Time Flies

Wow, I cannot believe that I haven't made an entry. Things have been nuts. Lots of projects and some traveling. I've also been busy doing some overdue preventive maintenance on the cycle. I really need to get new tires before I do any long distance riding. Most of the photo work has been your run of the mill stuff. I did get this one cool gig shooting some shots of new Tampa fire trucks. I was thinking I need to elevate my shooting area to get a good prespective on the large vehicles. No problem...they put me up in a aerial ladder. I did some photoshop on it to remove a light pole and the sidewalks that ran right under the cabs. I also did a montage of shots that looked pretty cool. The fire captain in charge of public relations wants to send it to the company that outfitted the trucks. Hopefully I will have a relaxing Memorial Day weekend.

A Real Vacation

Not to long ago, I was involved in a fundraiser for a co-worker with a terminal illness. During the fundraiser auction I made a bid on a weekend get-away at a beach condo in Holmes Beach, FL. Now mind you, I can count on one hand on vacations that I have taken in the past 30 years. By vacation, I mean, pack up and go away! I have taken some 3 and 4 day weekends, but usually stayed near or at home, but this...OH-MY-GOD! It was heaven sent. No schedules...no computers...only 2 cell phone calls, then I turned it off! lol The owners of the condo could have not be more gracious by affording us all the amenities you could imagine. I don't really want to mention their names for their privacy, but I spoke with them prior to going to the condo and I can tell you they have a good heart for donating this auction item. Without going into the details I will just say that this place was great. This was a 2 story, 2 1/2 bath, dining room, living room and ultra modern kitchen, condo, 50 yards from the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side of the building is a nice swimming pool. You can see the umbrella on the back patio deck in the picture, that was our place. The unit is kept up by Anna Maria Gulf Coast Rentals, www.AMGCRentals.com . They could have not been any friendlier and helpful. If you ever want to do a condo or beach house vacation to the Florida beaches, call them! Contact Anita, vacation@AMGCRentals.com , she and the whole staff are good people. So, I got some sun, bobbed around in the gulf, sometimes in the pool, watched the sunsets, ate...too much. One day, I was floating on an innertube about 20 yards from shore. The water is very clear and I see what I first thought was a patch of seaweed. Ummm...this patch is moving kinda fast and parallel to the shore. I was just hoping that a dorsal fin didn't pop out of the water! Instead it was a Manatee. Went right by without a care in the world. We also had a visit a couple of times by a pod of bottle nosed dolphin. They came in very close...maybe 10 yards or so, in 3-4 feet of water. Most of the time they were chasing schools of bait fish, but a couple of times they got playful and came up out of the water.

Most people don't realize that it is a federal violation to touch a dolphin in the wild, as are the Manatees.

They did put on a show for the tourist...hey, I was one of those tourist!!

Now it's reality check time and back to work. This has GOT to be my last year at the "real job". This vacation reminded me that I want to kick back, do my photography, ride my cycle and just enjoy the good things in life. Later!

Trip to South Florida

This past weekend found me down in South Florida, which I have to admit is not my favorite place to go. I guess it's mainly because I'm out of my comfort zone and I can't find places quickly. Thank goodness the weather was nice and I'm not getting started on the "people that refuse to learn English" topic.
I was there for a sport competition and I will just say that my team took first place as well has some other awards. The other nice part was the hotel, LaQuinta, made a mistake in my favor and gave me a king size suite! Sweet! We were actually in an area called Sunrise, Fl. Everything is hidden! You drive down a major roadway and there is a lot of landscaping and walls, then suddenly you see a small sign for MacDonalds that sits only 4 feet off the ground. Or there are no signs at all and if you don't look off the roadway and see the business back there, you would drive right by it. Seems the main place to shop, eat, meet is the Sawgrass Mill Mall. We went in there and it was a cross between a Zoo and a Circus! Not that it's a bad thing... but once again the culture shift left most of us with the same thought that there are a lot of rude people there.
The drive home was welcome. Along Alligator Alley I decided to stop and take this photo. They didn't name this road Alligator Alley for nothing. The only thing between me and this 5 foot gator was water & a 8 foot chain link fence. What most tourist don't know is that a gator has a natural fear of humans...until you feed him. Then you become a food source one way or another. The other thing is, when motavated enough, gators can climb chain link fences. We counted over 16 that were up on the banks and a couple in the water. At 70 mph it's easy to miss a few, lol.

Then we spotted another team pulled off to the side of the road. They had a SUV pulling a cargo trailer and a van. They blew the transmission on the SUV. I had a full size desiel van with a hitch so we hooked up the trailer and pulled it back to St. Petersburg, while they waited for a tow truck. Hey, I wouldn't want to have those hassles, especially on the Alley! It only added about 45 minutes to our drive. It was sure nice to get home sweet home!