These dolphins just wouldn’t leave me alone. I was kayaking yesterday on the river and found a hidden spring and they just came up to me.
Of course, by “kayaking on the river” I mean walking around a theme park and by “hidden spring” I mean crowd of people standing over a tank.
They were soooo cute though. I need a dolphin.
I hope everybody who was lucky enough to get a three-day weekend enjoyed it! I sure did!
Not much to report on the food front, but we did get in a great kayaking trip down the river/springs and saw lots of wildlife — the usual turtles, birds, and gators, blue crab, plus some of those elusive otters. So cute! No dolphins, but that’s okay. We sat in our kayaks like 15 feet away from the otters and just watched. Kevin got video but I didn’t get any photos because I had just dropped my point-and-shoot camera in the water about a half hour earlier :-( Luckily I still got the pictures off that day and — I can’t believe this — the camera worked today when I turned it back on (gave it the rest of the day yesterday and most of today to dry). Yay.
Back to work tomorrow!
**I wrote this post yesterday but due to technical difficulties, I could not get the photos uploaded**
Well, I’ve had too much fun (and too much driving and riding in the car). Driving from central Florida to northern Georgia after work on Friday isn’t the most enjoyable thing ever, but we made it. Poor Kevin had a meeting to go to at 8:00 in the morning (therefore up at 7) and we didn’t get to sleep until about 4 a.m.
We were pretty tired but after Kevin was done we got to see some awesome places. I also took our dog Nala to some trails nearby while Kevin was busy at the meeting. Good fun it was. She loved it and so did I. Every time I step into the woods out that way it feels like home.
(Don’t pay too much attention to my appearance. This is my three-hours-of-sleep face.)
The only bad thing was I didn’t bring any water and it started getting hot outside and she is an old dog and Florida native who is not used to those hills (I’ll give you a hint about her age: if she were human, she’d be in high school) so we had to bum some water off of the nice park lady we saw. She was so kind and gave her a whole bucket full.
Then the three of us went to Unicoi State Park and saw Anna Ruby Falls really quickly. Nala got to splash around in the creek too, which she thought was awesome.
We were going to camp Friday and Saturday night but at the last minute plans changed and we ended up staying in two dog-friendly hotels. Yay for dog-friendly hotels. The second one was a Red Roof Inn and they didn’t even charge extra for bringing a dog. Sweet.
Throughout the trip our main courses were foods I stuffed into the cooler but we picked up a few things at gas stations here and there (and a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts). The stuff we packed was good but there was also plenty of junk along the way, although I found out Friday night no amount of caffeine and sugar could help to revive me.
(There are a few repeat photos up there because I made a mistake I don’t feel like going back to fix :-)). We got home yesterday evening and then it was back to work today. I need a break. Like a day to not do anything. Someday …
I’m looking forward to my planned outdoor run this evening. I didn’t take any photos of my food today (oatmeal, carrots, and a candy bar — oops) because it was rather boring. I’ve decided not to post all of my food so as not to bore you to tears every day. I’ll try to keep it to cool photos, new recipes and particularly yummy/good-looking food. Heh heh.
Have a great week :-)
I only have one measly photo to show you from yesterday and today, and it’s a weird one at that. Today’s lunch was leftover baked potato, leftover Brussels sprouts, and two hard-boiled egg whites with Caesar dressing. Strange but good.
You can tell I’m really being conservative and using leftovers as much as possible. I had a baked potato with the tiny bit of sour cream that was left in the container with microwaved frozen Brussels sprouts and four egg whites yesterday. Was pretty good. I had to have something with it this time, and since we were out of sour cream, I used Caesar dressing I found in the fridge.
I had planned on a run last night but we didn’t even get home to eat until 8:45 p.m. and I was so exhausted I was asleep by 10. I thought maybe I could squeeze in a run this a.m. but didn’t get up until about 7 (and I’m still tired).
Last night (I had technical difficulties then so no Internet and no photos) we had chicken ‘n’ rice with cooked frozen spinach for dinner. Of course mine was covered in Texas Pete. I made the chicken and rice in the rice cooker, amazingly enough. The rice got really mushy though, but I’m blaming it on the fact that I had to work late and the rice sat on the “warm” setting for more than three hours. Yeah, that might have had something to do with it.
