Visiting Florida - October 2018
Now in British!
Saturday, 13 October 2018
Travelling from the UK to the United States is no easy feat. The cost in and of itself can be massively problematic and prohibitive, and we're not even taking in to account planning out such an endeavour.
With all that said, I took off three weeks in November 2018 to do just that, and here's just how it went.
First and foremost, I need to really emphasise just what a trek it is getting from tiny pea-sized Rainworth to the Big Smoke AKA London. In order to catch my early afternoon flight, I had to get my happy ass up and out the door at 1:45 A.M. to catch a taxi that would have me arrive for my coach at 2:20 A.M. I'd had no quality sleep as my nerves were jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean, simply because everything that can go wrong usually does. And I really do hate surprises.
I'm the first at the coach station and it's a rather desolate, semi-cold affair. Picture it: dark, dismal and a fine haze of not-quite rain, not really fog floating around your body, causing you to shiver in its presence. Then you've got the fine upstanding citizens known as Mansfield drunks weaving around the area worse than a Spinda, yelling and singing and piercing the night air with intoxicated jubilation. And urine.
As time ticks on, the coach gets later and later. I've now stood for near enough an hour when in reality it should have been a twenty minute wait. The queue of quiet coach-folk is ever increasing as we all stand approximately a metre from one another, as is the proper British fashion. One bloke puffs on his candy-scented vape pen, causing plumes of white smoke to envelope him and the other patrons. I stare daggers at his head, hoping that with enough animosity his head might spontaneously engulf in flames. It doesn't work.
Finally, 45 minutes after it was due, the coach pulls up and we all load on as quickly and efficiently as tired and bedraggled people can manage. In no time we're off again, heading to Nottingham coach station. I apologise profusely to the young woman next to me as my greedy bottom attempts to confiscate part of her seat as well as my own. She's lovely and tells me not to worry. I worry.
We pull in to Nottingham and lo and behold, the coach I'm due to bounce on to next is just ahead of us. I switch coaches and find myself in an almost entirely empty coach. I attempt to make myself comfortable. Spoiler alert: it was very uncomfortable.
We drive for days. Maybe not days, but we definitely drive for hours. Daylight creeps up slowly over the horizon. We reach Leicester station. A drunk tries to board and start a rave party. She gets off again. We leave. Hours later still, the last stop in the lineup is Gatwick Airport. I desperately want off the bus. My bum had gone numb some hours past and nothing I do brings back feeling. It's stifling hot also and I crave fresh, cold, crap London air. Finally we reach Gatwick and I leave the coach.
Checking in to British Airways was fairly simple. My bag was surprisingly well under the limit so I collected my tickets and headed to the gate. I desperately dislike Gatwick. It's dismal, dank and not nearly as accommodating as Heathrow. The food options are stark and, like all airports, you have to pay exorbitant prices for the simplest menu items. I chose one such restaurant as I had ample time until my flight. Granted, I'd circled the food concourse probably seven times to find something that looked edible and wouldn't completely put me in the red on my first day on holiday. I ordered a simple berry smoothie, granola with yoghurt and fruit and a croissant. It was over £17. The smoothie was ungodly sweet and rather disgusting, the granola and yoghurt was small and ordinary and the croissant was dry and cold. I nearly got a little heated at the young woman serving me when I took two decent sips of the smoothie, found it horrid and gave it back, expecting a refund. She seemed horrified that I didn't want to pay the almost £5 for it despite not drinking it. I sure showed her.
As some of you may know, I'm rather unhealthy. On the great scale of reasonably fit to dead, I'm not quite dead, but probably a few steps from needing embalming fluid pumped in my veins. With that said, I've normally a temperamental stomach on the best of days and a raging typhoon of horrid on the worst. Today there was a typhoon. I nearly pleaded with the man on the aisle seat to switch with me as I'd be plonked in the middle of four seats on the plane. He insisted that he needed to sit near his family whom were just across the narrow aisle. I leaned in with a smirk and told him that I use the toilet quite often. It didn't seem to phase him. He really ought to have been phased.
I used the toilet six times that flight. We flew for 9 hours.
