Florida Trip

So sorry I didn't give you an update yesterday.....I tried all day to stay in contact, but the weather was overcast and the internet connection here is not great at all!  So, here is where I left off................

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

We were in bed at 10 last night!  I started stirring even before Tim did.  At 6 he started making noise (trying to stir me into action) but I tried to ignore him and go back to sleep.  That never happened.  He finally got up around 6:45, took his shower and I got in after him. 

We ate at Bazzie’s Beach Bar for breakfast this morning.  Tim ordered a BIG breakfast, but couldn’t eat it all.  I ordered oatmeal and toast and couldn’t eat all of it.

We called the Bi-plane company but the winds were “gusting to 19 knots” and he decided it was not possible to fly.  So, we headed to John’s Pass for some shopping.  Nothing (hardly) was open yet at 9:30.  We stopped in one shop to talk to them about a Dolphin-Watch trip.  The weather was turning windy and cloudy.  We talked to the “mate” who said if there were white caps the captain would not go out, which there were.   Pictures I took during our wanderings around John's Pass.................

Mr. Pelican preening himself.

Pelicans look prehistoric in flight, I think.

"NO" Fly zone.

I usually have trouble getting pictures of pelicans in flight.  Not today!

A whole flock (?) of pelicans taking a break and preening themselves.

A closer view at eye level.

Not sure I would let my child wear this and I KNOW for sure I would not!

I thought this was cute!

Look again!  That's not me!  :D

Tim loves different flavored teas!  This splurge is for him! 

We headed back to the hotel.  I took a few pictures of the totally empty beach and then we decided to go to Dunedin to do some shopping and maybe checkout Honeymoon Bay Park.  Got there, got ready to get out of the car and realized that I didn’t have my purse!  WHAT??  So, here we are, Tim with no wallet and me with no purse!  Not much shopping going to be done, huh?!  BUT, I had my camera, oh!  Yes, I did!  Well, we still walked around some and, honestly, we really didn’t see any place we would have been interested in shopping in, anyway!  So, back to the hotel we went.

Lonely beach chairs and beach at our hotel.

 

Quietest beach we have ever visited!

Took this picture in Dunedin.  Love the creativity of adding the beach chairs.

It was late, around 2 p.m.  We decided to eat at Sloppy Joes and then just stay in the rest of the evening and snack on our leftover pizza when we felt hungry.  After we ate, we walked to the Walgreens across the street from the hotel so Tim could get a magazine to read in one of the lounge chairs outside our room door. He found a Popular Mechanics is all, so we walked a block or so to the Publix.  Nothing.  Back to the hotel.  I went out to the beach to take pictures of the waves coming in.  It was too cold for Tim to sit in a lounge chair, so he stayed in.  Not many people were out, the weather was looking so bad.  The rain was coming in, you could tell by looking out over the horizon.  I came in soon, too.  I decided to do some scrapping in my trip journal, so I went to the car to drag all the scrapbooking stuff in.  Finally, after threatening all day, it began sprinkling as I went to the car.  Not long after I got back in, the rain came.

 

Look at those clouds!

What I thought was a sand dune in front of our door is actually a "beach vegetation project"

The seagulls were even grounded today.

I wondered why this guy was sitting alone and away from the other group of seagulls.....

Wonder if it has any thing to do with him having only one leg?  Poor thing!

Waves.....

and more waves!

No one renting these boats or umbrellas this week.

Some of the vegetation in the sand dune.

And the rain finally comes.  And it lasted the rest of the evening and night.

Tim catching a quick nap, except he heard the camera click on.

Tim slept and I scrapped.  He woke up around 5, ate some pizza around 6 and is watching television.  I have tried to post things on facebook all day and cannot.  Shows I am connected to the hotel internet, but it just spins and never brings any site up.  My phone has not been able to connect, either.  Maybe it is just the weather, I don’t know.

Well, 8:21 and time to take my pms and do some reading before bed.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Woke up to a beautiful, sunshiny day!  After breakfast we headed out to the Florida Aquarium.  I got LOTS of pictures, as you can imagine, but I will only show you a few!  We got there about 10 and were back at the hotel by around 2 p.m.  Ate lunch at Ricky T's across the street, looked for the Friendship Community Church that we planned to attend tonight, but could not find it.  The internet gave one address (we couldn't find it there, either, yesterday) and the hotel gave another address.  Strike 2.  We have looked all week for a Baptist church in the area.  Not to be found!  WHAT??!!  We decided we would just stay in the rest of the evening and eat our leftovers from lunch.

Oh!  What a beautiful morning!  Oh!  What a beautiful day!

Yes, ducks at the aquarium!

Peek-a-boo!  I see you!

Otter fun!

Didn't realize pythons would live in water!

Love penguins!

Tiny eels

Star fish, urchins and sea anemone

BIG eel

This loooong fish kept backing in and out of the hole.

I know you know what this is!

Jelly fish

Don't remember what these were but they reflected light.

This sure is a weird-looking fish!

A beautiful squid

Quick!  He's getting away!

Spanish Moss is kinda creepy to me.

The water is reported to be 61 degrees!  Tim said it WAS cold!

The wind is still whipping those waves in!

Here's my shell digging!

The sun is beautiful today!  But the wind is ferocious AND soooooo cold!  When we got back to the hotel to stay, Tim put on his flip flops and we headed to the beach so he could stick his toes in.  I tried to capture that, but with the sunshine, I could not see my screen.  I tried 3 times and missed every time.  We immediately went back inside.  The walk to the water and back gave me an ear ache because of the wind.  I wanted to stay out and dig for some shells, but I found a couple of plastic glasses that I dug up some sand and took back to the room and dumped onto the tray that was in the room to do my sifting through.

It promises to be a beautiful sunset at 6:23.  I sure hope so, but I see clouds gathering in the far horizon!

See the clouds?

This is as pretty as it gets, unfortunately!

Pretty, but too many clouds!

I kept watching because I thought something might come of the area at the bottom where you see the rays, but no.

Well, that's it for today!  Gonna do some reading, take my pms in about an hour and wait for sleepy time!  Nite!