Dolphin Cruise

Today is Shelby's 20th birthday. We planned to take a dolphin cruise on the trip and Shelby loves dolphins. It made sense to take the trip on her birthday. It was a fun cruise. We saw lots of dolphins and other wildlife. The weather was nice, but hot. The breeze on the water helped with that.

We saw a boat pulling some crab nets and the dolphins were following them. They like to eat the fish that get caught in the nets. The guys on the boat were also feeding the dolphin from the boat which is a no no and against the law. It did allow us to see a lot of dolphin activity though.

We found another spot with dolphin activity. It was fun to watch them play.

Along the way we saw an Egret's nest and a Brown Pelican.

After the cruise, we went to eat lunch at Wintzell's Oyster House. It was very good. Dinner was at Franco's Italian Restaurant. It was excellent and all agreed it was the best of the trip. After dinner, we went home and celebrated Shelby's birthday with a brownie with 20 candles on it. I think she had a good birthday.

Our Summer Vacation Day 2

Day 2 of the trip brought more time in the lazy river, the pools and the beach. I am not a beach person, at all. I like to sit out of the balcony and enjoy the breeze, but the sand...no thanks. I am not much of a swimming person either, although I do enjoy a lazy river. This lazy river was way too shallow. It was 1 1/2 feel deep and my knees were dragging the bottom as I floated around hanging on to the tube. Phillip and the girls were eager to hit the beach. The condo was across the highway from the beach, so we drove up the road a bit to a beach just across the Florida state line. My plan was to drive into Pensacola and hit a big JoAnn's for some yarn I can't find locally. See we all were doing something we loved. Me = yarn. Them = beach. Win = win. I dropped them off and hit the road. The directions I had were not to best, but I found my spot and returned later to pick them up. There was some sun burn, because some people wanted to apply their own sunscreen, instead of letting me do it. I am not naming names. I don't have any beach pics yet. They are still on the water camera we bought and will posted later.

After lunch and a brief siesta, the girls and Phillip again hit the pools and lazy river. I hung out on the balcony and knit. Again, everyone was happy. We went to Jake's Grill for dinner. We used to eat there long ago, but was definitely not as good as we remembered. The restaurant was wiped out in Hurricane Ivan and was rebuilt. We also think it changed ownership as well and thus the difference in the menu, etc.

Heading to Orange Beach

It took a while to decide on where to take our summer family vacation. It was first St. Louis and then Atlanta. Phillip and I love baseball and we thought it would be fun to see a major league game. Both St. Louis and Atlanta gave us that option. As the trip got closer, both of us started thinking more about all that time in the car either of those places would give us. Neither of us were thrilled about that, so a third and final option was found. The beach. We used to go to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach every summer when the girls were younger. I don't remember why we stopped going. I found a condo rental on Trip Advisor. I was looking on there for info on St. Louis and Atlanta and saw they also had condo info as well. We found one that looked great at the Caribe Resort.

The condo had 3 three bedrooms, a couple of pools and a lazy river. The best part is that it had 3 bathrooms. The girls both invited a friend, Shelby for Robyn and Emma for Cara, and we were all set. We had lots of room and everyone got along great. We hit the lazy river first and later went to Rotolo's for pizza. It was an excellent beginning to the trip.

Tarpon Springs

The original plan was to hit Busch Gardens today. I decided I really didn't want to go and Robyn said the same. Cara was upset because she wanted a roller coaster buddy. Instead, we decided to drive up to Tarpon Springs to see the sponge docks. It was interesting. All of the shops on the water sold every kind of sponge imaginable. I didn't know there was so many different kinds. Tarpon Springs has a large Greek community. There were lots of opportunities to eat Greek food and to buy items imported from Greece.

On the way back to Tampa, we again headed for the beach. We found a nice one in Honeymoon Island State Park. Phillip and Robyn were in heaven and Cara and I grumbled about being in the sun. While driving around the park, we saw a huge (24" x 16") box turtle on the side of the road. Since I was driving, I had Phillip jump out and get his picture. I didn't know turtles could move so fast. He took off for a hole in the side of a hill. It was pretty cool to watch him dig in to hide himself. There is no way Skittles could have brought this one in the house like she did here.

Ringling and the Beach

This morning we had an appointment for a tour of Ringling College of Art and Design and with a admissions counselor following. Wow, the classrooms are impressive. One of the first stops was the Animation Department. Robyn's eyes popped when she entered the room with all of the animation desks (donated by Disney). She has wanted one of those desks since the first time she used one several years ago. In the hallway, they have plaques of some of the companies who employ Ringling graduates. It was like the Who's Who of companies who use animators. I got an annoying nose bleed, so I went back to the admissions office. Robyn and gang said the rest of the tour was just as great. She also loved the illustration department, the other major she is considering.

The college counselor was very informative and gave Robyn great input about her portfolio. I enjoyed hearing that he thought we work was as special as we do. His words have given Robyn a lot of think about and helps in her decision on where to visit next.

After Ringling, we drove around Sarasota a bit and then found a beach. I abhor the beach and Cara is not too thrilled either. Phillip and Robyn ran out to the water, Cara walked a little and I took a picture and went back to the air conditioned car to knit. I know; I am a pill. Cara and I had great discussions about why we hate the beach while Phillip and Robyn were having fun.