Notes From Clearwater Beach

If you are planning a trip to Orlando and realize it's nowhere close to the beach, you may want to consider a side trip down I-4 toward Tampa, and visit Clearwater Beach.

You probably want to steer clear of holiday weekends, as the beaches were maxed out with visitors this July 4th.  The room rates were pretty steep as well.

The Wyndham Grand Clearwater was running $500 per night and parking another  $25
The Hyatt garage was $5 per hour with a $35 daily max.

Beach side, the going rate for chair and umbrella rental was $40 per day. The cabana rental was $75 per day Now you know why I bring my own!

Most of the beach front is open to the public.  The beaches are manned with real life guards, just like the old tv show "Babe Watch", but no Pamela Anderson!

Bikinis are everywhere!  There must be a shop that sells one size fits all nearby.  I spotted several of those thong thangs as well!  I was surprised to see that the guys with tattoos far outnumbered the gals with tattoos.

This time of year the water is warm as bath water.  The shells are real small, but you can occasionally find a couch shell under water.

The sand is a fine powder, and is compacted.  It took some effort to get my cup stake into the sand.  Once I got everything up and placed where I wanted it, i took my seat then began enjoying a few conversations with Rita.

The sunsets are amazing.  The beaches face west, so you get to see the sun disappear under the water horizon.

We are already making plans for a return trip, possibly in 2018, along with a stop in Orlando to see all the new stuff that is in the works there!

Happy beaching everybody!

Acura road side assistance

You never know when car trouble will strike you, but it usually, almost always happens "after hours"!

Back last September, coming back from Orlando, one of the computer boxes went bad.  We were close to the Acura dealership in Mobile, and we got there before the service department closed.  They gave us a loaner, which we kept for a week, then I made a return trip to pick up the car.  The dealership was wonderful in helping us in our time of need.

Fast forward to yesterday, a Saturday, 8 p.m. and we are approaching Mobile, heading back to Florida for another vaca.  Plans were to spend the night, then head to our destination in the morning.

Spousal Unit is driving, and suddenly the dashboard lights up just like it did in September.  Computer module inside the transmission has gone haywire, again!  No panic,  this has happened once before, but not late at night.

Plan is to call the 24 hour hotline for roadside assistance, find out what to do about repairs and a replacement vehicle so we can continue our planned trip.  I find the number in the glove box and make the call.

I ring 1-800 Acura, which of course, puts me in the cue, and we wait.  Several minutes pass, then finally, a customer service representative.  Now the check list:  name, rank, car vin number, car model,  year of manufacture, etc...

I explain that we are in route, and do not need a tow.  What do we do with the car tonight, tomorrow etc... and what do we do about a loaner or rental?  Gal says "I don't know, I'm new at this job, and my notes...."  I tell her that here is what I'm going to do:  our hotel happens to be across the highway from the dealership, here in Mobile.  We are going drop the car off, fill out the after hours paperwork and drop the keys in the drop box.  Now, what about a rental?"

The gal says to me, "we don't handle that at this telephone number, only roadside assistance, but I can transfer you to that number."  I ask, "is it a 24 hour service line?"  She of course does not know the answer, and cannot determine if it is yes or no from her manual, but she transfers me anyway.

The phone number rings, and I get the recording "our offices are currently closed.  Our next business day will be Wednesday, July 5th." Click. You just cannot make this crap up!

Ok, I know what to do with the car.  There is a Hertz rental place next door.  I put my smartass phone to work.  All the Hertz locations in Mobile are closed on weekends, and the one at the airport does not have any vehicles available that would meet our needs.  Am I surprised???

Next search, Enterprise!  Found a vehicle, at the airport, but it's pick up only, with no option to come get you.  I book it, a Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab, alright!  I can put my rack in the back and not have to leave it with the car for the dealer to find on Monday!

We arrive at the hotel, cut the car off, then recrank it.  Yes! We can still roll!  Off to the airport at noon for the pickup, then the next leg of this adventure begins!

A Ride Down 30A

Yesterday, we had a hankering for a roadie trip to Sandestin for a lunch date at the Acme Oyster House.  We're in Panama City Beach for the week and haven't found a spot that meets our craving requirements,  Acme is only 45 minutes away, and the mental images of those chargrilled oysters just will not leave my head!

We arrived down here on Saturday and the traffic on 98 and all the side roads was bumper to bumper.  Yesterday's trip was a breeze, but once all the schools let out, it will be bumper to bumper again!

