Florida
So I guess I should update about my trip.
Monday morning we got up at an ungodly hour to go to the airport. Daddy and mommy dropped us off and we were left to fend on our own. I was terrified since it was my first time on an airplane. Sat around for a while, boarded and I got a window seat. All was cool til we started to head towards the runway, stopped, and turned around. There was apparently some sort of maintenance problem. Awesome. So I freaked out more about that, convinced I was going to die. I guess whatever it was wasn't a big deal. They told us if it had happened in midair it wouldnt be anything, but since they were at the airport anyway, they decided to just get it fixed. So we head off towards the runway again and go faster and faster til suddenly we're off the ground and ascending at a startling height. I was dizzy and hyperventilating and Kev was just laughing at me. I deserved it, but damn, that was startling to see the ground drop away so quickly. The rest of the flight was uneventful and once we reached cruising altitude I was fine. Even landing wasnt as bad as taking off.
We landed in Orlando and go out rental car and headed towards the Atlantic coast. Spent a few hours at the Kennedy Space center but we were both too tired to really enjoy it. Was kinda cool to see the space shuttle discovery sitting on the launch pad though. Headed to Daytona and checked into our shitty travelodge hotel. Worst hotel I've ever stayed at. The room was tiny and gross. Whatever. We weren't gonna spend much time there. Got dinner at a really cute little place and went to bed.
Tuesday we got up early to see the sunrise and then began our trek across the state. We drove over to the Gulf coast to take a canoe trip on the weeki wachee river.
Now, this trip should have been uneventful and enjoyable, and it started out that way. The river is beautiful and dotted with springs, the water is crystal clear. There was all sorts of wildlife and we were enjoying ourselves. It was Kev's first time in a canoe so he was having a bit of trouble but we were dealing. We stopped to have lunch and Kev gave me part of my birthday present. He made me an ankle bracelet out of wire and braided it into this really pretty design. It was so cute. We continued along and got to this really nasty bend. I had to lean to the side to avoid some brush on the edge of the river when I felt the canoe start to tip. I tried to right myself, and realized that Kevin had leaned over too, but must have leaned farther and our weight combined ended up tipping the canoe. I freaked out when I realized that we were in water over our heads in a potentially gator infested river. Kev freaked out when he saw me freak out. He tried to give me a life jacket but I chucked it back at him. I knew I could swim and quite frankly, was more concerned about our possessions and the prospect of being stranded several miles upriver of our destination. After being pushed by a fast current about 50 feet I spotted a small beach and we made our way over there. Surprisingly we had most everything except my mom's digital camera. Of course at the time I was very unhappy about that, but looking back it could have been a lot worse. We had to pick the canoe up out of the water to right it and get the water out of it. By this time I was exhausted, so we packed up our sopping wet stuff and made the rest of the trip. It went smoothly and we saw three manatees (including a momma and newborn). We got back to the hotel and slept for a while, exhausted by the 7 mile journey and the scare. Had dinner at a place on the Homosassa river where I introduced Kevin to the wonder that is maryland blue crabs. Had a feast and a good time. Later on went swimming in the pool and the hot tub. Our cell phones were dead and my mom's camera was gone, but the day ended better than it began. That, and the hotel we stayed in that night rocked. :)
Wednesday we got up early once again for our manatee snorkel tour which left at 6:15. It was hard to get moving that morning since we had gotten up so early the days before, but I'm so glad we did this. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. We got started on the pontoon boat right after it started to get light out and a fine mist was just starting to lift over the river. We saw a few manatee noses right away, but our tour guide wanted some that would stick around and play. We cruised around for a while and got a bit of a tour of the crystal river when she found two manatees that looked interested. They were babies really, about a year to a year and a half old. They were big babies though! We snorkled in the warm water and played with the babies for about an hour. The thing that boggled my mind was that they WANTED to play with us. They kept rolling over on their bellies in the water and wanting us to scratch them there. They loved it. They'd get right in your face and look you in the eye. It was Kev's first time snorkeling too, but he was having a blast. The babies were so friendly. They'd grab your hand with their fins and pull them to where they wanted to be scratched. They were just so personable and happy. It made me really sad to think that they probably dont connect the people they love to play with with the boats who hit them and kill them. Even at a year old, the babies had very noticable scars on them. After about an hour the babies went to go find their mamas to nurse and our tour guide decided to take us somewhere fun. She took us to 3 sisters springs. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful that was. We parked the boat in the main river and had to swim through this little crystal-clear creek to get to the springs. Out of the creek, the water opened up in this beautiful blue color. The bottom was sand and mostly about 5 feet deep but where the springs were it got deeper. One spring was about 30 ft deep! And all crystal clear. It was amazing (some pictures for detail! http://tfn.net/springs/ThreeSisters.htm ). We had a great time just swimming around watching the fish and crabs. Kev and I bought a DVD of our swim from the place and it was well worth it.
