Let me tell you the story of the pictures.
I deliberately brought the software and connector cable for my camera down to Florida with me, having every intention of unloading my pictures onto the internet as soon as my memory card filled up. Which doesn't take long, because it's only got memory enough for 60 snapshots.
So here I am, half-way through my vacation with no memory left for the second half, and naturally I try to unload the camera. Well, an hour later, I realize it can't be done. I brought the wrong disc and it took an hour to just figure that out. Dashing off with my mother's minivan, my grandmother gave me directions to her camera store and I came in, flustered and frustrated. And inside of ten minutes later the woman had given me exactly what I wanted - my pictures off of my quirky camera and onto a cd.
And an hour after that, I FINALLY uploaded the pictures to all the places I wanted to. And now I can share the stories from the first half of my vacation with you. you just had to understand how hard I had to work for these few pictures:
This is my wonderful Aunt Lori, my mom's older and only sister. On the drive down we spent the night at her home in Georgia; we were greeted with big hugs and a wonderful meal, which we wolfed down after a long day of driving. The flowers in the picture have their own story too - Dave gave me this bouquet the day before I left and I am not one to get flowers and not enjoy them every moment possible. So my mother and I wedged the vase between the seats in the minivan and they came down with us. The Gerber daisy has long passed and the cat has been caught snacking on it, but it's doing well.
When we got to Florida the following evening, this was the very first things we did: we started a game of Hand and Foot. This is a time-honored and nightly tradition that is necessary to every summer in Florida, this excruciatingly long card game that we competitive Boyers simply cannot get enough of. We've introduced more Euchre games this past week, but we will forgo the pool in the backyard to compete on the card table. On the far right is my Grandma Margaret, a more fun and laid back woman you will never find; the boy in blue is Erick, my 12-year-old brother; the half-girl is my 14-year-old sister Natalie.
If my mother knew I posted this she would have my hide. We went to the beach on the third day in Florida, a past time my siblings cannot enjoy because there's too much sand on the beach and too much salt in the water. About 30 minutes after this picture was taken, I wandered over to the sand volleyball courts and played with some local beach bums for 3 hours straight. I still have the sunburn to prove it...but it was worth it, I had a blast. When I got back to the house I found my brother and sister (where else?) prone and boneless on the couches, watching Cartoon Network in the air-conditioning.
Yesterday we went to this wonderful little place called The Mote Aquarium. It's creativity was refreshing, as far as aquariums go. They understood that fish swim, that's it, so they have to spice it up a little bit and make it appealing and applicable. So the first thing we did was play this virtual reality game in this big theater, where the goal was to eat your way up the food chain versus all the other people in the room. The best I became was a turtle, but I starved to death and went right back to plankton. At the end of the game the one in our family who did best was (who else?) my little brother Erick, in 3rd place overall. Good to see those hours in the car playing his PSP paid off...
Today was a good day as well. We drove 45 minutes to this place called Mayakk park. The plan was to do the airboat ride, the bus tour, and the canopy trail, but the airboat was out of order and the bus tour was stuffed full of 6-year-old day campers with another load crawling all over the shelter and waiting for the next tour. So plans A and B got scratched, so we wandered over to the dam in hopes of seeing some alligators, as many obnoxiously big signs promised in words of DANGER! Walking through the forest I marveled at how different the vegetation was...instead of straight and narrow everything was tangled and peeling, as if all the
trees were sunburnt and peeling. I liked how my mom said it - there were many more symbiotic relationships evident. Which wowed her husband Trent (the guy in red) to no end. But all we saw at the dam was this lonely little gator. Can you see him? I almost didn't, but there he is, a scaly eye tucked down in the weeds. Hardly the muscly scaly reptile I was hoping to see, but we did see some cool skid marks in the mud on the opposite bank. After watching an old man throw rocks at a snake in the grass, we headed back to the car so we could drive to the short canopy trail.
Maybe a quarter of a mile back into the trees you come across this little tower, maybe 30 or 40 feet tall. At the top is a small plank bridge crossing over to another taller tower, and at points you have to duck because thick branches have grown over it. You get to the other tower and climb up...and up...and up at least another 50 feet and probably more to the most spectular view of Florida, stretching from horizon to horizon, sheer uninterrupted lush vegetation. It's so different but home, but it's still so beautiful. Reluctantly, we came back down so my diabetic sister could eat some lunch.
My digital camera is a hand-me-down. I have no problem with that - at least 50% of my wardrobe came from the thrift store and I'll brag about it whenever given the chance. The only time I have problems with it is when it shows its age. See, my little Canon Powershot S110 first came out in 2001, so my baby is six years old. And sometimes she can't help but show the stretch marks and crow's feet.
I deliberately brought the software and connector cable for my camera down to Florida with me, having every intention of unloading my pictures onto the internet as soon as my memory card filled up. Which doesn't take long, because it's only got memory enough for 60 snapshots.
