Tampa

John and I went to Tampa in early March.  He spoke at a math conference at the University of Southern Florida on Sunday (and attended the conference on Saturday).  We flew down Wednesday after work and spent a couple of nights on Siesta Key.  We were out on the beach all day on Thursday...it was beautiful!

On our way to the beach

I love the beach!

Yummy Siesta Key pink lemonade at the Sniki Tiki

John: "Do you want to go see the sunset? It's happening in five minutes."

Our clams...they were pretty good...but not my favorite!

Friday morning, after I ran 3 miles on the beach (my first outside run of the year), we ate at an adorable little breakfast place that was previously frequented by Dickie V!  Then we drove up to Tampa and spent the afternoon at Busch Gardens.  I was beyond excited to see that there was a McAlister's Deli right next to our hotel...and talked John into taking me there for dinner even though he's not a big fan.

We got to watch them feed the elephants...it was pretty entertaining.

My favorite animal, the giraffe

A real giraffe!  The safari train ride was pretty cool...almost on par with Disney's safari.

The most awesome roller coaster I've ever been on...the Cheetah Hunt.  It had three "speed bursts" and was just awesome...very smooth and not too much spinning...my kinda ride!

Mmm...McAlister's sweet tea, how I've missed you!

My usual, the McAlister's Club

Saturday I met my Uncle Mark and Aunt Trina for lunch near Orlando.  It was really good to see them again...but unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures on my camera.  Hopefully I'll get to see them again this summer...or sometime soon!

Sunday John and I went to Plant City to visit some old family friends...Mary and Tom and their daughter Jess.  Luckily, Jess and her husband Darren were home for a wedding that weekend.  It was SO good to see them and to meet Darren...I hadn't been to their house since Jess graduated from high school almost 9 years ago...and I think I'd only seen Mary and Tom once since then back home in Wisconsin.  It's really amazing to have friends like that...who you can just pick up with like you saw them the other day.  Mary fed us a delicious lunch...and we got a tour of their llamas.  I'm lucky to have such awesome friends!  (But, unfortunately, no photo evidence.)