewell and then packed our bags, including the newly purchased one in which to tote gifts. 🙂

Yep. Sorry little guy. The Olsens are traveling once again.

Before securing the big blue shutters for the last time, we paused for a photo &…

In our round trip of Italy, we ultimately traveled more than 2500 miles by car.

Mama Mia! That’s a lot of shifting gears!

And there is so much left that we wanted to see.

For now, we will close with, “Farewell and Thank you,” Italy!

…down by the sea

January 10, 2025February 17, 2025ssolsen12Leave a comment

Sure, we were staying on the beach in Sicily, but this is “OlsensTravels,” so of course, we took a few sightseeing trips after Christmas. First up, the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento. Nearly 500 years before Christ, the Greeks “owned” Sicily and took a liking to a certain hill overlooking the sea. Hence, they built a bunch of temples for their gods. They didn’t build little stuff either; and after 2500 years, some of it is still there!

In the same area is the Scala dei Turkey, or Turkish Steps, named for the Barbary pirates. Kind of weird to think Africa is only 87 miles away! The Steps are white marlstone (a mix of clay and silt similar to limestone) that has naturally eroded into massive, terraced steps on the coast of Realmonte, the beach below Agrigento.

Closer to our “home” and perched on cliffs by the sea, the nearby town of Sciacca is a bustling port town. Good luck on that pronunciation! We went there at least 5 times, asked the locals, and still can’t pronounce it right. Ha!

In addition to the port, Sciacca is known to throw one heck of a Carnival in February, which didn’t work with our timing… this trip. It is primarily known, however, for the ceramic arts, which you can’t possibly miss. There’s colorful evidence everywhere.

One afternoon we strolled through the park near the shopping district to find it was a gathering place for the local gents. There were tables of lively card games (each player claimed to be winning) and a bumpy bocce ball court that’s difficult to describe – talk about your challenging course! It was clear they play every afternoon when the weather cooperates.

Tables of Italian card games – Briscola & Ramino (Rummy)

Walking and exploring in town is fun, but nothing beats stretching our legs with walks on the beach back in Menfi. We could get about 3/4 mile in either direction before being blocked by a “creek” of freshwater runoff from the nearby mountains. It was fascinating to see how the wind and tide changed the sand dunes from day to day. A particularly brisk storm moved a lot of sand, built a short “cliff,” and brought vast piles of sea grass ashore in one area.

We were always on the hunt for scarce shells and bits of sea glass. Sometimes we’d find other oddities.

Shel, as our family marine-life expert, if you’re paying attention, just what is that?? Oh, and it floats.

When not walking the beach, we continued with the simple pleasures at the villa. It was amazing to experience the 55 degrees in short sleeves on the sunny “front porch” and be a tad warm. 🙂

Fishing boats would anchor just offshore for the night

No matter where we were, whether close to home or up in the mountains, the sunsets were a sight to behold.

When in Menfi, we shared the sunsets with a local gentleman who came out every evening to fish.

Todd tried to engage him in conversation, but our neighbor spoke zero English

Always believing you play the hand you’re dealt, we have embraced our new path of exploring, but we do miss the sunsets over the water. And playing with Mother Ocean has been delightful. Thank you, Lord!

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Author: ssolsen12