cont.
I'm hearing from the peanut gallery that you people want a blog post . . . Well, I can't very well keep my fans waiting, can I?
This is Christmas Vacation Blog Post, part 2.
Ryan and I left my parents' the day after Christmas for a marathon drive down I-85, I-77, I-26, I-95 (parking lot pictured at left!), 301, etc., until we got to Ryan's grandma's in Zephyrhills, FL.
We even got to stop and see Grandma & Grandpa Rilea south of Savannah during our travels. It was a nice break from driving and Grandma taught Denny's how to make hot chocolate!
One of the sights from the trip was this RV on fire. We saw it before the rescue vehicles got there and flames were shooting way up into the air.
One of the first acts of business once Ruthie & Milton got to FL was to go eat at Sweet Tomatoes, a salad buffet place that was really good. We all had seconds on our seconds.
Later that night, Christmas was wrapped up (get it?) with the final opening of presents. Milton got some extra decorative hats with his present.
Randy & Mary Jane got to open the present from me (pictured) and the one from Ryan and I (a picture of us!).
Friday I learned how to play shuffleboard. I also learned that it's named for the way Milton "shuffles" the scores around when he's in charge of recording them! Funny that Ryan and I won the game that he didn't keep score for . . .
Milton and Randy played against Ryan and I for two games. We lasted until all the regulars from the park had left. Ryan took about 100 pictures and even some video of us playing. I had fun knocking MJ's hat off while she read at the pool with my long stick. =)
Ruthie played for a while, but left to keep MJ company. Ryan and I never did try out the pool while we were there, even though the weather was in the mid-80s.
For the afternoon, we decided to go watch skydivers. I got my camera and big lens ready and assumed the most comfortable sky-watching position I could find.
Ryan watched the sky too, but gave up after a while and threw a football around with Randy.
Skydiving looks like so much fun! Of course, I haven't been kicked out of an airplane door before. Some of the skydivers came in very slowly with soft landings and others were rockets that barely cleared the corner of the building.
The highlight of watching the skydivers for me was when they took two plane loads up and made a 38-person formation with two photographers snapping away. It was really interesting to me to see their flashes go off from thousands of feet up.
We went to the East Pasco church where I actually ran into quite a few people I knew. After church, we took this picture out front of Ryan's grandma's house and then ate lunch before leaving for the beach.
This is Christmas Vacation Blog Post, part 2.Ryan and I left my parents' the day after Christmas for a marathon drive down I-85, I-77, I-26, I-95 (parking lot pictured at left!), 301, etc., until we got to Ryan's grandma's in Zephyrhills, FL.
We even got to stop and see Grandma & Grandpa Rilea south of Savannah during our travels. It was a nice break from driving and Grandma taught Denny's how to make hot chocolate!One of the sights from the trip was this RV on fire. We saw it before the rescue vehicles got there and flames were shooting way up into the air.
One of the first acts of business once Ruthie & Milton got to FL was to go eat at Sweet Tomatoes, a salad buffet place that was really good. We all had seconds on our seconds.
Later that night, Christmas was wrapped up (get it?) with the final opening of presents. Milton got some extra decorative hats with his present.
Randy & Mary Jane got to open the present from me (pictured) and the one from Ryan and I (a picture of us!).
Friday I learned how to play shuffleboard. I also learned that it's named for the way Milton "shuffles" the scores around when he's in charge of recording them! Funny that Ryan and I won the game that he didn't keep score for . . .
Milton and Randy played against Ryan and I for two games. We lasted until all the regulars from the park had left. Ryan took about 100 pictures and even some video of us playing. I had fun knocking MJ's hat off while she read at the pool with my long stick. =)
Ruthie played for a while, but left to keep MJ company. Ryan and I never did try out the pool while we were there, even though the weather was in the mid-80s.
For the afternoon, we decided to go watch skydivers. I got my camera and big lens ready and assumed the most comfortable sky-watching position I could find.
Ryan watched the sky too, but gave up after a while and threw a football around with Randy.
Skydiving looks like so much fun! Of course, I haven't been kicked out of an airplane door before. Some of the skydivers came in very slowly with soft landings and others were rockets that barely cleared the corner of the building.
The highlight of watching the skydivers for me was when they took two plane loads up and made a 38-person formation with two photographers snapping away. It was really interesting to me to see their flashes go off from thousands of feet up.
We went to the East Pasco church where I actually ran into quite a few people I knew. After church, we took this picture out front of Ryan's grandma's house and then ate lunch before leaving for the beach.
The interesting thing about these two pictures is that they were taken within about 15 minutes of each other. The first picture was us driving across Tampa Bay and the second picture was on the beach at Treasure Island. We could see a huge gray mass in the air hovering over the beach as we approached and it turned out to be "sea fog," a.k.a. pea soup.
We ventured out for a few minutes, then returned to our room soaked and ready for the Saturday night Patriarchs vs. Giants game. Milton was rooting for his Patriarchs and we cheered against them.
Sunday was nice out, so we went for a walk. After several attempts at timer shots with several cameras, we got some! Ryan even has a video of us taking one.
The outside of where we stayed. None of our rooms were on this side, but we did use the elevator on the end a lot. We had a great view of the new hotel being constructed beside us and the nincompoops running their man lift.
Ryan and I found a hammock and took a short break from walking just before lunch. We managed to both get in without flipping, but getting out was a different story . . .
This was about as close to the water as we got. We took these pictures right before stopping to photograph the terns and "peeps" near the water. We quickly exited the beach to go back and eat tomato sandwiches. I wish we could get good tomatoes like that here right now!!!!
After lunch, more walking! I convinced Ryan to go to John's Pass since it was pretty much the only place I remembered hearing them talk about from prior travels. Ryan posed for me with his friend here for a picture. My dad could probably tell you what kind of fish this was supposed to be.
We went across the drawbridge and watched dolphins and pelicans in the water. Then we took advantage of the numerous shops (or did they take advantage of us???) and walked around shopping for a while. Ryan found Blue Jays paraphernalia at the Sports Fan Attic and MJ came to the rescue by bringing our money to us! The only thing I bought was a long sleeved Life is Good shirt. I got Grant a sticker too, but he'll have to come visit me to get it!!! =P
These last two pictures are flip-flopped, but at this point I don't care. I read the comics before going to bed on Sunday night. This love seat hide-a-bed thing is the reason my back feels like this again! Somehow, I slept on my stomach with my feet on the armrest and broke my lower back . . .
The whole group (Grandma & Coleman came Sunday) watching something on TV after supper Sunday. They all stayed and are heading out tomorrow for home.
4 comments:
Great pictures from great times. My parents got an extra 5 days on us at the beach!! Nice way to phrase "wrapping up Christmas!"
The fog used to come in every afternoon in Santa Monica and it always cleared people off the beach. Later it would be so nice and the beach would be empty.
Looks like a Sea Bass only they are about 2 lbs. Speckled trout don't get that big either(only 16 lbs.) but that is the way they are colored. Also the inside of the mouth would be yellowish.
That is the extent of my marine fish knowledge. Can't be a clown fish either!
I thought shuffleboard was called that because of the way the people who played it walked.
Wow - what a post. I'll just refer people to yours and save myself the trouble. I do have our FL Xmas pictures on the computer at least, but it'll take toooooo long to choose between the 500 we have for my post. Thanks for leaving some of yours for us on the computer here. How you found time to do this with going back to work so soon I'll never know! I'm so glad you could join us down there. It was fun.
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