Back in the Real World

Pookie and I had a marvelous mid-November vacation in Florida. First stop was a weekend at Treasure Island. We watched a beautiful sunset on the Gulf of Mexico...



...crashed a wedding on the beach (along with a few other beach bums)...



...and I had a great time at a needlework class taught by Susan Greening Davis while Pookie relaxed.












Then we went to the Atlantic coast and watched the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis from the Kennedy Space Flight Visitor Center. It was so much brighter than it appears on TV. The only thing I could compare it to would be burning magnesium. It was a bit disappointing that it wasn't louder, but we were 7 miles from the launch pad so it's understandable.



Next, we spent a few days in Orlando, mostly at Seaworld. I'd been to the one in San Antonio, but this was a first for Pookie. We saw all the shows (some twice), fed shrimp to some rays and generally had a good time. One unexpected and fun show featured dogs and cats adopted from shelters and rescue operations. They were very highly trained and their show was like watching a living Rube Goldberg machine in action.



Heading south, we visited with some of Pookie's relative and overnighted in Ft. Lauderdale. The next morning, with a kiss and a wave good-bye, I put Pookie on a plane and sent him home. BFF CD was driving down for the races and picked me up the airport (probably before Pookie was even through the security check point) and we headed for the NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Jimmie Johnson (CD's guy) won the championship for a unprecedented fourth time. She was happy about that but would have prefered the champion had been Mark Martin. One of my guys, Denny Hamlin, won the Cup race for the weekend and I was happy about that. So we both got to have a happy.



CD then put me on a plane to return to the real world and the job that goes with it. sigh I really, really need to win that lottery so it can be vacation time all the time!