Annapolis, Maryland

Mary and I took a quick trip to Annapolis last week to hear Mary's favorite (living) singer, Mack Bailey, provide the music for a 2 hour cruise on Chesapeake Bay on a 75' schooner. It's neat to be able to do things like this when you can pick up some great travel bargains.
Here are pictures of our day in Annapolis and evening cruise. A storm had rolled through just before our cruise so we had clean air, nice winds, and very enjoyable temperatures after sweltering in 100 degree heart that afternoon.

Mack Bailey Cruise

as well as our visit to the Naval Academy the next morning.

Naval Academy

We had a great time, even if it was a short trip.

Back Home from Florida

We had a very nice extended weekend in Orlando, even if it was unseasonably hot and humid here. We roasted Sunday at Epcot, moving in and out of the air conditioned areas. We did just about everything we wanted, saving the movies at Canada and France for Tuesday night.
My conference was very informative and the move to the Dolphin on Tuesday went well although I must admit driving around Disneyworld can be very confusing. It was nice to be able to take a short boat ride to Epcot Tuesday evening. We saw the Canada movie - featuring Martin Short - then decided to see the France movie after we ate dinner. Dinner at the Italy pavilion was superb! And just as we left the restaurant, the fireworks show started; great "Disney": timing for them to wait for us. After the show we found the show at France was closed, but that's how it goes. We caught a boat back to our hotel and called it a night.
Today the conference wrapped up, we said "good bye" to the Dolphin, had a now-traditional Waffle House lunch and headed for the airport. So now we are waiting for our flight back home where a few hectic days await us.
But we have great anniversary memories to fall back on...

Off to Orlando

Last Monday I was approved for a 3 day Gartner conference in Orlando so this week has been a flurry of travel arrangements. Fortunately I was able to still get a great airfare so Mary can come along. The conference hotel could only book us Saturday - Monday so on Tuesday we move over to the Dolphin hotel just outside of Disneyworld! That works out great - we get to stay there for our anniversary and plan to eat at the Italian pavilion that evening. Works out great!
So we're sitting at DTW now, having volunteered to be bumped to a 3:30 flight. Since there's a pretty good chance we'll be traveling on Delta in the next year, the vouchers will certainly come in handy.
We plan to spend Sunday at Epcot and I'll be busy with my conference 8am - 5 pm Monday and Tuesday, then until noon on Wednesday. We return Wednesday evening.
And we have a few more trips in the works for this summer so stay tuned.

A St Petersberg Day

Today we spent relaxing and seeing some sights around town.

After a relaxing morning, we headed to Indian Springs where we visited a local bird sanctuary, which cares for injured birds. Many of them were fairly friendly and not afraid of people.

After that we took a walk through a mangrove "swamp". Here you can see two birds in and among the mangrove trees.

We talked about heading to Tarpon Springs to see sponge farming, but decided that would take too long so we visited The Pier in downtown St Petersberg before heading back to our motel. Once back, we enjoyed the sunny afternoon by having lunch on our porch, followed by more beach walking (which we will miss greatly after today), a Waffle House supper, and more Olympics tonight.
Tomorrow we have a leisurely morning before heading to the airport for a mid-afternoon flight back to Detroit. It's been a nice break, but time to head back.
In other travel news we did change our summer plans to take an Alaska cruise instead of the planned British Isles cruise. This cruise visits many ports we had not seen in 2005 and we are both looking forward to it very much!

Sunny Day at the Beach

We've had some good beach time today, driving down to Pass-a-Grille point where the first picture was taken, then at Fort DeSoto Park where we got some sun and saw the Skyway Bridge. Temperatures we near 60 so it was very comfortable with the low winds.

A nice relaxing Valentine's day today with an excellent lunch at a local favorite called The Frog Place. Mary and I had eaten at the location in Redington Beach, but now they have a location in St Pete Beach which is much more convenient. We still need to pick a place for this evening, but I'm guessing most restaurants will be very busy so we'll see where we end up. Would be nice to find a good seafood place, tho.

Enjoying the Sun

It may not be "warm", but it is sunny! We took a chilly and windy stroll on the beach already. Since it was low tide a lot of people were shelling - picking up shells. We found 9 matching shells Mary can give to her students when we get back so that takes care of that gift.

There were also a lot of very large, whole clam shells on the beach as you can see in this picture.

This next picture shows a lot of shells scattered on the beach The large black spots are the large shells.

As long as you are in the sun but out of the wind it's very pleasant. But get in the shade wand wind, and B-r-r-r-r!

Next up is shopping for groceries and seeing the area.

Time to get warm!

We are doing a quick jaunt to what should be a sunny and warm Gulf Coast beach in Florida. But this year "global cooling" is showing its muscle and then temperatures won't be anything close to the low 70's they traditionally are in mid February. But it will still be sunny, a lot warmer there than here, and it will be a nice break from the snow. Walking the beach will still be nice, hearing the waves, and feeling the sand on our feet. Ahhh....

While we are registered for a July British Isles cruise, we are seriously considering a switch to a very appealing Alaska cruise. I'm sure we'll be talking about that and may be making the switch next week once we get back.

Gotta keep those vacation plans coming!