Florida

On July 4^th my grandfather died. He is from Utah, but he had been living in Sarasota, Florida for the last several years. My dad couldn’t get off work, but I was able to fly over for the funeral. What was really nice is that my sister Ruth lives nearby in Palm Harbor and so I stayed with her and her partner Darius for 3 days.

I hadn’t met Darius before so it was quite enjoyable to stay with them and to get to know him better. Darius is from Louisiana and he treats my sister like a true gentleman. He loves to fish and he’s really into all kinds of sports. My sister warned him that I didn’t follow sports at all so he was prepared for how clueless I am. Once he started telling me about all these famous athletes and my eyes kind of glassed over, but he was very understanding.

I arrived in Tampa on a Tuesday and they picked me up from the airport. On the way back from the airport they stopped to
pick up a pizza from Mellow Mushroom Pizza. Oh baby, it was good! I saw an alligator in one of the ponds by their apartment. That evening we went out Honeymoon Island State Park and I dipped my feet in the Gulf of Mexico. I saw a cool little sea star and a crab with blue pincers that scuttled by in the surf. There were lots of beautiful and unusual birds.

After the funeral on Tuesday (I'll have to do a separate entry for that) they took me out to their restaurant, Bonefish Grill. Darius waited on Ruth and I and we ate bang bang shrimp (to die for) and a really yummy salad. Ruth let me taste some of her sashimi and I ordered Chilean sea bass with all of their signature sauces on the side (how's that for alliteration?) Next came the key lime pie for desert. It was heavenly, especially the pecan pieces in the crust. So I waddled out of there with a bowling ball in my gut, but oh man, was it worth it. So if you ever near a Bonefish Grill, I highly recommend it.

Ruth and I then went on a walk by one of the canals behind their place to walk off some the food and look for gators. We didn’t see any big ones (they were probably hiding in the reeds on the bank) but we saw a little one sticking his head out. We also saw rabbits, lizards, frogs, and all sorts of birds. The sun was going doing during our walk, but wow, it didn't cool down. I don't know how you ever get used to high humidity. I took a swim in their pool after the walk, but it was too warm and you don't cool off after you get out. But I do have to admit, my skin never got dry, which is unusual for a desert dweller like myself.

Florida was really beautiful. I loved all the trees and how there were natural areas woven into the city. It must be really nice to live by the ocean (or the gulf) and see the unending stretch of water out to the horizon. Most of all it was very satisfying to reconnect with my sister who lives so far away.

And I hear she and Darius have some very exciting new for us!