Friday Summary

A quick dip in the pool for the kids who woke up full of energy and exicted to be here at Grandma Allen’s condo in Florida! So over to the pool at about 8:30am for a swim.
After that I mentioned that we might try to go over to Busch Gardens given that it was still a weekday and we might have luck with the crowd level.
That was an immediate consensus and soon we were off and on our way. Back north on rte 75 to Tampa. We found the Park with no trouble and pulled in, then took the tram from the parking area over to the main entrance.
It was a beautiful day and we were all excited. Amanda, Crystal and I have been to the park before but none of us for a very long time, and of course it was Justin’s, and Jenn’s first time at a theme park.
We stopped and ate some lunch, at humorous prices, to get that out of the way and then we went off into the maze of paths and exhibits. There were so many exotic animals, and displays that it took us a while to figure out where we were going.
The kids had up close experiences with a friendly group of flamingos. There were Elephants to look at and all kinds of birds, all over the place. We even passed a small rhinoceros on the way to “Timbuktu”.
When we got there we were able to try some of the rides, and Justin was able to go on the Scorpion, his very first rollercoaster, with a full loop-de-loop and everything. There was also the Sandstorm, which I remembered from my experience long ago and he liked that a lot too.
Crystal and Amanda went with Justin on the log flume, and they had a terrific time getting soaked.
I had been eyeing the massive roller coaster the “Sheik-ra” but Amanda wasn’t so sure she wanted to go. We found a section for smaller kids and Crystal took Justin and Jennifer to “Dragon Land” and the two of them tried some rides together. Meanwhile , Amanda had come around on riding the big coaster. So we went. There was only a short wait (for all the rides which was great) and soon she and I were buckled in and ready to ride the Sheik-Ra!
That was quite a ride. A massive vertical free-fall and loops, another freefall that sends you underground then speeding across the surface of a large pool. Really cool. Despite all the screaming, when we pulled into the start area again Amanda said… “I’d do it again.” So we did. Twice.
By the time the park was closing we were all pretty much done. The kids were spent, and we drove back to Sarasota and put Jenn down.
As would be their regular routine Amanda and Justin watched a movie on the laptop and sat together until poor Justin just collapsed.

Moonlight and the palms...

[EDIT] pic didn't work.

Farewell

Tram back 2 truck.

The Guy with the stroller in the front of the tram...

Happiness is a cold french fry.

Popcorn-man! ...soaked.

Poor jenn has had a long day.

Woo-hoo!

Busch gardens waiting for the sandstorm. J is so excited that he can go on the rides.

Feedin flamingos

Soda gets mustard out..?

What the... Jen says quack quack.

Tram ride 2 busch gardens!

8)

Amanda! what a cute butt luv u mom

On the road 2 busch gardens

Day 1 & Ride Wrap Up

The car ride was really much better than I expected. Leaving in the evening (really almost 6pm by the time we were on the road…6:01pm when we got on rte25) was definitely the way to go. We drove down 95 through Connecticut and New York and were over the George Washington Bridge by 10pm. We were down onto the Jersey Turnpike and stopped at the second service area and filled up the tank and switched drivers. This was the cheapest gas of the trip at 3:10 a gallon.
Crystal took her first turn driving from about 10:30ish and went straight on to the Maryland/Delaware House rest area past Baltimore at about 1:30am. She needed some rest, and I had slept just a little bit while she drove. I took the wheel again and took us from there until about 4:30am through Virginia. Crystal was back on the wheel and made up a bunch of time as we cooked through southern VA and North Carolina.
We stopped at South of the Border for a small break at about 6:15am and took a few pics. The kids were really just waking up from a restless night at this point. All three were good, Amanda and Justin had decent periods of sleep and Jenn too with only occasional outbursts. Really they were all as good as we could have hoped.
The South bound Odyssey continued through the morning and day on Thursday as we reeled in Savannah, then Jacksonville. We were into Florida and still jamming as Crystal and I continued to take turns and nap and the day was getting hot.
We stopped just south of Jacksonville and kept missing coffee places and got word that we may be in for traffic around Orlando on rte 4. Off we went determined (at least I was) to make it to the condo before the 24 hour mark.
We made it through Orlando without any traffic, but the north/east bound side was pretty backed up, and continued to Tampa with the GPS on. We hit 75 and went south to Sarasota. Peter called to check on our progress and tell us we were close and he would stop by to check on us.
We arrived at the Tippecanoe condos at 5:25pm, finding it with no problem….thanks to our friend the Garmin

We arrived and were in the pool within 45 minutes. The pool is a short walk to the clubhouse and was nice and warm. In fact the water was so warm it was well above the air temperature which made getting out chilly. Jennifer loved it and spent almost all of her time in the water with Amanda, who led the charge to the pool. As soon as I was in she was working with Justin on swimming without his floaties… which he wasn’t too keen on, but it was fun anyway. The pool was good and is sure to see lots of us in the coming week. It was also just the thing to get some of that pent-up energy from the car out for both kids and Mom and Dad. It had been a long time (longer than usual) since I’d swam in a pool like that. Maybe its just been a long winter.

We got some pizza from down the street to have with the food that Elaine and Peter left for us, which was so nice of them, and the kids watched a movie until they both collapsed. Day one (really a day and a half) complete.

Made it. Just under 24 hrs by a couple minutes! 1448 miles.

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