May 9 Florida, Day ELEVEN

Our Last Day, Thursday:  It's difficult not to dread the end to something that you love, isn't it? I was determined NOT to spoil our last day by thinking about the fact that it was OUR LAST DAY. Instead, I prayed that David and I would just have a relaxing day together. My flight is early evening, so we determined that David would drive me to St. Pete's airport by 5:00. Everything worked out as planned ... except my flight ended up being delayed by a little over an hour. It was not a big deal.

We spent the day in St. Petersburg, just enjoying the sites and the little gift shops. We went back to St. Pete Pier because I wanted to return to the gift shop Carol and I had visited the first day I was here. I had seen some pretty earrings (nautical) that I thought I might purchase (and I DID!). We walked around out on the pier and looked at boats and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

St. Pete Pier

At the right side of the picture below is a tiny airport that is used for Cessna's and other small aircraft. We watched the little planes taking off and landing all throughout the day.

Don't you love boat docks? 

This is "The Hangar" where David and I ate lunch. It is on the same property with the small airport. I had a "Hangar-Burger" that was delicious.

It was a beautiful last day ... I enjoy being with my brother so much. He and I have always gotten along. I truly can't remember one time when we were on the outs with each other. There are not too many people I can say that about (sadly); so I am always comfortable and feel at home with him. It was also super nice to spend more time with Carol during this visit. In all of the 45 years of their marriage, Carol and I have never spent an entire day together (until this trip!). She is such an easy person to be with. She is genuine. She is kind. She is a lot of fun, too. 

This picture was taken probably the 2nd day I was with them, but I cannot for the life of me remember where we are. I know we decided to relax by the water one evening, but I have no idea where we did that, unless it was in Dunedin ... perhaps that's where this picture (below) was taken.

David and Carol are coming "up" to Michigan over Labor Day weekend for a 4-day visit with me, Ruthanne, and Terry. We are going to go up north to the Charlevoix area, spend a night in an airbnb, and just travel around the small coastal towns and enjoy ourselves. I am looking forward to that time with them very much.

May 8 Florida, Day TEN

Wednesday: If there was anything I truly wanted crossed off my bucket list on this trip it was what we accomplished today ...

GATORS IN THE WILD !!!!!

Carol told David that one of her co-workers advised playing baby alligator sounds on a speaker near the water where alligators are known to live. We went to Tarpon Springs a few years back, but really didn't get to see any "wild" alligators up close and personal. I think we saw perhaps ONE from a very long distance--but it could have been an old log for all we could tell.

SO ... David did his homework (he always does) and came prepared with a little hand-held speaker loaded with baby alligator sounds. They sound SO cute! We drove over to Lake Tarpon, to the John Chestnut Sr. Park. I'll show you the pictures. I have a TON.

We parked the truck near the boat launch, where we actually launched David's boat ... two or three years ago. This is an Inland lake, so it is FRESH water. David says wherever there is fresh water in Florida, there will be alligators. The day we took the boat here was kind of a zero as far as alligator hunting went.

 But today was a new day, a different day ... and we had a PLAN.

These boardwalks go all over the place--along the lakeshore, within the swampy areas, deep into "jungle-like" areas ... and the nice thing about them is that they are elevated and nicely protected by the fencing. We were in NO danger whatsoever and I was excited as I could be to actually SEE a real, live alligator out in the wild. I've seen them in the zoo, and I've seen videos of them; but never just out where they actually live.

I love these boardwalks. Isn't it gorgeous here?

David and I walked slowly and with purpose. Alligators--watch out!!!

We took a left turn and walked out to the edge of one of these look-outs. David got his speaker out and turned it on. The baby alligators sound like someone swallowing rather loudly, but high pitched. Some of them sounded like frogs do when they are "chirping" in the swamp. We played the sounds. We waited.

And THEN ... do you see what I see?

Look! A completely WILD alligator swam right over to the platform. We were so close that had we been stupid enough (!!), we could have reached over and touched her. This is ALICE, by the way. She was very interested in the baby alligator sounds and stuck very close to us while David played the recording.

I took a lot of close-ups of Alice. Then David turned the alligator sounds off, and Alice slowly swam away.

We walked further down the pathway and turned onto another platform lookout and played the alligator sounds again ...