After our swim, we checked out of our hotel and made the drive down the gulf to our final destination. We got to Treasure Island at about 4 and were completely wowed by our resort. It was gorgeous. Kevin surprised me and upgraded our room to a balcony on the gulf. Our room had a really tropical theme. We had a kitchenette with granite countertops and a flat screen tv mounted on the wall! We took a nap and then decided to take a walk down to the beach. It was sooo nice. We watched the sunset over the gulf and decided to get some food. We went across the street to a place called Ricky-T's which is a small chain on Gulf Blvd. We tried fried pickles as an appetizer, which were surprisingly good! Dinner was awesome and we had a great time listening to this guy play live music. He was playing about 3 different instruments at once! We bought a cd from him and his music is really fun. We walked back across the street and went to bed. ;)
Thursday was my birthday! And was a very good day! We woke up early probably because we had been programmed to due to the previous excursions. We walked back to Ricky-T's for a pretty durn good breakfast and witnessed something odd. We sat outside on their patio and were the only ones outside when this bum came walking up and stopped at a bench about 10 feet from us. At the bench he began cursing and throwing stuff. Kevin and I exchanged terrified looks and just pretended like we didnt notice him all while being afraid of being killed by some hobo. About 2 minutes later the cops showed up and escorted him away. The waitresses came out and said that we looked so terrified that they called the cops and that the guy had been bothering them for a couple days anyway. We laughed a bit about it after it happened. After breakfast we took a ride further south on Gulf blvd and went down to St. Pete beach which is beautiful. This took a while and we made our way back towards the hotel to get ice cream. I stopped by our room real quick to grab something and found that Kevin had flowers delivered to the room. They were beautiful pink lillies and they smelled so good. I was really happy. We went back across the street to an ice cream place where we chatted with the woman working there for about 20 minutes. She told us to go to Fort DeSoto beach. We decided this would be a good idea. It didnt take us long to get there and I'm glad we did. Apparantly it was ranked #1 or 2 beach in North America last year. We had a fun time playing in the waves and laying in the sun. After a while we noticed some dark clouds so we headed back to the hotel. We made it inside just before it started downpouring. For the next hour and a half there was one of the most intense thunderstorms I had ever seen. I didn't mind, Florida needs the rain, and it was fun to sit on the balcony (probably not the smartest idea) and watch the lightning. The storm started to clear and we decided to go down to Sloppy Joe's (the hotel restaurant) for my birthday dinner. Kevin ordered a long island iced tea for us to share and it was probably one of the most intense drinks ever. After two sips I was buzzed and after finishing half, the entire restaurant was blurred. I pigged out on nachos and salad and when my meal came I could barely eat two bites of it. It didn't help that I had apparnatly ordered one of the "richest" plates on the menu. Ah well. It was good while it lasted. After dinner we went up to the room to veg out and digest (and in my case help the buzz wear off). We decided to take a walk down to the beach and Kev got us both drinks. We sat on the beach and watched a particularly spectacular sunset and all was right in the world.
Friday morning was okay. We got up early and had a good breakfast in St. Petersburg. Made our way through Tampa traffic back to Orlando and flew out. The flight out was much the same as the flight in (complete with panic attack) only with more turbulence. Landed in dismal Providence and immediately wanted to turn around. And now here I am!
Moral of the story: ALWAYS go to Florida, NEVER bring electronics or valuables in a canoe.
