Life at the Beach

The last few days we've been exploring a few of the many beaches on the Gulf coast, near Tampa.

As you know, we enjoy our own beach at Sandy Beach, SK.

These are nothing like that.

These beaches are from 200 to 500 meters wide and run for kilometers.

We first went to Fort DeSoto Park, just south of St. Petersburg. This is located on a small "key", an offshore strip of land that usually runs parallel with the mainland shore. It is your postcard palm beach with fine white sand, gentle waves and light breezes. There is a sign claiming that this beach was rated the number one beach in the USA in 2004. Hard to argue. After enjoying a picnic lunch, we waded along the shoreline, being too chicken to swim in the cool waters. By "cool" , I mean about 69F or 70F. Most people did the same. I'm guessing that in the summer, the water temps are around 80F or higher.

Fort DeSoto beach.

Our next beach was at Treasure Island, just to the west side of St. Petersburg. this was a wide beach, around 500 meters wide. Wide enough for me to fly my kite without fear of it hitting anyone. A nice seabreeze held the kite up real well. There were also quite a number of blue wind/sun shelters that one could sit under to get away from the elements. Drinks and dinner at Sloppy Joes followed.

Kite flying on Treasure Island beach.

A sand sculpture at Treasure Island Beach

Yesterday we had lunch at Clearwater Beach, just west of, yes, Clearwater, which is just to the north of St. Petersburg. Another beautiful white sand beach that seemed to attract a lot more people. No kite-flying there! But lots of people, birds (pelicans, cormorants, gulls, terns, etc.), and boats to watch. It is spring break for a lot of students in this area, so parking spaces were hard to find.

Clearwater Beach

We took a leisurely drive northward along the coastline to Tarpon Springs - fishing village that was originally settled by Greek sponge divers. There is a little Greek village devoted to selling the tourists reminders of that era, and we were no exception. Drinks and dinner by the waterfront (literally one foot away) where we saw more birds and even a single dolphin that splashed around briefly. Lots of small fishing boats, and one huge private yacht that towered over us as it left port. Hmmmmm.

Roni and a friend at Tarpon Springs. Is this her entry
for that hottie bartender contest?

We do plan to visit a beach or two around Ft. Meyers on the way back from the Keys. Bro' Doug says they are worth seeing. Stay tuned!

Oranges, Oranges Everywhere

Central Florida is noted for its oranges. In our travels, we've seen several orange processing plants, big mesh-sided trucks full of oranges, and of course, lots of orange trees. One can't go a mile without seeing orange groves (orchards?).

The dark green trees are usually about 15 feet high, planted about 20 feet apart, some are filled with oranges, and some not, and some are even blooming with small white flowers. Yesterday we were around the Winter Haven area and into a particularly nice spot where the fragrance of the orange blossoms was just lovely. Kind of like climbing up a apple tree at blooming time, if you know what that is like.

Well, we have been looking at these oranges with some longing lately, stopping to photograph a few, wanting to appropriate some, but fearful of ending up as a cellmate of Conrad Black should we be caught "orange-handed" so to speak (Lord Conrad, by the way, seems to be settling in quite well in his medium security surroundings here in central Florida, according to media reports). We really should be neighborly and stop in to see him one of these days.

But I digress. How to sample some of these orange delights without actually buying them, and remaining free? Well, it seems our prayers were answered. We were driving through this particularly lovely orange grove with trees tight on both sides when up ahead, on the road, were about a hundred oranges. Some were squashed, some split, but most of them just lying right there at the edge of the road, wondering what had happened to them. Obviously, they had fallen off one of the open topped orange trucks when it hit a bump on the road.

Like manna from heaven.

Of course we stopped. Salvager's rights we figured. We looked around furtively just in case, dusted a few off, tossed them in the back seat, and laughed all the way home.

Roni with a tree that has both ripened oranges
and new blossoms.

The USAC Sears Auto Center 200 Hooters Procup

Believe it or not, that's where we ended up on Saturday in Lakeland, FL. At the stock car races. 200 times around the track. Hooters girls and all.

It was all Roni's idea. I just went along to keep her company.


We were there with about three or four thousand other folks. Anyone from rural North Carolina would not feel out of place. I bought a ticket on a Harley Davidson raffle. Two Buds were $5.00. Lots of us wore earplugs. No one was in a hurry for anything, except for the drivers - they were in a big hurry. About 26 of the 32 that started thr race actually got around the track 200 times. Not bad.


