I haven't had a go-away-to-somewhere-warm vacation in almost two years. Repair issues with my house last year kept me from my usually annual trek to visit my sister in Florida. She lives in Largo, just outside Tampa. Not to be confused with Key Largo, Largo is a pleasant suburban community about 15 minutes from Clearwater, 25 minutes from Tampa and 90 minutes or so west of Orlando. It's warm; there are palm trees and ibises; it's rarely in the path of a hurricane and home to one of the people I love the most in the whole world.
I usually go down the first week of May, right before the JTMF show starts rehearsing. But sister and her hubby are going on a Disney cruise that week, so I had adjust my schedule. Sis, as I may have mentioned, is a self-described "Disney Dork." She and the BIL (Brother-In-Law) have some super Disney deal where they get special discounts and admission and God only knows what else. While I became rather disenchanted with "The Happiest Place on Earth" after an unpleasant experience there in the mid-90's, Sis still adores the place. Personally, I prefer Universal Studios.
Of course, what really matters is that I'm going to be spending 9 glorious days in the Florida sunshine with my sister, the one person who "gets" me more than anyone else in the world. Yes, we were crazy siblings who fought like mad when we were kids. Yes, we have many differences. Still, when we're together her poor, sweet husband and our mother often exchange meaningful glances of "Here they go, again" distress, completely bewildered by things that only Sis and I understand (and often find hilarious).
Anyway, my trip is about two weeks or so away and as it grows closer, I am getting more and more excited. Of course, it could just be Sis's promise to make me a zombie cake*... I'm also hoping to visit my favorite work of art, Salvador Dali's "The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus" at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, while there. Last time I visited, it had been removed for a Dali film retrospective. I have no idea why this piece speaks to me so. It just does. I can look at it for hours on end and still find things about it that amaze me...
The plane tickets are purchased, the luggage has been dusted off and K has already promised to look after Skye while I'm away. And you have no idea how badly I need this vacation...
*I promise to post pictures...
More, anon.
Prospero
2 comments:
Will you be going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter? I want to go so badly but not by myself.
Ooo I hope you have fun with the trip to Florida. I've never been there but hearing you describe it makes me want to visit there.
Salvatore Dali is one of my favorite artists and I had no idea there was a museum to him in Florida (I'd never researched it obviously). He's in a list that includes: H.R. Giger, Dali, Escher, and Michael Whelan. Ouf of those four, Michael Whelan is the one I'd go completely nutso over but Dali would be a close second.
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