After landing in Tampa I noticed a new spring to my step, a renewed vigour. Genuinely I should have been absolutely knackered. I wasn't.
I collected my bag, which took for fucking ever, and took the shuttle over to the main airport where I met my friend. She stood far away from the gate, so far in fact that at first glance I thought I'd been momentarily abandoned. I'm sure it was the general dislike of people that made her stand so far away. Or maybe she'd been contemplating making a run for it and I'd only caught her just as she was dashing out the door. Either way I followed her to the lift and we made a beeline for her vehicle.
The heat and humidity hit me as soon as we landed in the car park. I realised immediately why I'd left the swamp for proper English weather, and had I any feeling left in my lower extremities, I too may have made a dash back to the plane to escape back to Old Blighty. But then I'd not have a story for you to read, so you're welcome.
The car ride back to B-ville was largely uneventful, if not supremely existential. So many things I'd completely forgotten about until seeing them again after two years. Like billboards. Who the hell thought that should be a thing?
Retention ponds along highways. Why?
Giant cookie-cutter housing communities next to an interstate. Why??
All life's complexities came to me in that one-hour car ride and I regret that I remember exactly none of it.
Later in the day we went to a Mexican-themed restaurant in town. I say Mexican-themed simply because calling it Mexican food would be categorically false and a slap to the Mexican culture. I had a taco salad.
I also remembered to tip something. I desperately loathe tipping.
That night we probably watched something. It's even possible we talked. I know not these things. Sleep took me quickly that night.
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Sunday, 14 October 2018
The details of Sunday are a blur. At some point we left the house and went to breakfast at a popular local restaurant/brewery/gift shop etc. It's possible this establishment has undergone an identity crisis at some point. My mother met us there and we walked around, talked and bought gift-type things until our paint stick number was called. Or was it a paddle?
Broom handle?
Shit.
I don't remember. I've just trolled their Instagram account for 2 minutes trying to identify what they give you when waiting for a table and it's all blank. Like a canvas at a contemporary art museum.
We were seated in extraordinarily uncomfortable metal chairs on their outside patio. My greedy bottom again vying for posterior supremacy and being coldly turned away by hardened aluminium. I ordered a cinnamon roll with some salty kielbasa-type sausage and the rest ordered typical American breakfasts. I did not finish mine. In fact I barely got half-way. I also ordered "half & half" sweet tea. My first time too. Southerners will understand.
After breakfast we parted ways with my mother and went gallivanting to Target and Walmart. I think.
Definitely Target because I marvelled at the spectacular Halloween display in the back of the store. So many aisles of beautiful, spooky wares. I nearly died. Missed my chance to become a spooky ware.
After shopping we got ice cream. No, that doesn't give it enough justice. We bought delightfully flavoured dairy products in bulk quantities at strangely affordable prices. Sincerely, ice cream of that quality really shouldn't be that reasonable. I'd have gladly paid double.
A friend I'd not seen in two years also met up with us at said ice cream parlour! And she brought tiny version obsessed with popular modern smart phone game also! We defeated multiple imaginary creatures and much laughter and delight was had by all. We vowed to wreak mayhem upon said imaginary creatures with a vengeance at a future date, but, alas, we parted ways in the mean time.
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Monday, 15 October 2018
Although the most frustrating of my holiday days, by no means was it a bad day.
One thing I will clearly remember, now and forever more, is to never separate a key fob from its key, or bad things will happen. Very loud, very bad things.
However! I did get to visit with my old friends at the newspaper which was an utter delight, plus I was able to visit a burger joint I'd never previously crossed paths with, Red Robin, so all in all the day was pretty good. I endured near mental torture at the mall to acquire hand gels from Bath & Body Works, spent a small fortune on underwear at Cacique and rounded off the experience with some overly-sugary concoction from Starbucks. Otherwise a fine trip down memory lane.
Except for the traffic. I really, truly could have done without the traffic.
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Tuesday, 16 October 2018
I'd been looking forward to this day for a while. I'd scheduled to see an old work friend in Lakeland plus further explore Circle B Bar Reserve so I was very excited.
