R. Doug Wicker's Blog, page 91

Post Cruise — Arriving at the Historic Belleview Inn

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The recently moved and renovated Belleview-Biltmore Hotel

Before we made this trip, I recounted to Ursula an article Id read about a recently moved and renovated grand hotel near Clearwater, Florida. A little research refreshed my memory, and we obtained off-season rates at a magnificent property on which we otherwise would have passed because of the expense. This is the Belleview-Biltmore Hotel, as it is called today, and it has quite a history.

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Our Belleview room

This hotel dates back to...

Fun Photo Friday — Clearwater Beach Favorites

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Dramatic Skies

A last look at Clearwater Beach before we head out to a very historic, recently renovated and transported hotel:

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Seeing Green

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Tree Symmetry and Rainbow Umbrelas

Post Cruise — Lunch at Crabby’s Bar & Grill in Clearwater

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Crabbys Dockside

Time for a late lunch along Causeway Boulevard at Crabbys Dockside. That 37 Causeway Blvd. address is actually a bit misleading. The restaurant is more easily approached from Coronado Drive.

One look at the menu sold us:

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Crabbys menu

Alas, the air conditioned spaces had a wait, so we went up to the open air third floor deck:

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Crabbys open-air dining on the upper deck

Despite the warmth of the day, and the touch of humidity, we enjoyed both the meal and the views:

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View from...

Post Cruise — Clearwater Beach

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Clearwater Beach

After Ursula and I disembarked from Adventure of the Seas, we rented a car and headed west from Fort Lauderdale along U.S. Route 41. This drive takes you through the Everglades, and this segment of U.S. 41 is designated a National Scenic Byway. Its a drive weve taken before, and it never gets old.

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Clearwater Beach

Our destination on this part of our Florida road trip was a great little place wed stayed before the charming Tween Waters Island Resort on picturesque Captiva...

Fun Photo Friday — Kennedy Space Center Favorites 1

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Repositioning South — Kennedy Space Center Part 4

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Kennedy Space Center

Now that the clouds have finally broken and the sun is out, lets go explore the Rocket Garden. Well begin with an image of a Mercury Redstone manned suborbital launch vehicle, Mercury Atlas manned orbital vehicle, and a Delta rocket.

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Mercury Atlas (center) framed by Mercury Redstone (left) and Delta

During my youth, Project Mercury and Project Gemini held us glued to the television during every launch. Even in school we were herded into the auditorium, seated upon the...

Repositioning South — Kennedy Space Center Part 3

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Space Shuttle Atlantis

Next stop on our tour of Kennedy Space Center is Shuttle: A Ship Like No Other. Here the star of the show is Space Shuttle Atlantis. But thats not the only attraction. One really fun interactive exhibit is the Shuttle Launch Experience, which simulates for the rider a Shuttle launch:

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Shuttle: A Ship Like No Other

There are many other exhibits here as well:

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Shuttle: A Ship Like No Other

But lets get back to the star of the show, Shuttle Atlantis:

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Atlantis cockpit

This is...

In Case You’re Wondering . . . Photo 3

. . . why therere no blog articles this week, its because I got miscalculated my return date to the U.S. and wound up short. Ursula and I just made it back into Los Angeles after over a month in Oceana. That includes four days on Rarotonga of the Cook Islands and a 34-night circumnavigation cruise around the continent of Australia with a side trip to New Zealand. We were also supposed to make port in Bali, but no one was allowed off the ship for obvious reasons.

So, for this week Ill post...

The World, inspiration for The Globe, is removed from service

As many of you may know, the worlds largest private ownership residential cruise ship MS The World was the inspiration for my murder mystery The Globe. Yesterday MS The World was removed from service, her residents disembarked, and her crew reduced to bare minimum.

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MS The World

It saddens me that it has come to this, but where can she dock on a voyage? Nowhere, currently.

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MS The World

In case youre wondering where I got these photos, I stumbled across MS The World in Barbados, well after Id...

COVID-19 and “Unskilled” Labor

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COVID-19 and Unskilled Labor