It’s the start of summer, time for our (now) annual Memorial Day Weekend trip to Disney! We had planned this back in January before my daughter went back to school since this would be our only opportunity to all go together before our annual passes go into the summer blackout period and my daughter heads to a summer language program in Vermont at the end of June.
travel
FITCAMX Dash Cam (RAV4)
Hanging out in the RAV4 Prime forums over on RAV4World is dangerous: people are always posting the cool accessories and customizations they’ve made to their vehicles. Based on some threads there (and in the Facebook group), I decided to try installing a dash cam!
The recommended model was the Fitcamx Dash Cam but according to their web site (and the item page on Amazon) the current model wasn’t compatible with the 2022 RAV4. The photo they had showing the incompatible camera housing didn’t match mine though (it had vents, mine has no vents) so I sent them some photos asking if it would indeed work. They said it would, so I ordered one.
2022 Toyota RAV4 Prime
At the end of February my (until now) trusty 2013 Toyota Highlander had a sudden and unexpected engine failure which, no longer having a working car, sent us on a stressful week and a half of decisions, research, and frustrating shopping (it is really not a good time, supply-chain wise, to be buying a new car).
I’ve been driving Highlanders (well, two of them anyway) since 2003. Now that my daughter is off at college (and almost done, at that) I knew my next vehicle was going to be downsized: we no longer needed the cargo capacity, V6 engine, or towing capacity of a large SUV, but still wanted an SUV (or crossover). Since I am pretty fond of Toyotas (we’ve owned two Highlanders, a Camry Hybrid, and a Prius) I was already considering the RAV4 as my next car.
I won’t go into the details of that stressful time but suffice it to say we had a stroke of luck near the end of our ordeal and wound up with our fantastic new SUV: the 2022 Toyota RAV4 Prime XSE.
Spring Training 2022 – no, actually a week in Seattle
[ posting this late/out-of-order since I apparently started it and never finished ]
Mid-March would typically find me out in Arizona for my annual spring training trip to see my Cleveland Indians Guardians but the past two years have seen my trips cancelled (first for the pandemic, and now the MLB lockout). This year’s trip was also planned around a side-trip to Seattle to see the Lightning play the Kraken (my sister is a inaugural season ticket holder for the new NHL franchise). With our planned baseball games cancelled, I decided to just spend the entire week in Seattle with my sister.
2021 Panama Canal cruise
To celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and my daughter’s 21st birthday this year, we spent Christmas and New Year’s on a 11-day Panama Canal cruise on the Norwegian Pearl!
Back at Disney: Labor Day Weekend 2021
We didn’t go to Disney World for our annual Labor Day Weekend trip last year (for obvious reasons) so it was nice to finally celebrate the end of summer and spend the long holiday weekend over in Orlando at the parks.
Memorial Day Weekend at Disney (2021)
With the pandemic starting to get under control and things heading back towards “normal” we decided to try a mini (Minnie?) family vacation to kick off the summer and head over to Disney World for Memorial Day Weekend. The last time we did this was 2018. Normally our annual trip to Disney is Labor Day weekend, but with my daughter now in college there are fewer times we can actually go as a family and Labor Day isn’t one of them. We also still don’t have our annual passes so this was just a single day, single park trip.
Weekend getaway to Fernandina Beach
This past weekend we were up in the Amelia Island area at a beach rental in Fernandina Beach visiting with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. We drove up Thursday evening after work and then worked from the beach house on Friday while we waited for my wife’s sister and her husband to arrive (they were renting the other side of the duplex so we could appropriately social distance). We had dinner delivered from Fancy Sushi and then sat outside on the deck (bundled up since it was actually kinda cold!).
Saturday (Halloween) morning we started with a walk along the beach and over to Starbucks for breakfast and back. We grabbed lunch at Cantina Louie (sitting outside at separate ends of a large table) and then walked around Centre Street before it started raining. Since I had my growler in the car, I got it filled at the Amelia Island Brewing Company before we headed back to the house. My wife and sister-in-law set up a tent outside so we were able to sit (again, appropriately distanced) outside in the rain and still visit. Quite the odd Halloween, but at least it was warmer than last night.
We had to check out of the VRBO by 10:00am on Sunday, so after our morning walk on the beach we had to clean up and pack up. Since it was a beautiful day we went back to Centre Street to actually walk around in the sun. For lunch we ate at the Salty Pelican (mmmm … fish and shrimp tacos) near the river. Then we had to say our goodbyes and headed back home. It was a quick weekend, but nice to get away to the beach for a while with family.
COVID Road Trip
It was finally time to move my daughter back to college in Ohio, which meant a family road trip during COVID-19 times. Considering we hadn’t really been more than 15 miles from the house for the past 6 months, going on a 2,000 mile roundtrip drive across 5 states during a global pandemic was a slightly daunting.
Spring Training 2020: Home and Recap
I groggily awoke as we landed at the CLT airport around 6:10am. As luck would have it, my connection was just two gates away so I grabbed breakfast at Starbucks and did a little walking to get my step count up before boarding the flight to Tampa. By 10:30am I was back home, Cactus League Spring Training Trip #10 in the books.
It’s March 1 and my annual spring training is just ending (that’s just not right!). The Indians come to Tampa early in the season too this year (April). So after that, unless I go to the odd Rays game, that’s the end of live baseball for me in 2020! And having seen all Indians losses this trip, I hope to see a victory over the Rays when I go next month.
Another weird thing about going early: no NCAA basketball. That’s usually a staple for us, watching tournament games while out in the desert. But I don’t care about that because my #4 Dayton Flyers are undefeated in the Atlantic 10 and no doubt will be dancing later this month! Go Flyers!!
The Vegas side trip was a lot of run. Sure, it was a 485mi drive from Phoenix, but getting to check off another spring training ballpark and doing some hiking was worth it, despite our run-in with the LVPD on Friday night! 😀
Looking forward to the regular season now …