I arrived at the Wendy's we'd chosen to meet up at in record time, so I meandered to the convenience store next door to pick up, of all things, bug spray and boiled peanuts.
I sat waiting at a booth, partially obscured by frosted glass and low seating, waiting for my friend to show. Time ticked on and I'd not seen her, so I thought to text. She texted back that she thought she was waiting on me. Slowly I turned.
In hindsight, I really ought to position myself more visibly if I'm expecting company. This isn't the Prancing Pony and my name isn't Strider, after all.
So we got to chatting and it was like a slice of the old days, sitting in a Wendy's just talking about anything that came to mind. Felt pretty good.
In no time at all I was saying goodbye to her and making my way to Circle B.
I arrive near midday, the sun mean-mugging me in to obedience. I slathered myself in bug spray and sun cream and started out. I visited the Nature Centre first and was accosted by a friendly, if not overly chatty volunteer. Living in Britain so long, you grow accustomed to being ignored and left alone, so having someone speaking to me from halfway across a building was jarring, if not somewhat nostalgic. She showed me some sweet green tree frogs hiding from the fiery hellscape called the sun and went along her merry way. I enjoyed the arctic air conditioning for a moment longer, then journeyed out in to the swampy atmosphere.
Despite it being so unseasonably warm and bright, there were many birds and animals out and about.
I came across some beautiful butterflies and birds that I barely was able to photograph let alone look up their names, plus later I nearly stumbled upon, quite literally, a large alligator drying itself along the path. I wasn't crazy enough to go within twenty feet of it, however others were stupider than I.
One walking pile of human excrement seemed to constantly be following me, if for no other reason than to always keep me within earshot of their horrid, high-pitched voices, an absolute cacophony in such a remote and quiet reserve. They walked with their shirts off, or in the case of the female, with their shirt hiked up beyond their midriff, their leathery skin a feast for the UV rays emitted by the sun a mere two feet away.
In short, the assholes scared all the birds away and I contemplated feeding them to the alligators.
Eventually their voices faded as they grew tired and weary, so I continued on. My pace was slow as I ran from shade to shade, hoping that just one well-timed cloud would pass by.
It was a perfectly cloudless day.
Despite still having miles of trails to finish, I opted to turn around and head back the way I'd come. I had to be back by a certain time and if I waited much longer, I would be very late back.
Due to traffic because of a very ill-placed car accident, I was late anyways.
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Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Today was Busch Gardens day. I'd not been to Busch Gardens in five years and I'd been looking forward to returning for a long time. I actually started my day by having an early lunch at Jason's Deli, my own personal food Mecca. I love their food. Their customer service left me wanting, but their food tasted just as I'd remembered it and I savoured all of it. If they opened a Jason's Deli in the UK, I'd seriously consider moving just to be near them, that's how much I love Jason's Deli.
After brunch I drove to Busch Gardens, momentarily amused/annoyed at the driver's who swerved all over the road attempting to follow the signs to the Busch Gardens car park.
I chose to use the upgraded parking as it was literally only a couple dollars more expensive than standard parking. I tried in vain to find a shady spot to park but none existed.
Already hot and sweaty, I made my way up to the park entrance.
The gondola ride was being maintained, so I couldn't ride that, but otherwise everything was at my disposal. So I sat just inside the gate in a shady spot and played Pokemon Go.
I visited the alligators and gorillas, walked through the gift shops and reminisced about past trips to the park. I visited the lions, walked past the hippos and made my way to the giraffes and meerkats, intent on having me compare insurance companies.
Finally I made my way to the Egyptian section of the park, and I spotted a newer ride that'd not been there before, Cobra's Curse. It looked cheesy and right up my alley.
Now, before I continue, I believe it's important to include some important context. I'm not well, not by any means. I've a very serious lower back problem that I use medication to deal with, and on most days I'm able to take on just about anything, just at a slower pace. On my worst days I wish I'd never been born. So, to say I was feeling pretty good that day was very rare.
Saturday, 13 October 2018
Travelling from the UK to the United States is no easy feat. The cost in and of itself can be massively problematic and prohibitive, and we're not even taking in to account planning out such an endeavour.
With all that said, I took off three weeks in November 2018 to do just that, and here's just how it went.
