Now that I am pretty much caught up with all my backlogged work (I still have a few things I need help with but today is not the day for them), I can bring you up to date on the Florida trip.
We left on Friday morning (May 5th) and began driving towards Mobile, Alabama. Since the drive to Tampa is about 20 hours from where we live, we decided to stop at a hotel about half way to our destination. The drive was pleasant and took us through Shreveport, Alexandria, and Baton Rouge, LA. I-49 was very long and boring, but doable. We crossed a few swamp and bayou areas in Louisiana, and the bay area of Mobile. We stopped at a pet friendly hotel (Drury Inn) and settled in for a good nights sleep. They did not have the room we requested so they comped us on another room. All in all a good deal for us.
The next day we got up and ate a large complementary breakfast (a nice perk they offer) before heading out. This was the last leg of the drive, taking us across I-10 in Florida (another boring drive) to I-75 south towards our destination. The entire trip there was sunny and pleasant...with only a few trouble spots with regards to traffic. Gas prices were generally 10-20 cents cheaper than here in north central Texas, although we did find a place (Lindale, Texas) that was selling it 30 cents cheaper than here.
We arrived at our cottage at Indian Rocks Beach, 20 miles south of Tampa Bay in the early evening. We had to go to the rental office first to pick up the keys (they do not mail them like other places we have rented from do). Since they were closed, they left the keys in the mailbox for us. We then were able to head back towards the cottage and settle in.
We had our dogs with us so one of the first things we had to do was to let them walk around a bit and do their business. Both of them were eager to explore and were not interested in relieving themselves, but eventually, nature won and the dogs did their thing.
After a quick unpack and feeding of our pets, we hit the beach for an evening stroll. It was a great way to end the day. The air was warm, the wind was blowing, and the surf was lapping on the sand. I really enjoy the sound of the ocean. We finished the evening with a fish sandwich at Crabby Bill's. It may not look like much, but they have great food. We had the blackened Mahi-Mahi and it was GREAT!
I woke up the next morning and had a cup of coffee and walked the dogs. I had just finished walking the second dog when a large woman in a blue bathing suit began waving and shouting at me. I almost ignored her, but eventually I went over to her and she began telling me (in a snotty sort of way) that dogs were not allowed on the beach. Now I know I should have been thankful that she went out of her way to tell me this, but I know she was only doing this for her own good, not mine. We clean up after our dogs and never leave their poo behind for others...that is just the way we are. Anyhoo, I thanked her and moved on. No more beach walks for our dogs. We did find a park a block away, so that was not a big deal.
Sunday we watched a little TV and took another walk on the beach. We did not want to go overboard and wear ourselves out the first day, so we took it easy and relaxed. Later that afternoon, we met up with a former colleague of mine who moved to Florida after she was laid off from Ericsson where we both worked. She is a mid-60's Swede who is not your typical Florida retiree. She owns her own tanning salon (in Florida of all things!) and has lived all over the world. I love listening to here stories.
We went to the southern most point of the island we were on (John's Pass) and walked around for a while. We then found out the entire area of the boardwalk was being purchased to build condos and all the shops were being forced away. Many shops, once their leases were up, were not allowed to renew them, so they packed up and moved on further inland. John's pass is going to lose a lot of charm when construction begins on the condos...
Anyhoo, we were getting hungry and Yvette* said that "Dockside Dave's" had the best grouper sandwiches on the island. She was right on the mark. The grouper was fresh and the sandwich was wonderful. I could have eaten two if my wife would have let me!
We lingered over dinner and headed towards the beach (dodging construction) to walk. The conversation never stalled over the next couple of hours, but we realized that we needed something sweet. "Yvette" suggested ice cream so that is what we had. We ate the ice cream and noticed the sun was going down. We ran to the end of the pier, but all the construction was blocking the view. The only way to get a good view was to hop the fence and trespass or go back up to the street and circle around. Either way would keep us from getting to see the sunset, so we just headed back to the car. We spent about 5 hours with "Yvette" on Sunday and it was wonderful.
Monday was Busch Gardens day for us. We did our normal morning routine (walk the dogs, eat breakfast, walk the beach, shower, etc) and then headed to BG. Monday was a great day to go. School had not let out yet and the park was not very busy. It was easy to ride the rides we wanted to go on and the lines were short. We rode all the coasters, including SheikRa. SheikRa is a "dive coaster" and was a bit of a disappointment. Montu and Kumba are more entertaining. Even the 90 degree drop was lessened by the short time of the actual ride. It does offer a splashdown at the end to drench anyone standing too close to the pool it swoops over.
After BG, we stopped off at Sonny's BBQ. They have an all you can eat special (11.99) of your choice of ribs, pulled pork, sliced pork or beef. It had been a while since I had pulled pork, so I indulged. After stuffing ourselves silly,we drove to Publix Supermarket to get groceries for the week, so we could eat out once a day instead of all three meals...
The rest of the evening was spent relaxing. I will continue this missive later. Time to go home!
* Not her real name
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