After a really crappy winter, I decided I needed a change of scenery and found myself on Southwest Airlines' website pricing tickets to various locations. There was a sale going on and I found cheap tix to Tampa, which is an hour away from my oldest friend. We've known each other since we were five, and she's the kind of friend that we may not see or speak to each other for years, but when we do, we pick up right where we left off. I didn't have many days to spend, and it was such short notice that she wasn't able to take time off from work, but we had a blast anyway.

Th first day was spent traveling. I usually spend the time gaming on a handheld, but I couldn't find the charger for my 3DS or my headphones. I got a lot of reading done, though. I got picked up late in the evening by my friend's husband and it was kind of cool getting to know him better on the one hour drive to Sarasota. They threw me a birthday party after supper, which was great, because I spent my actual birthday by myself this year. I got two baseball caps and a t-shirt. And cake. I got cake, too. Their dog also adopted me while I was there and slept with me the first night.

The next day, my friend didn't need to be at work until later, so she showed me around a really nice waterfront park and then dropped me off at a nearby state park to spend the day. I had a blast hiking, birdwatching, and taking photos. I got to see Florida Scrub Jays, which are a threatened species due to habitat loss, and a Swallow-tail Kite. Both were new species for me. I also got some great photos of some dragonflies, a butterfly, a lot of pics of little lizards, and some fiddler crabs. I also got a minor sun burn because I forgot my sunscreen. Oops.

My second full day there, I had lunch with my friend's mom, and then my friend's brother picked me up and gave me a little tour of some of the cool stuff in Sarasota, and then dropped me off at the aquarium for the rest of the day. The aquarium was way cool, even if it was over-run with school kids who kept mistaking me for one of the volunteers. My favorite things there were the decorator crab, getting to pet a stingray, the manatees, the sea turtles, and the sexy dancer shrimp (seriously, that's their name, look them up). My friend picked me up at the aquarium at the end of the day and we went to Bradenton Beach and had supper on the beach. We were hoping to watch the sunset, but it clouded over just before the sun set. It was pretty, anyway. And the beer was really good - an IPA from a local microbrewery.

Spent my last morning packing up and hanging out with the cat on the screened in porch. My friend and her brother gave me a ride to the airport, and that's when the adventures started. My flight was delayed to the point I would miss my connection back to Boston. Any later flights and I would miss the last bus back to Maine. I had no desire to spend the night in Logan Airport, by the way. The woman at the ticket counter got me on an earlier flight, but I had to run like a mad woman through the airport because it was leaving in twenty minutes. I showed up at the gate in my stocking feet, not having had time to put my shoes back on after going through security. Got to Atlanta with a really long wait ahead of me. Atlanta is a very boring airport, by the way. We boarded, looked like we were all set to leave on time and maybe get to Boston a little early and then...they held the plane for my original flight! I got to Logan with twenty minutes to get from the gate to the bus stop, which isn't all that much spare time. I made it, and my neighbor kindly picked me up at 1:30 AM at the bus station. All in all, I have to give Southwest major props for going above and beyond to get me where I needed to be when I needed to be there, for printing out boarding passes, since I have neither a printer nor a smart phone, and for doing it all with a smile and kind words.

All in all, I had a great time, and I can't wait to do it again.