Thank you and have a good day.
Monday morning we got up at an ungodly hour to go to the airport. Daddy and mommy dropped us off and we were left to fend on our own. I was terrified since it was my first time on an airplane. Sat around for a while, boarded and I got a window seat. All was cool til we started to head towards the runway, stopped, and turned around. There was apparently some sort of maintenance problem. Awesome. So I freaked out more about that, convinced I was going to die. I guess whatever it was wasn't a big deal. They told us if it had happened in midair it wouldnt be anything, but since they were at the airport anyway, they decided to just get it fixed. So we head off towards the runway again and go faster and faster til suddenly we're off the ground and ascending at a startling height. I was dizzy and hyperventilating and Kev was just laughing at me. I deserved it, but damn, that was startling to see the ground drop away so quickly. The rest of the flight was uneventful and once we reached cruising altitude I was fine. Even landing wasnt as bad as taking off.
We landed in Orlando and go out rental car and headed towards the Atlantic coast. Spent a few hours at the Kennedy Space center but we were both too tired to really enjoy it. Was kinda cool to see the space shuttle discovery sitting on the launch pad though. Headed to Daytona and checked into our shitty travelodge hotel. Worst hotel I've ever stayed at. The room was tiny and gross. Whatever. We weren't gonna spend much time there. Got dinner at a really cute little place and went to bed.
Tuesday we got up early to see the sunrise and then began our trek across the state. We drove over to the Gulf coast to take a canoe trip on the weeki wachee river.
Now, this trip should have been uneventful and enjoyable, and it started out that way. The river is beautiful and dotted with springs, the water is crystal clear. There was all sorts of wildlife and we were enjoying ourselves. It was Kev's first time in a canoe so he was having a bit of trouble but we were dealing. We stopped to have lunch and Kev gave me part of my birthday present. He made me an ankle bracelet out of wire and braided it into this really pretty design. It was so cute. We continued along and got to this really nasty bend. I had to lean to the side to avoid some brush on the edge of the river when I felt the canoe start to tip. I tried to right myself, and realized that Kevin had leaned over too, but must have leaned farther and our weight combined ended up tipping the canoe. I freaked out when I realized that we were in water over our heads in a potentially gator infested river. Kev freaked out when he saw me freak out. He tried to give me a life jacket but I chucked it back at him. I knew I could swim and quite frankly, was more concerned about our possessions and the prospect of being stranded several miles upriver of our destination. After being pushed by a fast current about 50 feet I spotted a small beach and we made our way over there. Surprisingly we had most everything except my mom's digital camera. Of course at the time I was very unhappy about that, but looking back it could have been a lot worse. We had to pick the canoe up out of the water to right it and get the water out of it. By this time I was exhausted, so we packed up our sopping wet stuff and made the rest of the trip. It went smoothly and we saw three manatees (including a momma and newborn). We got back to the hotel and slept for a while, exhausted by the 7 mile journey and the scare. Had dinner at a place on the Homosassa river where I introduced Kevin to the wonder that is maryland blue crabs. Had a feast and a good time. Later on went swimming in the pool and the hot tub. Our cell phones were dead and my mom's camera was gone, but the day ended better than it began. That, and the hotel we stayed in that night rocked. :)
Wednesday we got up early once again for our manatee snorkel tour which left at 6:15. It was hard to get moving that morning since we had gotten up so early the days before, but I'm so glad we did this. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. We got started on the pontoon boat right after it started to get light out and a fine mist was just starting to lift over the river. We saw a few manatee noses right away, but our tour guide wanted some that would stick around and play. We cruised around for a while and got a bit of a tour of the crystal river when she found two manatees that looked interested. They were babies really, about a year to a year and a half old. They were big babies though! We snorkled in the warm water and played with the babies for about an hour. The thing that boggled my mind was that they WANTED to play with us. They kept rolling over on their bellies in the water and wanting us to scratch them there. They loved it. They'd get right in your face and look you in the eye. It was Kev's first time snorkeling too, but he was having a blast. The babies were so friendly. They'd grab your hand with their fins and pull them to where they wanted to be scratched. They were just so personable and happy. It made me really sad to think that they probably dont connect the people they love to play with with the boats who hit them and kill them. Even at a year old, the babies had very noticable scars on them. After about an hour the babies went to go find their mamas to nurse and our tour guide decided to take us somewhere fun. She took us to 3 sisters springs. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful that was. We parked the boat in the main river and had to swim through this little crystal-clear creek to get to the springs. Out of the creek, the water opened up in this beautiful blue color. The bottom was sand and mostly about 5 feet deep but where the springs were it got deeper. One spring was about 30 ft deep! And all crystal clear. It was amazing (some pictures for detail! http://tfn.net/springs/ThreeSisters.htm ). We had a great time just swimming around watching the fish and crabs. Kev and I bought a DVD of our swim from the place and it was well worth it.
