Across the state of Florida, and why I hate turnpikes.

So today we left our friends Kim and Dave in Tampa, and headed to Zephyr Hills to meet my aunt and uncle at their winter location - they had just arrived the day before, and it was nice to see them. We had a nice visit and then headed off for Hobe Sound.
After driving across the state through a few orange groves and some crazy weather, we made it to Hobe Sound.

We then drove a few hours, in the worst rain I've seen in a long time.  WTF? Quite a drive

Central Florida has a lot of orange groves, and I'm pretty sure we drove through all of them, very similar to Apple Groves in Eastern Washington.   I think the most surprising was when we were driving and it SMELLED like orange juice, as we passed the OJ plant.  Unbelieveable.

We made it to Hobe Sound and our friends, and decided to try out the Oregon cheese we had brought for our evening. Can we say awesome?  Plus, the awesome Oregon cheese board.

So we had a nice evening after we arrived with some steak dinner and some veggies and homemade bread!  Have to love the dinner!

Then off to bed and waiting for the Rose Bowl tomorrow.

A slight detour and some dinner

We were headed back to the Trachtenberg Inn and since we were going right by the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, we decided to stop and check it out.    Really not much different than Las Vegas, crowded, smokey and some excellent restaurants.  We stopped and had an adult beverage at the lobby bar to do some people watching, and came across this amazing Christmas tree

Yes, those are guitars on the tree.  And yes they are real.

Pretty clever really!

We then really headed back for the Inn, and had to feed the fierce beast when we got there.  Sophie is a cutie golden retriever who lives there.  She's ferocious at squirrels.

Then it was time for some dinner - a local italian place which was EXCELLENT.  So, if you are ever in Tampa, check out Zerillos!  yum yum!

Then back home for some college football and blog catchup!  Tomorrow we are off to the Atlantic Coast for the next phase of our adventure.

Lazy Days, the RV mecca.

As many of you know, Chris and I purchased a motorhome earlier this year.  It looks like this.

We had many fun adventures last summer, and are looking forward to next summer.

Anyway, the largest RV dealership in the US (maybe the world!) is just outside of Tampa, and since it was raining, we decided to take a drive over and check it out, since we'd been seeing it on TV.   This place is UNBELIEVABLE.  I think they must have about a gazillion RVs for sale.

Right out in front, they had a Georgetown very similar to ours, so we checked it out, among a few others.  We then went to the RV accessory store and came across the best sign ever.

We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look at all the stuff.   We then decided to head back towards the house and figure out some dinner.

Evil Bunny, Clearwater Beach, Frenchy's and some rain

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain hitting the window - was I really in Florida, or had I been imagining the plane ride yesterday?  No cats, and we are sleeping in the evil bunny room, so I think we are in Tampa....The Trachtenberg Inn has many amenities, not the least of which is the "Evil Bunny Room."
Evil Bunny room is the nickname for the guest room at Kim and Dave's house, as it was a child's nursery prior to them buying the house.  Here's what we are talking about.

The evil bunny

The shifty squirrel

The pack of others

See, scary, aren't they?  Plotting to kill us all I am sure.  It's a good think I don't scare easily!

After finishing yesterday's blog and then getting a shower, we headed off for Clearwater Beach.

Lucky for us, the rain appears to have stopped for now.  We then headed for the beach and Frenchy's Rockaway.

Crowded as usual, we got a table out on the patio and had ourselves some good lunch (jerk chicken!  Yum!) and managed to finish up just as the rain came back and we vacated the patio to head to our next fun activity!

Rental Cars and the Yummy House

Flight landed, claimed the "early" luggage in the office and waited about 7 minutes for the other piece of luggage to arrive, and then headed for the rental counter.....

Hertz is where our car was from this time - it was (notice the "was") a lovely red Chevy Cruze with Arkansas plates.   I will attest, I have NEVER seen a car quite this beaten up before that smelled like old smokey mess inside.  I was taking my photos of the outside, and we asked the counter to get someone to come over and mark up the form and sign it.  I was a bit concerned since we will be returning the car to Fort Lauderdale and I don't want to hassle with pre-existing damage, so we got them to switch us to another lovely red Chevy Cruze with Florida plates.  I'm shocked there were 2 in the same row actually.....Anyway we drove off and headed for our friend Kim and Dave's house.

