Thursday

Thom and I started out early-ish this morning so I could get in as much of Florida as I could before I left.  We loaded the kayak and headed out on the Intercoastal Waterway around 8:00am.  Our plan was to kayak down to the kayak rental place so we wouldn't have to load it onto the van.  As we were making our way along the merky, but peaceful, waters a fin popped out of the water. Of course, my immediate reaction was to freak out, however after watching it for a second, we realized it wasn't a shark. It was dolphins! Two dolphins were swimming with us! We watched them for awhile, but they moved on quickly. Shortly after, we saw another one! It was amazing to think that we were out on the waters with dolphins.  Once we arrived at the rental place, the workers said that seeing dolphins was fairly common, but told us there were also manatee in the area.  He said they were rare to see. You would only see their little whiskers pop out of the water for air, but then they'd go about 30 minutes before needing more air.
Once we returned the kayak, we walked the beach back a mile to the condo.  It was so great! The waters were high, but it felt so good to walk with the sand under our feet and the tide rushing over our toes.  There were also lots of shells. I couldn't stop to pick them all up, but if I had a big bag, there were so many full shells to collect.
Once we got back to the condo we decided to get the paddleboard out and take it to the gulf. Thom and I rode double on it. I sat on the front while he stood and paddled. It was very very peaceful. We saw a fin of a dolphin (we hope it was a dolphin) and a long nosed fish (I don't know what it was called...it was about a foot long).  The water was so clear that when Thom jumped off and lost his watch he could see it through the water to swim down and get it.  Then I paddled around for awhile by myself. Dustin and Sarah joined us at the beach then so we relaxed in the water with them for a bit.
Whe it was time to head back to the condo all of us headed back. As I was getting dressed after showering I heard Thom yell from the front balcony that there was a dolphin in the Legacy little cove/boat dock area.  Sure enough we saw one swimming around! Sarah, Thom, and I went down one story to get closer to it (so we were right on the edge of the water. The dolphin swam right up to us! He did a little flip in the water and then headed away. It was crazy to think that we were so close to a wild dolphin.
I am now sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Cedar Rapids. Mom and I will visit Grandpa in the hospital tonight and I'll head to UNI tomorrow, so this is probably my last post. The vacation was wonderful. It was relaxing and fun to be with friends.  Until the Alaska Blog-Becca out! :)

(sorry no photos-I didn't want the camera getting wet!)

Beach Day #2

Today started with a little sleeping in! After that Sarah and I cleaned up the condo a bit before enjoying breakfast of peanut butter and jelly toast.  Then we headed to the beach! Thom went for a jog on the beach while the rest of us floated and swam around.  Around 12:30 we decided to rent a paddleboard so Thom and I headed to a local rental place. We decided to rent a paddleboard and kayak.  Just as we were getting it back to the condo we got caught in a HUGE thunderstorm.  Our fun was held off for about 2 hours while it rained.

Once the rain stopped, Chris, Thom and I went back to the beach to try the paddleboard and kayak. It was a blast. Apparently it wasn't completely done raining when we headed back to the beach because it started to rain again when we got back on the water. Luckily there was no lightning so we stayed on the water (close to the beach).  I cannot even put into words how beautiful and fun it was.  The water was so warm, the sky was beautiful, and the clouds were big. The paddleboard wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be.  The kayak was fun to take around also.

We had to head back to the condo because we had dinner reservations at 5:15 at the Salt Rock Grill. They have a great deal where if you are seated by 5:30 you get a special (less expensive) menu and drink specials.  We got an appetizer of calamari and shrimp. The calamari had a spicy sauce; it was delicious! For dinner I ordered a shrimp pasta with asperagus and Thom got fish (mahi mahi) and chips.  Mine was good, his wasn't as great. His mahi mahi was in very tiny pieces. It was more chips than fish.  Dinner was then finished off with an apple cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream.  A

fter dinner we went to the fishing pier quickly for a photo opt while we were somewhat dressed up. Claude (the herron from last night) joined us!

Thom was very anxious to get back to the beach for more paddleboarding and kayaking.  It was perfect timing. The sun was just going down so we paddled and kayaked into the sunset. It was breathtaking.

After the beach we went to the pool for a quick dip before coming back upstairs to play casino (some card game they know-I packed instead) and Cards Against Humanity.

Tomorrow I leave to head home. I have my master's degree orientation at UNI on Friday so I have to fly back early.  Hopefully Thom and I will get up early to do some more paddleboarding. I'll let you know!

Busch Gardens

Today we headed to Busch Gardens. Chris and Aribi went to the waterpark while Dustin, Sarah, Thom and I went to Busch Gardens. It was a day full of adventure.  We went on a lot of rollercoasters.  The first one we went on was Sheikra.  You go up a big hill and then it levels out. After it levels off you are taken to a 90 degree "cliff" drop.  Just as you are about to go over the edge the coaster stops and you hang there for about 5 seconds before it drops.  It was awesome.  We decided to spend the extra money for the "Quick Passes", which turned out to be really worth it.  We were able to skip some long lines.  We then went to a rollercoaster which was a little more rough. I am too short (in my opinion) for some seats because my head fits right between the shoulder  bars, thus slams my head back and forth between the bars.  This one rattled me a bit, so I didn't ride it a second time when Sarah, Dustin and Thom went back.  Along the way, there were tons of animals you could stop and see. Then we rode the pirate ship (it goes back and forth and then all the way around). I had to close my eyes because after the last rollercoaster, I wasn't feeling the hottest.