The food from Acme was wonderful!  Raw oysters, chargrilled oysters, and oyster poboys, with a few shrimp sprinkled here and there!  Our bellies were full, it was now time to head back to PCB.

Son#1 and his girly friend have not had the pleasure of a car ride down 30Aaaa, so a detour was in order.  In the old days, the only things to see were a bunch of scrub pines and a stop at the one destination on the loop, Seaside.  The roadway is still a two lane, but that is about the only thing that has stayed the same down this memory lane ride.

There is now a bike path that pretty much runs the length of 30A.  There are lots of eateries along the way, with green spaces dedicated as parking lots for all those bicycles that got to go somewhere!  The one destination of Seaside is now joined by multiple communities, and the only thing separating them are the road signs welcoming you to each community.

The view of all those scrub pines have been replaced with side roads filled with expensive beach houses and gated communities.  During our ride, there were only glimpses of the emerald green water, on the other side of all those homes.  The best part, people have built these same expensive houses on the other side of the road and no view of the gulf!

As we passed through Seaside, we could not help but notice how congested it was with foot traffic, bicycles, and golf carts.  We could barely see the food truck booths on the side of the road for all the people in front of them!

All these weekly residents of 30A were former visitors of Destin, Sandestin and PBC.  They left those destinations for the solitude, peace and quiet of 30A.  Sorry dudes! Those days are long gone!  You are still spending a fortune on your accommodations, plus the golf cart rental, and being elbow to elbow on your chosen spot in the sand!

Me, I'll stick with my regular locations, with beach cart and wagon in hand, and all the necessities to keep my beach queen happy.  "On the beach resorts" now take a back seat to the coastal parks that are practically void of wall to wall umbrellas and canopy tents.

Time for me to go claim our spot in the sand in PCB!

Beaching Essentials 2017

The thrill of beaching each year brings with it new innovations that bring more fun to the experience.  Some essentials will never change, but technology and new ideas keep adding to the fun.

Most resorts have access to chair and umbrella rentals.  When you go beaching as much as we do, bringing your own chairs and umbrellas can save you money in just a few visits.  We like the "Tommy Bahama" brand of chair.  The chair is built to hold up to 300 lbs, is wide and deep enough to comfort almost any normal sized human, including me!  For umbrellas, we prefer the lightweight "sportsbrella" umbrella.  You need to use an umbrella anchor, especially in windy conditions.  The plastic ones work great, and are very inexpensive.

Sportbrellas, chairs and cart

New Tommy Bahama chairs and the new wagon

Plastic Anchor

My latest addition to my beaching accessories is a power drill and an auger, for drilling out a hole in the sand for the umbrella anchor.  In just seconds you have a hole for your anchor and you just back fill with sand!  There have been many windy days where umbrellas just took off!

Dewalt is the drill of choice!

This year, I'm trying out a beach wagon, with wide tires.  The important thing to remember is to not overload the wagon, or you will be dragging that sucker through the sand vs pulling it!  I've been using a beach cart, but wanted to give a wagon a try.  We will be using both on an upcoming family trip, with extra hands to pull them!

My ice chest of choice is a Kelty.  I have two sizes and use them both.  They are soft sided, and have thick layers of insulation  that help keep ice in the cooler all day.  The Kelty is pricey, but REI occasionally marks them down, They are a whole lot cheaper and lighter to carry than Yeti type coolers.  I'm too dang cheap to even give the Yeti Hopper bag a try! Frozen margarita in ziploc bags are our favorite ice pack!

Kelty with Yeti Rambler

Kelty with Yeti Colster

When drinking chilled can drinks (beer!), the Yeti "Colster" can't be beat!  This little dude keeps the beer cold til the last drop.

We would be lost without our cup spike for holding our drinks.  These keep the sand away from the cup/can and most importantly your mouth!

Our latest addition has been bluetooth speakers.  We connect our favorite Pandora channels through our smartazz phones.  These small speakers put out plenty of sound, but don't disturb your neighbors.  Pandora puts very little drain on your battery.

Bluetooth speaker

For extra power, we bring along an external battery.  They work great keeping your phone charged and you can run your speaker off it, if by chance you didn't recharge it over night.

External battery

I hope you find this list to be useful in your planning your next beach trip.  I can't wait to find a few more items to "add to the list"!

Smartphone Activation EZ my Azz!

Well, the ole Samsung Note 4 began biting the dust last week, so I placed an order for a replacement phone thru the insurance plan.  This process took over 1.5 hours on the internet, after chatting with 1-800 India with AT&T and then the 1-800 Philippines with the insurance carrier.