We safely arrived at their house, hung around for a few hours and then headed for a Chinese restaurant called (you guessed it) the Yummy House

Food was excellent and the company was great as well!  Then back to the house for a few laughs and beverages and off to bed!  Long day!

Willy's, Atlanta, Gate Leeches, Luggage and my famous hat

Our plane landed about 25 minutes early, so we had a nice 2 hour leisurely layover.  It was just about lunchtime according to my stomach, so we found a few restaurants in the B concourse.
Speaking of Atlanta, this airport is so amazingly crowded, it's unbelieveable, especially in the middle of the day during holiday travel.
We navigated our way to the B concourse from where we landed in A, and checked out our options.  TGIFridays?  nope, a line out the door and not that good.  Some random weird book cafe?  not that inviting either, so we checked out our "fast" options and selected Willy's Mexican Cantina.  I know, weird, right?  Well, next time you have some time to kill in the B concourse of Atlanta's airport, please try this place - limited menu, tacos, burritos, quesadillas and salads, but all assembled as you order (a la Subway or Chipoltle) and pretty tasty too!  Sineloa chicken burrito and chips.  Very much hit the spot - it's not cheap ($7 for a burrito) but worth it in my mind.  So check it out.

Next, we headed for our gate, B7.  We stop off at the Delta club to hit the restrooms, and the nice man at the counter said "there is a much larger club near gate B25, that is closer to your gate"  What? oh, now you are at B29!  Seriously in the 5 minute walk, we had changed gates.  So we thanked him, turned and walked back the way we came to the other Delta club.  I think we were there 20 minutes, but it's nice to be able to sit down and not take all your stuff to the bathroom.

Gate leeches, these have to be my favorite.  A whole crowd of people hang around right in front of the gate, pretty much not allowing anyone who is actually boarding to get by.  Have to love it every single time.

Delta tried to do a good deed, they put my luggage on the earlier TPA flight, but somehow missed Chris' so looks like we will be waiting for us and looking for mine,  Hope it doesn't walk away by itself.....!

Lastly, I am wearing my panama hat I purchased in Puerto Rico last time (remember this? Scroll about halfway down for the descriptions) And apparently it's quite fetching, as I've had multiple tell me "awesome hat"

Okay, have to get this finished so we can land!  Off to Tampa!

What life was like this morning.....

Well, we got up at 3am, which was AWESOME.  Especially when you didn't go to bed until 11pm.

If you've read my blogs before, you'll remember I HATE getting up early, and I really don't enjoy early mornings and I really stink at packing anything earlier than the last minute.  So far, I haven't thought of anything I have forgotten, but we'll see.

This morning at the airport was interesting.   Check-in was a breeze, then we saw the security line.....practically back at the storefronts!
Now remember, we usually take the red eye flights, and security is not usually to crowded at 10pm. So, this was interesting to say the least!  But TSA Pre was here to save the day, and there was no one in the Pre line, so up we walked, dropped our bags off (no laptop/3 oz bag/shoe/coat removal nonsense) walked through the security lane and picked it up on the other side.  If it took 45 seconds from ticket check to bag pickup I'd be surprised.  AWESOME.

So, it's 450am, and we are ready to go for a 620am flight.  The Delta lounge doesn't even open until 5am, for crying out loud.  Hung around for a bit and people watched, then went to the lounge for some breakfast before getting on the flight.

Pretty quiet otherwise, some weird people on the flight but pretty uneventful so far.  Looks like we will be arriving a bit early (30 minutes at least) so we must have one HECK of a tailwind today.

And then - off we go!!!

So, I have been trying to get this blog started and it's been complete lunacy.   Now we are on our way, with a giant sigh of relief!

And here are our plans for the next few weeks - (in no particular order)

1. Hang around in Florida and see some friends
2. Get a pedicure (it's vacation, after all)
3. Eat some good food
4. Take a walk on the beach (or several beaches)
5. Have a few adult beverages
6. Watch some DUCK FOOTBALL!!!!
7. Make sure to be on time to the ship!

The ship leaves on Friday Jan 2 from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale - this time it is the Celebrity Equinox - very similar to our trip last year on Celebrity Eclipse.  Here's a map of where we will be going this time.

 And, the itinerary by day of where we will be when, just in case anyone was wondering.

Day 10 (January 11) is my birthday so I am looking forward to that!   Other than that, we'll see what happens once it happens.