Road Trip!

Needing a winter getaway, I invited myself to join my brother on a road trip to Florida to run a race.  Of course, Elmo had to come along to cheer!

We stopped in Gainesville to look for Tom Petty('s tree), but didn't find either

Instead we carbo loaded the night before the race...yes, that's mostly butter with a little bit of bread underneath.  It was deeeelicious!

Our hotel in Clearwater Beach implied that we were going to be there longer than 24 hours...we weren't

For photos from the race...check out this blog post:  http://kkwatergirl.blogspot.com/2015/01/florida-running.html

Everywhere we went in FL, there were amazing birds...here near the race finish

Thought this construction screen was funny...they were larger than life size, but you still did a double take

Clearwater Beach has painted dolphins all around town

...and evidently the road to hell is the evacuation route ;-)

And a road trip is not complete without a 50 mile detour to see something cool

This is the cable-stayed Sunshine Skyway Bridge outside St. Petersburg

We checked out the fort at Ft. Desoto Park while we were there.  Obligatory Eeyore photo:

And cool black and white photo...

Sunsets in Florida were fabulous...

...as were the beaches

Driving over the bridge

Drove through Jacksonville on the way home...it always surprises me how big it is...but it is the 13th largest city by population in the US, and the largest city by area in the contiguous US

And then a detour to Beaufort, SC...which I just love and would retire there.  So pleased to see it hasn't changed one bit since the last time I was there over 10 years ago!