The Florida Vacation

One of the problems of keeping up a blog is making everyday life interesting enough to keep the readers from passing out from boredom. Finally, I have something to write about. The Florida Vacation We finally got another vacation. We left out of here on the 27th of February at -9F and drove to Winston-Salem, NC to pick up a friend. This was hardly an instantaneous thing as there's a lot of Ohio to drive through. Let me introduce our friend Janet. She was the only female attending our avionics classes at Piedmont Aerospace and became a good friend. When Stacey and I were looking for furniture, we went to N.C. and I suggested we stop in. Stacey was worried about meeting my old “ girlfriend” but 15 seconds after meeting, they slammed together like a pair of magnets. That's when her husband John and I knew we were in trouble. It was like mixing fire and gasoline. What one doesn't think of, the other does. Janet has had some rough times in the last couple of years starting with the loss of her husband. We decided that a Florida vacation might cheer her up so we shoehorned her into the back of the Focus and took off. It's a long drive to St.Petersburg so we stayed in Savannah, Georgia overnight. We greatly enjoyed the town and plan to go back for a longer stay. We ate in a place called The Shrimp Factory and had a superb meal. We each had our own appetizers and split an order of Pinebark Stew. Stacey loved the raw oysters ( she can have them), Janet had their version of coconut shrimp and I had seared scallops. The Pinebark Stew is a form of bouillabaisse loaded with shrimp, scallops and meaty fish. We had an excellent waitress. We walked the river, bought candy and took a historical carriage ride through town. It's beautiful, even in the rain at night. Don't stay in the Quality Inn. The drunks come off the riverwalk yelling and screaming half the night. The next day got us to a St. Pete's resort called the Tradewinds. We had the afternoon to discover that walking in the white sand of the Gulf is darned tiring to someone who has been cooped up all winter. The 80 something degrees and sunny sky did help somewhat. We looked over the facilities and hit the sack. I got a cabana , walked in the sand, walked in the water and sunned my feet for a while. I prudently put my white cotton socks on before napping out of the sun in the cabana. My legs were covered as well while I napped . Did you know that white cotton socks don't block the sun very well? I didn't know that. Red feet look strange. Janet wanted a palm for her mom. The next day,we found a palm arboretum. Man, there's a lot of different palms. We picked up palm seeds and talked to the staff about the best places to buy palms. We sat under the palms and watched Janet try to get a picture of the front end of an ibis. About that time, my Uncle Willys schedule opened up so we went off to visit him. Uncle Willys is almost 91 and spends a lot of time in a wheelchair these days. His daughter Mame looks after him quite well, driving him to card playing , bingo and other activities. We had a good visit and then off to Tarpon Springs where it was my privilege to buy dinner for Uncle Willys and all. I don't know the name of the Greek restaurant, just that their emblem is an H and they have an attached bakery. They make a superb baked whole Red Snapper. It took a while but that just gave us a longer visit. The waiter was classic Old World where service is an important job and not just slopping the customers. The entertainment portion of our meal was watching him debone the fish with a pair of spoons. When he was done, it kind of looked like an exploded diagram of a fish. I actually felt good about giving him a tip. We parted ways with Uncle Willys and Mame and returned to the resort. Staceys knee was bothering her so she rested while Janet and I walked the beach. I sat and watched Janet take a hundred pictures of bird butts and multiple sunset shots. Stacey came out and we watched the sunset. I was hoping to see a green flash but no joy there. It was a good night. Wednesday, we started with a croissant from Cafe Soliel back in a corner by the Publix market. If you get to St.Pete, go there. It's cheaper than going to Paris. On to palm shopping. As it turns out, it's hard to buy a baby palm tree. The first place we went didn't have any but Janet and Stacey both bought desert roses. These are succulents that look like mutant kohlrabi. They are alleged to bloom. The next place did have a small 4 foot palm for $4. We dropped the plants off and headed to the Dali Museum. There seem to be Dali Museums everywhere. I think there are two in Cleveland. Dali must have painted in his sleep to turn out so many pictures and sculptures. The one in Tampa was most enjoyable. There was a good mix of his works from early to late. We all enjoyed them. The museum itself was worth a good look. I've been in many museums holding priceless art and none of the others had more cameras than a Las Vegas casino. There appeared to be two guards per room plus rovers. The guards looked ex-military and not cooks or electronics techs. They looked like guys who killed people and regretted their present job choice. They weren't sleepy old guys. Lean in to look at a picture, there's a guard. Point out a detail, there's a guard. Bend down to tie your shoe, there's a guard. I was afraid to go to the restroom there. We had a snack, bought souvenirs and moseyed back to the resort. Janet bought Stacey and I massages for our anniversary. I've never had a professional massage before but I'm going to have another. I recommend them. Thursday, Janet went to the spa, Stacey played in the pool and I did laundry. It was the first chance I had to read. We packed all unneeded clothes up and UPS'd them home. This left more room for souvenirs. Off to the cafe for a sandwich and then to the Florida Aquarium. Nice aquarium. The exhibits are set up as slices of Florida ecology, complete with mangrove trees and birds. We closed the place up and went looking for food. We went to a small steak joint near the resort that one of the other quests had said was great. He had low standards. The salad was tasty and the bread was good. I've had better beef. It must have been some type of Florida cattle. I could chew it but I was definitely getting my fiber ration for the day. Friday, we started back. Not having enough souvenirs, we stopped at Hancock Grove outside of Dade City. We bought oranges, jams and Janet bought an orange tree. We look like a mobile greenhouse. About that time, my cousin Matt called and said “ The food in your upstairs freezer is thawed.” Darn, the door has a tendency to get stuck open a bit so I told him to clean out the freezer so it wouldn't stink. Then he says “ It's 37 degrees in the house and there's water dripping on your bed through the ceiling fan.” Ah Crap. I called my insurance company to see what our coverage was and they had a disaster clean-up crew in the house in under an hour. We had to stop again to buy strawberries, tomatoes and onions. We slept at Janet's that night. Saturday, we had breakfast at the K&W with Janet and her sister Lucy, then hit the road. Good roads all the way with a meal in Charleston, WV. We arrived home to our mattress in the back yard, the bedroom ceiling torn down and the upstairs sink turned off. I slept upstairs but Stacey slept on the couch to stay close to a working bathroom. Sunday, I decided to catch up on the work around the farm. The cow pen really needed to be cleaned so I pitched out the unfrozen part, watered the cows and sheep and headed into the house where I dissolved into an unmoving, whimpering little boy. I seem to have strained my back muscles. A Lot. It's now the next Saturday, repairs are proceeding at a rapid pace and I can walk mostly upright with the occasional use of a cane. I need a vacation. Some odds and ends: We ate at an Italian place called Gigi's one night where I had Shrimp St. Tropez. It was very good but of special note was the busboy. Either he suffers from OCD or is unusually dedicated to doing his job to the best of human ability. Either way, I honor him. Given all the noise on the news about homosexual marriage, throuples , polygamy, and such, I decided to refer to Janet as our sister-wife in casual conversation. This provided considerable entertainment for me. When a man overheard that, I usually got a thoughtful look. When a woman overheard, I got a look that would flay a squirrel. I haven't had such fun tweaking the Mundanes for years. Even Stacey got into it after a while. Once I get a sd to usb convertor, I'll try to upload random pictures which will have little meaning to anyone but us. Have fun. I'm going to lay back down now.