The Heffelfinger Fountain at the Lake Harriet Rose Garden

Heffelfinger Fountain in Minneapolis near Lake Harriet

As a kid growing up in Minneapolis, I spent a fair amount of time down and around Lake Harriet. There’s a rose garden there (not far from where my beer can collecting habits began, on the north side of the lake), where I can’t say that I spent much time as a kid, but the … Read more

Folk art painted bugs in Santa Fe

folk art painted bugs seen in Santa Fe, New Mexico

I saw these painted bug sculptures, or folk art pieces, in the courtyard setting of a shop called “The Rainbow Man” in Santa Fe, and really like them. I made the mistake of not checking for the artist’s name when I was there, and looked under the Folk Art features on their website, but am … Read more

Octopus sink seen in the Florida Keys

Octopus sink seen in the Florida Keys

While making the drive through the Florida Keys (starting in Miami, with Key West as the end destination), day 2 of the trip found us getting hit with very hard rain, to the point where it was sometimes hard to see the road in front of us! As we were going through Islamorada, we saw … Read more

Heading south, eventual destination, Florida Keys

palm trees in Florida

I’ve long had an interest in the Florida Keys, the idea of a series of islands connected by a highway has intrigued me. I didn’t know much about the Florida Keys in advance of going, other than three basic concepts: 1, it’s where the Netflix drama “Bloodline” is set; 2, it’s where a former in-law’s … Read more