Memorial Day Weekend

After a fun night at my usually watering hole, The Alibi, I headed to Naples on Saturday morning. The drive over was fine, nothing too unusual.
Once in Naples, we checked into the hotel and were surprised at how trendy the place was. Dark blues and bright greens on the carpet and upholstered chair, the hallway carpet was very graphic. Now that a place to sleep was secured off to have lunch, with a stop at the beach. We ended up at a local place, Clock's Family Restaurant. The food was quite good, I had a burger with Tomato Florentine soup as a starter. Quite good. After a little hopping for flowers, we went over to a friend's house for martinis. They too were quite good.
On Sunday, we went to the Naples Zoo. Even though it is located next to the mall, it was quite nice. Some interesting animals and some spectacular plants. A late lunch at a water front restaurant was next. I loved my fried fish, roommate not so much with his gumbo and jambalaya. I told him that he needs to stop ordering his favorites at places he has never eaten. It is usually not as good as he expects. A late afternoon stop on the beach was too sunny. With the sun setting it was sun in the sky and bouncing on the water, it lasted 5 minutes.
On Monday we did a short stop at the beach. There were VERY few waves and water was nice. Saw schools of small fish and also a jelly fish. As we were leaving a small school of stingrays swam by. On the way home we stopped at Everglades City and had lunch in the former train station. We were both amazed at the quality of the food. My guava coconut cakes was YUMMY. After that it was the drive home and back to the real world.

Summer is here...

This weekend was RATHER warm here. Set a few records I think, was in low 90s. Did the usual Alibi on Friday night, ran into a few friends and stayed out later than normal.
On Saturday, went up to Deerfield Beach to Ocean 234 for lunch. Had a discount coupon, was great. Restaurant overlooks the beach and pier. had a pitcher of Mojitos with our meal, then had to walk around until Tom's buzz went away. We walked out onto the pier to enjoy the view and while out there, saw a LARGE stingray that did a back flip, was amazing. Afterward we walked through the tourist shops, had gelato and then a little more walking on the promenade then home for a nice nap.

Yes, the company I worked for last year shut down the travel portion of the company. It was very sad since when it started it was the first of its kind. People blamed the economy, but it was more the lack of innovation and adding new products. But no one asked me or the other reservation agents.
Actually, it seemed the executives did not ask for any input for any projects. Let's design a website that is not user friendly, or even remotely similar in operation to others of its kind. People do not use or visit a website if it is not easy to operate, there is no need since there is a similar one a click away.
Then there is changing the products offered on a website. And the price, what is up with that? The one website that is left I cannot figure out what they are selling. But it is not my issue, it is theirs.

Yes, I am BACK!!!

Well, it has been since last July and I have a new blog. I was laid off from my job last summer when I was writing, Notes from a Gay Traveler. So here is my new one. Will post more later today.