First and foremost, I need to really emphasise just what a trek it is getting from tiny pea-sized Rainworth to the Big Smoke AKA London. In order to catch my early afternoon flight, I had to get my happy ass up and out the door at 1:45 A.M. to catch a taxi that would have me arrive for my coach at 2:20 A.M. I'd had no quality sleep as my nerves were jumping around like a Mexican jumping bean, simply because everything that can go wrong usually does. And I really do hate surprises.
I'm the first at the coach station and it's a rather desolate, semi-cold affair. Picture it: dark, dismal and a fine haze of not-quite rain, not really fog floating around your body, causing you to shiver in its presence. Then you've got the fine upstanding citizens known as Mansfield drunks weaving around the area worse than a Spinda, yelling and singing and piercing the night air with intoxicated jubilation. And urine.
As time ticks on, the coach gets later and later. I've now stood for near enough an hour when in reality it should have been a twenty minute wait. The queue of quiet coach-folk is ever increasing as we all stand approximately a metre from one another, as is the proper British fashion. One bloke puffs on his candy-scented vape pen, causing plumes of white smoke to envelope him and the other patrons. I stare daggers at his head, hoping that with enough animosity his head might spontaneously engulf in flames. It doesn't work.
Finally, 45 minutes after it was due, the coach pulls up and we all load on as quickly and efficiently as tired and bedraggled people can manage. In no time we're off again, heading to Nottingham coach station. I apologise profusely to the young woman next to me as my greedy bottom attempts to confiscate part of her seat as well as my own. She's lovely and tells me not to worry. I worry.
We pull in to Nottingham and lo and behold, the coach I'm due to bounce on to next is just ahead of us. I switch coaches and find myself in an almost entirely empty coach. I attempt to make myself comfortable. Spoiler alert: it was very uncomfortable.
We drive for days. Maybe not days, but we definitely drive for hours. Daylight creeps up slowly over the horizon. We reach Leicester station. A drunk tries to board and start a rave party. She gets off again. We leave. Hours later still, the last stop in the lineup is Gatwick Airport. I desperately want off the bus. My bum had gone numb some hours past and nothing I do brings back feeling. It's stifling hot also and I crave fresh, cold, crap London air. Finally we reach Gatwick and I leave the coach.
Checking in to British Airways was fairly simple. My bag was surprisingly well under the limit so I collected my tickets and headed to the gate. I desperately dislike Gatwick. It's dismal, dank and not nearly as accommodating as Heathrow. The food options are stark and, like all airports, you have to pay exorbitant prices for the simplest menu items. I chose one such restaurant as I had ample time until my flight. Granted, I'd circled the food concourse probably seven times to find something that looked edible and wouldn't completely put me in the red on my first day on holiday. I ordered a simple berry smoothie, granola with yoghurt and fruit and a croissant. It was over £17. The smoothie was ungodly sweet and rather disgusting, the granola and yoghurt was small and ordinary and the croissant was dry and cold. I nearly got a little heated at the young woman serving me when I took two decent sips of the smoothie, found it horrid and gave it back, expecting a refund. She seemed horrified that I didn't want to pay the almost £5 for it despite not drinking it. I sure showed her.
As some of you may know, I'm rather unhealthy. On the great scale of reasonably fit to dead, I'm not quite dead, but probably a few steps from needing embalming fluid pumped in my veins. With that said, I've normally a temperamental stomach on the best of days and a raging typhoon of horrid on the worst. Today there was a typhoon. I nearly pleaded with the man on the aisle seat to switch with me as I'd be plonked in the middle of four seats on the plane. He insisted that he needed to sit near his family whom were just across the narrow aisle. I leaned in with a smirk and told him that I use the toilet quite often. It didn't seem to phase him. He really ought to have been phased.
I used the toilet six times that flight. We flew for 9 hours.
After landing in Tampa I noticed a new spring to my step, a renewed vigour. Genuinely I should have been absolutely knackered. I wasn't.
