Vacation: April 2-8

My vacation so far:

THURSDAY, April 2:
I picked up aunt Elisabeth and cousin Carola last Thursday after they had a smooth trip over the Atlantic.

A snack at the airport after arrival, the food on the plane was not exactly great, so something to eat before the drive home was in order

FRIDAY, APRIL 3:
On Friday we had made appointments to get eye glasses (much cheaper than in Sweden). They were lucky enough that the store happened to have a sale on prescription sunglasses, so they took the opportunity to get nut just regular glasses, but sunglasses as well! Elisabeth paid 6,000 SEK for BOTH pairs of glasses, including the doctor's eye exam. Not bad considering she has progressive glasses and ordered brand name frames too!

While we were were waiting for the glasses to be ready we went shopping and then had lunch at The Olive Garden, yum.

Carola is buying gifts for friends

Elisabeth had good luck in finding great stuff (this is at TJ Maxx, great bargain place)

SATURDAY, APRIL 4:
On Saturday we had plans to see the movie "Monsters vs Aliens" in 3D, so we had a late morning and then went over to Sweet Tomatoes, which is a buffet restaurant that has salads, soups and things of that nature.

Carola, Sarah and Elisabeth at Sweet Tomatoes.

Then we went to a large shopping mall in Sarasota where the movie theater is located, and we arrived in perfect time to see the movie. It was extra fun to see it in 3D. It seems like many of the new animated movies are made in 3D now.

Elisabeth and Carola outside the movie theater

We even saw the Easter Bunny at the mall!

And of course, we managed to shop quite a lot here too...

SUNDAY, APRIL 5:
This day we drove out to the barrier islands, starting with Anna Maria Island. On the north tip of the island we had a great lunch at the old Rod & Reel Peer (one of my favorites). While we were waiting for our table to be ready we had quite a show when a school of dolphins decided to swim back and forth next to the pier!

Carola and Elisabeth at the pier

Lots of manatees in this area

Lots of nice scenery to photograph here

The beach at the pier

Other side of the beach

Checking out the shrimp that they sell as bate

Sarah and I are waiting for our table to be ready

Great entertainment while we waited!

After Anna Maria Island we drove south and eventfully we entered Longboat Key, where we looked at the wild peacocks and also stopped at one of the beaches to check out the Gulf of Mexico.

The board walk down to the beach

The water felt a bit cool, but it was 20ish degrees Celsius, so not too bad. Lots of people were swimming.

Sarah (and the rest of us) collected shells on the beach

Nice but windy at the beach!

MONDAY, APRIL 6:
On Monday we drove out to Myakka River State Park, and ALLIGATORS was what was on the agenda today! We took an hour long boat ride on the Myakka Lake, and we got to see a bunch of these fascinating creatures, along with lots of birds such as Turkey Vultures, and luckily, a Bald Eagle!

All of us at Myakka River State Park

Lots of cool trees at the park

A weir is "fördämning" in Swedish

After our visit at the park we were really hungry and had a great lunch at an Italian buffet. And after that we managed to squeeze in some more shopping, of course!

TUESDAY, APRIL 7:
This day we headed into Tampa for a visit to the great Florida Aquarium. I love this place, beacause it showcases the flora and fauna of Florida. It was a bit crowded this particular day, since Spring Break is is in full swing and a lot of people seem to have chosen Florida as their vacation destination...

Florida wetland birds

Really cool fish

Hard to imagine this is actually a type of seahorse!

Some of the animal keepers were diving and showing some of the different sharks

Elisabeth and Carola are checking out a Pink Spoonbill up in the tree

The Pink Spoonbill

After the aquarium we walked over to The Channel Side District, an area with lots of entertainment venues and restaurants, where we had a nice lunch, overlooking the Tampa Harbor. This is actually right next door to where the cruise ships dock as well.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8:

Today we visited the South Florida Museum to learn a little about the local history. The area has been inhabited for about 3,000 years, as evident by the artifacts left by the early Indians. And before humans made their way down here, the area saw the likes of Mastodons and Saber Teethed Tigers, as well as Equus, a preshistoric type of horse.

We also watched an Imax movie about our planets, but I was sooo tired I catually fell asleep in teh middle of teh movie...

We then had lunch at Gecko's and gto some office stuff at the Office depot, before a quick stop home and then a visit to the farm to pick up veggies.

Tomorrow we have an early monring when we will make teh 1½ hour drive south to Fort Myers to visit the Edison/Ford museum and then have lunch at our new-found cousin Dave's place.

Stay tuned for more soon!