Thursday, July 24, 2008

HIgh School Reunion means a trip to Florida

It has been six months since Sally took a flight. It has been two years since Tom took a flight. Since getting the motor home, we haven’t needed to fly very often. Airports are a challenge. Unfamiliar airports (such as Sea-Tac) was, for us, a nut house. But we had a really good breakfast.

We chose to stay at a hotel near the airport, leave our truck, and use their shuttle instead of leaving the vehicle in an airport parking lot. The flight was scheduled early in the morning and the RV was parked about 100 miles away. We were lucky and went through security quickly. It left us a little while before the boarding process.

Most flights on Southwest Airlines are on time. We were late boarding because of a they siad the gate wouldn't work correctly and then something else mechanical must have been wrong. The pilot said it would take the ground crew just a few minutes to repair. This turned out to be an optimistic. We had to deplane and board on a different aircraft. We took off about one and a half hours late. Lucky for us, we were scheduled a three hour layover in Albuquerque. We left there on time and arrived in Tampa early, only to stay on the plane because the gate wasn’t clear. We were proud to be on the ground in Florida.

One of the nice parts of an airplane ride is the view. As we were late leaving Sea-Tac late, the skies were clearing. From our vantage we could see several mountains. Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens were in view as we turned in air after leaving the tarmac. Mt. St. Helens, like the others, is a volcano. It last erupted in 1980. We are planning a visit on our way to Oregon, so keep your eyes open for the next post.

We drove up to Crystal River to see Sally’s dad, brother and sister in law. It was a very quick trip. We arrived about 10:30 in the evening and left right after lunch on the next day. But it is always good to see family.

The big reason for the trip was the high school reunion. Friday’s big event was a get together in one of the classmate’s nightclub. It was a well furnished sports bar (recliners and a big screen). The food was very good. If you find yourself in St. Petersburg Florida, try a Cuban sandwich are Donk’s Sports Bar. It was a good place to meet with a group of people that had much in common. There was talk of kids, grandkids, parents, houses, traffic and speed traps. (Just a note, if you don’t want a ticket, just drive the speed limit, it works.)
Sharing pictures and talk at Donk's
Dancing the night away - Class of '68!
(Most of us went home at midnight, so technically we did dance the NIGHT away!)
Saturday was spent around the pool. We both got a little more sun than anticipated. We were only slightly red. Saturday night was a dinner cruise. It was quite a treat. The boat was a paddle wheel with a route inside the bay with a stop to watch the sunset on the Gulf of Mexico.

Reunion Group Picture
Tom and Sally on the cruise

The flight home was uneventful. We arrived late, but it was our anniversary. So we went out for a fancy dinner. Check out the picture.

Anniversary dinner #12
In case you don't recognize the icon - that's a Jack-in-the-Box hamburger!
We hope all your travels go well. Till next time.

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