Last Florida Post

Tomorrow we say good-bye to the Plaza Beach Hotel and St Pete Beach.  Walking down the hallway this afternoon I realized that tomorrow at this time we'll be back in Michigan where it will be cold and snowy.  B-r-r-r-r!  We had one more beautiful sunset tonight before we packed while watching the Winter Olympics Opening ceremony. 
I had seen that parasailing was offered here (one more bucket list item) and I called a company to sign up, but the company did not go our either yesterday or today.  Oh well,  have to keep on the lookout for that opportunity.  Instead Mary and I took a nice beach walk with our feet in the waves of the Gulf of Mexico
So tomorrow we head to the airport for our flight home. It's been a great week with lots of good memories.  At least I don't have to go back to a job on Monday!

Florida - Day 5

We did not have any major activities planned for today. In the morning we did some shopping, then stopped by a favorite restaurant for lunch, The Frog Pond. It's a breakfast/lunch place with great omelets.  Mary and I both ordered a monte cristo and it was huge! We ate half and saved the rest for supper.

After we got back, Mary headed for the pool where she enjoyed listening to Mack Bailey on her iPhone, while I played some corn hole against myself. If you care, red beat blue 21-19   8-)

Later we headed out to relax in beach chairs and watch the sunset.  The clouds cooperated and gave us a very nice sunset as you can see.  Looking forward to one more Florida day before heading home Saturday.

Florida - Day 4

Today was a rather quiet day that started with our drive back to St Pete Beach from Titusville.  We used a slower route, taking highway 50 all the way to Orlando then the interstate the rest of the way.  The lobby at the Fairfield Inn we stayed at had this astronaut/space suit model in it so who could resist this photo opportunity?

The afternoon was quiet, with me walking the beach and Mary catching some rays.  We enjoyed dinner at PJs Oyster Bar, a local seafood place we remembered from a prior visit. The rolls of paper towels hanging over each table are one very unique feature (besides the 50's chairs)  The clam chowder was delicious!

Florida - Falcon Heavy Day!

For those of you who are not into space stuff, here's a quick primer. Launching rockets into space has been the job of governments, i.e. USA, Russia, China, etc.  Around 2004, a guy name Elon Musk, decided to start a company called SpaceX to develop rockets with a vision of going to Mars.  His single engine Falcon 1 rockets did not do well, but the company learned a lot from them and developed the highly successful, nine engine, Falcon 9 rocket which as a very good safety record.  But it was not big enough to go to Mars, so Elan envisioned strapping three of them together to lift the heavy payloads into space that would be needed for a mission to Mars.

Today that rocket flew for the first time.

I wish we had more and better pictures, but we were so captivated by the launch that taking pictures was secondary.  I tried to take a video of it (and of the landing of the two side rockets) but that also failed. So you'll have to do with these two pictures that Mary managed to take, and view one of the many Youtube videos about this historic launch.
Both of use have wanted to see a rocket launch for a long time. This one just worked out perfectly for us, even though it meant leaving St Pete Beach by 7 am, passing through two traffic jams to arrive at the Max Brewer causeway east of Titusville around 10:15 am, grabbing an available parking place and then waiting for 5 1/2 hours for the three-time delayed launch at 3:45 pm, just 15 minutes before the end of the launch window.
It's been quite a day, but overall a very successful one!

Go SpaceX!!!

Florida Day 3

Our day started out with a drive to Sarasota to have lunch at Yoder's restaurant with Irene Chmura, a former DTE co-worker who retired several years ago and now winters south of Sarasota.  Yoder's is an Amish restaurant with home made food and delicious pies.  We had a great conversation and a good lunch with slices of pie for dessert. YUM!

On our way back north we stopped by the Apollo Beach power plant where manatees gather in the winter due to the warm water output from the coal plant.  They have a nice (free) visitor center there.  We had one manatee swim right below us. They also had a petting tank for string rays there.  We walked down another path and saw that there were dozens of manatees up closer to the power plant and farther from the visitor center.
After we got back to the motel we sat in the sun and walked the beach for a while. 

It's been a good day.  And hopefully tomorrow is spectacular as we plan to join 100,000+ to watch the initial launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy.  

Florida - Day 2

We enjoyed another relaxing day while reading about all the snow back at home in Dearborn. Meanwhile with rain predicted for later in the day here, we headed to the Seaside Bird Sanctuary which we like to visit when in the area. It has no admission charge but an opportunity for a free will donation. 

It was nice to see, and they have quite a variety of birds, including some owls and a lot of pelicans and other local sea birds.  Those that have injuries are treated and released unless they need continued care, which they are given.  All of this is done through donations.  While we were at the sanctuary, we also took a walk on the beach. 

The rain started after we got back to our room but our plan was to stay in and watch the Super Bowl.
Tomorrow is a trip to Sarasota to have lunch with a former co-worker at DTE who now winters a bit south of here.   And sunshine is predicted!

Florida - Day 1

Today was our travel day for a week at St Pete Beach.  We're staying at the Plaza Beach Motel, a place my parents found a couple of decades ago, and both my sister and I have kept up the tradition of staying here.  It has been quite a few years since Mary and I have been here, but we're already enjoying it.

One thing we really like is that it is right on the beach, so you just walk out and there you are!  After we checked in we took a walk on the beach down to the Don Cesar Hotel.  It was about 1 mile,  but listening to the waves made it seem a lot closer.  What a nice start to our vacation.



After that we walked across the street to Chick-fil-a, then to a Publix store to buy groceries for the week since our room comes with kitchenette.  Looking forward to a relaxing week.