This has been one heck of a busy/crazy week and now after work Kevin and I have to drive to northwest Georgia for a meeting he is going to. And we’re camping. We could have booked a hotel but I doubt we’d have gotten out to see any scenery or parks that way. We have to rush back Sunday. Whew. I might not have it all together to be able to post this weekend but at the very least I’ll be sure and get a recap post in on Monday (hopefully with some pretty Georgia mountain photos).
:-)
Have a great weekend!
Well, we made it back from our lightning fast trip to The Bahamas. We took a three-day cruise from Port Canaveral on the east coast of Florida to Nassau.
Now, while the cruising atmosphere, activities, lifestyle, entertainment, etc. are not really our thing, cruising does have its benefits. On a cruise, you get from your starting point to destination without even having to be directly involved in your travel. While you’re moving over those many miles, you eat, you sleep sprawled out in what’s basically a hotel room, work out, swim, or lounge in the sun reading a book. You can’t do that on an airplane or in a car. While it surely has its downsides, this is by far the easiest and laziest way to travel (at least for us working stiffs) and a good way to unwind since you can be as low-key as you like. It can also be an extremely cheap way to travel outside the country.
The purpose of the trip this weekend was to do something fun with B-rit during her summer vacation. This particular cruise was chosen solely because it fit into our schedule. The destination was really secondary and Kevin and I both had been here before.
Over the those three days, we ate, slept, swam, ate some more, slept some more, read, watched B-rit buy a few souvenirs, walked up and down stairs, swam some more, read some more, and went to dinner. Lazy good times.
I even worked out in the ship’s fitness center. It wasn’t huge by any means but it was more than adequate. This is the view from the treadmill I was on looking toward the port at Nassau.
Here I am stuffing my face right before going over to spend some time on the treadmill and then lift weights. Not very smart.
We visited Nassau but didn’t venture outside the tourist spots near the port. The next day we went to Little Stirrup Cay (C0c0 Cay is the cruise line’s name for it – it’s a leased island where they dump cruisers). Basically this place is a bunch of rock with palm trees, a beach, restrooms, and, of course, some picnic tables and facilities for yet another cruise buffet. And don’t forget, $4 bottles of water and lots o’ beer and drinks. Aside from all that, if you take it for what it is, it can be pretty fun and we had a grand time snorkeling and splashing around.
Kevin and B-rit saw a sting ray and Kevin saved B-rit from a jellyfish. That was all while I had my back turned. All I saw were fish and a hermit crab.
I gave up trying to take pictures of all the food. There was just too much. Honestly, most of it wasn’t that good but a few things were. Usually the supplies of cheese and fresh pineapple don’t disappoint but this time they did. Here are some pictures I did remember to take food highlights:
{Sorry, there were going to be some food photos but I have been fighting this terrible Internet connection all night and I can’t upload any more photos at the moment. Don’t worry, you’re not missing much.}
I also had food photos from today which included mostly produce in various forms and a dinner of spaghetti squash with sauce and then some rotini noodles with sauce. I will try to do better with the photos tomorrow.
Have a happy Wednesday!
I had a great day but I’m too tired right now for a lot of words. How about some photos instead?
(Kevin)
Flagler Beach + testing new kayak = spills and some major fun. The thumbnails are me — had to use them small because photos are blurry. This baby camera is great for portability but not so good at photos from a distance.
We both got bonked on the head with the kayak a few times (this would typically happen near the shore where the water is shallow, which is why I went home with sand in my nose). Also, my skin is colored a lovely shade of ouch where I skidded to the shore on my hip/backside. Good times!
Chillaxin’ …
I was also attacked by a creature in the ocean a few minutes after I stepped in the water for the first time. I felt a sharp poke in my foot followed by a sharp pinching. I looked at my foot and it was actually bleeding. I suspect an evil crab did this.
Food highlights: Picnic with cheese, a bunch of crackers (Back to Nature whole wheat and flax — very good!), about two whole pineapples and some grapes.
My happy picnic face.
We agree there isn’t much that compares to fresh cold pineapple.
When I got home I threw together and inhaled a big salad using mainly the same stuff as yesterday except today I had real sour cream. And I had two of these muffins (one this a.m. and one in the p.m.) and handfuls of a few dates with almond butter.
Sunday thankfulness (trying to list different stuff from last week):
I am so thankful:
All in all a fun, fun, fun day.
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!
