A Short Synopsis of our Spring Break Vacation

As I have mentioned before, people's vacations aren't of much interest to others.  Besides, this blog is about my life in Princeton, Wisconsin and not 1500 miles away.  So as not to bore anyone, I will just post a brief photo travelogue of our Spring break vacation.  We left for Florida in late February while there was still some snow on the ground.

 
Although it was a fairly mild winter by our standards, it was still nice to get a break.  We had two full travel days and arrived in Gainesville Florida on the third day.

My husband's only brother lives there, and we don't see them very often.  It was a great two day visit with a lot of laughs and good food.  They know how much I like wildlife, so they planned a trip to a hiking area.  I was told we would probably see some four legged wildlife, but probably not any deer.  I was a bit suspicious and then I saw this sign as we entered the trail.

I didn't see any wild horses or bison, but I got an adrenaline rush when I saw the alligators basking in the sun.  I took a lot of pictures.  Fortunately they seemed content and didn't mind.  It's a good thing because my husband and his brother would have run faster than me and my sister in law was smart enough to stay the furthest away.  I could have been a hearty meal.

The next day we left Gainesville for our destination.  We rented a place on Anna Maria Island Florida with my sister and her husband.  We had never stayed in this area before and found it beautiful.  The sand was white, the water was aqua, the weather was warm and sunny most of the time and the island contained many interesting sights.

We took several day trips over the two week period.  One was to the Kennedy Space Center.  It was interesting to see a history of the U.S. space program.

We traveled to another beach near Sarasota, Florida.  This beach was called Siesta Key Beach.  Although the Anna Maria beach sand was white, Siesta Beach had the whitest and finest sand ever.  It is 99% quartz and was cool to the touch.

On the way back, we saw an unexpected surprise in Sarasota.  It was a gigantic sculpture of the Surrender Kiss.   Everyone remembers this famous kiss but we were so surprised to see this in a 25 foot high sculpture.

Some days we just explored the island.  There was a free trolley, so we could move from place to place without having to drive or park.  We visited the main city pier where we had lunch.  I had gulf shrimp which were delicious.

We listened to music and watched the pelicans.  They were pretty tame and quite the nuisance to the people fishing on the pier.  They would wait for the people fishing to turn their backs to the stringer of fish, and the pelicans would try to steal them.  I thought they were beautiful.

We walked the beach every morning.  Everyday we would see a new bird or find a different type of shell.

Almost every night we would walk down to the ocean to see the sunset.  The days were warm and sunny and the nights were cool.  It made for beautiful sunsets.

It was an awesome relaxing vacation.  Now we are back home.  The snow is gone and hopefully Spring is on its way.  It will be a wonderful memory, but I am happy to live in our quiet little town in Wisconsin. Even though the weather today is gloomy and rainy, I was greeted by ducks swimming on the pond, Sandhill cranes and best of all our bluebirds have returned for the summer.  

A lonely wood duck on a dreary day.

A pair of Sandhill Cranes walking around in the rain.

He's a little wet and soggy, but he is patiently waiting for his mate to arrive.

Winter Tubing At Nordic Mountain

It's February 20, 2016, and we are having a February thaw going on here in Wisconsin.  Today the temperature was near 50 degrees.  The snow is melting and there are puddles everywhere.  I was a bit surprised when my daughters told me they were taking the kids Snow Tubing.  I asked them how they could tube when the snow was melting so fast.  They said that the ski hill makes snow, and they have a deep base.  It was a perfect day to tube.  We decided to take a drive to watch them for a while.  It must have been a perfect day because the place was full.  They were at capacity, and there was a waiting line.

Entrance sign to the ski hill.

As we drove in, we saw the tubing, snow board and sking hills were all busy.

Get your tickets here.

View from the road.

We pulled into a very muddy parking area, and one of our daughters met us.  The kids had already taken a couple trips down the hill.  We were able to walk over and watch the process.  There were a lot of families but several adults were there playing without any children.  There was a lot of fun to go around.

My husband, daughter Heather and myself

Sam

Ewan

Dylan

Sarah and Jack

Before getting in line for the tow rope, read the rules.  If you die, it isn't their fault.

Waiting in line for the tow rope.

After a short time waiting in line,  it was their turn.  The tubing hill employee attaches the rope, and they pull you up the hill.  It looks like fun to get pulled slowly  up the hill.

 
Once they were at the top of the hill, they had to wait until the people below were out of the way. 

Then back up the hill again to wait in line.

This trip everyone goes down the hill holding on to each other.

Once at the bottom of the hill,

they all pile out of the tubes for another run.

It was a fun day.  I would think everyone is very tired from all the walking and fresh February air.  It does my heart good to see our daughters and our grandsons having a day to remember.  Our only granddaughter Melissa was busy today.  She had dress rehearsal for their upcoming high school play.  I'm sure she didn't mind.   What she was doing was just as much fun for her.