Update from Vacationland

With Part I of the Restaurant Guide out of the way, let's have an update on what we've been up to.  It's hard to overstate the sense in which most of our days have blended together, so this is going to be pretty general.  

Weather forecasting is exceedingly dumb down here; southern Florida has been blanketed by rainstorms all week, and we keep catching afternoon strays from that system, or at least being told that we will.  Then, it doesn't happen.  Or, it's supposed to be sunny, but rains?  We've spent most of the mornings and early afternoons at the pool (only one true beach day so far, and lotsa rip current).  The Miner fam rented a same condo on the beach they did last summer--only this year they're in Florida until basically August.  We're doing most things with them.  It's been great!, and mostly relaxing, if not stuff worthy of a blogging Pulitzer.  See some pics:

Not pictured: a sad Luke Miner, who dropped his cone

James catches a crab in his sandals

Uncle Mike comes to visit!

James catches a teeny baby scrub lizard with his bare hands

This past Thursday, we hit up Aquatica, one our nation's many waterparks billing itself as "America's Largest."  (The theme there is Polynesian, which is why the announcements were all done with an Australian voice actor?)  It's a Sea World property; we had good luck with Sea World over Spring Break, they seem to have grown up quite a bit since the Blackfish days.  Besides the excellent animal shows--including the walrus show where James got call down to feed the walrus in front of 3,000 people-- they are making a pivot to capture the thrill ride sector of the Orlando theme park world, which weirdly doesn't otherwise already exist.  They have some legit coasters, per James.  Anyway, we took the three Miner children with us to Aquatica, and aside from some whining about wait times, and a fraught early-morning period stemming from some obnoxious behavior in the car, we had a great time.  Parking, locker, and food costs were extortionate ($35 for parking, $50 for a locker, and $114 for an execrable cafeteria hotdog luncheon), but offset by the half-priced Memorial Day admission sale.  Pics!

They built a pretty convincing beach, tbf

Shave ice break at Aquatica

Saturday was a memorable day, at least for Dad and James, who took Paige on the Orlando Princess half-day party boat fishing trip.  Erica and Juliet stayed with the remaining Miners and enjoyed a lovely pool day, whereas we caught MONSTER FISH on a reef about 10 miles from the Cape.  The way out to the fishing grounds was rough, with folks puking overboard, and Paige turned a distinct shade of green (she didn't barf though, tough kid).  Paige pulled in the first fish of our little group, a good-sized red snapper.  James and I had to wait for our catches.  With about 30 minutes left, I pulled in the largest fish of my life, a big ol' hoary red snapper, which absolutely exhausted me and my arms and back are still aching.  Check it:

James was distraught with 15 minutes left and no fish, but managed to reel in this cool little shark just before time was called.  The stupid thing bit through the line just as it was being dragged overboard, but that counts as a catch!  We think it counts, anyway, so it does.  Check it:

We've taken two rainy afternoons to see Inside Out 2 (great!) and If (meh).  Our obligatory visit to Golf n' Gator was a success, with James pulling no punches this time around, and almost beating his old man.  Also, here's a fun pair of pictures from Longdoggers:

This photo and the one below were taken almost exactly a year apart in the same spot.

2023 version

Today we're looking at another pool day, maybe the beach?  Maybe end the day with a mai tai and some blackened mahi?  Ah, well.