I collected my bag, which took for fucking ever, and took the shuttle over to the main airport where I met my friend. She stood far away from the gate, so far in fact that at first glance I thought I'd been momentarily abandoned. I'm sure it was the general dislike of people that made her stand so far away. Or maybe she'd been contemplating making a run for it and I'd only caught her just as she was dashing out the door. Either way I followed her to the lift and we made a beeline for her vehicle.
The heat and humidity hit me as soon as we landed in the car park. I realised immediately why I'd left the swamp for proper English weather, and had I any feeling left in my lower extremities, I too may have made a dash back to the plane to escape back to Old Blighty. But then I'd not have a story for you to read, so you're welcome.
The car ride back to B-ville was largely uneventful, if not supremely existential. So many things I'd completely forgotten about until seeing them again after two years. Like billboards. Who the hell thought that should be a thing?
Retention ponds along highways. Why?
Giant cookie-cutter housing communities next to an interstate. Why??
All life's complexities came to me in that one-hour car ride and I regret that I remember exactly none of it.
Later in the day we went to a Mexican-themed restaurant in town. I say Mexican-themed simply because calling it Mexican food would be categorically false and a slap to the Mexican culture. I had a taco salad.
I also remembered to tip something. I desperately loathe tipping.
That night we probably watched something. It's even possible we talked. I know not these things. Sleep took me quickly that night.
---
Sunday, 14 October 2018
The details of Sunday are a blur. At some point we left the house and went to breakfast at a popular local restaurant/brewery/gift shop etc. It's possible this establishment has undergone an identity crisis at some point. My mother met us there and we walked around, talked and bought gift-type things until our paint stick number was called. Or was it a paddle?
Broom handle?
Shit.
I don't remember. I've just trolled their Instagram account for 2 minutes trying to identify what they give you when waiting for a table and it's all blank. Like a canvas at a contemporary art museum.
We were seated in extraordinarily uncomfortable metal chairs on their outside patio. My greedy bottom again vying for posterior supremacy and being coldly turned away by hardened aluminium. I ordered a cinnamon roll with some salty kielbasa-type sausage and the rest ordered typical American breakfasts. I did not finish mine. In fact I barely got half-way. I also ordered "half & half" sweet tea. My first time too. Southerners will understand.
After breakfast we parted ways with my mother and went gallivanting to Target and Walmart. I think.
Definitely Target because I marvelled at the spectacular Halloween display in the back of the store. So many aisles of beautiful, spooky wares. I nearly died. Missed my chance to become a spooky ware.
After shopping we got ice cream. No, that doesn't give it enough justice. We bought delightfully flavoured dairy products in bulk quantities at strangely affordable prices. Sincerely, ice cream of that quality really shouldn't be that reasonable. I'd have gladly paid double.
A friend I'd not seen in two years also met up with us at said ice cream parlour! And she brought tiny version obsessed with popular modern smart phone game also! We defeated multiple imaginary creatures and much laughter and delight was had by all. We vowed to wreak mayhem upon said imaginary creatures with a vengeance at a future date, but, alas, we parted ways in the mean time.
---
Monday, 15 October 2018
Although the most frustrating of my holiday days, by no means was it a bad day.
One thing I will clearly remember, now and forever more, is to never separate a key fob from its key, or bad things will happen. Very loud, very bad things.
However! I did get to visit with my old friends at the newspaper which was an utter delight, plus I was able to visit a burger joint I'd never previously crossed paths with, Red Robin, so all in all the day was pretty good. I endured near mental torture at the mall to acquire hand gels from Bath & Body Works, spent a small fortune on underwear at Cacique and rounded off the experience with some overly-sugary concoction from Starbucks. Otherwise a fine trip down memory lane.
Except for the traffic. I really, truly could have done without the traffic.
---
Tuesday, 16 October 2018
I'd been looking forward to this day for a while. I'd scheduled to see an old work friend in Lakeland plus further explore Circle B Bar Reserve so I was very excited.
I arrived at the Wendy's we'd chosen to meet up at in record time, so I meandered to the convenience store next door to pick up, of all things, bug spray and boiled peanuts.
I sat waiting at a booth, partially obscured by frosted glass and low seating, waiting for my friend to show. Time ticked on and I'd not seen her, so I thought to text. She texted back that she thought she was waiting on me. Slowly I turned.
