Thursday, June 9, 2011

Treasure Island

Wednesday, June 8 - Today we went to the beach -- Treasure Island beach at St. Petersburg this time.  We picked up Doug and Barbara and then drove over the big bridges to St. Pete.  We got a late start so it was noon when we got there -- we had to stop at a beach store for a snorkel for Tyler and a noodle and boogie board for me (I like flotation devices when I'm in the ocean).  Then we went over to the Publix grocery store deli to get sandwiches, so by the time we got our lawn chairs down to the beach, it was about noon.  We at lunch first, then hit the water.  This is a beautiful sandy beach, and the water was wonderful.


A recent addition to this beach is a huge inflatable slide, called a Hippo.  We didn't think we needed that adventure, but there were a few people using it (for a fee).
This beach did not have the shade like the one we went to in Sarasota, but there was no seaweed.  The water was a little murky, however, so snorkeling didn't work.  But we saw some dolphins as soon as we got there, swimming close in (where we would have been swimming had we been in the water).  We saw a total of 5 dolphins swim through here, and when we were in the water, several small needle fish swam right by us (Joe even touched one).  We lasted about 3 hours, then decided to call it a day.  We all got a little sun, but we tried to keep lotioned up, so hopefully we won't be suffering tomorrow.  Joe put his hat on the last time he went out, to keep his bald spot from burning.

 Florida has so many wonderful beaches that, even though this one was busy, there was plenty room for us.  

Tyler is down to his last few days in Florida, but he enjoyed this one at the beach.  We went back to the house, and Bridgette and her mother made delicious chicken enchiladas for dinner.  I think tomorrow is a day of rest for Joe and me, although there are a few things on our to-do list here that we haven't done yet.  We think we've been to-doing a little too-much.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Lake Okeechobee

Tuesday, June 7 - Today Tyler went to work/school with Bridgette, and Joe and I took a road trip in the Explorer, across Central Florida to Lake Okeechobee.  I'm happy to report that the Explorer is running fine now, after we spent $2248 at the Ford dealer (it had multiple issues) when we got to Tampa.  Central Florida is a landscape of flat marshy ground, lots of jungle-type growth in some areas, then fields of watermelons, sugar cane, etc., and then pastures full of cattle.  Lots of cattle raised in Florida.  We found a little restaurant out in the middle of nowhere for a great "blue plate special" type lunch, and finally arrived at Lake Okeechobee, probably around 2:00.  We went over the first access road we saw, and could see the lake in the distance, but mostly this was just a little bay with a boat ramp, with a lot of marsh between it and the big lake. 

 You really can't see the big lake in the background, beyond the green, and we never really found an access point that took us right to the lake.  We did see a flock of flamingos by one of these pools, and a couple of sandhill cranes.



 There was a second boat ramp here, but it was out of the water (there was just a little scummy pond at the base), and also a pier that we walked out on.  There were two State air boats parked here, but we never saw them launched.


We saw 3 alligators in the water here on the far side, and lots of little fish jumping.  We saw one heron eating a fish, but the camera battery was exhausted by then, so we didn't get that picture. We never heard or saw how low this lake is, but we certainly saw evidence of that all along it.  We drove down the west side of the lake but never really found another access point.   There were lots of canals feeding into or out of the lake, we never figured out which, because the levee was always there.  The northern part of this area was nothing but mobile home court/RV park, one after another, but finally we got into open fields, with cattle grazing right up to the levee.  We pulled off onto one of these canal roads, and found lots of gators here. 





Joe thought I was getting a little close to these, so he took pictures of me taking pictures, in case he had to prove where I was last seen.





There was a stairway/dock sitting at the back of this canal in the grass, further proof that the water here is very low.
There were 2 guys out on this canal, in a small boat, throwing out a net to catch bait fish (Bridgette called it a catch net, I think).  And a gator headed right toward them when they threw the net in the water the first time.  The gator went under, so we didn't see how close he got to the boat -- we figured he thought they threw something in the water that he could eat.



We watched these guys for a little while (we were on one of those little roads that probably was for authorized personnel only), then headed on down the road.  By now, we are looking in every puddle of water.  And, we were rewarded.  I saw a gator laying up on the bank, sunning himself.  Joe turned the car around and we went back to watch this big guy.
He laid there for a little while, then turned around and crawled back in the water.  We saw two other gators here in this canal (you can barely see the head, right off the tip of this point).  They are harder to see in the water than I expected.

