The Glamour of The Road

Gene and I planned to visit here a few years ago and spend the weekend on Sanibel Island.  Well there was the small matter of a hurricane named Charley.  When we found out where the I-CAN meeting was going to be this year, we included an extra day in our plan so that we could hopefully accomplish this visit.  I am so glad we did.

A visit to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates is truly special.    These two men are icons of American business.  Some interesting facts:

• Ford worked for Edison before he began manufacturing automobiles.
• Edison searched the world for plants to bring to the estates.
• Edison, Ford and Harvey Firestone sought out plants that contained latex for the manufacture of rubber.
• The Banyan Tree shown in the picture above, is now over an acre in diameter, and it is understood to be the second largest in the world.

If you have the chance you should take a 1/2 day and visit.  You might want to choose a bit cooler weather, but come early in the day.  The crowds get heavier as the day goes on, even in the hot weather.  This is one those destinations I seek out in traveling “The Glamour of the Road”.

Enjoy our pictures

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Each year I am required to do 20 hours of classroom time to maintain my CIC designation.  For my non-insurance friends this is an insurance designation titled Certificated Insurance Counselor.  Once you have the designation, there are number of different types of curriculum available in different places around the US.   My first challenge is year is what I want to take and then where I want to go.

Several years ago we had the opportunity to visit Annapolis on a cold Sunday afternoon for lunch and a few shops.  I saw a class I was interested in and low and behold it was in Annapolis on a week I had available.  So it was meant to be.

My words for Annapolis are charming, historical and beautiful.  There are row houses, with almost each one a designated historical building.  Numerous great old buildings with wonderful architecture.  The Maryland State House is located here.  It is the oldest State House in the nation in continuous use.  It was also undergoing some renovation, but as you can see from the photos it is a grand old building.

Let’s talk about the food.  All of this area is famous for the blue crabs.  Oh my goodness.  I remembered these from my first visit and other visits to the Baltimore area and couldn’t wait.  Well there were blue crabs as lunch the day we went to the Navel Academy and several other occasions that week for crab cakes.  I am so glad we had the opportunity to spend some time in this wonderful area of our country.  Another good event in our travels on The Glamour of the Road.

Enjoy our Photos

On our recent trip to Annapolis we took the opportunity to visit the U. S. Naval Academy.  It was the highlight of our trip.  I highly recommend doing the guided tour to get the lay of the land and the history of the academy.

Once you have completed the guided tour you are free to visit areas not on the tour or revisit areas you would like to spend more time at.  We didn’t get to see a couple of areas as they were under renovation but what we saw was wonderful.

One of the highlights is the display of model ships and the scenes depicting how they are crafted.  I have included only a few of the photos from this exhibit.  This was the largest number of model ships I have ever seen in one exhibit.  It is amazing to me how anyone has the talent and patience to do this tiny, detailed craft.

If you are going to be in the DC or Baltimore area, you should include the Naval Academy in your plans if at all possible.  I rate this as one of the true joys of The Glamour of the Road.

Enjoy our photos

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On Friday, May 29, 2009, our group piled into our rented van and trekked off to Madrid, NM.  This is an artist colony in the mountains southeast of Santa Fe about 20 miles.  No signal lights or stop signs in this little town.

A 2 lane highway goes through the middle of town and each side is lined with shops, restaurants, one bar, a mine museum and homes.  This is the town where Wild Hogs with John Travolta was shot and it looks the same after that event as it did before.

Continue reading “Madrid & Cerrillos, NM”

Not dancing but cooking.  Before I became an insurance nerd and later an insurance geek I was a home economics major.  Cooking is one of the things I really like to do.  When I am home I cook as many meals as possible.

When considering what to do while in Santa Fe I thought about a cooking class.  My traveling companions said they weren’t interested so I chose the Salsas class as it fit our schedule the best and it was a hands-on class.  I had not taken a cooking class since my college days but have wanted to for a very long time.  What a really fun time I had.  Gene came in close to the end of the class and got this picture of our Chef/Instructor, Rocky Durham.  Two of my team mates are shown to my left.  The lady with the bowl is from Los Alamos, NM and this was her second class at the school.  The gentleman to her left is from Alabama.  His wife thought he should take this class while she was shopping.  Our other team member was a lady from Dallas.  Funny how the two ladies from Texas found each other right off.

Continue reading “Salsas!”