Over the past year-and-a-half, despite the travel limitations of Covid, we have moved two cars across country from Portland, Oregon to Venice, Florida. We traveled through California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama on one leg, along with Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida on the second journey with our dog. We did a side trip to Glacier National Park but couldn’t get into Canada. We’ve also thoroughly covered our new home state of Florida with Marriott Vacation Club locations on South Beach, Marco Island, Singer Island, and Amelia Island. However, there have been too many travel plans crushed by the virus and fires. We had plans to go to St. Kitts, Bali, Tahoe, and Kauai. There were also cruises scheduled to Egypt, Spain-Finland, Russia-Norway. Egypt has been rescheduled for 2023, while some cruise funds were diverted to next year’s tour of Alaska, Russia, and Japan. In total, we lost nearly 60 days of travel in that timeframe, but saved nearly $50,000 of our retirement funds. Most of that money probably will end up in our new Florida home.

Where do we go from here? The Kennedy Space Center is our next little road trip, adding to our Florida experiences. For Christmas, we’ll be at Disney World for their 50th Anniversary celebration. We also plan to book the fairy from Ft. Myers to Key West, so I can stand on the southernmost point of the United States and feel the Jimmy Buffet vibe of the tropics. Maybe a Caribbean Cruise is in our future with so many affordable options out of Miami? We would like to try again organizing holiday family get togethers in Kauai or Tahoe to make up for last year’s misfortunes. The Hawaii option would involve flying into Portland or San Francisco to break up the trip. We will already be in Portland in September to visit family and friends before we catch our Alaskan ocean cruise out of Vancouver, with thoughts of taking the scenic train ride into Canada. A drive up the East Coast into Maine is another goal, plus a stay at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan.

My wife wants to see China if international politics once again allow us to be safely welcome. London, Scotland, and Ireland are also on her bucket list. Plans have changed considerably in the last year with the onset of Covid and limited financial resources, so our once aggressive retirement dreams have been trimmed down to a more realistic level. After all, we now live in a popular vacation spot with resort amenities. Why deal with all the hassles and expense of travel?

It’s our last day in Pittsburgh with a visit to the Cheesecake Factory. Yesterday, was a long, boring tour of the city including the Duquesne Incline, Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop, and The Carnegie Science Center. I feel like I’ve seen it all, after hopping on and hopping off all day long. We were also responsible for entertaining the grands last night while mom and dad had a well deserved date night. We went to Noodles and Company so the little one could have mac & cheese. 

Pittsburgh is a great sports town, host of the very first World Series back in 1903. I saw the remnants of Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium, watched the Cubs play in PNC Park that is right next door to Heinz Stadium, home of the Steelers and Panthers. This morning I ran through Highmark Stadium where the Riverhounds play and the tour bus took us by PPG Paints Arena that the Penguins call home. Professional basketball never really caught on here after the Pipers and Condors dissolved in 1972. The Pipers were actually the very first ABA Champions in 1967-68  with star center Connie Hawkins but moved to Minnesota shortly after. With a history of Super Bowl, World Series, and Stanley Cup victories, they still call Pittsburgh the “city of champions” because no other city of comparable size has matched the success – but it’s been awhile. 2017 was the last for the Penguins, 2009 for the Steelers, and 1979 for the Pirates. 

Our flight back to Tampa, the new city of champions,  is later this afternoon and we’ll be staying there tonight before going home to entertain my wife’s sister and her husband for a few days. They are in the area for a funeral that sadly disrupted their plans to see us later in October. Covid, fires, funerals, and cancellations have kept us away from family and friends this past year. Only Pittsburgh seems to have escaped from messed up travel plans. It’s certainly not the most glamourous vacation haven we’ve been to but I’ve been impressed with how the city has bounced back from the downfall of the steel industry. I doubt that we’ll ever be back, but I’ve enjoyed our stay in the once “City of Champions.” 

I barely broke a sweat this morning on my first Pittsburgh run, reminding me of those days in Portland not so long ago. It was cool with busy traffic and signs of homelessness. I lost my music in the midst of tall buildings, temporarily blocking my phone signal. We had a chance to walk around a bit last night before dinner through PPG Place, a testament to 80s architecture in the six glass buildings that border the square. Steel, Glass, and Ketchup are still the cornerstones of Pittsburgh Industry. It was not easy running on the uneven sidewalks and small hills that are characteristic of this area. In the distance, I could see the bridges that span the three rivers – Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio.

Tonight the Cubs play the Pirates, one of the reasons for our visit. We’ll plan a Hop-On-Hop-Off excursion with the grandkids on Friday so we can see all the sights and learn more about the history of this city. These open-air bus tours have become traditional for seeing some of the larger cities without having to deal with the traffic. We’ve done Amsterdam, Paris, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York in this manner, as I recall. We’ll then explore on foot the areas of interest and catch the next bus. They also provide a guided tour with interesting insights as they wind through the streets. It’s especially helpful in the foreign cities where you can dial in your own language.

We’re thinking about lunch today at Primanti Brothers, famous for their sandwiches that are topped with slaw and fries. The ribeye from Ruth’s Chris has yet to digest, so this is not a matter of hunger but rather the thing to do in Pittsburgh. The other must-do is to ride the inclines. We’re just across the bridge from the Duquesne and within walking distance of the Mono and “Coal Hill” that it served. The Big Mac was introduced in this area and native Heinz Ketchup is probably one of the ingredients in the secret sauce. Pierogies were first made here and we wouldn’t want to leave without a taste of a Klondike Bar, chipped ham, and a skyscraper cone, also “Burgh” originals. I’ll keep you posted on our progress – Good Morning, Pittsburgh!

