Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Last FL post! Don't cry!
OK, so on Friday of our vacation we drove 8 long hours (me blowing my nose the whole way) back to the Tampa area. Driving through alligator alley we passed the time by counting alligators. For real. They were all along the side of the road. So cool.
Saturday the plan was to go out on Cam's boat fishing again. Floridians are obessed with the weather, so we were prepared for lots of wind. What we got was almost hurricane force. It was miserable. But, fish on! We got bait and went inshore for kingfish. When we were coming in to a fishing hole, my uncle yelled out that there was something in the water for Cam to avoid. A manatee! Woo hoo! So cool.
Well, after 2 hours or so of braving the wind, Cam got fed up and yelled, "That's it! This is no longer a fishing trip. This is now a booze cruise!" So we dropped my uncle off at the dock (his choice, I would have preferred he stay!) and Cam and Beth and Ryan and I filled the cooler and started the slow ride on the boat to Clearwater Beach. We took a good hour getting there, drinking and yelling at the other booze cruisers. And then we got to Frenchie's, which is a chill seafood bar where you can wear flip-flops and crappy beach clothes, and there's a boat valet! We just threw a line to a lady on the dock, jumped on land, and had oysters, grouper and fish dip. And beer.
That night after dinner w/ the whole family, Cam and Beth and their girls and the two of us all piled into their smaller boat to watch sunset on the sandbar that gets exposed at low tide.
Cutest little family ever.
For our last day we went to the Tampa Science Center for the famed Bodies exhibit. I don't even know how to explain it! They have about 30 actual dead bodies that have the skin removed and have been injected w/ something to harden them so they're all preserved. All the bodies are posed doing weird things like kicking a soccer ball, or shooting a basketball, or conducting an orchestra. Each body is displayed to show a different body system. Like the muscle guy whose muscles were all splayed out to show how they lay together in the body. There were also all kinds of other body parts in displays to show cross sections of things, or cancer in body parts... There was a whole room where they had displayed the circulatory system by taking blood vessels, in tact, out of a body and keeping them in their body shape and preserving them. So there is a whole blood system w/out the rest of the body all in the shape of the body! Seriously, it was SO COOL. Or the body they had taken and cut in 2 inch sections horizontally through the body and split them apart to show what MRIs look at.
Wanna know something weird? I had never seen a dead body before. But they did this so tastefully and interestingly and I learned all kinds of things! There's about 4 of these exhibits in the US. If you have one near you, you should totally go!
OK, that's enough vacation stuff. I think I've shown most of my favorite pictures and I've told lots of stories, and you're all bored reading about it I'm sure.
So... on to other stuff. I just read the best book. Not unlike my friend africankelli, I've been waiting for a book to come along that got me back into reading. Kite Runner was that book. Kite Runner is about a boy growing up in Afganistan before the war with Russia. I learned about life in Afganistan, the culture in the country, the changes that have come to the area, and the hardships of the lucky few who were able to leave and start a new life in the US. And with all that, it was a beautiful story as well. Definitely a must read.
I'm struggling with my new job. I'm used to showing up at 6am and leaving at 2:30pm on the dot. Well, in the last week I've stayed past 4pm 3 times, and tomorrow I have a meeting at 4:30pm. I know that sounds silly to some of you, but it is hard going from one set schedule for 5 full years to totally losing control of my time. I've really got to learn to be more flexible... And I've got a new manager who has been using me as his secretary, which I'm not thrilled about. I'm letting them get used to me before I stop that practice, but it does have to stop.
Not too much else going on. Photo class is over. OH! And did I mention that of the 3 pictures selected from my class for the Spring Student Art Show, 2 were mine? ;-) Yahoo for that.
Hope you all are surviving the week!
posted by atpanda at 8:38 PM
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About Me
- Name: atpanda
- Location: Mesa, Arizona, United States
I'm Amanda. I'm an engineer in an industry full of men, a professional wedding and family portrait photographer, a firefighter's wife, a traveler, and a dogMa.
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6 Comments:
Those pictures are the very reason I love being back in Florida again. I'm glad you had a nice time (aside from the whole no a/c thing).
Ew on the bodies thing. I mean, it sounds fascinating, but I'm eating! ;-)
Congrats on your photos being selected! That's awesome.
Let's hope that kid didn't have to go to the bathroom!
This makes me wish I could travel and explore the world!!! Gergous pictures Amanda! And congratulations!!!
Fitèna
These are my favourite of your vacation pics. They truly look like they could be a magazine! Way to go!
Great pics! Kelli, I was thinking the same thing! Great tushy shot! lol!
I've really enjoyed your vacation photos. Love the sandbar one too...great perspective! The bum shot is cute too.
I'm sorry that I missed the bodies exhibit when it was here in Toronto, I had intended to see it as I'd heard it was fascinating.
Congrats on your photos being picked. Which ones were they?
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