Seven straight days of teaching at the Poynter Institute have come to a close. The Barnes Pavilion is quiet … for now.

If you have anything to do with journalism, you need to get yourself to this place at some point.

But now, I’m headed further south to see an old friend and some new roads.

Storms move through St. Petersburg almost every evening and the light is spectacular.

The light inside the Poynter Institute is just awesome.

At the conclusion of this year’s Teachapalooza, Al Tompkins gave one of the most moving talks about why what we – nearly 100 journalism educators – do is so important. He asked us all to close our eyes for a moment and almost all of us did. For Steve Fox and me, this place is like a religious experience.

This was the second (of four) things I did at Poynter this trip, two more events to teach and I’ll be on the road again. And counting down the days until we all return.

Finally managed to make it to the gulf coast beaches of St. Petersburg to watch a sunset, eat some shrimp and laugh with friends.

Whenever I travel to Poynter, there’s a circle of fellow journalism educators I tend to spend most of my time with. And we like to eat, usually outdoors, and laugh. A lot.

Not sure what for, but okay …