Bob "Sunshine"

It's all about Bob!
Thanks Christiane for this 'untouch' picture.

Feb 7^th
While at home during the last holiday season, my wife and I each went to visit our “old” work place. My wife had a colleague that was her partner in crime. To preserve her identity, let’s call her “Bob”. So Bob asked my wife if she could come and visit us in Florida.  Coming back home, my wife told me about that request. I said sure why not. In my mind, people say things like that but they never mean it. I was wrong! 38 days later, we went to pick up Bob at the Tampa airport.

She had gone to visit her parents in California and on her way; she stopped in Florida for a month (it seemed that long to me… hahaha just kidding Bob!).

So at 30 minutes past midnight we picked her up. Coming back to our trailer, we had a little difficulty getting onto the right highway. We had the GPS with us, but I was not following exactly what she was telling me. We just told Bob that it was on purpose so that she could see Tampa by night… By the time we got back to the trailer and to bed, it was way past our bedtime.

Feb 7^th

Still the same day, however it is not the middle of the night anymore.

We went to Tarpon spring. Early in the previous century, it was a small fishing town where there was a lot of Greek immigrant coming to dive for sponges. This was their main source of income. Today the main source of income is tourist. The main road is populated by shops, Greek restaurants, and boat tour operators. There are a lot of people on the sidewalks hustling for your business… not my type of place, I saw it once, I don’t need a second peek!  

 

The sky is real!

Some tourist just kept popping up!

 

Wipe that smile! You won't give me a spoonge bath soon!
 
 

 

The first sponge shop we went to had a free museum and was presenting a free movie. Being retired, the word “free” is some kind of a magnet, it pulls you so fast, and if you are not careful you might get a whip lash. So André, Bob and I went in to see the movie… my experience in movie reviews is limited, but in my opinion, info commercial should have been the title. I would not return to this free movie even if they paid me to go… well maybe I’m exaggerating there, with the monies they would give me I would buy one of the sponge for sure. After all, one day I might need a sponge bath… right!

For lunch, we went to a Greek restaurant. I am not a big fan of Greek cuisine but folks while in Rome… I ordered a BLT (Bacon, lettuce and tomatoes) on a pita (I guess the pita was for Greek effect). Also to get some energy, I got vegetables (fries). When I ordered the BLT, the waitress looked at me like I was from a different planet! It was on their menu, sorry if I offended her with my non typical Greek dishes.

Everyone seems to have enjoyed their meal, but no one was able to finish their plates. Too bad because the restaurant also has a bakery where we first checked out the desserts to make sure there was something “healthy” for us but we couldn’t eat one more bite...

We then drove to Howard Park. My thought was that we would just check it out so I didn’t pay the $5 fees… we were there only 2 minutes when I noticed someone with a hat walking around my truck… I rushed back just in time… the ranger was about to write up a ticket…

They were going fast!
 
 

 

 

 

 

I fed the parking meter the monies, and then went back to join the others. It was quite busy, the water was cold (to me), and there was a strong wind. We walk the entire island (a good 15 minutes’ walk).  On one side there was a lot of wind/kite surfers enjoying the perfect wind condition.

Howard Park is a small island that is accessible by a causeway. I really enjoyed it and I’m sure we will go back. It is not well known so it is mostly people form the area that goes there. This might be a secret so please keep this to yourself J! If you go, don’t forget to pay the meter!