Blessings

We were on our last day of our vacation driving back to Orlando from the Gulf Coast and we had had a day of observing God's wonderful creations on different beaches that day. We started out with our own plan but God had something else in store for us that day and it turned out far better that we had planned. Realizing how great the day turned out it caused us to recount the many blessings we had experienced over the last week.

The first blessing was on Sunday, we had spent the day resting at our resort. We all went to the pool and packed a lunch to eat poolside. Later that afternoon we decided to take a drive to St. Petersburg and St. Pete's Beach. As we drove into St. Pete's Beach trying to find access to the beach, I kept hearing birds squawk. It was a squawk I didn't recognize so I kept watching till I saw three parrots fly overhead and land on an electrical wire! How cool was that!? We finally found a place to park and ran to the beach. We got there just in time to feel the sand on our toes, stick our feet in the water and get a few pictures before a storm rolled in. We jumped back into the car and drove to the pier.

As we got there the shops were closing and we were hungry, but after asking around we found out the Columbia was still open! Once up stairs we found a two hour wait, we decided to stick it out and were so thankful we did. While we waited we met some very nice people, locals who lived there and shared bits of their life with us. The wait staff was very nice and helpful, answering our questions about the restaurant in spite of their long day. The food was very good and worth the wait. They had rolled their prices back to 1905 (like when they first opened). So we got an $80 meal for about $16, the entrees were $2.95, the salads were $1.95, a cup of soup was .50, coffee was .50 with free refills, and desserts were .50.

Riley in front of the Nemo fish tank there at the Columbia. I was so proud of him that night, he was so patient and well behaved. Considering our two hour wait and the fact that we all were hungry, he did great and seemed to enjoy himself. Chris, Riley and I were actually the last family to be seated that night!


This is the view of the sunset from the Columbia. That is the St. Petersburg skyline. As I was taking this picture one of the waiters came up and showed me the shot of the sunset he had taken the night before with his cell phone. What a great view! I wish my picture would have came out a little more clear but I'm still learning how to take pictures with our new camera and my 40+ year old eyes are struggling to see the LCD screen clearly! :-)

We were driving back to Orlando later that night thankful for the wonderful day we had and the good food that could have cost us a fortune but didn't! Chris had commented on the way down to Florida Saturday, "I wonder if Alligators are as prolific here in Florida as deer are in Alabama?". Well, Sunday as we were driving back to Orlando, we almost hit an Alligator crossing the highway! I was so thankful we didn't hit it, but it was so funny! The idea of an alligator crossing the road!?

I'll have to finish more later. Till then. Blessings to you.