Our vacation started with me taking a trip to the pub with….
My boss, Mark McCauley….
And the writing was on the bathroom wall.
Mark demonstrates how to chop a glass of beer in half.
We all went over to Raku for some dinner….
Where Mark went on and on about how great of an employee I am.
Dropping Mark off for the night, we ran into his boss, Mike Bacher.
After ditching the work folk, Kelli and I headed to Florida.
She was very happy to see her grandmother.
Kelli was quick to assume her womanly duties and make me a meal.
Later that night, it was over to the Shriner’s club for the Hillbilly Dinner.
It was all you can eat, a favorite of the older crowd….
Mmmmmm, fried fish.
Oh, by the way, one of Kelli’s bags got lost…..
12 hours later and still no sign of it.
Our first full day of vacation and Kelli and and I headed downtown.
It didn’t take us long to find Mattison’s…..
Where we decided a beer was in order.
We mostly ran errands during the day (SCUBA stuff), but then headed out for some pizza that night.
Well, pizza AND beer.
Makes you want a pizza, doesn’t it?
The next day it was down to the docks for some SCUBA.
Our boat for the day, Quest.
I kid you not, the dive shop made us carry our tanks!!!
Between that and some other things, their tip was dropping rapidly.
When was the last time you licked the sea breeze from your lips?
Look, the elusive Kelli fish….
She’s my star…..fish.
A nice looking sea cucumber.
Kelli was always close behind me.
As you can see, the water wasn’t very clear.
Visibility (known as “vis”) was about 10 feet.
Unless I was about a foot from my underwater subject the pictures didn’t come out too well.
This one had promise, but there were too many particles in the water.
Some good color with a sea urchin.
Back on the surface, it was almost time for our night dive.
Kelli and I take the plunge for our first night dive….
The sun was just about gone, but I assure you, it was pitch black at 30 feet below.
One last shot before slipping into the abyss.
It was really dark and this is a picture of Kelli.
By shining my dive light on the crab I was able to get the camera to focus.
Another crab, this one a flame box crab.
The two pictures I got of Kelli in the darkness.
I put my light in the sand behind her to give her a little backlight and eerie glow.
The next day after the dive trip we had to clean our gear.
Afterwards Kelli and her grandmother went out, and I stayed in and watched TV.
When they came back, they posed for a picture….
And then we all went about doing nothing.
Kelli was looking lonely on the sofa…..
So I came over and joined her.
Later it was back down to main street.
We headed over to the Gator Club….
Because they have every football game.
These folks were watching the Redskins….
Tampa Bay was on this TV….
And we were watching the Ravens.
Of course, we had our own private section.
Kelli’s grandmother defected and went to watch the Steelers game with this guy.
Kelli decided there weren’t enough pictures of me, so she took a few.
We ordered some pizza to go with our football….
And when the game was done, we headed back for a nap.
My sleeping angel.
New day and new fun….
While Kelli laid on the beach, I went snorkeling.
A small crab doesn’t seem to want his picture taken.
This guy was too small and quick to get a good picture of him.
As always, there are plenty of sand dollars here.
Check out this crab!!!!
I liked the way the sunlight was reflecting on the bottom.
Back on shore, Kelli was still sun bathing….
But was happy to have me back.
After playing on the beach, we headed over to the Daiquiri Deck.
So many daiquiris to choose from….
We went with the banana slider.
Doesn’t it look good?
I thought so.
Too fast….brain freeze!!!!
Dude, they suck.
We had some grouper bites to go with the drinks.
Always good times here.
They fix hair dryers, gel dispensers, clippers, etc.
We’re hanging in the back of a mini-van….
As we had met up with Kelli’s friend, Michelle.
They drove us by their new house….
But we were too early to use the pool.
We went out drinking and driving afterwards.
Of course I was kidding about that last one. We actually went out for sushi.
Kiyoshi’s on Main Street, worth the trip.
Then they showed us a secret beach.
It was a little out of the way…..
But very private.
We had to pick up some jewelry that was being fixed, so Kelli looks at the rest of the goods.
This advertising picture brought to you by Talon Photography.
Mattison’s was right down the street, so we thought it would be a good time to….
Stop and have a few drinks.
Owner Paul Mattison stopped by to say hello.
I was trying to get a good one of Kelli for you, but she’s too quick.
Timmy’s pseudonym is Helen.
Check out the melons!!!
How mullet is served in the trailer park.
Kelli looking good for going out….
So after a quick check of the email…..
I asked her to pose with her grandmother for a picture.
I guess I didn’t take any pictures that night, so on to the next day at the beach.
We brought along our scuba stuff for a deeper snorkel/dive session off the beach.
Some areas were very shallow…..
But others had some good depth.
There were a lot of common snook around.
When we were done, we headed to Phillippi Creek for some food.
Aren’t we fabulous!!!!!!
The stone crab season had just opened 4 days before…..
And I forgot to take a picture of it, so here is the Mahi we had afterwards.
These things are better when you do them the correct way.
It’s the first two things that come to mind when I think of Florida.
Self portrait.
Kelli and I went to Florida to visit her grandmother, for those pics Click Here.
Stopping by Moochie’s to drop off her purse, find Kelli.
Another day at the beach, and this time Kelli stays on land while I look at the fish.
I searched and searched to find what kind of fish this is, but to no avail.
If I had to guess, I’d say he’s some kind of grunt.
We left the beach, and went back to the house for some food.
Afterwards, Kelli and her grandmother worked on some cork trivets.
When the work was all done, it was time to go out.
I love Stella.
We decided to bar hop, and Selva Grill was next.
The mussels ceviche were pretty good.
I was trying to take a picture of this wall….
And after every shot I thought, odd the color is way off…..
Turns out the wall was changing color as I was taking the pictures.
We left there and headed up the street to….
A wine bar.
This place exuded pretentiousness.
They tried a little too hard to be something they were not.
The cheese plate was good….
But who puts BBQ sauce on raw tuna???
Sorry Cru, you get a thumbs down.
When we got home, we found this guy next to the door.
I think he liked the way the breeze blew through.
The cork trivets they made earlier.
The next day Kelli was in the kitchen making some cookies….
And can you guess what we did when they were done?
No rules, just right.
Yes, we do eat and drink a lot on these trips.
Notice anything odd about this map?
Oh, I forgot to mention, Hurricane Wilma was about to blow through town.
With the hurricane approaching, we headed out to a bar.
We ordered some food….
And then the satellite went out….
Maybe it had something to do with Wilma coming to town.
With no TV action here, we headed to another bar….
Now this is our kinda place.
Sarasota Brewing Company was just what we were looking for that night.
They know how to do raw tuna.
All the beer is brewed on premises.
The World Series was on the big screen, one of about 30 TVs.
Can you spot the difference between the men’s room…..
And the women’s?
As Brad and the TV behind him would tell us, yes you can.
Hey look, more pizza.
This is the third one you’ve seen now….craving some yet?
The next day the hurricane was south of where we were staying….
But outside it didn’t look that bad.
It looked worse last hurricane.
This snake popped his head up in the window next to Kelli from the last picture before slithering away.
Our last night, and we went back to the brew pub.
It was Monday Night Football, and they had some games going.
So we grabbed a few beers….
Kept an eye on our tickets…..
And I spun the wheel when we won.
OH YEAH!!!!!!
Kelli won too for knowing that Tom Brady had the most sacks last year.
Winners!!!!!!
We decided to cash in that night.
On the way out the next day, and Kelli is still stuck on that game.
Well that’s all for now, hope you enjoyed….
Oh yeah, one more of Mike picking us up from the airport.