In hindsight, I really ought to position myself more visibly if I'm expecting company. This isn't the Prancing Pony and my name isn't Strider, after all.
So we got to chatting and it was like a slice of the old days, sitting in a Wendy's just talking about anything that came to mind. Felt pretty good.
In no time at all I was saying goodbye to her and making my way to Circle B.
I arrive near midday, the sun mean-mugging me in to obedience. I slathered myself in bug spray and sun cream and started out. I visited the Nature Centre first and was accosted by a friendly, if not overly chatty volunteer. Living in Britain so long, you grow accustomed to being ignored and left alone, so having someone speaking to me from halfway across a building was jarring, if not somewhat nostalgic. She showed me some sweet green tree frogs hiding from the fiery hellscape called the sun and went along her merry way. I enjoyed the arctic air conditioning for a moment longer, then journeyed out in to the swampy atmosphere.
Despite it being so unseasonably warm and bright, there were many birds and animals out and about.
I came across some beautiful butterflies and birds that I barely was able to photograph let alone look up their names, plus later I nearly stumbled upon, quite literally, a large alligator drying itself along the path. I wasn't crazy enough to go within twenty feet of it, however others were stupider than I.
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| Admit it, you were starting to wonder if there were going to be pictures in this post. |
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| The Discovery Centre at Circle B. Can you feel the heat emanating off this picture? |
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| This heron, contemplating it's existence, wondering what it's place in the world is. |
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| Momma gator contemplating my demise. |
One walking pile of human excrement seemed to constantly be following me, if for no other reason than to always keep me within earshot of their horrid, high-pitched voices, an absolute cacophony in such a remote and quiet reserve. They walked with their shirts off, or in the case of the female, with their shirt hiked up beyond their midriff, their leathery skin a feast for the UV rays emitted by the sun a mere two feet away.
In short, the assholes scared all the birds away and I contemplated feeding them to the alligators.
Eventually their voices faded as they grew tired and weary, so I continued on. My pace was slow as I ran from shade to shade, hoping that just one well-timed cloud would pass by.
It was a perfectly cloudless day.
Despite still having miles of trails to finish, I opted to turn around and head back the way I'd come. I had to be back by a certain time and if I waited much longer, I would be very late back.
Due to traffic because of a very ill-placed car accident, I was late anyways.
---
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Today was Busch Gardens day. I'd not been to Busch Gardens in five years and I'd been looking forward to returning for a long time. I actually started my day by having an early lunch at Jason's Deli, my own personal food Mecca. I love their food. Their customer service left me wanting, but their food tasted just as I'd remembered it and I savoured all of it. If they opened a Jason's Deli in the UK, I'd seriously consider moving just to be near them, that's how much I love Jason's Deli.
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| Mmm, Jason's Deli Taco Salad. |
After brunch I drove to Busch Gardens, momentarily amused/annoyed at the driver's who swerved all over the road attempting to follow the signs to the Busch Gardens car park.
I chose to use the upgraded parking as it was literally only a couple dollars more expensive than standard parking. I tried in vain to find a shady spot to park but none existed.
Already hot and sweaty, I made my way up to the park entrance.
The gondola ride was being maintained, so I couldn't ride that, but otherwise everything was at my disposal. So I sat just inside the gate in a shady spot and played Pokemon Go.
I visited the alligators and gorillas, walked through the gift shops and reminisced about past trips to the park. I visited the lions, walked past the hippos and made my way to the giraffes and meerkats, intent on having me compare insurance companies.
Finally I made my way to the Egyptian section of the park, and I spotted a newer ride that'd not been there before, Cobra's Curse. It looked cheesy and right up my alley.
Now, before I continue, I believe it's important to include some important context. I'm not well, not by any means. I've a very serious lower back problem that I use medication to deal with, and on most days I'm able to take on just about anything, just at a slower pace. On my worst days I wish I'd never been born. So, to say I was feeling pretty good that day was very rare.