Then we headed to lunch. We went to this nice restaurant on the second floor of the colony club.  Our view was of the "safari" so we enjoyed watching zebra and giraffe at lunch. I enjoyed some coconut shrimp with coleslaw, french fries, and hushpuppies.  It was the BEST coconut shrimp I have EVER had.

After lunch, we found out that the rides closed due to lightning (12 miles away). There cannot be weather within 12 miles for the rides to go.  So we went and looked at more animals.  It was a bummer because the weather was perfect out! Overcast, perfect temp, no rain--just lightning-12 miles away! Once the weather started to get worse  (over an hour later) we went to Iceploration. It was really cheesy. It was a story of a little girl and her grandfather who traveled around the world to look at animals.  The animals were portrayed by ice skaters who skated around the stage. The costumes were amazing, but the story was a little lame.

After the show, (it's now been close to 3 hours since they closed the ride) we walked around until the rides were open.  The first ride we rode was the Cheetah Hunt. It was awesome! We did a few more rollercoasters, a train ride, a water ride, and looked at some more animals before picking Chris and Aribi up.

We then came back to the condo for some frozen pizzas, Cards Against Humanity, and walking to the fishing pier.  At the condo's fishing pier we had a herron join us. We named him Claude.  Now it is to bed for a day full of the beach.

Beach Day!!

Yesterday we went to the beach! Thom started the morning by running on the beach. He said it was the 2nd most beautiful run he'd ever been on.  The rest of us enjoyed breakfast made by Sarah.  She made biscuits with peppers, eggs, ham, and cheese inside.  Mine just had ham and cheese. Then the rest of us went to the main office to purchase our tickets for Busch Gardens.  After that, we got ready for the beach! (Luckily it was raining in the morning so we weren't missing out on awesome beach action).

When we arrived at the beach we broke out our newly purchased volleyball, frisbee, body board, and intertube.   It was beautiful;  the sand was soft, the sun was hidden by clouds, the temperature was perfect. We turned Sarah into a mermaid. Then we stayed for about 4-5 hours before heading back to the condo for dinner. We made tacos.  Then we enjoyed a game that Dustin and Sarah brought, Cards Against Humanity. It is exactly like Apples to Apples, but with more inappropriate cards.  It was hilarious.

At 8:10 we headed back to the beach to watch the sunset. It was beautiful!! We met some locals who suggested an island that we go.  The island was formed from an earthquake and it is not a touristy place.  I'm not sure if we'll get the chance to go there, but they highly recommended it.

Then we played mini golf. This was probably the best mini golf course I have ever played. They had live gators that you could feed.  It was pirate themed and was amazing. There were so many trick things you needed to do. Not to brag, but I beat everyone :)

Then we came back to the condo for some daiquiris and more Cards Against Humanity before heading to bed. Today Dustin, Sarah, Thom, and I are headed to Busch Gardens and Chris and Aribi are headed to Adventure Island Waterpark.

Made it to Florida

We made it to Florida! We left Saturday morning with Dustin and Sarah from Osceola to head to Carbondale, IL to meet Chris and Aribi.  It took us about 8 hours so we arrived around 5:00.  We enjoyed some Auten's Pizza (Aribi's family restaurant) while relaxing before our long journey to Florida. Sarah and I were ready to eat and then head right to Florida, but the others were more sleepy and thought that was a silly idea.  So we slept until 1:30 and were on the road by 2:00am.

Dusting drove the first leg of the trip. Thom stayed up with him. I've got to admit, they were pretty funny to listen to. The rest of us slept. We stopped for McDonalds around 8:00 and switched drivers. Sarah and I watched Shawshank Redemption. It was actually a very good movie, I had never seen it before.  We finally made it to the resort at 5:10PM.

The resort is very quaint.  It has about 40 rooms, an outdoor pool, a deck with grills on the intercoastal waterway, and a private fishing pier.  We overdid it with the rooms! When we originally planned this trip, there were more couples coming so we got 2-2 bedrooms.  We definitely didn't need that much! We have a total of 3 king beds and 2 full beds.  The kitchens have HUGE islands.  It is very nice.

The plan after we arrived was to go right to eat, but we got an 1 1/2 hour late start due to someone needing a shower. We decided to pick a direction and walk to try to find a restaurant.  We chose the wrong direction.  We walked close to a half mile before we came to our first restaurant, the Salt Rock Grill.  When we walked in, we knew we were a bit out of our league; when we saw the menu, it was confirmed.  The food looked TO DIE FOR, however meals started at $25. We were looking for something a little more relaxed....so we had a drink and headed the other direction where we found The Pub Waterfront.  I had the shrimp, scallops, and crabcakes. It was DELICIOUS!! Best scallops I've ever had.

Then we headed to the grocery store to get groceries for the week.  After groceries we headed back to the condo for some relaxation before bed.