How to fill time in retirement

My bucket list item to visit a new restaurant every week has changed slightly for 2016. Last year, I was able to hit 58 places in 52 weeks, but I tried hard to have at least one new place a week. This year, I have amended my item to visit 52 new places, averaging one a week. By changing this slightly, I can now hit two places in one day like I did yesterday. Last year I would not have gone to the second place because my one a week quota was fulfilled. Now I go when I want and just keep track of the total. My first new restaurant, Long Doggers,  was not a new place for me because I have visited three of the current six locations in the County. These include the original in Indiatlantic, the one on Post Road near where I use to work, and the one in Satellite Beach. It was new because I visited the Viera site, which I had never been to before. I had spent the morning in the Viera Wetlands photographing birds and gators. I decided to swing by the Space Coast Stadium to see how crow...

Adding a bucket list item to visit more friends was new this year (2016). How to choose those people, I have not figured out yet. The idea for this item in the bucket list came about last August when I visited Vermont. I decided on that trip that I would look up my old high school classmate Jerry Atkins and his wife Cindy, a friend from when I was a kid. I got his phone number from my brother and I made the call. I ended up going over for a cookout and it turned into a small group gathering including their daughter and her husband and their two grandchildren, Jerry's mom, Cindy's mom and dad, and Cindy's brother. It was a beautiful afternoon that never would have happened in the past because I would have decided that the first phone call would be a bother and I would not make it. Well now, if I call or email you, you better tell me quickly you do not want a visit. In the trip I took yesterday, the selection of Ed came out of me working on another project, organizing my an...

As I mentioned in the last blog, sometimes circumstances allows you to accomplish two things at one time. Well, I did even better yesterday, I visited a different town for the day, I met up with an old friend from my past, and of course, I got to eat at a new restaurant. Three things at one time! Visiting other communities and looking up old friends are new to my bucket list this year. I know a lot of people so it should be easy, but I have made it harder than it needs to be, to visit people I know that I have not seen in a while. Visiting other places was in my original retirement bucket list but I was focused on the whole world, and not all the cool places within a day's drive from my home. So, I called my friend Ed Kennedy, and said I was coming to visit him in New Smyrna Beach. Sign on Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach As I am writing this, I have decided to split the blog into two parts. The first will be about the new restaurant of the week. The second will be on my v...

It has been a month since I last posted but I have become involved in a home project that is taking a lot of my time. I plan to start posting about this project, so, for now, I will leave it as a mystery. My latest new Restaurant was a trip to the Coconut Cove Cafe in Melbourne Beach. I went with my good friend Mac Monroe, who loves German food and had been trying to get me to go here for the last six months. I finally agreed while inebriated on Tuesday (another possible post subject) and we headed out on Thursday. Mac had told me to bring my camera for the sunset but the weather looked cloudy when he picked me up so I left the camera at home. I am still regretting it this morning as I write this. Dumb and Dumber!  I did the best I could with my phone camera, which is not of high quality.  Below is the cafe as seen from the parking lot. Yes, it just looks like some one's big house. Coconut Cove Cafe in Melbourne Beach, Florida As I mentioned, I went with Mac Monroe. No...

Someone had asked me to list the restaurants I went to this year. As I was perusing the list, I noticed that I did not have the Hilton in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  Al Siegel and I ate they twice, once on our way to the Galapagos, and once on our way back home. Of course, it would only make this list once.  Here are the new restaurants for 2015: Date Rank Restaurant Type City State 1/1/2015 2 Buffalo Wild Wings American Palm Bay Florida 1/9/2015 3 Hidden Treasure Rum Bar & Grill Seafood Ponce Inlet Florida 1/15/2015 3 Baja Tavern and Eats Seafood Port Canaveral Florida 1/26/2015 2 Goombay's American Satellite Beach Florida 1/31/2015 3 Tabone's PO Boy Cajun Melbourne Florida 2/6/2015 2 Ferrara Pizza & Pasta Italian Indian Harbour Beach Florida 2/17/2015 3 Cuban Island Restaurant Cuban Satellite Beach...

As a lot of my friends know, I made a goal at the start of 2015 to go to a new restaurant every week of the year. That meant I would have to find 52 new Restaurants to try.  It is only mid December and I have hit 58 new places.  A summary will occur after I talk about the latest. My latest new Restaurant was a Mexican Restaurant called La Marimba located in Rockledge Florida.  I went there for lunch after hearing about the place from some of my Facebook friends. I took a picture of the outside. La Marimba Cocina Mexicana   As you enter the place, there is a hostess stand and a bar just to the left.  The dining room is made up of both booths and tables.  I am pretty sure this use to be a Barbecue place because it reminded me of Sonnys, or Fat Boys, or any of the many chains that use to swamp Brevard County.  The bar seemed cozy and there was a TV playing. My only complaint about lunch was that Dr. Phil was on the TV. I would rather watch ...