James was really over being in Florida, until one of our closest friends said he was coming to St. Pete (not to be confused with St. Petersburg, because as we’ve found out there IS a difference)! Suddenly, James was singing a different tune and we were strolling through the Dali Museum and exploring everything this little beach town had to offer. We also found ourselves arguing at-length over what impact remote work has truly had on St. Pete.

James wins that argument in the end.

Anyway, we weren’t done there. Naples was just a few hours south and Denise’s friends who left Chicago for the Paradise Coast showed us a roaring good time. We sipped champagne on a tiki boat, tried every restaurant we could on Fifth Ave. and Denise found beginner’s luck at Pelican Bay Country Club on her first golf outing, ever!

Finally, we wrapped up our road trip with a stop in Fort Myers to see James’ family in a visit that was long overdue. His aunt and uncle rolled out the red carpet and it had us feeling like WE were the kids, again!

#emptynest #fulltank

On the 12th Day of Christmas my travel log gave to me:

12 hour layovers

11 dollar coffee

10 nasal swabbings

9 flights delaying

8 lanes a-merging

7 dollars per gallon

6 damaged presents

5 SCREAM-ING KIIIIDDDDSSSS

4 shuttle changes

3 canceled dinners

2 missing shoes

And a drunk uncle in Q-A-NONNNNNNNNNNNN

Happy Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. Happy Kwanzaa. Merry Festivus. We're airing our grievances and wishing you the best in 2023. Thanks for joining us this year!

#emptynest #fulltank

If we told you a story of 150,000 people invading 3 counties within the US borders, you'd think we were all hopped up on some immigration conspiracy. But that's exactly what happened somewhere in between Orlando and Gainesville, Florida--in a place called, generically enough, "The Villages."

It's a retirement community that keeps sprouting houses and expanding its borders every single year--with its own towns and cities inside. It has its own infrastucture, radio station, entertainment venues and over 100 restaurants. Heck, it has over 700 holes of golf to be played! Do you know how many courses that must be?!?

Even if you're from Central Florida, it's a hard place to really describe... so we turned to Denise's family to get answers from our real-life "Village People." Sorry for the clickbait title. Not really.

Anyway, they have lived here almost 20 years now and have loved every minute. We finally carved out enough time between our travels and our sister-in-law Vickie's pickleball schedule to get her and Denise's brother Ron in the hot seat to see if we couldn't get to the bottom of this enigma called "The Villages." Enjoy!

#emptynest #fulltank

What better way to cap off a 2-month roadtrip than to immediately have to hunker down and pray for the best?

Hurricane Ian ravaged Florida and his episode explores how we came to purchase an investment property right dab smack in The Villages, a world-famous retirement community... and Denise's growing desire to just stay. And play pickleball. Or hike. Or join a rowing team. Or something.

Wanna find us on your favorite platform? Here you go.