Finally, we decided we need to make some miles, so we headed for home.  I would guess our little road trip was about 250 miles; we got home about 6:30.  It was nice to come home to a meal on the table -- Bridgette and Tyler made nice chicken salads for dinner.  It was a good day, and I hope I don't dream about gators tonight!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Days of Rest

Sunday-Monday.  Finally, we get to catch our breath.  Sunday, we all went out to breakfast at a restaurant called Granny's, then John headed off to Key West.  Bridgette did chores all morning (vacuuming, laundry, dishes), while I got the Blog caught up.  Then Bridgette and Tyler went over to her parents' house to go swimming in the afternoon, so Joe and I opted to stay home and watch the NASCAR race.  It was good to get some rest.

Monday morning Bridgette went off to work, and we took Tyler over to her parents again so he could do some yard work (and swim).  Joe and I went to grocery store and Walmart, and I got our laundry caught up, but all in all, it was a nice, restful day.  It was my turn to cook dinner, which I had on the table when they got home (Bridgette stopped by and picked up Tyler), and then she got her lecture ready for tomorrow's classes.  She's subbing for another teacher this week (her boss), so she had a little homework of her own to do.  John checked in from Key West - he had a full day of meetings, followed by his own homework and social hour.  He would probably like to have some of our restful day, but it won't be this week. 

We made some reservations for our trip down to Key West over the July 4 weekend, so we are beginning to make plans for our departure.  We are leaving here on Sunday, June 26, spending a couple days in the Everglades and then Key Largo, and then on to Key West.  John and Bridgette are planning on joining us at Key West on July 1.  When they leave the Keys on July 4 and head home, we will start working our way up the east coast of Florida, and eventually head west at some point. 

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Kennedy Space Center

Thursday - Saturday.  Thursday morning we picked up the RV from Doug and Barbara's and began the loading process.  Since Tyler abandoned us, Joe and I had to do it all by ourselves, which requires several trips in and out of the house, up and down the stairs.  But we got it done, and left about 4:30 to hook up with Bridgette and Tyler at a truck stop on I-4.  They got there about 5:50 and we ate a quick meal in the RV, then took off to the East Coast.  We saw one alligator in a pond alongside the road, and just as we arrived at Cape Canaveral, Joe pointed out a dolphin in a bay right beside the road.  We took I-4 over to Kissimmee, then took toll roads over to the coast, trying to get there as early as we could.   But the tolls were $2.25 and $3.25, and I think we hit 4 of them, one about every 8-10 miles, so Joe said we would not be coming home this way.  It was 144 miles over there.  We got to the RV park about 8:30, and our campsite was along the back fence, just over the wooden walkway from the ocean.  We got the RV set up, AND THEN we walked over to walk on the beach.  It was just about dusk, but we could see well enough to walk the beach.  And it was a beautiful sight.

There was a dead sea turtle that had washed up on the beach, and it was huge.  It was gone the next morning, and they were cleaning the beach with a tractor, so we don't know if it was picked up, or washed back out with the tide.  Bridgette got up early to run 4 miles on the beach, so I walked over with her and enjoyed a short walk by myself.  She ran down to Cocoa Beach and back, and loved every minute of it (yes, we know she's nuts).
We went back to the RV and got the rest of our crew out of bed, then headed to Kennedy Space Center.  Along the way, we saw another alligator -- I got a picture of the pond it was in, but I think I missed the gator.
Throughout the day at the space center, we saw a few more alligators in ponds.  The space center is in a wildlife refuge area so the gators cannot be hunted (it is also a bird sanctuary, and there were all kinds of sea birds around). 

We bought tickets for a bus tour, but we had a little time so we joined a tour guide at the Rocket Garden.
The bus tour took us past several of the buildings and we could see some of the launch pads in the distance, but we did not get to actually walk into the buildings or onto the launch pads.  Here's one of the launch pads in the distance, and Tyler wearing his new cap and sunglasses.  He decided on a University of Tampa cap instead of one from Tillie's since he thinks he will be a student here in a couple of years.

On our way to to another stop, we crossed the runway used by the crawler transporter to move the rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad.


The crawler, on its return from the launch pad when it was empty, moves at 0.9 mph, but none of us remember what its speed was when it was loaded with the rocket (something like 0.5). 

From the bus and also from one of our stops, we could see the Atlantis already on the launch pad for the July 8 launch.  It was quite a sight.  All of the spectator positions are at least 3.4 miles away from the launch pads because of the force of the lift-off.  So when the astronauts are out there for the final countdown, they are truly all by themselves, with not another single person within the 3.4 miles radius.

Joe loves this space stuff, so I knew he would like to be in a photo with the rocket in the background.  I'm not sure we won't have to come back here for the July 8 launch, if that date holds and if we can find a campsite (the one we stayed at this time is already full).  That campground, Jetty Park, was really nice, and I think it is the closest campground, at least the closest beach campground, to the Space Center.

