Travel – Chica on the Move

A trip to the beach 🏖️ in the Florida panhandle had us enjoying Santa Rosa Beaches on 30A for a full week of sun, fun and food with the family. It was my first time exploring this part of Florida and I was totally enthralled by the beauty of this area and the excellent food choices and amenities available. Definitely recommend it.

Havana Beach Restaurant, loved the look of this building

A Vincent Scully mural by Gaia, in the town of Seaside, 30A

We had an amazing meal at this Thai restaurant

The Gulf of Mexico beaches are the best, crystal clear ocean and sandy beaches

I have been away enjoying time with our family and exploring the gulf coast of Florida, we spent an unforgettable week in Santa Rosa beach and surrounding towns.

Seaside and Santa Rosa beaches did not disappoint!

These photographs were taken during a family trip to Panama 🇵🇦 a few years ago, the memories we shared are priceless. Our grandchildren visited for the first time, and now we are all ready to go back.

There is so much to do and so much to eat in Panama, if you are a “foodie”, it will be right up your next meal’s alley. The variety of food is amazing, the fruits are delicious and the fish 🐠 is the best and freshest you’ll find.

So go ahead, “Enamórate de Panamá” (Fall in Love with Panama)

Golden altar, Iglesia San Jose, Panama, RP

Carnival memories of Diablito sucio, Panamá

El Trapiche Restaurant for typical Panamanian food

Emma Lazarus’ poem, The New Colossus, famous lines are engraved on a plaque at the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty located on Ellis Island in NYC, and they read:

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”

Through the 1800 and 1900s the Statue of Liberty welcomed immigrants who arrived to the United States on ships, by way of New York City Harbor. These days immigrants arrive by any means possible, sometimes creating all kinds of mayhem on the way to their desired version of « freedom ».

There is no Lady Liberty heralding their efforts these days, and sometimes they are most unwelcome in the new land. The days when people genuinely looked up to the United States as the best place in the world to be, have slowly dwindled away; the reasons are many but still they come; in search of a better way of life than the one they are leaving behind.

A visit to Ellis Island, home to the famous lady, is impressive and enlightening and one that I absolutely recommend; learning its history gives you pause, makes you appreciate and understand the trials and tribulations that many immigrants endured when they decided to leave their country, and homes and families in the early days. In context, today, you can imagine the same things are happening driving people away from their homes to embark into the unknown.