Here’s a pelican in St. Augustine, Florida:

I visited Dunedin, Florida earlier today and discovered it’s the single A farm team of the Toronto Blue Jays.

A few scenes from Miami’s Calle Ocho (8th Street) aka Little Havana:

You can take the boy out of Canada, but not Canada out of the boy! Though I’ve been living in America for over a decade, I will never forget my Canadian roots. Yesterday being Canadian Thanksgiving, I did some research and found an absolutely wonderful restaurant to enjoy a lovely dinner. Plus, I got extra for lunch & dinner tomorrow!

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An SDA regular and his wife recently got back from Portugal.  Here’s an interesting summary from him:

1. Devaluation of Canadian dollar.  In September 2019 it took $1.43 Canadian dollars to purchase a Euro.  Today the figure is $1.64.   This constitutes a 15 percent loss of purchase power – and a significant additional travel cost – and this is very likely to get a lot worse before it gets better.
2. European countries set their own Value Added Tax (VAT) rates.  In Portugal the categories are 6, 13, and 23 percent.  In 2019 local food produce was not taxed at all; now it is taxed at 6%.  Beer and wine in a restaurant was taxed at 23%, but taxed at a lower 13% if you picked it up in a store.  Now all beer and wine purchases are taxed at 23%, and many of the food items that were taxed at 6 % have risen to 13% and some that were 13% have migrated upwards.
3. Many hotels, guest houses and resorts in Portuguese cities and tourist centers are now imposing a “green” head tax of 2 to 4 euros per person per night.  In some European cities it is higher.
4. Starting October 2nd, the ETIAS documentation and identification system will be a mandatory pre-entry condition for those arriving in Europe through “regular” channels.  It obviously won’t apply to the hordes arriving illegally.   As this system evolves, it will require biometric identification: fingerprint and facial recognition and retinal scanning technology.   Call it paranoia or whatever, but I’m really not happy about this Big Brotherism.
5. Although we book accommodations that have kitchens, we do like to get out for dinner every 2nd night.  But the cost of restaurant food is getting into the crazy zone (see point 1.).  A small (and very thin) pizza and a beer at a beachfront restaurant will set you back 30 euros.  The mark-up from shelf price fot food, beer, and wine is exorbitant … and consistent among all restaurants.   There is certainly a sort of price-fixing going on.  A lot of restaurants fell by the wayside during covid, and I think the survivors have decided to make up for lost time and revenue by gouging the rebounded tourist market.

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Spotted in Portsmouth, New Hampshire:

It’s still early in what the locals call Leaf Peeping Season but the beauty of New Hampshire is already magnificent. I captured these near Franconia earlier today.

July was a crazy one for me in terms of travel. Here are a few of my favourite photos, from Red Oak, Missouri, Ash Grove, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois, and Newport, Rhode Island respectively:

Last week, I had some friends visit from Chicagoland. One morning, we drove up to Winslow, Arizona, made famous by the song, Take It Easy, written by Jackson Browne for his friends in The Eagles. Here are a few photos from that visit:

This past week, I’ve been back in my old stomping grounds of the San Francisco Bay Area. The city definitely is in better shape than when I left in February 2021, but I don’t feel compelled to move back here. Incidentally, it is not clear whether the license plate is mandatory for the Mayor of SF. 🙂

An SDA regular sent in this photo from Monday of two bucks walking across his property. His hopes are that this is an omen that The [Real] Men Are Back in Canada.