The VAB is where the rockets are assembled.  When Joe and I were here, in 1974 or 1975, we actually got to walk inside this building, but this time we could only see it from a distance.  The dark gray panels on the right side are actually seven doors that roll up so they can bring the fully-assembled rocket out.

After the bus tour, we took in a couple of video presentations, including one really neat one about landing on the moon, then Joe and Tyler got in line for the Shuttle Launch Experience, a ride that simulates the last 8 minutes of pre-launch.  Bridgette and I opted out of this adventure, but the boys survived.  We walked through some of the exhibits and, of course, the gift shop.  This is the Command Module from Apollo 14.

We finally left the space center AND THEN headed to Cocoa Beach -- her co-workers had told her to check out the pier and Ron Jon's Surf Shop, so we did that.  The pier has shops and restaurants (one with live music), then ends with a fishing pier. 

The beach right here was very busy, looked like a fun place for the younger crowd.  And a Disney cruise ship passed by on its way to wonderful places -- it really made me wish I saw another cruise in my future.  The campground we are at is just past the cruise terminal, so we are seeing lots of cruise ships.



We left the pier and drove over to the Ron Jon Surf Shop, which encompasses about 2 blocks.  Joe and I were getting tired by then, but we walked into one of the buildings and waited for Tyler to make his purchases.  Then we headed back to camp to fix some dinner.  AND THEN (we've learned that the day is not over when we think it is, there always seems to be an "AND THEN") we walked back over to the beach for a while.  There were a lot of "man of war" type jellyfish on this beach this morning so we had decided not to get in, although at the campground office we were told that these sea jellies were supposed to be moving north.  There didn't seem to be as many washed up on the beach this evening, but we still decided to play it safe and stay out of the water.  Finally, we called it a night.

Saturday morning, we went out for breakfast at a restaurant right on the bay, then checked out of our campsite and headed back to Tampa.  There was a hot rod show just down from the campground, so we got to drive among some of the hot rods on our way to and from breakfast. We saw some pretty cool wheels.  And a Carnival cruise ship was in port this morning.

We stayed off the interstate and avoided the toll roads, but it was 12 miles further coming home and it took us probably an extra half-hour.  Joe did spot a "huge" alligator in a stream along the road, but the rest of us were looking at a convention of big black birds along the highway, so we missed it.  He "said" it was probably 9 foot long and had its mouth open, but we have no way of verifying that.

As soon as we got home, we unloaded the RV and had lunch.  But our day was not over!  We dropped the RV off again at Doug and Barbara's AND THEN headed to Dade City, about 25 miles north of Tampa, to the weekly motocross races (by now, it's about 4:15).  I thought my days of watching motocross races were long over, but I did learn that it was much easier to watch them when I didn't have a son out there racing.  This was a very nice track, and John certainly never got to race on one with such nice, soft dirt to land on, but he has never gotten over his love of the sport, and he and Bridgette come up here pretty often to watch.  

On the way to Dade City, we had to go by John's office to get his computer cord since he is out of town all next week.  This was his second trip to his office today; he drove in this morning to get that cord but forgot to take his office keys with him, so that trip was unsuccessful.  Joe used the travel time to and from to continue educating Tyler in the ways of the world.  He covered English (enunciation), biology (big breasted girls), history (all the wisdom of his years), geography (Arabs and Arabian horses) and social studies (he kept encouraging Tyler to introduce himself to the girls walking by in front of our seats in the bleachers).  (I'm sure Tyler's mother will be waiting on our  doorstep when we get back to Phoenix!)  Since we have a grandson Tyler's age, Joe just knows he is right in tune with the world of a 15-year-old boy.  

We stayed at the races until the big sponsorship race was over, about 10:15, and finally got to come home and crawl into bed.  Although pro-racer Chad Reed lives here in Dade City, he did not show up at the race track, much to Bridgette's disappointment.  

We had put in a lot of miles and hours today.  John has to leave in the morning for Key West for his Gulf Council meetings all week, but I don't imagine Bridgette will let up on us any.  I'm thinking we will need a vacation from this vacation!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Barbeque at Doug and Barbara's House

Wednesday, June 1 - Today we had our first Florida rainstorm -- I think this is the first rain we've seen since we left Indiana.  It hit about 2:00 p.m., and surprisingly, drizzled off and on for a few hours.  We took Tyler to get his sunglasses this morning, then he and Joe went back home to wait for the pest control guy to make his quarterly stop, so I got to venture off on my own to go shopping!  I found my way to the store, and I even got a haircut, but I missed most of the thunderstorm because I was inside a big store.  I did hear one big clap of thunder, but by the time I paid my way out, it was barely raining.  I would have liked to see this once, since there were no tornado warnings attached.

