Tag Archives: florida

Vegan Fine Dining and the Opera – Date Night in Sarasota

It just so happened that my favorite opera, Puccini’s Tosca, was playing at the Sarasota Opera House. Chrissy bought tickets for a few weeks out to ensure that they wouldn’t be sold out. Sarasota, Florida is anywhere from 1 hour and a half hours to two hours to drive from our home in Clearwater dependingContinue reading “Vegan Fine Dining and the Opera – Date Night in Sarasota”

Florida Strawberry Festival – Plus Savory Vegan Strawberry Recipes

One of the many bonuses about living in Florida is that strawberry season is in February/March. Plant City is known throughout the Sunshine State as the place to get strawberries. I went to this small town with three goals: to buy fresh strawberries, find a cowboy hat and to try the vegan options they wouldContinue reading “Florida Strawberry Festival – Plus Savory Vegan Strawberry Recipes”

Visiting a Gun Show as a Vegan Lesbian

I grew up in a Quaker family, where I was taught that “guns are bad”. As a result, I never saw a gun growing up. None of my family members owned a gun and if my childhood friends’ parents owned any weapons, they kept them well hidden from us. Then, just out of college, IContinue reading “Visiting a Gun Show as a Vegan Lesbian”

Overnight at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, Florida

We had just enjoyed the three-day weekend celebrating Independence Day, Tampa Bay Lightning was to play game four of the Stanley Cup finals and Tropical Storm Elsa, which kept threatening to become a Cat 1 hurricane, was on her way. Chrissy reminded me that she had received a free night stay at the Seminole HardContinue reading “Overnight at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, Florida”

Riding In a Pride Parade

I love Pride! I get invigorated hearing “Happy Pride” from complete strangers, I love watching the parades and reveling in the amazing loving energy! My absolute favorite part of the parade, whether seeing it for the first time in the 1990s in my home town of Baltimore or in the Tampa Bay area where IContinue reading “Riding In a Pride Parade”

Visiting Bok Towers in Lake Wales, Florida

Bok Towers was always one of those places that I meant to visit one day. Yet, every time I found myself traveling on I-4, I always came up with an excuse as to why I should skip this unusual, yet relatively local, destination. One day, I finally ran out of excuses. The promise of botanicalContinue reading “Visiting Bok Towers in Lake Wales, Florida”

Spending My Birthday at Peacefield in Newberry, Florida

I had just survived Covid and 2021 was not even a week old. The thought of spending my 48th birthday at an animal sanctuary appealed to me even more than usual. My internet search landed me at Peacefield in Newberry, Florida, a place I hadn’t even heard of but was only a few hours driveContinue reading “Spending My Birthday at Peacefield in Newberry, Florida”

Skydiving in Zephyrhills, Florida

“Ok. It’s time” “We’re first?” My heart jumped and the next thing I knew I was falling out of a plane into what everyone on the ground saw as a partly cloudy day. Skydiving had been on my bucket list for quite awhile and was frankly one of the scariest activities on my ever-growing list.Continue reading “Skydiving in Zephyrhills, Florida”