For a state named the Sunshine State, you would think there would be a law against cloudy days! But apparently not. We did get one good sunny day towards the end which made me a happy girl (to be honest, my idea of an ideal vacation would be laying by the pool reading a book for 6 days straight, working on my tan!).
We played tourist a little bit and ventured down Alligator Alley and went to an alligator farm. They took us on an air boat ride - a first for all four of us! It was really fun!
Not that you can tell from this picture, but this is a manatee...
Following the airboat ride, we went on a swamp buggy ride (yes, it included the requisite redneck southerner driving with the bit of chew in his jaw!). He drove us through the backwoods swamps, regailing us with the stories of his misadventures (apparently he once stayed 3 weeks in the swamp when his truck broke down - but he stayed because he didn't want to leave his truck behind!)
We drove cross state to Miami ...and China (my parents empty nest dog, aka: my new sister) had a blast!
We celebrated Valentine's Day by Rico and I going to the
Calusa Nature Reserve & Planetarium. We thought it would be cool...but it wasn't, lol. They showed a slide show of the myths and legends of the stars. Most of them didn't end happily (not very romantic on V-Day). They did take us on a night hike through the woods and we got to pet a bobcat, which was cool. They then led us to a campfire but we left before they started singing Cume Ba Yah, lol!
Rico did a little bit of research and suggested we go eat at
Longhorn Steakhouse and oh my goodness was it delicious! It was one of the best steaks I've had a long while. Mom and Bucky were suitably impressed as well so it must have been good! Our last night in Florida we went to
Iguana Mia. We'd driven by multiple times and they were always packed so we tried them. They had the best tortilla chips! Mom also made pot roast while we were there and it turned out delicious (much better than my attempts so far!).
We left at o'dark thirty on Tuesday morning and didn't plan ahead...apparently gas stations in SW Florida aren't open that early in the morning. We stopped at 3 different gas stations - all had their pumps lit up and all took our cards but wouldn't pump gas (and of course no attendants that early). We sucked it up and returned the rental car on 1/4 of a tank ...unfortunately, Budget wanted over $7 a gallon for refilling it, grrr! We'll know next time though, won't we?
Though my obsession with this handsome fella takes precedence over all the Cherry Blossoms in the world!
We topped the night off with some delicious steaks and asparagus on the grill. I absolutely LOVE that grilling season has begun again!
I mean come on...look at all that counter space!!! Absolutely drool-worthy! It doesn't hurt that she's on a ranch and feeds tons of people everyday...not to mention all the pretty horses!!
I'm also working on depth of field in my photos so this was sort of a project. How do they look??
Not that you can tell from this picture, but this is a manatee...
Following the airboat ride, we went on a swamp buggy ride (yes, it included the requisite redneck southerner driving with the bit of chew in his jaw!). He drove us through the backwoods swamps, regailing us with the stories of his misadventures (apparently he once stayed 3 weeks in the swamp when his truck broke down - but he stayed because he didn't want to leave his truck behind!)
We drove cross state to Miami ...and China (my parents empty nest dog, aka: my new sister) had a blast!
We celebrated Valentine's Day by Rico and I going to the Calusa Nature Reserve & Planetarium. We thought it would be cool...but it wasn't, lol. They showed a slide show of the myths and legends of the stars. Most of them didn't end happily (not very romantic on V-Day). They did take us on a night hike through the woods and we got to pet a bobcat, which was cool. They then led us to a campfire but we left before they started singing Cume Ba Yah, lol!
Dear John was a tear jerker - but what else do you expect from Nicholas Sparks? It was actually one of my least favorite books by him but the movie turned out pretty good. Though it doesn't hurt that the lead actor is Channing Tatum, hehe!
After making our bowls, we went to make some pottery. Sorry - no pictures there. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Rico really enjoyed pottery class in high school but we went to Klay Krazy here in Auburn. Unfortunately, the women running the place didn't really know what they were doing. They had us watch a dvd on how to make a bowl and then sat us down at the wheel and told us to go at it. No real lesson, the wheels were unbalanced so even if we could make something, it would have ended up lopsided. Rico even got a slight discount on his session because he attempted to fix the wheel, something the ladies didn't even know how to do. We spent an hour with our hands in muddy clay and called it quits. Next time, we'll go to a more professional studio. 
After dinner & cake & opening presents, most of us headed out to an old hang out of Rico's, Papa's Pub where we met up with a few more friends. Rico had a great time catching up with his old friends and new, along with a few (or rather a lot) of drinks. Let's just say the birthday boy was feeling it the next day! Lol, and that feeling is why we didn't go up to the gun range (which was the 2nd half of my "experience" birthday" plan). Oh well, maybe sometime soon!