The phone arrives with two day delivery.  Time to run through the process of moving from the Note 4 to a Galaxy S7.  With today's technology this should be a piece of cake!  I look at the new phone.  The back doesn't come off. What the heck????  I compare the simm cards and the newest one is smaller!  Oh boy, I can tell this is gonna be fun!

I do an internet search, to find that you push a provided pin into a whole and that pops our the bracket that holds the smaller simm card and the sd card.  Got it!  In they go!

Next, I do the Google backup from the cloud, from the old phone to the new phone.  After that was successful, I did the AT&T data transfer.  So far all my contacts and applications have made it over.  Winner!  Winner! Chicken dinner!

Time to activate the simm card with AT&T.  An internet search gets me to the right place, click I go!  Whoops!  AT&T does not recognize the phone as a new purchase.  Now you click the transfer to activate an insurance replacement phone.  Okee Dokee.  I get to the screen that asks you what phone you are replacing.  PROBLEM!  Internet link tells me to call 1-800-AT&T.  I get Joe the Plumber!  American English speaking dude, awesome!!!

Joe the plumber and I go through all the hoops, then he says, "you now need to restart both phones" for me to activate the new simm card.  WHAT????  Dude how are we gonna finish this????  Joe the Plumber tells me "you should have called in from a third phone".  You gotta be kidding me......

I finally ask Joe the Plumber if I can finish this process at a retail store.  Joe says "absolutely!"  Off I go to AT&T retail store.  So much for technology.  So much for 1-800 AT&T!  I get to the retail store, and explain my situation.  The salesman had the biggest grin on his face and says "no problem!"  He then proceeds to take the old bigger simm card out of the old phone, place it in a cutter machine,  chop chop!  He then inserts the newly sliced older simm card into the new phone, and says "all done!"  I'll be dang!  All that technology still hasn't replaced a Ronco Vegimatic veggie chopper!!!!!

Finally!  two hours later, I am back in business with a new working cell phone!  But wait!  I now need a new tempered glass and Otter box too!  It never ends.......

Oh NOLA, Oh How I Have Missed You

Being owners of a timeshare, we get to go and stay at lots of our favorite places.  You have to plan ahead, often times 9-12 month out, but it has certainly worked for us.  Plans were made months ago for a visit to NOLA this Easter weekend.  This also worked out to be the spousal unit's birthday weekend.

We got a condo at the Avenue Plaza, on St. Charles, in the garden district.  The streetcar line stops just several yards for the front door. This is a great place to stay during Mardi Gras, if you can manage a reservation.   The goal this trip was to leave the car parted the entire stay until departure.  You can get an all day (24 hr) bus pass for $3, and its good for all the streetcar lines and buses throughout the city.

The spousal unit got enticed to attend the owner's update meeting with a $100 gift card.  It's their time to tell you how to get more out of your ownership by you giving them more money!  NOT!!!  The one hour time limit came and went, but finally we were out the door and streetcar, here we come!

We always try to do something different every trip.  This time, we are on discovery for some new eating establishments to add to our favorite list.  My friend Karlene had posted some pics at a french bakery, La Madeleine's Country French Cafe, months back and it had caught our interest.  It's located at the bend in the track in the Carrollton section.  One of our favorite finds in this area is a restaurant called Carrollton Market, also recommended by a friend.

This being the birthday girl's weekend, our next stop was Kendra Scott, on Magazine Street, for some bling bling!  The streetcar stopped at Nashville Street.  Time for a multi-block stroll to Magazine!  Its interesting to take time to look at the old houses in New Orleans.  In most, the living quarters are elevated, since the city is below sea level.  The green spaces are so limited, with the houses on top of each other, but the homeowners do a lot with what they have.  Flowerbeds have already been planted, and all the privacy hedges are trimmed regularly.  Its a big job to keep these old houses up, and if you look close enough you can find where paint is beginning to peel here and there.

We finally reach Magazine Street, and just two building down, there is our destination, Kendra Scott!  Armed with her $100 gift card, the spousal unit was ready to shop!  I found a chair in a corner by the door and quickly claimed it as my own.  The spousal unit was delighted with all the jewelry items on display, and I got all excited over all the eye candy manning the store!  These gals were working hard for their commissions.  Sitting in  the corner, I was able to spot all the security cameras that were mounted on the ceiling and walls, losing count after 15!  The eye candy had their routine in place.  When one would begin helping a new customer, another would work her way to the front hallway, to monitor the customers trying on the jewelry.  It worked like clockwork, one would move in for the kill (commission), and another would man the monitoring station at the hallway.  Spousal unit made her selections.  She made a comment about being here for her birthday weekend and they gave her half off on her most expensive item!  The bookkeeper in me smelled a big markup on the prices!

