I spent my birthday traveling today. I had to cross the scary Sunshine Skyway bridge as part of my journey.
It's so high! Can you blame me for getting nervous over this? Actually I did better today - either I am starting to get used to it or my "trick" worked. What trick? I told myself today that since it's scary and you have to pay $1 to cross it, then it's just like a scary ride at Disney or Busche Gardens!
This is what it looks like when you are at the top IF you are in the center lane. For some reason I find the inside fast lane scarier so I ride in the outside lane and you can see over the edge down into the water. Perhaps that's not a good choce???? Oh, don't worry - I didn't photo while I drove. I got these photos from Wikipedia.
This is what greated us at Aunt Flossie's house. She has a beautiful salmon color Christmas cacus in prime bloom. She said she had two but due to overwatering she now only has one.
Here's today's photo of my Dad and his sister Flossie. She lives in Arcadia which is about an hour and half away from us. Dad will be spending the week there. I wil pick him up next Saturday. He spent Christmas with us and will spend New Year's with her. They were already making plans when we were leaving. if you happen to be in DeSoto county Florida this week and see an 80 year old man and a 92 year old woman driving in a big car, look out! They are up to no good, LOL.
I loved the ambiance in Aunt Flossie's front room. The combination of the Christmas lights and pig lights created a nice light and mood. It was sort of a pink/peach glow which is one of my favorite colors. I just KNOW my complexion looked good in those lights so it was hard to leave ;)
But leave we did. On the way home, mom and I stopped at Prime Outlets in Ellenton to spend some of my Christmas & birthday $$$. I had this big wad of cash and felt like I was on "What Not To Wear" as I tried to be super critical of cut & fit to ensure that I would wear the items I bought. Too often it's "good enough" and then I only wear it once or twice. It was hard to shop smart instead of settling. I spend about half and bought 3 pairs of pants, 3 tops, 1 dress, and a suit jacket. I truly felt like Stacy & Clinton were over my shoulder telling me something was nice but not right for me. Serious shopping is hard work!
Cousin bill with the new grandbaby.
Christian, Tamera, and their baby.
Bill's son Willie. He had fun showing me his arsenol of Nerf guns.
The guy in the tye-died shirt is my cousin Bob that I have not seen since probably I was a teenager. He's been staying with Bill for a while. To his right is Aunt Flossie - she is the last living sibling of my dad. The little boy in front is Willie again.
Christian's jeep got stuck in the mud.
Passed lots of trucks filled with oranges. There were enough oranges on the side of the road, that escaped from the confines of the trucks, you could have picked up enough of them to last a year!
We stopped at this road side stop because they had a big BBQ going outside and were advertising pulled pork and smoked sausages.
It turned out to be a biker bar. I went inside to buy us some cokes and a guy in a lot of black leather took my photo, lol.
Mom eating with the smoking bikers in the background. Inside was a live band - it was REALLY loud.
Oops! I should have taken a photo of my sandwhich BEFORE, lol.
Our final stop was the shops at Ellenton Prime Outlets. I bought two purses for summer. I really like handbags like some people love shoes - purse are my thang.
Here's a photo of an 80 year old (dad) instructing a 92 year old (aunt Flossie) on how to play online games on POGO.com. Who says computers are only used by the young?
We went to Saturday dinner at Cody's last night. Pretty good. L - R: mom, Jerry, Marge (MIL), and Dad.
Coming home from dinner, I had Jerr snap our photo last night bcause these decorations are probably coming down tomorrow! (No, it wasn't cold outside, had to have jacket for inside restaurant.)
