On Friday, March 26th, I got up at 3 a.m. to get ready for my trip to Florida. The taxi driver picked me up at 5 a.m. for my 7 a.m. flight. (The last time I flew to Florida was five years ago, for my 35th high school reunion. I'm a little early for my 40th reunion, but I thought I would go visit my Dad and the rest of my family while Bob is in Guam.)
I flew to Atlanta, Ga, where I had to change planes. While I was there, I called my brother, Stevie, who lives outside Atlanta. After a short layover, I flew on to Tampa, Florida. After I picked up my rental car, I headed out for "home" about 4:30 p.m. They gave me a brand new gold Toyota Camry, which I put lots of miles on.
I got to my Dad's place in Lacoochee, Florida about 5:30 p.m. It was so great to be him! He's the best Dad in the world, and I was looking forward to spending lots of time with him.
Saturday, March 27th: went to my sister Celia's house; It was great to see her and kids, my nephews David and Wayland, and my niece, April. I had never seen her son, Cayden. He is now about 2 1/2 years old. That night, we went to an old car show with my sister, Kim, my niece, Amber and her son, Ryan. I'd never seen Ryan either. He is about 2 years old.
On Sunday, March 28th, Dad and I went over to see my cousin, Henry for his birthday. He didn't know I was coming. It was nice to see him and meet all of his family, including a brand 2 week-old grandson. The last time I had seen Henry was a year after his accident...thirty-six years ago, when Angela was only 6 months old.
On Monday, my Dad and I started driving up to Northwest Florida. I wanted to take him up to see some of our relatives, and planned on getting some genealogy and some pictures. It took us all day to get there. When we got there, we went to my cousin, Carlos' house. He is actually my Dad's first cousin. I've always called him, "Uncle Carlos." I grew up with his eight kids were all around my age, and I always thought of them as my first cousins.
Carlos is 85 years old, but you would never guess he has that many years on him. He seems so much younger. He takes care of his wife, Gracie, who needs someone to help her and watch her at all times. She is such a sweetheart. I felt like we were intruding, but Daddy didn't really feel comfortable staying with anyone else. They were so hospitable to us, and so gracious. We spent 3 nights with Carlos and Gracie while we were up there.
On Monday night, we went out to dinner to "Ryan's" with Carlos and Gracie and their daughter, my sweet cousin, Rhonda. She is their only daughter that lives nearby. We had a nice dinner and had fun catching up on each other's lives. Rhonda is only a year younger than me, so it was nice to visit her again.
On Tuesday, we went to visit Barbara (Carlos' sister). Her husband passed away only a few months ago, after a horrible accident when he was knocked off their riding lawn mower.
The next day, we drove to Baker, Florida where my Dad grew up.
Here are some of the things we did while in the Crestview area:
****went to see Flora Jane, got genealogy and pics
****went to see another cousin of my Dad's, Willene
****went by my mother's gravesite, just before dark
went back to Carlos'; I copied all the genealogy pictures and sheets that I could
next evening, went to Pensacola, Florida to see my Uncle James, my mother's brother
His wife Dale, (who's only 4 years older than me) cooked dinner for us. We had a great visit
***couldn't find his family pics, but is going to mail me copies!
When we got back that night, Carlos' asked me where the genealogy sheets were. I thought maybe I had left them at the store where I copied them!! I ran back over there and wanted to cry all of the way back.........but, when Carlos started looking, he found his copies in his office.
The next day we went to visit my Grandma Chessher's brother, Edward Williams. He is a World War II vet, and quite a character. He found lots of old pictures for me, and before I went to the store to copy them, I locked my car keys in my trunk. We had to wait over an hour at his house. His wife, Ida Mae fixed lunch for us. The locksmith finally came, then I took the pictures to Wal-Mart to get them copied. That took over an hour. My Dad stayed there and visited with Uncle Edward while I copied them.
Then, after we left their house, we decided to drive back out to Baker to see another cousin. She wasn't there, so....
Daddy decided we should drive back to Lacoochee. It was at 6:30 p.m. and I had a six-hour drive ahead of me. We had a good drive back and Dad told me lots of good stories to remember.
(Since I'm 6 months behind in my blogs as of today, May 2, 2011, I'll just leave my notes and come back later to finish this)
***visited with Celia and kids
***visited my Uncle John and Aunt Maylene
****Saturday, went to see my niece, Farrah Schambeau and her husband Sam, and their cute kids,....house plans...........rain............lunch.........
**Saturday evening, we went with my Aunt Tisher and her husband Wayne to listen to country music at an old barn in Thanotasassa, near Tampa.
***Sunday ?? Celia's???
***Celia and kids came to fix up bedroom in Dad's trailer
***my nephew, Dwayne came over one night to visit (cute!)
***went to my Aunt Faye's house and saw cousins, and my Aunt Rhett's gravesite.
***visited with my Aunt Maggie; she came to have breakfast with us ***
****went to see my cousin, Josephine to see her and what genealogy and pics she had
****did not go see Aunt Maxie, or ....
Thursday,****went to visit Jan and her husband, Bobby
****she let me print off my boarding passes for my flight home on Friday
***left for airport Friday, April 9th from Lacoochee at 9:30 am
wanted to take pics, but it was raining
wish I had brought a video camera
didn't get to do everything I wanted to do and see everyone, but I had a great trip
when I got the airport, the flight was oversold, so I volunteered to go on Saturday. While I was waiting, I called my friend, Janet, who I didn't get to see.
I had brought my laptop computer, but had no internet connection, and didn't print off any phone numbers, so when I was at the airport, I could get on my laptop and got her phone number and got to talk with her.
They gave me a room at the Airport Marriott, only a few steps from the gate. They also gave me food vouchers, Delta dollars that we can use for another Delta ticket. After I checked into the room, I went down to one of the restaurants and got some food, then came back and took a nice long bath. The room was beautiful and I had a king-size bed all to myself, and more pillows than even I can use!!! (If anyone knows me, you would know that I love lots and lots and lots of pillows!!) I just watched TV that night and relaxed. It was nice to relax from my trip and unwind before I got back home, so I didn't mind the extra night in Tampa at all!
I slept in on Saturday, and then left for Salt Lake in the afternoon. I had to change planes in Minneapolis, and finally got back home about 9:30 pm.
Great Trip!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment