I just got back from Florida. What a relaxing time it was. I was with Grandma and we went to visit a friend. We had a blast riding the train, visiting places like Tampa Bay Zoo, the dog races, Hard Rock Café, Botanical Gardens, Clearwater Aquarium and I swam almost every day. We had beautiful weather every day. It rained when we were at the zoo. I tried going to the beach and that failed.
Our friend’s town was very convenient. It’s like he lives in the center of the town and everything surrounds him. He lives in a development and they have a pool with a spa. I went in it almost every single day. I almost conquered the backstroke. Breaststroke not so much. I was climbing the stairs in the deep end and flinging myself into the water. Once again, I tried a mask and I couldn’t do it. I used the spa and really enjoyed it.
Grandma, our friend, his son and I went to the dog races and it was fun. We bet on greyhounds and we had a buffet dinner. I really enjoyed the vegetable ravioli and I forget what meat I had, but it was good. We bet on quite a few races and we each won a race and we each won a race. It really got competitive and it was just very fun.
I went to Hard Rock Café. I am not a big gambler, but I played a few games. We had dinner at the buffet. I had a good dinner and dessert. We then went to the casino and I played the slot machines. I was slow to warm up to gambling but I played. Grandma and I played the penny machines and on the last machine, we played and on the last spin, we got a large sum of money. I took the money and ran. I don’t gamble to lose the money. And our friend’s son was hesitant to gamble at the races and the casino, but he won too.
We met some of their family and they are a very nice family. We went to the Tampa Bay Zoo and ate dinner at Flaming Steakhouse. We had the oldest son and his daughter over for dinner. The granddaughter and I went swimming and she went to play the Wii and I took a nap.
We accidentally ran into the Botanical gardens while visiting Heritage Village. Heritage Village was like my local Museum Village and it was very interesting. They had different buildings like a church and a gazebo. It was very spaced-out. It was a lot bigger than Museum Village and they were redoing some of their buildings. The Botanical gardens were gorgeous. My favorite one was the wedding garden. We didn’t walk the whole thing, but the parts we saw were beautiful.
The train ride wasn’t great. The view was scenic, but the service was poor. Nobody came to ask us if we wanted something to eat. There was a man on both trips that had a bad knee and he asked for accessible seating and they wouldn’t give it to him. And then, coming home, there was an elderly woman with diabetes and she had an aide that obviously didn’t like her job. The aide left her to go to the club car and didn’t return for hours. It got me thinking what if I was in that situation? I would tell my grandmother and I would fire the aide. Never let an aide be rude to you. If they are not nice, get another aide. You deserve respect and nothing less.
All in all, it was a good vacation.