20th Anniversary on Marco Island

Wow...it's hard to believe its been 20 years since that lovely morning at Smithfield Church when Glenn and I got married. We are so lucky to have each other.

I could not have asked for a better husband. In fact, he completely blew me away with my anniversary gift this year. Glenn gave me a small jump drive. On it, I discovered that he had been making little videotaped messages for me every year around Christmas since 1999!

What a treasure! Each year, he tells me a little about what happened that year, along with photos set to music. The technology has certainly changed, since he started out using his dad's old Super 8 video camera, but has now progressed to his iPhone.

Anyway, I can't believe he's kept this a secret for 14 years (!!), but at last I get to see all these old tapes along with some very heartfelt messages. I've also gotten to see a younger Glenn, along with Buddy and Tocchet, and Maxine and Mojo as puppies. We've been watching a year or two together every night. So far, we're up to 2006. It's priceless. (I said, "Crap, I have nothing to give you that would possibly compete with this....")

Definitely the most romantic gift ever. But we did have a wonderful trip to Marco Island on top of that. We didn't make this sandcastle, but it seemed like a good picture to take to introduce our trip.

 We stayed at the Marriott Marco Island Resort & Spa, which was gorgeous. We had a great room with a balcony on the 10th floor. This was our view.

There's a big fountain at the entrance when you come in.

And proof we were actually there...

But there really isn't too much to tell regarding our activities. We walked on the beach every morning and evening collecting shells (I have never seen so many shells on a beach!) and spent the afternoons lying at the pool or reading on the balcony. We also had a couple of spa appointments on Saturday. It was lazy and lovely.

Here's the view from the hotel lobby.

And here are some shots of that fabulous pool area.

And here is the beach.

We found out these thatched shelters are called Chickee Huts.

On our last night, we were treated to an amazing sunset. We plopped down in the sand and stayed for the whole show. Glenn took a zillion pics so it was a challenge to narrow down the ones for this post, but these are nice.

 

We had a wonderful time from sunrise....

to sunset...

  

Thanks for all your well wishes for us! Here's to the next 20 years, and the 20 after that!

These Trees Are the Bee's Knees!

Wow...that headline just came to me. Please hold your applause.

Anyway, continuing our weekend adventures, we decided to go to Safety Harbor. It's a charming little area, where we would love to live, except that we can't find a house there we like that's for sale. Yet.

According to Wikipedia, Safety Harbor is the home of the historic Espiritu Santo Springs, or "Springs of the Holy Spirit", a natural mineral spring. Its waters were given this name in 1539 by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, who was supposedly searching for the mythical "Fountain of Youth".

Similar to Bedford Springs, The Safety Harbor Resort and Spa grew out of these springs - people visited for their supposed healing properties.

This is outside the resort. And a cute little shot down their main street.

Safety Harbor does in fact have a little harbor, as well as a nice fishing pier and a little park.

But the true star of Safety Harbor is the Baranoff Oak, named after Salem Baranoff, a doctor who owned the Safety Harbor Resort and Spa.. This live oak tree is the oldest tree in Pinellas County and is estimated to be between 300 and 500 years old.

Here's Glenn in front of it to give a better sense of scale.

They estimate the tree weighs...wait for it....800 tons! They built platforms to help support some of its giant branches.

Look, they also have a little gazebo in the town square.

And sir, just for you, we took a picture of this giant century plant just growing in someone's yard!

But more history. While in Safety Harbor, we went to Philippe Park (named after Count Odet Philippe who supposedly introduced the grapefruit to Florida).  Philippe Park is home to an Indian temple mound, built by the Tocobago Indians and perhaps the only true hill we've seen.

In fact, they say that Philippe and his family survived a storm surge in the 1800s by getting to the top of this mound as the tides rushed in.

It does provide a lovely view of the surrounding vista.

And again, you just can't believe how beautiful the trees are here.

So that's your little tour for now. Next weekend is our anniversary trip to Marco Island, so we'll be sure to report back.

Al Lopez Park

Saturday morning, Glenn told me that Mojo had requested we all go on a walk at Al Lopez Park. This hidden gem is about 2 miles from our house and is off a major highway in Tampa; you would never know it was there.

There is a paved path along two lakes, as well as lots of little paths through the woods. There is also a big grassy area in the middle with playgrounds, pavilions, ice cream trucks, bouncy houses and zumba classes. But the woods is prettier.

As you can see, its a beautiful walk. Here's me and Deucie.

And a view of one of the lakes.

It was a little flooded on Saturday. We were joking that this is where the alligators eat lunch.

There was a good bit of swampland too. (We looked for alligators, but didn't see any.)

It was just beautiful. We ended up walking for 2 miles. We also saw bat houses, birds, and some sort of ninja group who fought with sticks.

Glenn is thinking this may be his new hobby.  Ninja warrior.

Anyway, I will have another post shortly, but I figured I'd show you our local jungle.

Bye for now!

Waterspout!!!

So hey, my boss is telling me that Pittsburgh is getting some crazy weather today - sounds like a lot of rain and flooding. Yikes! Hope you all stay safe.

It is sunny and beautiful here, but I forgot to tell you folks about some exciting weather we had on Monday. It actually made the national news...I saw it on "Good Morning America".

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you the Tampa waterspout.

This puppy developed over the bay and surprisingly came inland. No major damage, but lots of shingles blown off roofs, etc.

This happened in the next county over (we're in Hillsboro, this occurred in Pinellas) - around the Oldsmar / Safety Harbor area - a very nice neighborhood we've visited.

Glenn's boss said she and her husband pulled off the road to watch it...it hovered around for a long time.

I stole these pictures off the web. Pretty amazing pics though...

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Dangerous yet beautiful. Atta way, Florida!

The Birthday Revelry Continues...

Glenn seems determined to milk his birthday for all it's got, so we had another celebratory day yesterday.

During the day, we drove to St. Petersburg to see if it would be a good place to live and check out the drive for a possible commute. It's a nice little city and we had a lovely lunch downtown at a place called the Red Mesa Cantina.

Their outdoor patio was beautiful, surrounded by a "fence" of bamboo.

We peeked at a couple of houses that I had liked online, but did not like as much in person. I neglected to tell you that we took a trip to Lutz a few days ago (pronounced Lootz) and totally fell in love with a house in the most wonderful, gorgeous neighborhood - full of giant oak trees with Spanish moss. It is in a place called the "Silver Forest" (sounds like a fairy tale). So please all keep your fingers crossed that our house sells soon (and the house we like doesn't sell) so Glenn can buy it for my birthday.

Anyhow, last night we took advantage of the gift certificate Mom and Dad gave Glenn for his birthday, and went to the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City (pronounced EEE bore). This panorama shows that the restaurant is a full city block.

It is very ornate and has lots of Spanish tile indoors and out, and has been in Tampa since 1905.

The inside has tons of different dining rooms, but here is where we were seated. Their wine list was thicker than a phone book, so we ended up getting something the waiter recommended.

We opted to pay the additional whopping $6 a person to see the dinner show, which features Flamenco dancers. We were seated right next to the stage and it was a lot of fun watching the dancers and hearing the Spanish music and lots of foot stomping. Ole'!

I tried to take some pics, but it was tricky because the lighting was weird, and of course, the dancers wouldn't stand still for me.

Except in this one...(atta way, girls!)

So anyway, thanks for the great dinner and show! We had a lot of fun. Hope you all are having a great weekend too!