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| The gorilla habitat. I loved the colour combination of the trees hitting the bright blue sky. |
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| Cheetah Hunt. Didn't end up going on that one. It's an OK ride. |
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| One of the feeding tours you can do. I've done this before and it was pretty cool. |
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| The infamous Cobra's Curse. Curse you evil roller coaster! |
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| I'm hoping I took this photo from a great distance because on closer inspection that quality is a wee bit shit. |
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| Ah, the old Crown Colony |
Unfortunately, my balloon of happiness deflated when trying to board Cobra's Curse. Being as wide as I am tall has never been beneficial, but on this particular ride it proved to be detrimental as the latch wouldn't buckle properly and was holding the entire car up. I was mortified, but instead of just having me get off and burn away in shame, they instead opted to play musical chairs with other people as I now held up all the cars behind us. Honestly, it didn't take long and it was over within minutes, but it felt like an eternity at the time and I still feel anxiety thinking about it. I tried to enjoy the ride regardless, but I felt rather empty inside, plastering a fake smile on my face despite wanting to sink beneath the surface of the earth.
At the end of the ride I opted to speak German instead of English in a bizarre attempt to seem more distant from the situation.
Needless to say I gave Montu the side-eye and ultimately decided against riding it, despite it being my favourite coaster in the whole world.
The rest of the day was a mixture of visiting spots I'd been before, playing Pokemon Go and wondering how long I should stay in the park whilst being incredibly self conscious, something I'm not used to being.
It wasn't the greatest experience I've had, but I think it was an important one for me to experience, even if it made me embarrassed and feel uncomfortable.
--- Now in American!
Thursday, 18 October 2018
I'll go ahead and apologise right now, it's literally been about four months now since I started writing this blog post. The tone will be different and my crap memory won't be able to keep up with all the smaller details, but I'll try anyway!
I was very excited about this particular day. I was going to the beach!
The first thing I did was head straight to Publix for provisions. Definitely wasn't missing my opportunity to have a nice Publix sub! It'd been years since I've had one and I can confirm: it was amazing.
After heading to Publix I drove south to Fort De Soto park in St. Petersburg. I'd always loved that area and was hoping that it was more or less deserted. I was happily surprised as it was, indeed, more or less deserted. Gotta love having a place to yourself!
Although it was boiling hot that day. Really blew my socks off just how god awful hot it was during that time of year. I expected weather like that in the middle of summer, not late October. Climate change is real, peeps!
So anyways, as you can imagine, I decided to take refuge under the shade of anything tall enough to provide it. When I did brave the evil sun, I visited the fort itself and shuffled around in the water for a little while. All in all, it was a lovely day, albeit scary hot.
Needless to say I gave Montu the side-eye and ultimately decided against riding it, despite it being my favourite coaster in the whole world.
The rest of the day was a mixture of visiting spots I'd been before, playing Pokemon Go and wondering how long I should stay in the park whilst being incredibly self conscious, something I'm not used to being.
It wasn't the greatest experience I've had, but I think it was an important one for me to experience, even if it made me embarrassed and feel uncomfortable.
--- Now in American!
Thursday, 18 October 2018
I'll go ahead and apologise right now, it's literally been about four months now since I started writing this blog post. The tone will be different and my crap memory won't be able to keep up with all the smaller details, but I'll try anyway!
I was very excited about this particular day. I was going to the beach!
The first thing I did was head straight to Publix for provisions. Definitely wasn't missing my opportunity to have a nice Publix sub! It'd been years since I've had one and I can confirm: it was amazing.
After heading to Publix I drove south to Fort De Soto park in St. Petersburg. I'd always loved that area and was hoping that it was more or less deserted. I was happily surprised as it was, indeed, more or less deserted. Gotta love having a place to yourself!
Although it was boiling hot that day. Really blew my socks off just how god awful hot it was during that time of year. I expected weather like that in the middle of summer, not late October. Climate change is real, peeps!
So anyways, as you can imagine, I decided to take refuge under the shade of anything tall enough to provide it. When I did brave the evil sun, I visited the fort itself and shuffled around in the water for a little while. All in all, it was a lovely day, albeit scary hot.
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| It was an absolutely marvellous day, only it was way too hot out. |
The ride back to B-ville, however, was wonky. The traffic across the bridges was other worldly and it was, yet again, another reminder of the things I definitely did not miss about Florida. C'est la vie!