Alice turned around, down-stream, and came all the way back to us ... further than we had been before!

During this time, David's neighbor (Phil) called and wondered what we were up to. David told him our alligator story, so Phil and his wife (Amy) drove over and shared the experience with us.

We estimate Alice was about 6 feet in length. Good sized mama.

Isn't she so beautiful?

While David walked back to the parking lot to rendezvous with his neighbor, an older gentleman with a very sophisticated camera (huge lens) came out on the platform and told me there was a HUGE, 10' gator by the ponds on the park that he had just photographed. !!! I asked him to tell me the story; so he said he was just walking around and climbed a little hill near the ponds and right as he crested the hill, the 10-footer was sunbathing. It took one look at him, and scurried back to the pond! Lucky for that guy the alligator wasn't hungry!

However, after hearing that gentleman's story, David and I decided to see if we could find any other alligators out near the ponds. We promised each other to be VERY careful. It wasn't until after I was home uploading all of my pictures to my computer that I noticed this sneaky alligator hiding among the grass and sledge at the edge of one of the ponds. Look at the grin on his face!!!

How do I know this alligator is a MALE? Well ... every time we played the baby alligator sounds, we had an alligator come to us to check it out. This guy stayed put and never once approached us. I figured only the mama alligators had instincts to come and rescue their babies. This guy never once came near us.

Here is what the ponds look like ... this one is a rather large one.

We did have one very TINY alligator come and check us out -- can you see its little head in the picture below? It's just about in the middle of the picture ...

There are DANGER signs at each and every pond ... 

Here are few more random shots ...

This was one of THE MOST FUN things I have ever done. I'm not kidding! It was such a blast, and such an adventure. Thank you, David. You are THE BEST.

May 7 Florida, Day NINE

Tuesday: So TODAY, another bucket-list check-off item ... JET SKIING!!!! I've wanted to get on a jet ski for half of my entire life! This has been a trip of FIRSTS for me and I am really happy about it.

My nephew, Andrew, and wife (Alison) own a jet ski. He and David have a very good and healthy dad/son relationship, which is so refreshing to watch. Andrew is almost 38 now--so, he is totally grown up. He's been married to his dear Alison for 16 years now. Andrew is one of the kindest people you could ever meet. He is responsible, capable, loving, follows the Lord, and enjoys life. David was very liberal with his boat (which is now sold), and oftentimes, Andrew and Alison would take it out on their own and enjoy a day on the water. Now that the boat is gone (sad), David gets some relief at least by going out on the jet ski occasionally. 

We picked up the ski over at Andrew's early Tuesday afternoon and used it for a few hours out in the bay and elsewhere. David raced it up to 60mph on the open water. What a blast. I was hanging on to the seat handles next to me and we were ... flying! I actually enjoyed it better when we were going slowly--but that's because I like to look at the beauty around me and just meander about. I DID enjoy going fast, but kept my eyes closed a lot (because I didn't want a bug to land in my eyes). 

Here are a few pictures:

I don't remember where we launched! I'll have to ask David. It was familiar water to David from his years of boating, though. He knows his way around the intercostal, the Bay, and a lot of the Gulf too. It was a perfectly beautiful day for skiing.

Good thing David knows how to hook up trailers and hitches and everything that goes with them. He's very meticulous about it and doesn't mess up! We watched a few other people launch their skis and it was difficult not to want to go and rescue them before they submerged their trucks in SALT water. But David was very restrained.

I think we were out on the water for about two hours. We lathered up with sun screen. The sun is brutal down here, especially as it reflects off the water.

While David was fussing with the ski, I walked along the edge of the water and followed this egret for a little distance. I think egrets are beautiful creatures.

We returned the ski to Andrew and were able to visit with him at their house for a little while. They have three cats--you can just see part of the orange one at the bottom of the picture. They have a black cat too, and another one that was hiding and wouldn't come out. They are renting this house, and actually moved into this location so that they could take care of Alison's grandma, who was in her last days of life. 

This is the pool that comes with their house. Doesn't it look inviting? I would be in it constantly, I think. I love to swim and play in the water.

I'm pretty sure we ate dinner at home Tuesday night and just relaxed a bit with Carol. We watched a really sweet movie: "Return to Me." I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first; but I ended up loving it. Such a good story!