Yes, there were a few fender-benders but nothing serious - some scrapes along the wall, a few nose to rear bumps, a couple of 360's in the turns, a blown motor or two, stuff like that. But no fires of rollovers. Quite civilized, actually.

I did learn some new uses for duct tape. Seems the guy I was cheering for (a rookie out of Mongomery, Alabama) nearly separated his right front fender from the rest of his vehicle. No problem. Head for the pits with the fender flapping and get out the duct tape! A half-dozen strips and 13 seconds later he is back in the race!! Who knew?? And to think of all the $$ we've spent in the past few years (since Kelly got her driver's licence) and all we really needed was a few rolls of duct tape!!

Here's my guy with the right front fender all
duct-taped back on.


A closer look!

The eventual winner does his traditional tire-smoking spins in front of the grandstand, wow-ing the crowd, collects his champagne and kisses and off he goes.

And as for us - hey, it was fun!

At Disney Hollywood

The last Disney park on our tour was Disney Hollywood - as the name suggests, all things movie-related. The architecture is well-done, with streets like New York Street, Hollywood Boulevard, and San Francisco Avenue done up like their namesakes, as well as representative restaurants. There is a souvenir shop on NY street named "Youse Guys Moichandyse".

We saw a couple of stunt shows with car and motorcycle chases, shoot-em-ups and big explosions. Went on a few rides and saw a few shows.

The best show however, is "Fantasmic!" . . . rated as the best of its kind in Florida. "Combining music, lasers, fan-fountain projection, animation and a cast of over a hundred actors and dancers. Fantasmic! manages to choreograph the entire event with split second accuracy to music, fireworks and lighting. Illuminated boats, flying floats and a lake which bursts into flames are but some features of this enchanting event which plays to audiences of 10,000 per showing."

Unfortunately rain started to fall about 6:00. Fantasmic! was scheduled for 8:30, but not wanting to miss it, we went to the venue in hopes that the rain would subside.

Here is Ray, wrapped in a plastic raincoat,
Mickey Mouse popcorn in hand, waiting for
Fantasmic!, and hoping the rain
will soon stop.

It did not. But it was a warm rain. And the show went ahead anyway!! It was great.

Disney-Mania

There are so many things to do in the Orlando area. Having already seen some pretty fair aquariums and zoos, and not really interested in monster waterparks, and also not much interested in being thrown 500 feet in the air on a rope, we decided that of the many area theme parks, we would choose to visit the Disney ones. Disney has four main parks here - The Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. We bought a 7 day pass, which allows 7 visits to any of the above parks within a 14 day period - a good value if you are here for 14 days.

So far we've visited the first three, and will go to Hollywood Studios tomorrow.

All of them are a lot of fun, even without our children!!

We've met some interesting characters ..............

....... walked down Main Street to Cinderella's castle......


........had lunch with an ibis at a Mexican cantina......


......... seen several awesome 3D movies .............


........ visited Canada at Epcot...........


...... chatted with a lowland gorilla.......


....... and even participated in several parades.......

Maybe after visiting Disney - MGM Hollywood, we'll even be in the movies somewhere! Can you suggest a name for our first movie??

SST123 Endeavour Launch

Here's a few more observations on the Space Shuttle launch last night.

We viewed the launch from the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex along with several thousand other enthusiasts. This is the closest that a visitor can view a launch, and it is still six miles away from the actual launching pad. During the wait, all the exhibits at the KSCVC are open so we took in a 3D IMAX film of US and Russian launches and the creation of the International Space Station. It was great! We also strolled the rocket garden of previous booster rockets and spacecraft as well as other displays.

The Rocket Garden

As the countdown proceeded on a big outdoor screen, we could see the pre-launch steps as they led closer to the launch time of 2:28 a.m. As the last few critical sequences passed, people would expectantly applaud as it became obvious that the mission was a "go", myself among them.

Keep in mind that I was a 10 year old kid when the "space age" began. To actually see a real spaceship blast off into orbit - this was going to be incredible! It didn't disappoint.

We could see the live image on the TV screen as the massive rocket engines ignited, literally turning night into day. It was several seconds before the sound of those engines reached us. By that time, the shuttle had cleared the tree line and we could see Endeavour rising straight up at an ever increasing speed, followed by a huge vapour trail. If anything, the light from the huge tail of fire increased. There was a cloud layer at, I'm guessing, 6 - 8,000 feet that reflected the light downwards and outwards. As the shuttle passed through this cloud layer, the light intensity dropped, but it was still lighting up the clouds from above. Unfortuately, that was the last we could see of the shuttle, as the layer was pretty solid. As the light faded, so did the sound, which was more like a deep crackling booming than a constant roll.