With bus pass in hand, our next stop was the Quarter. If you've got the time, you have to take a bus ride along Magazine Street.  The people that ride this bus route can't be found anywhere else .  I love striking up conversations with them because you never know where it will go!  We get off the bus at Canal Street and are headed to the red line streetcars when this couple that was on the bus, asks me how do you get to the French Market?  I ask, "do you have an all day bus pass?"  She says "yes! thank you Jesus!"  I reply "follow me!  But my name is Bill, not Jesus.  He comes tomorrow!"  We take the Red Line to the end of Canal, then on to the River Line.  We exit near Cafe Du Monde, and say goodbye and point out the next stop to our new friends.

Cafe Du Monde is a major tourist stop, with everyone wanting beignets, coffee or a coke.  There is always a line, either for a table, or for the takeout window.  Knowing a few secrets, we were seated and had our treats in minutes.  I began staring at this cutie pie in this dark blue dress.  As we left I told her I couldn't believe she didn't have any powdered sugar on her!

A walk around Jackson Square is always fun.  On a Saturday you can usually spot a bridal parade around the Square.  Its interesting to look at what some call art, some of it looks like paint splatters.  There are plenty of palm and tarot card readers to occupy some of your time.  I love listening to the sketch artists talk as they are putting the finishing touches to one of their renderings for tourists!

Time for dinner!  Unfortunately the place we picked out, Red Gravy, near the J.W. Marriott, closes at 2, so it will get a visit later in our stay!  We ended up at The Redfish Grill on Bourbon St.  Its owned by the Brennan family, so we knew it had to be good.  We went into the bar while we waited for a table.  We ended up being offered a seat at a table by a family from New Jersey.  They came for the Carnival Cruise.  I suggested some items that they might like to try off the menu, but made the mistake of telling them what was in it.  We did get the lady to try an specialty oyster, it was hilarious watching it go down!  The waitress said the funniest thing to her is the tourists that think boudin balls must be alligator testicles!!!!

There was this guy next to us, in a wheel chair, with a brace on his knee.  He was surrounded by friends, including a lot of pretty women, tending to his every need.  I commented, "you know, if I was in a wheel chair, with all these pretty women tending to my every need, I might have to take advantage of the situation!  Ya'll didn't notice that the knee brace was on his other leg before he went to the restroom!"  Those ladies looked at each other, and then the laughter exploded!

The ride back to Avenue Plaza on the streetcar brought more interesting people.  We loved the short little couple from Seattle, I swear he looked like a leprechaun!  He said he still hasn't found that pot of gold!  Turns out we were staying at the same place!  I invited them for a nekeed swim, they said, we could get arrested!  I said, not in NOLA!!!

Can't wait for what tomorrow brings!  Happy Easter!

Walmart.com or bust!

I've been a fan of Amazon Prime for years.  Pay a fee up front, and get 2 day shipping for free.  If you haven't tried it you, once you do, you will be addicted in no time!

Walleyworld now has free shipping if you spend $35 or more.  Ok, I was game, and was needing some supplies for that condo in that town up north!

I downloaded the Walleyworld app, and a shopping I went!  Paper plates and bowls, ziploc bags, toothy paste, and velveeta!  Surely velveeta can survive a few days of shipping in the spring.

I checked out using my existing account info.  I get a confirmation email, indicating I can pick up most of my items at my local store and the other items would be shipped.  WTH???  I'm  thinking everthang should be shipped!!!

Ok, I figure, first time, there is always next time.  Today I'm driving by, and it registers "go thru the drive up pickup window"!

I pull up, and dial the number on the sign in the designated parking sport.  The lady on the other end of the line "I'm sorry sir, but this pickup line is only for grocery pickup."  Whoa!  What???  "You will have to come inside and go to customer service to get your items."  Me:  where is that?  Them:  "the back of the store."  Really???

I go park,  walk to the back of the store, and after showing the clerk my barcoded receipt, I had my items. The other items are scheduled for delivery next week.  Seems this store is having a lot of issues with the "pickup" option.

I'm planning on trying again.  With my new found knowledge, I'll be ready for round 2!  A bonus to going in, I got to spot several shoppers that qualified for those "People of Walmart" Facebook links!