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Friday, 19 October 2018
That Friday was another day dedicated to good 'ol nostalgia. Ever visit somewhere, or live somewhere, and when you went back, it was never quite as good? Well that was essentially the theme with today.
Back in the day, one of my favourite things to do was go out to Flatwoods Wilderness park off Morris Bridge Road and either walk around the loop or bicycle. I always loved it out there because it was usually not very busy when I went out there and I usually saw all sorts of wildlife. That and I usually brought with me a nice lunch from Jason's Deli and had lunch out there and then pretended to walk it off.
Well that did not go to plan very well at all.
I had my lunch all ready and I drive to Flatwoods. Already I notice that everything I knew had changed. Back before I'd left, there used to be random maintenance buildings scattered along the grounds along the roadway. Those buildings always had picnic facilities with them. Now, those picnic tables and pavilions were gone. I can't fathom why they'd remove them all unless at some point they were abused or defaced. Regardless, they were missing and I, at present, had no where to have lunch. So to compromise, I pulled up to the main parking area and checked to see if they had picnic tables behind the park rangers office and lo and behold, they did. However, I was definitely not alone. Some lady was on one of the picnic tables doing yoga. Granted, she had a yoga mat down on top of the table, but personally I thought it rather bizarre to come out to a nature park to do yoga behind a park ranger station on top of a picnic table. Well, I decided to use a table for it's intended purpose (eating) but I decided to face away from the weird lady and instead opted to look at the scenery. She did eventually leave but she seemed determined to finish her table yoga.
After lunch I decided to go for a walk. Now the sun was no more gentle than the day before. It was HOT. I was already profusely sweating before I started walking and after walking I'm sure I smelled like a day old gym shirt. What's worse is halfway through my walk I needed to use the loo, and of course there wasn't anything for literally a mile. So, I did what any self respecting lady would do.
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Friday, 19 October 2018
That Friday was another day dedicated to good 'ol nostalgia. Ever visit somewhere, or live somewhere, and when you went back, it was never quite as good? Well that was essentially the theme with today.
Back in the day, one of my favourite things to do was go out to Flatwoods Wilderness park off Morris Bridge Road and either walk around the loop or bicycle. I always loved it out there because it was usually not very busy when I went out there and I usually saw all sorts of wildlife. That and I usually brought with me a nice lunch from Jason's Deli and had lunch out there and then pretended to walk it off.
Well that did not go to plan very well at all.
I had my lunch all ready and I drive to Flatwoods. Already I notice that everything I knew had changed. Back before I'd left, there used to be random maintenance buildings scattered along the grounds along the roadway. Those buildings always had picnic facilities with them. Now, those picnic tables and pavilions were gone. I can't fathom why they'd remove them all unless at some point they were abused or defaced. Regardless, they were missing and I, at present, had no where to have lunch. So to compromise, I pulled up to the main parking area and checked to see if they had picnic tables behind the park rangers office and lo and behold, they did. However, I was definitely not alone. Some lady was on one of the picnic tables doing yoga. Granted, she had a yoga mat down on top of the table, but personally I thought it rather bizarre to come out to a nature park to do yoga behind a park ranger station on top of a picnic table. Well, I decided to use a table for it's intended purpose (eating) but I decided to face away from the weird lady and instead opted to look at the scenery. She did eventually leave but she seemed determined to finish her table yoga.
After lunch I decided to go for a walk. Now the sun was no more gentle than the day before. It was HOT. I was already profusely sweating before I started walking and after walking I'm sure I smelled like a day old gym shirt. What's worse is halfway through my walk I needed to use the loo, and of course there wasn't anything for literally a mile. So, I did what any self respecting lady would do.
 |
| This Gopher Tortoise walked for ages on the hot pavement. |
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| I spent an inordinately long time at this watering hole. |
 |
| Hello little black racer! |
I actually had intended to walk for much further, but the heat and the lack of picnic facilities meant I had no where to even rest really, so I headed back to the car. My next stop I enjoyed much more thoroughly.
To be continued....
To be continued....