So here I am, half-way through my vacation with no memory left for the second half, and naturally I try to unload the camera. Well, an hour later, I realize it can't be done. I brought the wrong disc and it took an hour to just figure that out. Dashing off with my mother's minivan, my grandmother gave me directions to her camera store and I came in, flustered and frustrated. And inside of ten minutes later the woman had given me exactly what I wanted - my pictures off of my quirky camera and onto a cd.
And an hour after that, I FINALLY uploaded the pictures to all the places I wanted to. And now I can share the stories from the first half of my vacation with you. you just had to understand how hard I had to work for these few pictures:
This is my wonderful Aunt Lori, my mom's older and only sister. On the drive down we spent the night at her home in Georgia; we were greeted with big hugs and a wonderful meal, which we wolfed down after a long day of driving. The flowers in the picture have their own story too - Dave gave me this bouquet the day before I left and I am not one to get flowers and not enjoy them every moment possible. So my mother and I wedged the vase between the seats in the minivan and they came down with us. The Gerber daisy has long passed and the cat has been caught snacking on it, but it's doing well.
When we got to Florida the following evening, this was the very first things we did: we started a game of Hand and Foot. This is a time-honored and nightly tradition that is necessary to every summer in Florida, this excruciatingly long card game that we competitive Boyers simply cannot get enough of. We've introduced more Euchre games this past week, but we will forgo the pool in the backyard to compete on the card table. On the far right is my Grandma Margaret, a more fun and laid back woman you will never find; the boy in blue is Erick, my 12-year-old brother; the half-girl is my 14-year-old sister Natalie.
If my mother knew I posted this she would have my hide. We went to the beach on the third day in Florida, a past time my siblings cannot enjoy because there's too much sand on the beach and too much salt in the water. About 30 minutes after this picture was taken, I wandered over to the sand volleyball courts and played with some local beach bums for 3 hours straight. I still have the sunburn to prove it...but it was worth it, I had a blast. When I got back to the house I found my brother and sister (where else?) prone and boneless on the couches, watching Cartoon Network in the air-conditioning.
Yesterday we went to this wonderful little place called The Mote Aquarium. It's creativity was refreshing, as far as aquariums go. They understood that fish swim, that's it, so they have to spice it up a little bit and make it appealing and applicable. So the first thing we did was play this virtual reality game in this big theater, where the goal was to eat your way up the food chain versus all the other people in the room. The best I became was a turtle, but I starved to death and went right back to plankton. At the end of the game the one in our family who did best was (who else?) my little brother Erick, in 3rd place overall. Good to see those hours in the car playing his PSP paid off...
One blue crayfish, a few jellyfish, and a giant eel later, after finding Nemo, we went to another show, this one trying to help you feel bad for the poor little cartilege-boned endlessly-toothy shark friends. It wasn't too bad, it had fans and lights and you can tell that this was just STATE OF THE ART stuff. We saw the body of a giant squid, held sea urchins, got splashed by a manta ray, learned that manatees are extremely flatulent, and watched the dolphins do, well, nothing. The only cool they did was half-hearted dive, but they were as interested as the marine student observing them sleepily from the side of the pool.
Today was a good day as well. We drove 45 minutes to this place called Mayakk park. The plan was to do the airboat ride, the bus tour, and the canopy trail, but the airboat was out of order and the bus tour was stuffed full of 6-year-old day campers with another load crawling all over the shelter and waiting for the next tour. So plans A and B got scratched, so we wandered over to the dam in hopes of seeing some alligators, as many obnoxiously big signs promised in words of DANGER! Walking through the forest I marveled at how different the vegetation was...instead of straight and narrow everything was tangled and peeling, as if all the
trees were sunburnt and peeling. I liked how my mom said it - there were many more symbiotic relationships evident. Which wowed her husband Trent (the guy in red) to no end. But all we saw at the dam was this lonely little gator. Can you see him? I almost didn't, but there he is, a scaly eye tucked down in the weeds. Hardly the muscly scaly reptile I was hoping to see, but we did see some cool skid marks in the mud on the opposite bank. After watching an old man throw rocks at a snake in the grass, we headed back to the car so we could drive to the short canopy trail.
Maybe a quarter of a mile back into the trees you come across this little tower, maybe 30 or 40 feet tall. At the top is a small plank bridge crossing over to another taller tower, and at points you have to duck because thick branches have grown over it. You get to the other tower and climb up...and up...and up at least another 50 feet and probably more to the most spectular view of Florida, stretching from horizon to horizon, sheer uninterrupted lush vegetation. It's so different but home, but it's still so beautiful. Reluctantly, we came back down so my diabetic sister could eat some lunch.We've been home all evening and are going to leave in probably a little over an hour to go see the sun set on the beach. We tried it earlier this week, but couldn't see a thing because it was overcast. It's a clearer night so we're gonna try our luck again. And guess what? I'll be able to take up to 50 pictures of it because I've FINALLY gotten the pictures off my camera.
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