Bowlin’ On the River

That's me during the team event.

Remember last year? I traveled to Reno, Nevada, to bowl in the USBC (United States Bowling Congress) Open Championships. Every so often the USBC ventures out of Reno (home of the National Bowling Stadium) to various cities that are willing to "tie up" a civic center for about half a year to host this mammoth tournament. This year Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the lucky chosen city. The USBC constructed 48 lanes in the River Center Baton Rouge located on the banks of the Mississippi River. That in itself is pretty amazing — a bowling lane has pretty tight specifications, not to mention all the electronic scorekeeping needs ... [Read More]

My first conch fritter

Before I get started on this blog about the Compass Point Beach Resort and Nassau, Bahamas, I want to give you a little background. I grew up in St.Paul, Minnesota. The Scandinavia of North America. We drank milk, ate meat, potatoes and maybe some vegetables (you know, the good ones — corn, green beans and peas). Catsup added just enough spiciness to anything. Nothing too weird. I've gotten brave in my old age and now, for example, enjoy all types of wine and beer, I eat spinach salad, squash parts (at least I think it was squash, hmm), asparagus and broccoli. I know, I know, ... [Read More]

Madam Twisto & Stuff on a Stick

I love going to the Minnesota State Fair. Okay, it's probably like all other state fairs, but this one's my favorite. I say this because it's the only one I've ever visited. My brothers and I used to go every year when we were younger spending hours and hours in the dime-arcades (formerly known as the penny-arcades and now, the dollar-arcades). I like the deep-fried aroma, the people-watching, the fun-filled midway and the general air of excitement. My brother Steve and I were two of the 1,769,872 people who visited this year's 12-day "Great Minnesota Get-Together" as it's called. We took a free shuttle bus to ... [Read More]

78 lanes. No waiting.

I’m a bowler. Yep, I’m a beer-drinking, gambling, 200-average, card–carrying member of the USBC (United States Bowling Congress). This fact allows me the opportunity to try my skills against some of the best bowlers in the world in the annual USBC Open Championships. The Championships have been held for 108 years in 48 different cities in 26 states which also gives me and my wife, Sue, a reason to see parts of the United States that we probably wouldn’t normally visit. We’ve been to Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Las Vegas, Nev.; Billings, Mont.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Huntsville, Ala.; Baton Rouge, La.; and Reno, Nev., all ... [Read More]

Thanksgiving on Paradise

Usually we have visitors come from "up North" to visit us in Atlanta over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. This year it was not the case. Pondering what to do this year, my wife Sue and I were watching Wheel of Fortune one evening and saw someone win a trip to the Bahamas. I looked at her, she at me, and said, "We should spend Thanksgiving there." After checking the Web we found a special offer to stay at Atlantis on Paradise Island.  After non-eventful airport security checkpoints and a short, hour-and-a-half flight, we arrived at the hotel on Thanksgiving day. Walking into the entry area of ... [Read More]

The Three “S”s on St. Croix

Pelican Cove

It was my wife's special birthday. I won't say how old, but it's somewhere right between zero and 100. So ... she got to choose the "birthday vacation" location. She loves the beach so we booked a flight to the island of St. Croix (USVI) for a week of the three "S"s: sun tanning (or burning), shopping and snorkeling. After landing on this 84-square-mile Caribbean island (the largest of the three inhabited U.S. Virgins Islands — St. Thomas and St. John are the other two) and gathering the luggage, we set out to get a cab to our hotel. It was easy. All you have to ... [Read More]