Endeavour as it leaves the launch pad.

Passing through the cloud layer as only the vapour trail remains.

What an awesome experience! It took us three hours in mostly bumper to bumper traffic to get home, but I'd do it again in a second. Just to contemplate the complexities of such an accomplishment; to appreciate that our great grandparents could never have imagined such a feat, and to have actually witnessed it still fills me with awe and wonder.

Wow!

We just got "home" from the shuttle Endeavour night launch. The launch was exactly on time at 2:28 a.m., and we got home (roughly 60 miles from Cape Canaveral) at 5:45 a.m. Ironically, the shuttle had made two circuits of the earth by the time we got here. More details tomorrow.

Spring Training

"Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don't care if I never get back,
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."


The scene - Chain of Lakes Stadium, Winterhaven, Fla. The occasion - Grapefruit League Baseball. The combatants - the mighty Cleveland Indians and the mighty Atlanta Braves. Two fans, Ray and Roni at their first pro baseball game.

Both managers were very liberal in their substitutions, each pitcher getting three innings, regardless of his effectiveness. The remainder of the players got 4 or 5 innings in before giving way to someone else.

Well, the Indians' bats didn't get working until the 9th inning, but it was too little, too late by then. Final score: Atlanta 5, Cleveland 1.

For Ray and Roni, it was a pleasant two and a half hours in the gentle sunshine, two Buds in plastic bottles, some peanuts and Cracker Jack, and a great way to spend an afternoon.

Can't forget Abigail.....!!!

As we were walking the streets of New Orleans recently, we came across this neat store sign. Of course, we thought of our little "Abbie". Now, I don't know about the "dinky dogs" part, but I'll bet they have some really cool Mardi Gras outfits that would fit!

Bailey Birthdays

March 8th - birthdays for Roni and Ted. Happy birthday to both.

As for Roni, here she is at the Restaurant Marrakesh at Epcot Center, celebrating her birthday with her sweetie. Between us we had roast lamb, beef shish kebab, pickled vegetables, couscous, spiced olives and a flaked pastry dessert. All this was washed down with Moroccan red wine and French white, as we soaked up the atmosphere of a Moroccan band and belly dancer.

Ain't She Sweet?

I was talking to brother Ted the other day about holiday homes. Little get-aways, tropical oases, a place in the sun. You know, the kind of place where you can kick back, relax, and smell the coffee while enjoying the little luxuries that a life of labour should bring.

Ted mentioned that Doug and I should buy such a place, thinking, no doubt, that by the time he and Colleen are ready for it, both Doug and I would be in care-homes. "Just pass the keys over brothers", he would say, "I'll take good care of it for you"

Now, most of you know me as a man of action, and when opportunity knocks, I am there to answer the door. Just yesterday, I came across a little beach house that caught more than mere attention. Listen to this - beachfront, oversized lot, quiet neighbours, surrounded by unspoiled nature, flow through ventilation, and .....Ted, I know Colleen will like this, diving right off the front deck!

Yes, I thought "absolutely perfect" best describes this too! So I bought it!



Don't worry Doug, I used Ted's credit card. Just 200 little payments of $1,000.00 and the title will be his, free and clear.

Home Away From Home

Davenport, Florida - our home for the next 30 days or so.

We had a great road trip, visiting or passing through Edmonton, Innisfail, Calgary, Great Falls, Sheridan (Wyoming), Colorado Springs, New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, Amarillo, San Antonio, Napoleanville (Louisiana), New Orleans, Mississippi, Alabama, the Swannee River, and finally Davenport. Only took us 9 days.

On the 10th day, we rested.

Today, we saw a couple of alligators, and a few other swamp creatures (but not Roger Clemens). Tomorrow, we see the Atlanta Braves in a spring training baseball game play the Cleveland Indians down the road in Winter Haven. Two tickets cost all of $11.00 each (plus tax, agency fee, and facilitation fee) so even if we do happen to see Roger Clemens, it's still a bargain.

We'll try to catch a Blue Jays game when we travel to the Tampa Bay area (an hour's drive west). I don't know any players on their roster either.