All the glamorous trips have been cancelled these past few years, but it looks like we’ll get to Pittsburgh. I’m sitting in the terminal digesting some black & blue hamburger sliders, a rare breakfast treat, while constructing this post. We got up at the same time as normal, but I had to shorten my run and skip the swim to be out the door by 8:30a. Three hours later we’re about to board our economical Spirit flight. The hour-and-a-half drive into Tampa and parking at the Marriott went smoothly. We’ll leave the car until Sunday when we check-out of the room reserved for Saturday night. It’s a very big benefit of Mother Marriott, considering that our entire vacation will be paid with points and we don’t have to deal with airport parking.

With the grands joining us in Pittsburgh, we are all staying at the downtown Fairfield, not exactly the epitome of luxury when it comes to Marriott choices, but affordable for a family of seven between two suites. We’ll check-out the “City of Bridges” over the three rivers before the Cubs vs. Pirates game tomorrow night. The railway inclines, pizza/sandwich shops, and perhaps the Andy Warhol Museum are on our radar. A Ruth’s Chris restaurant near our hotel may be our dinner destination tonight before the entire gang arrives by car.

It’s hardly the resort lifestyle that we’re now accustomed to and more like our apartment stint in downtown Portland. Hopefully, the city hasn’t deteriorated like our former home town, ravaged by unrest and riots. We want to do some walking if it’s safe and the weather is pleasant, with everything within a mile of the hotel. There should also be a number of parks and paths along the waterfront. Pittsburgh is our last chance this year for a vacation getaway -please don’t let us down! I’m also looking forward to wearing jeans again after four months of shorts.

It’s been nearly two years of travel disappointment. At this time in September 2019 we were headed to New York and plotting our New Year’s journey through Florida to find or build our retirement home. Expectations were at the highest point ever with trips to St. Kitts, Bali, Egypt, Norway, Vegas, Phoenix, Hawaii, Canada and Russia all scheduled. As it turned out, Barry Manilow in Las Vegas was the last major concert we would see, while March Madness and  Spring Training would be cancelled. Travel was restricted to the Continental United States, so all these other adventures were postponed or dropped in lieu of Covid. We were stuck in a downtown Portland apartment, staring at each other, and concerned about the riots just outside our doors. 

Our cars that had sat mostly unused in an underground parking garage suddenly became our salvation. At least we could drive to Glacier National Park, although the Canadian leg had to be scratched. It was also the opportune time to move one of our cars to Florida once we decided that Venice would eventually be our permanent home. The route took us through San Francisco, Cambria, Tucson, Marfa, Austin, and Tallahassee. Then, instead of flying to St. Kitts where my wife was meeting friends, we stayed on South Beach in Miami. 

Moving turned out to be a major hassle, complicated by my wife’s Kidney Stone emergency. This second  cross-country drive with our other car was through uneventful cities like Ogden, Burlington, and Clayton before we finally arrived in Indianapolis for surgery. In the meantime, we were closing on the new house and supposedly racing the moving truck to Venice. Our schnauzer Tally was with us this time, so the hotel accommodations weren’t as nice, as if that might have made up for my wife’s pain. Atlanta was our next stop, but we were no longer in any hurry because the movers had yet to leave Portland. As it turned out, we would move into our new home after just one night in a Venice hotel while our furniture wouldn’t arrive for another month. 

So here we are five months later and still getting organized. Instead of Covid affecting our travel plans, this time it was fires that cancelled our Tahoe adventure this week. Concert tickets for Santana/EWF and Jackson Browne have been postponed another year, so we’re still stuck on the Barry Manilow performance memories rather than something fresh. We’re just hoping that nothing interferes with our October house guests, November tour of the Kennedy Space Center, or December Disney plans and afraid to schedule anything else until next year. Second and third waves of the virus are once again shutting things down, so we sadly have No Expectations. 

We are visiting Mother Marriott, our second home, this retirement weekend with a splendid 14th floor view of the Atlantic Ocean. Or, turn my patio chair the other way for a bird’s eye view of the island. It’s actually the 13th floor but nobody would want to check-in to that number, especially on Friday the 13th. Fortunately, the day was filled with good luck and only a little bit of lightening. We had dinner at The Divebar in Jupiter known for it’s huge silo-like fish tanks. It was there that we celebrated a 41-year reunion of my wife and her Pi Phi sorority sister. In the process, we met her Greek boyfriend Photis and drank heavily. I enjoyed his company.

Needless to say, I was a bit hungover on this morning’s run but a stiff wind kept me cool and refreshed despite the 85-degree temperatures. It stormed all night and more rain is expected today, so this peaceful, dry moment watching the beach-walkers is rewarding. Yes, I’m enjoying nature here on Singer Island, but I like to watch it from a distance! This afternoon company is coming, another of my wife’s long lost friends, so it will be another long day of girl talk.

The waves are rolling in and the palm trees blowing in the gentle breeze. It’s great to have several island getaway properties so near to our home – even though our new home is also a tropical paradise. Before the year is over, we will have been to five Florida Vacation Club locations, plus 10-days in Tahoe. We’ll also spend another 40 “free” nights in Marriott hotels in 2021. That totals nearly two months in our second homes, a pretty good vacation investment this year. Thanks, Mother Marriott.