Busch Gardens:
All of us, except Bill and Ronabel, went for a day to Busch gardens. We all, except grandma, started with a ride on the wooden roller coaster. Mike and Mac went on the Python roller coaster. They are in the 2nd to last car. We did manage to pull grandma on the Congo River Rapids. We didn't want her to see the sign that said "Caution- riders may get wet or completely soaked". She managed to get completely soaked.
To settle down after the rides, we went on the train which runs through the park. They have many African animals to see like giraffes, zebras, tigers, and triceratopses.
There were many carnival-type games like the ring-toss, etc.. JP saw one of the "carnys" practicing at the basketball-shoot game. They guy bounced it off the ground, not shooting it directly at the rim. It worked for him, and guess what- it worked for JP also. He won a small white tiger for his girl. Tom ended up spending about $40 at various games trying to get his honey a prize. No luck.
Beaches:
On a few days, we were able to relax and spend some time on the beaches. Tom and the gang mostly hung out by their condo in Treasure Island. Jill and JP went up to Clearwater Beach one day. The weather was beautiful- high about 77 and low about 57. Since it was January, the water in the Gulf was very cold. JP decided he wasn't going to put more than his feet in this trip. It always seems like a good idea to pick up shells and sand-dollars on the beach. However, what do you do with them when you get them back home? Jill made a bikini top out of 2 of the shells. One of them still had a crab in it. Ouch! Some of us also found some time to do some putt-putt golf.
NASA:
On Sunday, a few us decided to go visit Cape Canaveral. This was a full-day trip to the other side of Florida, but it was fun. There were surprisingly no big displays about the Mars probe which was just touching down on Mars that day! I guess after 20 years of planning, the event kind of snuck up on them.
This is the Vehicle Assembly Building where they put the components of the shuttles together. The guys at NASA call it the VAB. After that, we made a Right Hand Turn to go see the Apollo rockets. The guys at NASA call those RHT's. The Astronaut Memorial is a new feature at the Visitor's Center… or I should say the AM at the VC. After a few hours we decided to GTHO.
Bill and Ronabel went to Disney's Epcot and Universal Studios while the rest of us were at NASA. They had fun on the Terminator 3D ride, and a ride which made you feel like you were blasting off into space. They went out to eat after their adventure and saw Vinny Testaverde in the restaurant. Isn't Vinny like 50 by now?
And so ended our trip to Tampa. Coming home, we heard that Iowa had just received 6" of snow and the temperatures were very cold- high of 5 degrees. We weren't too happy to be leaving at that time. Next year should be fun at one of the BCS bowls that Iowa will be attending. Go Hawks!!!