In July of 2021 I posted about a trip to Florida to visit friends. This year, we have traveled there twice; once in February to visit the same friends we visited in 2021 on the west coast of the sunshine state, and once in April to attend the wedding of the daughter of other dear friends–Mark was a high school buddy and teammate who was my best man more than forty years ago and his wife, Mary, who my wife keeps in touch regularly. We had previously visited them at their home in southeastern Florida when we stayed with them on a trip we took in the spring of 2022 along with visiting some other family and friends on a road trip to Key West. I also wrote about it then and shared some photos on this website.
The photos that you can view by clicking here are from the two trips in 2024. Most are from the west coast sites including the Saratoga attractions of The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and The Ringling Estate, and a few from the St. Petersburg Waterfront and the historic Don Cesar Hotel, where we had a delicious lunch, while we were visiting with our friends John and Doreen. Thanks for the invitation again and for opening your home up to us; sorry it took so long to post the photos of the February trip.
The image above is a stylized photo (I tried to make it look like an oil painting. I used my cell phone to take the photo and the lighting wasn’t good and they were moving, but capturing the moment was important. Mary didn’t know it was happening and she was on duty babysitting her first grandchild around the corner.) of the first dance of the newlywed couple. The bride was beautiful and the groom handsome. Mark and Mary thanks for inviting us. We had a great time! Good luck to the newlyweds!