I Wonder as I Wander…

It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write anything and it wasn’t because we weren’t traveling, it was because I was too darn busy during the travels and getting ready for the next one.

But we did spend five days in beautiful Tampa, FL in April. Bob is part of the Nat’l Bus. Assn. And they have their convention so it ends the Saturday before Easter—so we have spent Easter in some really great places around the US (Boston, Nashville, New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, San Antonio—just to name a few). Since the convention is around Easter, many times our kids would have a few days off school—so we would pull them out of school for a couple extra days and spend a week in one of these great cities. Bob would go to his meeting and the kids and I would wander around, visiting museums and other great places.

Well, this year his meeting was in Tampa, Fl. We went down there on Tuesday and checked in to the Marriott Waterside. It was a beautiful place that included a marina and lots of places to walk right alongside of the bay. We had a cute little white Dodge Vibe. When we checked in, they said we were on the 10th floor. Since we have been trying to walk and do steps to get ready for our trip to Italy—we decided we would take the stairs most of the time.

We did the steps at least two and sometimes three or four times each day. We go up the big open staircase to the third floor--it's 79 steps and then get in the stairwell and go from 3rd to 10th floor--it's 105 steps. I can do both without stopping--although I'm gasping for air at the top. You’d think after five days it would have been a lot easier—but it was still a lot of work.

Kara came down earlier because her boyfriend, Paul, was staying at his mothers, helping her get ready to move. Tuesday evening, we went over there—met Betty and then all went out for dinner together. It was very good. The road that we drive on is right along the bay—there is a great walkway that was just full of people biking, walking, or jogging. After dinner, we went back to Betty’s and had home-made key lime pie (Kara had made it—yummy). Then Paul and some of his friends were paying in a club at an ‘open-mike’ night. We enjoyed hearing them play and meeting Paul’s friends. One friend who plays the drums will get so ‘into it’ that he starts growling.

Wednesday, we went for a walk along the bay and spotted a grocery store—so walked over there and got some water, fruit, juice and pop. Why is it that the more expensive the hotel—the more you have to pay for things like internet service, parking and no continental breakfasts? On the way back about three people stopped us to ask where we had found the market. Bob helped with registration and I worked from the hotel room. We ate lunch in an outside café at the hotel. I went to the opening session with Bob. Later, for supper we walked over to a seafood restaurant and had supper outside. I love eating outside! We called it a night pretty early.

On Thursday, Kara came to hang out with me. Paul dropped her off early and she came up to the room. We went looking for some Chai Tea, but the Starbucks was all out of Chai, so we just wandered around the hotel a bit. I had to work and Kara took a nice long nap. We ate outside again and got a fair amount of sun. Kara had a massage. Then we picked up Paul and went out to Clearwater Beach. It was too cold to swim, but we walked along the beach and waded. The sand is just like sugar—so fine and feels so good on the feet.

Friday, I had a massage in the morning and it felt so good. Then in the afternoon, I had a facial. I had never had one before because I have rosacea, and have always been nervous about doing anything to my face, in case it might really flare up. But they had a special just for people with rosacea. It was really nice. She put stuff on it, then put warm clothes, then misted it, more stuff, a warm light, more mist, more stuff. It was an hour of just pampering my face. I’m sure I was extremely beautiful!

Paul is working at a Church that is building a new sanctuary, so we went out there on Saturday to volunteer. Bob build a couple window frames and Kara and I did some wiring, painting doorframes, and then a lot of clean up, since on Sunday a lot of people like to tour through the building project and they wanted it to look as nice as possible. The church is going to be beautiful—I hope I get a chance to see it when it’s totally finished.

We got tickets for the Tampa Bay Lightening Hockey Game. So, after Cold Stone Ice Cream (a tradition), we got ready for the game. It was a great game—Tampa got off to a 2-0 lead, but then Carolina tied it up and it went into overtime. Tampa scored with 10 seconds to go.

Easter Sunday we had to leave for the cities at 6 pm, so we had time to go to Church—at Paul’s Church—which was fun, because his group played and sang for the service. When it was over, we went back to Betty’s where we had the traditional ham dinner. It was wonderful to have a great Easter Dinner with family. Since we travel so much over Easter—we don’t get to do that very often. Betty’s quasi-cousin, Jean was there and she and Betty are both fun-loving, fire-crackers!

We flew back to the cities, where Ross picked us up from the airport. We dropped by Ross’s and stuck in a load of clothes in the washer. Since Applebee’s has 2 for 1 appetizers—we went there for a late supper. Got back and finished unpacking and washing clothes and repacked because we were off in the morning again…..