Bruce's Travels

Dawn and I hope everyone out there who reads the blog had a happy and safe Christmas, wherever and however you chose to mark the occasion. We had a fairly quiet week here, choosing to lay low for the most part, as streets and highway in and around Fort Myers were quite busy with traffic, especially around the malls. Here's a few highlights: Monday Dec. 21 -- Bargains and Lunch Today we went to Miromar Outlet Mall and Gulf Coast Town Center, despite the earlier mention of crowds. I had a $10 reward certificate from Eddie Bauer that expired 12/31, and I didn't want to let it go to waste. The closest EB outlet is Miromar. Also, I was hungry for lettuce wraps at PF Changs, hence the need to go to Gulf Coast Town Center for lunch after the EB stop. I scored big at EB, heading directly to the clearance section in the back of the store. With Dawn's help, I got two pair of dress shorts (plaid pattern) and pullover golf shirt, all for $30 after deducting my $10 reward certific...

Hi everyone! It's always hard to believe another Christmas is about to come and go, yet here we are again. No snow for anyone "back home" but hope everyone is getting into the spirit nonetheless. Dawn and I just finished our weekly grocery run, with menu planning for some fun meals, and we're going out to eat on Christmas day. Later today, we're headed to "Buckets," a Packer-friendly bar around the corner, to watch the Pack and the Oakland Raider square off, starting at 4:05 p.m. Eastern Time. Here's what's been going on this past week. Highlights were a dolphin cruise on Wednesday, and a holiday party for Bruce with his widows/widowers club on Saturday night. Sunday Dec. 13 -- Packers Defeat Cowboys Our trip to Buckets ("Wings and More") bar and pub to watch the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys cost us $42 (including tip) for 3 beers (for Bruce), 15 chicken wings (shared), and a diet soda for Dawn. Monday Dec. 14 --...

No huge adventures this past week. I think we've kind of settled into a routine ... morning coffee on the lanai, errands, workouts at Planet Fitness, Netflix and/or Scrabble tournaments at night with Hawaiian slack guitar playing on Pandora in the background. Plus, we're maybe suffering a little economic hangover from spending some big bucks on travel plans, which this past week included $600 worth of Key West Express travel vouchers. Here are some highlights. Tuesday Dec. 8 -- Key West Plans, Dinner and a Movie Today, Dawn and I went to Key West Express Marina and bought six of the $99 specially priced round trip travel vouchers aboard their big boat that ferries passengers (no vehicles) between Fort Myers and Key West. Four of the vouchers are for Dawn and three friends that will be visiting in late Feb. They are planning an overnight in Key West. The other two vouchers are for Dawn and I, and we'll be taking an overnight trip there in late January as sort of a "...

Today, we are meeting Karen and Craig, Dawn's friends, for an early lunch at B.J.'s Restaurant & Brewhouse out on Alico Road by the airport. I have five of their watches I got in running condition for them. Most were just batteries, but one was a stem and crown replacement on a lady Movado watch which ran me $40 all by itself to have my buddy down the street at Prestige Jewelers obtain the parts and install them. I'm doing very little watch repair work for people these days, because it's generally a PITA. I'm trying to train all my relatives to simply tell people that I'm retired! But these are good friends, and I know how hard it is to obtain reliable and honest watch repair, especially around this part of the country. Looking forward to trying the new restaurant and catching up with Karen and Craig. A mixed bag this week, due in good part to a couple days of torrential rain that pre-empted our usual Friday outing to the Farmer's Market. But still we ...