I went to Tampa and Clearwater, Florida! Both were a lot of fun and Tampa was by far the best place I've visited so far in Florida. It felt so much more laid back and less corporate and the nightlife was a lot of fun. The people were really nice (which I've also experienced in Orlando) and it felt a lot more like a small town in a lot of ways. And check out the beaches in Clearwater! Can you believe this is late December?
We also saw some street performers which were kind of sketchy and I was a little afraid that the guy was one heckle away from snapping but they were actually pretty good. Here you see said gentleman jumping through a hoop:
A lot of things have changed last minute for me and because of complications with Scott's cruise ship contract, he came home early and I wasn't able to go cruising for four weeks like I had planned on doing. So instead of coming home February 11th, I came home January 13th. I was really looking forward to going on those cruises but my desire to come back to the northwest was also something that I couldn't get off my mind so I guess it's bittersweet. So Sixto gave me a ride to the Orlando airport and I hopped on an early flight to Seattle with a stop in Denver along the way.
Sitting at my gate in Denver waiting to board my flight, I looked up at the reader board and was amazed at how emotional I suddenly felt seeing "Seattle" lit up in red letters. I think familiarity is what I missed most about being so far away from home and seeing that sign was the first solid reminder that I'm really going to reunited with that which I've missed so much.
Look at that freaking mountain! I snapped this shot of Mt. Rainier out the window of the airplane as I flew back into Washington. I'm having trouble finding the right words to express how I felt when I saw this so I'm hoping the picture will serve as enough explanation. I realized that I had grown so used to Mt. Rainier being the backdrop to my daily errands that I had began to take it for granted. Now that I've lived in a place that doesn't even have hills, let alone jaw dropping gargantuan mountains just a short drive from the city, not a day goes by that I don't look out the window and realize how lucky I am.
