Vacation 2011 - Part 4 Biketoberfest

Ha! I bet y'all thought I forgot about vacation pictures. Nope. It has just taken me a while to get back to them. Vacation posts were interrupted by Thanksgiving, a week-long conference, my annual Cookie Exchange, Christmas, New Years, and two online workshops for my photog business. Whew! Are you tired yet? Cause I'm about exhausted. lol.

Biketoberfest. Daytona Beach, Florida. This was the main event for my husband. We spent several days at this event. He likes to look at all the motorcycles. See the different customizing. Get ideas to add parts to his or figure out how to do something a little different. For me? These types of events are photo opportunities. I love watching people. I am always amazed at the attire people wear in public. What's even crazier to me is the things people do to get attention.

Here are some of my favorite shots:

Traffic: from street level and from above.

I

It was crowded. Difficult to walk from one end of the strip to another. Can you imagine driving in this? Me either. But as time passed, I got more brave by walking out into the middle of the street to get the photo. Lots of people. Stop and go traffic. Plus there were hundreds of motorcycles parked in lots on the side streets adding to the traffic; and all added to the traffic on the sidewalk.

Then there were the people on bikes and spectators wearing masks, hats, birds, whatever.

Ha! You thought I was joking about the bird! Check out this guy in the above picture. See the camera attached to his hat. We noticed a lot of people were video recording the event.

We had a great time. We did not go to any of the places where live music was playing and alcohol was being served. There was enough craziness. No need for all that.

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting. Hope you have a fabulous week.

Peace and Joy,
Susan

Ephesians 6:13 (NKJV) ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Vacation 2011 - Part 3 Tampa, Florida

On the fourth day of vacation, we finally made it to Tampa. Normal people could have made it in a single day. Not us. We made a side trip here, a detour there; but, we made it nonetheless.

The main reason we are in the Tampa area is that both the hubs and I have family here. The aunt and family I helped move to Tampa from Charlotte back in April are here. The hub's sister lives here too. So in between visiting with them, we did a little sightseeing, found a delightful restaurant, and looked at real estate. It was more of a drive-by look, but a look. Here are a few of the photos from our Tampa visit.

This fella was "fishing" near a pier in Dunedin.

We didn't see him catch anything. Not even sure what he was trying to catch.

This is me and the hubs on the same pier. I set up my tripod, composed the hubs in the pic, pushed the button, jumped in the photo, and voila! Group shot! lol

Walking off the pier, I turned around for one last look and saw this:

Then we went into Dunedin. Such a quaint little town. Lovely shops. We decided it was time for a bite to eat and chose this restaurant. Cafe Alfresco. Delicious food. Exceptional service. We liked it so much, we ate lunch there. Then took the hub's sister there for dinner. We were delighted with both meals.

The next day, we were at Clearwater Beach enjoying family, sun, warm breeze, sand between the toes, and food. These are my two favorite pics from the day.

Riding on a jet ski sounded like fun, but didn't really have the time for that. I definitely had time for sitting on one of these enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face.

Three days in Tampa flew by. It was sad to leave but we had reservations and much more to see and do lay ahead.

Like this beautiful state park. This is Blue Spring. A fabulous winter resort of the manatee. They migrate up the St. Johns River to Blue Spring because the water at the spring stays a constant year round temperature of 72 degrees farenheit. We walked along the board walk taking a couple photos here and there. We didn't see any manatee, but we did see this handsome fella.

We also took the opportunity for another photo shoot of us. I love having a tripod.

The Thursby family acquired this property in the mid-19th century and built the large home you see below. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection acquired the park in 1972 to kick-start its Manatee Protection Program.

It was a leisure day of enjoying the park, the wildlife, and each other. Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting. Stay tuned. Next week.....Biketoberfest. Have a fabulous week.

Peace and Joy,
Susan

Colossians 3:16 (NKJV) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.