In the morning...off to St. Maarten. Phase 3 of our Faux Retirement!

My fantasy was that I would have enough time in these three 1/2 days in New Hampshire to reflect on on Phase 1 (The Florida Keys) and Phase 2 (The Mississippi Gulf Coast) of our Faux Retirement and organize a coherent post.

Alas, as usual, life intervened. We have been scurrying around trying to unpack/pack, organize ourselves get Maggie set to live without us (but with her ever-faithful and loving dog-sitter, Mark) while we are at our timeshare at Divi Little Bay on the island of St. Maarten.

We've been nuts about St. Maarten since our first visit in the mid-1990's when we bought our first timeshare week at Divi. It's interesting to note that we made this purchase after being assured that hurricanes are a rarity--and a mere 6 weels before Hurricane Luis flattened the island.

Many timeshares never rebuilt, but Divi was steadfast--and still is. We now have bumped it up to 3 weeks instead of one, and are loving the Great Bay side.  Always a breeze, always action in the bay, and always a great place to nap in the afternoon--have to rest up for the casino action, which often goes to 2 AM.

Our loungers await outside our 'unit."

This is after a day on the Little Bay side, under the umbrellas on the beach.

What is Bud looking for...at???

I'll send new pix when we arrive tomorrow, but in the meantime, I have "star ratings" for the Keys (4) and the Mississippi Gulf Coast (5+). Why?  I'll explain sometime in the nest few days when we get settled.

For fun, I'll close with the Sunset Beach Bar at the "touchdown" end of the runway at Princess Juliana Airport.  It's not a trick shot, as those who have shared burgers and beer with us there know.

Wahoo!!

Home in New Hampshire...a shock!

We rolled into the neighborhood in Bow at about 1:00 today. As we turned onto Hemlock Rd., it all became clear. Snow.  Ice.  Cold.

But at least it was sunny. And according to those in the know (who were here instead of in Florida and Mississippi during January and March), it was much, much worse.

It's also a change for Maggie.  In Mississipppi she had a lovely front yard on Gulfport's tony 2nd Street, complete with wrought iron fence, overhanging Live Oaks, and funky palm tree.

(She is looking across the street, hoping her new BFF Sophie the delightful black lab across the street will come out to play.)

In New Hampshire, she has to wait for Bud to clear the snow and ice from her yard so she can do her business.

Does this look like fun??





We have 3 days to unpack, re-pack and say goodbye to Maggie. Saturday we fly to St. Maarten to our timeshare.

I'll be keeping up the blog with posts from St. Maarten (Phase 3 of our Faux Retirement) on beaches, restaurants and anything else we find of interest.

And over the next few days I'll post some tips and thoughts on our experiences in Florida and Mississippi during Phases 1 & 2 of our Faux Retirement.

Hope you all stay tuned!

Hello from Knoxville, Tennessee!

A quick post to say that our trip up Knoxville went very smoothly. But before we left Gulfport, we stopped by the new small craft harbor in Gulfport.  I was hoping to get a shot in the morning sun...but found fog. The facility will be incredible when it's done!

We have dodged all the severe thunder and lightening and (and tornado warnings) and have settled into the Knoxville La Quinta to watch the Oscars. We crossed a corner of Alabama, which has welcome centers that rival Mississippi's.  Somewhere along the route we passed an absolutely immense Mercedes Benz plant--truly almost as large as a small town. Tennessee seems to be beautiful...lovely rolling hills, but welcome centers that look extensive, but are closed...not sure why.

Tomorrow on to Harrisburg, PA.