Day 8 of Florida Vacation...sorta

Boarded the plane for an 8:30 takeoff, which didn't actually occur until 9:15, and arrived in Omaha about 11:20-30 or so...Home again now....*sigh*

Here are some of the pics from the Sugar Sand Festival from last night at Clearwater Beach...it was neat. This is just a very small portion of the pictures I took. The theme was Nursery Rhymes, and there were a bunch.  So artistic.

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Florida Vacation - Day 7...technically the last day....waaaaaaahhhhh

Slow internet tonight at the hotel....can't get pics uploaded.

Suffice to say for right now....we had a very good day....

Dad got to have us tag along to horse racing this afternoon, and then this evening we ended up on Clearwater Beach at the Sugar Sand Festival.  The pictures are really neato!

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Florida Vacation Day 6

After leaving Tarpon Springs this morning we headed south toward Palm Harbor, and ultimately to Dunedin.  We initially started out looking at the beach area overlooking the Caladesi Island, Honeymoon Island, etc.  

 The town of Dunedin was pretty quaint.  We walked downtown a little bit, ate lunch, and then went to the Historical Museum.  It was an old train depot.  This was the bike rack across the street in front. I just thought it was so cute.

 In the museum, Allison got to dress up a little and try her hand at rowing a boat, tying knots, etc.

 Stayed at a nice hotel, and Allison could swim in the pool for awhile.

Our evening agenda included a fun boat tour with hopefully some dolphin sighting. 

 And we did get to see some dolphins.   This is actually a couple of dolphins jumping out.  They would swim behind the boat, in the water wake that the boat created.  They would jump, and it was very cool. I wasn't in a great position to get a great photo but we did see several of them, and it was very cool.

 An osprey nest.

 There were several "celebrity" homes along the route.  This was John Travolta's home.

The name of the boat company is Parrotdise Express....Allison has the parrot hat on! :)

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Florida Vacation Day 5

Started out our day in Lakeland, FL, which Bruce enjoyed, and then drove up and over and in rain. Ended up in Tarpon Springs, FL, and at the Sponge Factory, where this pic was taken. 

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Day 4 Florida Vacation

Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa.

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Florida Vacation Day 3

So, like even with a phone that now takes pictures I still can't do a very good job anymore of taking pictures.

After a very late night last night with Samantha Fish, we kinda slept in this morning. Bruce took Allison to a family fun center this morning for a little bit to play games, etc.  We then headed to "downtown" Tampa, but stopped in Ybor City, which is the Cuban and other immigrant influence. Very, very neat area.  We stopped at this park which was having a Saturday morning vendor fair.  There was a Ybor City Museum just across the street that we also went to. 

Our lunch find was a real treat!  It was the Columbia Restaurant which has been in business since 1905.  It is a Cuban/Spanish restaurant.  Bruce had the Cuban Sandwich, which is still made exactly the way that it was made in 1905 when the cigar making workers would come for lunch.  He also had a mojito (pictured below).  I tried my hand at Sangria  because it is supposed to be really spectacular here.  To me, and my nonalcohol tastes, tasted like wine with ice cubes. It was okay, but not great. 

Following lunch we went to the Henry B. Plant Museum.  It was really spectacular, and I should have taken a picture.  He was one of the great selfmade millionaires of the 1800s.  He had like 8 hotels, and I guess this was the finest. It was quite something.  It now houses the museum and the University of Tampa. While we were there, there were at least 3 wedding parties getting photos taken, as well as another girl in a very lovely gown, and I wonder if it was her "quincione" or however it is spelled....16th birthday.  She was lovely. Tonight we are staying in a refurbished hotel, the Floridian Palace Hotel, which is nice, and grand, but very quiet tonight. 
By the way, it is really hot here! Ugh!  I'm not ready for summer!!!!!!

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Day 1 & 2 Florida Vacation

Here we are arriving at airport in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Thursday afternoon.

 Found a beach to stick our feet in in the St. Petersburg area.

 Visited the St. Petersburg History Museum Friday morning.

 And on to Fort     for North Beach to spend a few hours.

 Allison especially loved it.

 Evening meal at Skipper's Smokehouse....I actually ate crawfish for the first time....and liked it....blackened crawfish with smoked Mac and cheese....yum.

 With the evening ending complete with music from Samantha Fish, a blues artist from Kansas City.

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