A week on Speed

My computer problem is solved! All it needed was for me to buy a brand new HP laptop. The new laptop came with Windows 8.1, a lot of GB and did I mention it's new! Now the pain begins; learning a new operating system can be sooo frustrating. But as you know, no pain no gain grrrr.

I also downloaded OpenOffice instead of using the Microsoft Office Suite... more learning. I can barely get my emails because I don't have outlook installed. Do you think I am done with whining? NO!

Last week, our daughter came to Florida for a visit. Here in a nut shell what we did:  

Monday

We went to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. This is the worst tourist attraction I have ever visited. To get our tickets, we had to wait in line and it was hot! Before we could finally get in, we had to walk through their food court and then through their gift shop. You haven't been inside the place yet that you get all kind of solicitations to spend more money. The “aquarium” (yes I quoted aquarium) was split in 2 different locations so we decided to go to the other building first. In their brochure they advertise that to get to the second location (which is not within walking distance), you can take a free boat ride or their trolley shuttle. We wanted to go by boat but of course they have those running once every hour and when we got there, it was already all booked.

We were told that we could take the trolley and come back by boat. This sounded like a good plan and so we did. When we got to the other location, the first thing we noticed: NO FISHES! It was really a promotional building for the movie: “Dolphin Tale 2”!

After about 10 minutes, and that included time to go to the bathroom, we were ready to go back. To exit that building, you guessed it, we had to walk through their gift shop. The boat was not available so we took the trolley back.

Back to the first location they had some tanks with dolphins, turtles and a few sharks, but that was it. You couldn't even clearly see the animals in those tank!

So if you go to the Tampa area and think about visiting Clearwater's aquarium, don't! There are better things to do and see.

Tuesday

We had booked a 5.5 miles down river kayak trip. We had a great time, the water was clear, the fishes were in school, we even saw one alligator and several turtles. It was peaceful and stress free. We all loved it and we'll be back. I highly recommend it.

Here is a little clip I uploaded on youtube:

Wednesday

We went golfing, well I mean mini-golf, at Congo River. At the entrance, they have live baby alligators. They have special rules with funny things to do. At one point, Christiane had to play her shot with her eyes closed and her hands behind her back! We had fun. Before you leave, you can hold an alligator, for a fee. My daughter was so happy about that! Kids! You know! The important thing is that in the end, she still had all her digits accounted for.

We also went to see a movie: “Women in gold” a true story about a Jewish women who sues the Austrian government to recuperate a painting that was stolen from her family, by the Nazis, during WW2. Great movie!

Thursday

We went to the beach. I didn't want to brag about it knowing some of you are not in beach weather locations... but I had to be honest!

Friday

We went to the Tampa Aquarium (notice no quote for aquarium this time). This was my second time there and I really loved it. It's a great aquarium, you get to see a lot of fishes, in nice tanks. It takes several hours, to see it all. I highly recommend it.

Our daughter flew away, back to Canada leaving us with a lot of good memories.

On Saturday, like a lot of other snowbirds, we migrated back North to get to cooler temperature. Tomorrow post will be shorter I promise :)

Just to end with a health update: Even with having a guest and all the activities we did, we maintained our aim to get healthier. We exercised every day and ate healthy.