THE FATHER BLOG

I have said before that I don’t really watch the news anymore. It makes me a happier person since most of the stories are all basically horrible anyway and can put your mind in a bad place. However, certain headlines that come across my phone are just too appealing to at least not glace at the story. So you can guess which headline came across yesterday….King Charles III strips Prince Andrew of titles and evicts him from royal residence.

Here is the part of all this that makes me say “HUH?”. The only reason action was taken (like in most cases) is that the former Prince Andy got caught. If there was still only speculation of wrong doing I’m assuming things would have just continued they way they were. But the posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre made sure the royal status quo changed and something had to be done. I won’t applaud the decision because the Royal family has known for years what a complete POS they had in their family and not only did nothing about it, but actually paid out large sums of money to keep people quiet.

I won’t go into further details since all of this is plastered across the internet but feel free to dig into as many details as you’d like.

Whether you were born into royalty or not, basic human decency and common sense should still exist. In life, there are undoubtedly more grey areas than there are simple black and white. As we head into the weekend, just remember to think before you act as there are consequences to your actions. Don’t be a Prince “not so” charming….

I think I would have made a good travel agent. I truly enjoy planning trips and organizing activities while away. We’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled a decent amount and have seen some pretty interesting places. We probably all have our bucket list places that we want to see as well. For me, I still want to see Italy, the Pyramids of Egypt, and take a Viking River Cruise pretty much anywhere in Europe. Those take a bit more planning but I will eventually accomplish those trips.

But for the “quick getaway”, here are the things I do that I find helpful.

#1. Search for locations that your local airport flies DIRECT. If we are doing a short trip, I don’t want to waste time with connections or increase the risk of delays.

#2. Consider non peak or “off season”. For example, this upcoming trip to St. Thomas is not peak season and the flight and accommodations are a fraction of the cost of what it would be a month from now.

#3. Consider your activities and what you want to do before booking a hotel or VRBO/Air BNB. If you are already closer to where you will be spending most of your time, you will get more out of it for a short trip. I love VRBOs and have found some amazing deals…off season and last minute deals are way more affordable.

#4. Rent a car. This added cost is so worth it in my opinion. Having the freedom to move around and see more at your own pace is how you truly immerse yourself in a new location. If you want to book an all inclusive resort, lay on the beach all day, and never experience the people and culture outside of resort walls….go for it. But that isn’t what I like to do.

#5. Never let the fear of the unknown stop you! Never driven on the opposite side of the road? Language barrier? Who cares! Trust me…you will figure it out and be glad you did.

So start searching for the next getaway. It’s always nice to have something to look forward to!

We (and specifically myself) are not going to stop buying and consuming beer. But did you know each state has it’s own excise tax on alcohol? I’m not talking about sales tax as that’s a whole different story. And this is specific to beer because wine and spirits are also taxed differently.

The United States collects an excise tax on fermented malt beverages at the federal level (ranging from $0.11 to $0.58 per gallon based on production, location, and quantity). At the state level, all 50 states and the District of Columbia collect their own beer excise taxes, added on to any other retail sales taxes from state, and sometimes municipal, governments.

Kudos to our friends in Wyoming who can boast the lowest excise tax ($.06) and our apologies to those in Tennessee who are getting crushed ($1.29) as per 2024.

Where does your state rank? https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/state-beer-taxes-2024/

State Beer Excise Tax Rates

(Dollars per Gallon) As of January 1, 2024

State	Tax Rate	Rank
Alabama (a)	$0.53	8
Alaska	$1.07	2
Arizona	$0.16	36
Arkansas (b, c)	$0.35	18
California	$0.20	30
Colorado	$0.08	46
Connecticut	$0.24	27
Delaware	$0.26	24
District of Columbia (b)	$0.79	5
Florida (d)	$0.48	9
Georgia (a, d)	$0.48	9
Hawaii (d)	$0.93	4
Idaho (d)	$0.15	38
Illinois	$0.23	28
Indiana	$0.12	43
Iowa (d)	$0.19	32
Kansas	$0.18	33
Kentucky (e)	$0.93	3
Louisiana (d)	$0.40	15
Maine	$0.35	19
Maryland (b)	$0.60	7
Massachusetts	$0.11	44
Michigan	$0.20	29
Minnesota (d, b)	$0.47	11
Mississippi	$0.43	12
Missouri	$0.06	49
Montana	$0.14	40
Nebraska	$0.31	20
Nevada	$0.16	36
New Hampshire	$0.30	21
New Jersey	$0.12	42
New Mexico	$0.41	14
New York	$0.14	39
North Carolina (d)	$0.62	6
North Dakota (b, d)	$0.40	17
Ohio (d)	$0.18	34
Oklahoma (d)	$0.40	15
Oregon	$0.08	45
Pennsylvania	$0.08	46
Rhode Island (c)	$0.12	41
South Carolina	$0.77	5
South Dakota	$0.27	22
Tennessee (e)	$1.29	1
Texas (d)	$0.19	31
Utah (d)	$0.41	13
Vermont	$0.27	23
Virginia (d)	$0.26	26
Washington (d)	$0.26	25
West Virginia	$0.18	35
Wisconsin (d)	$0.06	48
Wyoming	$0.02	50