Doug and Barbara had invited us over for a barbeque tonight, so we took our swimsuits and went over there to visit and check on the RV. They have a nice little house in Appollo Beach, only about 10 minutes for JBs.


They also have 5 dogs (little yippers), which they moved from California with.  Here's part of the family.
 
I thought it was a little chilly for swimming, but not everyone was of the same mind.



We had a nice dinner, then back home to get ready for our road trip tomorrow, and for Tyler to finish his grant proposal.  Tyler is going to work with Bridgette (he knows we have to load a bunch of stuff back into the RV), and we are meeting them in Tampa when they get off work.  Our campground at Cape Canaveral (Cocoa Beach) is supposed to be on the beach, so we are hoping for a nice spot for Bridgette's first trip to the Atlantic Ocean since they moved out here.

By the way, Tyler's grant request was approved, and John is going to try to stop by Tillie's today to get him a replacement cap.  Good job, Tyler.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Back to Work for the Working Folks

Tuesday, May 31 - John left for work before the rest of us got out of bed this morning, and Bridgette left about 9:00, so Joe, Tyler and I had a day to ourselves.  John called Bridgette right before she left to tell her that an article they had jointed submitted had just gotten accepted for publication.  This is a big deal to both of them, and it was their first collaborative publication without another professor's name attached.   So, watch for "Spatio-temporal predictive habitat model for juvenile spotted seatrout in Texas estuaries using boosted regression trees," by John T. Froeschke, Ph.D., and Bridgette F. Froeschke, Ph.D., in an upcoming edition of Fisheries Research magazine.  They have a few minor edits to make, and I don't know how long the publication process takes, but I would guess it will be out in the fall.

We had a few errands to run today (Walmart, Sam's Club, fuel, Beall's), then we dropped Tyler off to swim with his Aunt Barbara (Bridgette's mother).  On our way back to the house, we saw a sign to E. G. Simmons County park, so we checked it out.  It's only about  6-7 miles from JBs, and it has a very nice campground with fishing access from the campsites.  We talked to a guy who was fishing for blue crab, then we stopped at the gate and got the scoop on fishing there from the guy working the entrance window.  It sounds very promising for a little fishing, and we could easily bring the RV over here and set it up for a weekend (or through the week while those working folks work).  He told us where there was a bait shop nearby, so we drove over there and talked to that guy about what to fish with, licenses, etc.  We will probably try to do this next weekend, since we are going to be gone this weekend (to Cape Canaveral). 

While we were getting dinner on the table, Tyler made the mistake of saying (kiddingly, I think) that he was bored, which is definitely against the rules at Bridgette's house and on her watch.  So after dinner, he got to help clean up the kitchen, then we all (except Joe) went for a walk to see the neighborhood alligator (we did not find him), then they (except me) ran two laps around the lake on what they call the "racetrack."  When we got back to the house, Bridgette got out the workout mats, and she and Tyler did a p90x workout.   I overheard him sincerely apologizing for ever saying that "b" word, and he has since completely removed it from his vocabulary.




Somehow, John managed to get to get out of this, although she did force him into running the two laps around the racetrack.  I'm thinking there just wasn't enough room for the 3 of them on the floor, since they have added Tyler's bed to the workout room. 

In the meantime, Tyler also got the privilege of writing a grant proposal.  He accidentally left his cap and sunglasses at Pizza Hut (we assume, since we can't find them), and John has always said if he ever has a child, he/she will have to write a grant proposal for anything he/she wants, so they proposed to Tyler that they would consider buying him a new cap if he wanted to submit a grant proposal for it, addressing all of the elements that go into grant writing:  statement of need, budget, goal, etc. (preferably with tables and charts).  So after he finished his P90X workout, he got on the computer, and I see the old Harbrace College Handbook is on the desk next to the computer.  We didn't see much of him the rest of the evening, so I don't know if we are taking him shopping in the morning or not, but I'm pretty sure he thought it would be much easier just to spend his own money on the cap, even though he keeps his wallet closed pretty tight (if he even brings it with him when we go someplace).

 We are on our own again tomorrow, and we are going to dinner and swimming at Doug & Barbara's, so maybe Tyler will get to recuperate some today.  Our car seems to be running really well since we got it out of the shop, so that's good.  We've enjoyed some of Florida's fresh produce (watermelon, tomatoes, cantaloupe), and the weather has been great.  Tiffany shipped us our snorkels and masks that we forgot at home, so we are all set to go back to the beach.  John and Bridgette may have a hard time getting us to leave here.