Weekend in Tampa

This weekend we had two sets of plans. One involved going to the fairgrounds for the Trucks, trucks, and MORE TRUCKS show. The other was to drive to Tampa and visit our friend, Debby, in Clearwater. Andrew would love the truck show - who am I kidding, I would too! Susan would love to visit Debby - she joined us for Thanksgiving - especially since she will be leaving soon to spend the summer with her family in Washington. But there was an additional draw for me in Tampa - AirFest 2009 at MacDill Air Force Base, featuring the US Air Force Thunderbirds. In all the other areas of the country that I've lived, air show season doesn't really get going until July or August. Not so in Florida. Now is the time and the weather was looking good for the show on Saturday.

While Andrew was in school on Friday, Susan and I packed the CR-V. As usual, we could barely fit everything in. It always amazes me how much stuff we seem to "have" to take with us. We picked Andrew up from school and headed north. The GPS said to go through Orlando on the toll road, so I reset it to avoid toll roads. The next option it delivered was to take US 192 across the state. That seemed like a good enough choice, so we went with it.

The drive was great - at least for the first third. When we reached St. Cloud, things got sticky. The highway ended and the series of traffic lights began. For the next 18 miles or so, we surged from light to light.

After St. Cloud came Kissimmee. If anything, the traffic was even worse here. Before long, though, I started recognizing places from the last time I visited this area - way back before Andrew, when we visited Disney World with Susan's parents and spent a night at my cousin's house in Orlando. I recognized the medieval castle, or at least I thought I did. There are now two of them, and one is shut down. I was disappointed that I couldn't remember where the resort was located.

Finally we made it to I-4. Unfortunately, it was also moving slowly. Before long, the pace picked up and we cruised all the way to the outskirts of Tampa at full speed. Once in Tampa, we were once again in a crawl until we reached the bridge that crosses the bay. We followed the turn-by-turn directions from the GPS and it led us right to Debby's front door.

We unpacked the CR-V, ate spaghetti, then headed for Clearwater to see the sunset on the beach. All I can say about the beach is, "Wow". What incredibly white sand they have. The sun was setting when we arrived, but was obscured behind a wall of clouds. While walking to the shoreline, Debby noticed a $20 bill in the sand. There was no one nearby, so she picked it up and took it as a sign from God to treat us to ice cream on the way home (my interpretation).

On the way back home, we stopped at a Baskin Robbins and enjoyed our little gift.

The next morning, the plan was to eat breakfast, pack some snacks, and go to a park near MacDill AFB to see the Thunderbirds. Getting there should have been easy - especially considering I had the exact cross-streets programmed into the GPS. Trouble began was the GPS told me to turn right. I obediently did as I was told, but I turned a few feet too soon and found myself going up an onramp instead of turning right at the intersection. No problem, I thought, "We'll just get off the next exit and turn around." Wrong! I was on a toll road and there were no exits for about 6 miles. When we did finally get off the highway, it cost us a dollar. It would have cost another dollar to return, so we asked the GPS to recalculate. We found ourselves driving through a very beautiful neighborhood with tall oaks lining the streets and creating a nice canopy over the street. The street ended at the bay and we followed the bay to the south. Eventually we found the park we were looking for. It totally slipped my mind that the shuttle Discovery was returning, else I would have stopped, looked, and listened.

At the park, we decided to set up camp in the shade near a small lake. The skies were clear, but the wind was howling. I was thinking that the Thunderbirds may cancel their show. We were early, so we had to wait an hour and a half to get our answer. I was walking back from the car when I heard the roar of jet engines lighting up. I hurried back to the lake and grabbed my camera.

The Thunderbirds show was on. I noticed one difference in their show right away. Instead of taking off in formation, they took off one right after the other. I assume the winds were too strong to take off side by side. But that's the only difference I saw. The show was great, but they may have been in a loser formation than normal. Look at the pictures and decide for yourself.

After the show, we raced to the car and left the park. We were trying to beat the crowd that was surely trying to leave the base. We hit some traffic, but managed to get out of town pretty quickly.

Back at Debby's, we were all exhausted from the battering of the sun and blowing sand. After eating, Susan and Debby went for a walk while Andrew and I watched Star Wars.

That night, a thunderstorm rolled through. Sunday was gray and cloudy. I'm glad we decided to go to the show on Saturday. We loaded the CR-V again and said "Good-bye" around noon. I wanted to show Andrew the 'death star' (the Epcot Center), so we took a little detour through Disney World. We were unhappy - but not all that surprised - to discover that everything in Disney costs something, even parking. It blows my mind that Disney can charge what they do for tickets, then hit you up for an additional $12 just to park in their parking lot.

Back on the road, Andrew wanted to "be home now". I'm sure I heard him say this at least 6 times. I suggested we stop at a McDonald's with a PlayPlace so I could use the restroom and Andrew could play. Andrew really liked this idea. We bought some McNuggets and Andrew got to play for 10 minutes, then it was back on the road.

When we got home, I discovered that I had a flight scheduled for 8:00am Monday morning. Oh no, I guess I don't have time to relax from the trip just yet.