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Author - Ronnie

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Paris & Africa

March saw us jetting off from San Francisco to Paris, kicking off an epic journey that would eventually land us in South Africa for a safari. The overnight flight stretched for 11 hours, during which we attempted to catch some z’s with mixed success. Touching down in the morning, we hopped on the RER train and made our way into the charming Marais district...

Hilton Head

Leaving Savannah behind, we made our way to Hilton Head. The atmosphere was relaxed, the beaches were pristine with soft sand, and the weather couldn’t have been better. It was the ideal setting for a refreshing getaway.

We toured a couple of retirement communities in the area and will revisit for a longer stay.

Savannah

In October 2023, we set our sights on Savannah, using it as our springboard for exploring nearby Hilton Head as a potential retirement destination. Savannah instantly won us over with its walkable streets steeped in history and dotted with fascinating landmarks. The food was divine, the locals were warm and welcoming, and we couldn’t help but fall in love with...

Hearst Castle

In September 2023, we checked off a long-standing item from our bucket list: a visit to Hearst Castle. The story behind its construction fascinated us, and exploring the grounds was like stepping back in time. It was especially exciting to see the areas where Winston Churchill once painted and where Hollywood elites gathered for meals. The visit was a blend of...

Halloween, 2022

We joined our friends, Scott & Carie, to round out the cast of Gilligan’s Island.

Ended up winning 1st place at the Baja Cantina costume contest!

Scott put a LOT of work into the radio and my rope.

The night before, we joined the staff at POMDR for an impromptu gathering. Maddie and Kelley switched daily wardrobe.

10th Anniversary in Ojai

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we drove down to Ojai for the weekend. Nice and warm there! Dinner at Nest, yummy food and drinks. The residents had already set up their chairs for the parade 3 days in advance! The next day, we explored Santa Barbara. Nice, walkable town. Kelley got a foot massage and we walked out on the wharf. Sat on the beach a while and...

Covid in Boston

After testing positive for Covid, we retreated to our hotel in Brunswick and plotted our next move.

Our symptoms were mild (runny nose, fatigue, coughing) so we just rested and stayed away from other people.

After relocating to Boston, we explored Salem and the surrounding area.

Maddie’s Graduation

After four short years, Maddie completed her Bachelors degree with a major in political science and history. We flew from SFO to Boston, with an overnight stop in Grafton to visit our friends Nick & Jerlyn. The next day, we headed on to Brunswick and met up with Maddie, Fran & Bill. Maddie took us to many of her favorite places; the pottery studio she managed...

SJO to SFO

Planes, Trains & Automobiles Landing in Los Angeles No Masks Required! As a refresher, our new & updated plan was to fly from San Jose, C.R. to LAX, wait 18 hours (overnight) then fly to SFO where we started our journey and our car is parked. Our plan was to hopefully catch a standby flight at LAX to SFO the day we landed and eliminate the overnight wait. As...

La Fortuna, Costa Rica

<- Previously in Jaco Day Seven: Saturday Saturday morning, we drove to La Fortuna. This introdcued us to even more varied landscape. At times, high elevation (3800ft +) where it was much cooler (70s). Our trip carried us across “Crocodile Bridge”. Arenal Volcano is near here. We walked around downtown. Wish we could have stayed longer here and...

Jaco, Costa Rica

<- Previously: Manuel Antonio Day Five: Thursday Jaco was a fairly short drive. The road takes you through miles and miles of palm tree farms on both sides of the road. We aren’t sure what the crop is though. Arrived later afternoon and found our Airbnb. A hostel-like multi-tenant situation with a really steep ladder to get to the bed loft. But it was only...

Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

<- Previously at Tamarindo Day Four: Tuesday We drove from Tamarindo to Quepos, then to the small coastal village of Manuel Antonio. It was a long drive with slow traffic as usual. Kelley was still not feeling well and slept most of the trip. We checked into our Airbnb, a neat place with a partially enclosed front foyer. It was already dark, so we decided to order...

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

<- Previous: Costa Rica Arrival Day One: Saturday The drive from San Jose, C.R. (SJO) to Tamarindo is ~250km and Waze quoted 4 hours. The road was 99.9% two lanes and paved, but with various qualities. Its not a long distance to cover, but slow vehicles plus misc. construction really slowed us down. The drivers here are pretty fearless. They pass on double solid...

Costa Rica, 2022

In April, 2022, we headed to the happiest place on earth. Departed SFO 6:30pm Friday night. A quick hop to LAX to sit for 3.5 hours. LAX International terminal  was a visual feast. Huge video walls, Gucci stores, lots of international citizens coming and going. A pack of 20(?) people in full hazmat suits travelling together. Kelley bought a cupcake from a...