After our swim, we checked out of our hotel and made the drive down the gulf to our final destination. We got to Treasure Island at about 4 and were completely wowed by our resort. It was gorgeous. Kevin surprised me and upgraded our room to a balcony on the gulf. Our room had a really tropical theme. We had a kitchenette with granite countertops and a flat screen tv mounted on the wall! We took a nap and then decided to take a walk down to the beach. It was sooo nice. We watched the sunset over the gulf and decided to get some food. We went across the street to a place called Ricky-T's which is a small chain on Gulf Blvd. We tried fried pickles as an appetizer, which were surprisingly good! Dinner was awesome and we had a great time listening to this guy play live music. He was playing about 3 different instruments at once! We bought a cd from him and his music is really fun. We walked back across the street and went to bed. ;)
Thursday was my birthday! And was a very good day! We woke up early probably because we had been programmed to due to the previous excursions. We walked back to Ricky-T's for a pretty durn good breakfast and witnessed something odd. We sat outside on their patio and were the only ones outside when this bum came walking up and stopped at a bench about 10 feet from us. At the bench he began cursing and throwing stuff. Kevin and I exchanged terrified looks and just pretended like we didnt notice him all while being afraid of being killed by some hobo. About 2 minutes later the cops showed up and escorted him away. The waitresses came out and said that we looked so terrified that they called the cops and that the guy had been bothering them for a couple days anyway. We laughed a bit about it after it happened. After breakfast we took a ride further south on Gulf blvd and went down to St. Pete beach which is beautiful. This took a while and we made our way back towards the hotel to get ice cream. I stopped by our room real quick to grab something and found that Kevin had flowers delivered to the room. They were beautiful pink lillies and they smelled so good. I was really happy. We went back across the street to an ice cream place where we chatted with the woman working there for about 20 minutes. She told us to go to Fort DeSoto beach. We decided this would be a good idea. It didnt take us long to get there and I'm glad we did. Apparantly it was ranked #1 or 2 beach in North America last year. We had a fun time playing in the waves and laying in the sun. After a while we noticed some dark clouds so we headed back to the hotel. We made it inside just before it started downpouring. For the next hour and a half there was one of the most intense thunderstorms I had ever seen. I didn't mind, Florida needs the rain, and it was fun to sit on the balcony (probably not the smartest idea) and watch the lightning. The storm started to clear and we decided to go down to Sloppy Joe's (the hotel restaurant) for my birthday dinner. Kevin ordered a long island iced tea for us to share and it was probably one of the most intense drinks ever. After two sips I was buzzed and after finishing half, the entire restaurant was blurred. I pigged out on nachos and salad and when my meal came I could barely eat two bites of it. It didn't help that I had apparnatly ordered one of the "richest" plates on the menu. Ah well. It was good while it lasted. After dinner we went up to the room to veg out and digest (and in my case help the buzz wear off). We decided to take a walk down to the beach and Kev got us both drinks. We sat on the beach and watched a particularly spectacular sunset and all was right in the world.
Friday morning was okay. We got up early and had a good breakfast in St. Petersburg. Made our way through Tampa traffic back to Orlando and flew out. The flight out was much the same as the flight in (complete with panic attack) only with more turbulence. Landed in dismal Providence and immediately wanted to turn around. And now here I am!
Moral of the story: ALWAYS go to Florida, NEVER bring electronics or valuables in a canoe.
Thank you and have a good day.