Take The Long Way Home

What a wonderful time it has been. It has only been more than 5 weeks since I returned from my trip to Florida. I have made promises to you that Day 7 would be well worth the wait. I lied, Day 7 was nothing special. It was January 13th and I was set to take off from Fort Myers Airport at 12PM. That gave me enough time to hit the outlet mall one more time. I picked up a faboulous deal of 5 boxers for 20 dollars. Awesome. I needed to replenish my stock of underwear items.

With new boxers in tow it was on to the airport. When I arrived the security threat was still high and my plane was delayed by one hour. That gave me a chance to check out the airport Chili's. I had only seen Chili's in commercials and movies so this was quite the treat. We enjoyed some massive burgers and my sister continued her desperate need to completely burn out her insides with only the hottest of hot sauces. I don't think she has any feeling left in her tongue. Lunch was good even if it wasn't world famous Grouper Sandwich.

So I said my good byes to Aliss and Drew and it was off to security. You know, with the terror alert being high and all, it was pretty darn easy getting through security. There was little wait and people were polite. The fun times wouldn't come until we actually boarded the plane. It had seemed as though everyone had been put on the plane and we were ready to go until we found out that two people who had checked their luggage had not got on the plane. Now why would you check your luggage and then leave the airport? Unless they were terrorists, hmm. Anyway we had to wait around an hour as they went though the cargo hold looking for the luggage. By the way, after an hour of sitting on a plane without movement you can get a bit annoyed. Still when we finally took off it was cool to find out that we could watch a choice of free movies, some that were not even on DVD yet through out personal view screens on the back of the seat in front of us. I watched 'The Departed' and 'Open Season.'

So I had to go to Toronto to make my connection to Calgary. I maybe should have mentioned that I was wearing my shorts as I flew into a snow dusted Calgary. Maybe it was just me, but people looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo, but it was fun. So I arrived back and was wishing I could just spend a few more days in the sun.

So my journey to Florida was a a great time! I think I have dragged this story out as long as possible. Your welcome.


HEY KIDS! L. Wickenheiser here to tell you about a great new series that will be gracing the pages of the the Bearded Backpacker blog. I want to invite you to tag along as we follow the adventures of a boy and his friend. 'Bingee ja Ryanni' will follow the finn fueled adventures of a Suomilainen Poika and his orange haired koira. Yes, 'Bingie ja Ryanni' teams together the best dog and boy duo since Lassie and Timmy. So I hope you can come around and share the adventures. 'Bingee ja Ryanni and the Ferocious Karhu' will be coming to this space real soon so look for it.

Later

We All Shine On

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I guess the 7th day of Florida can wait one more day so I can say Happy Valentine's Day to all the players and ladies out there. My friend Amanda asked me to write more because she is bored and this is her only source of entertainment. I'm happy to oblige. Hi Amanda. you asked me whether there is any commercial holiday that doesn't include chocolate? The answer is no.

So I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day and that they don't eat too much chocolate. ☻

Later

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Baby its Cold Outside

Calgary has been getting a bit of the winter this past week. It has snowed for 7 days straight in this town. Calgary has had 5 times the snow of an average February and we are only halfway through the month. With this cold weather and the arrival of Valentine's Day I am reminded of how lonely I am and therefore I must write a blog entry. The cold is making me pine for the sweet sun and surf of southwest Florida. So why don't we return to my adventures in the Florida everglades.
So what day are we on now. I haven't written anything in awhile and its been a month since I returned from my time in F-L-A. I do know what ever day it was we were going for a fan boat ride, but first let me tell you about Marco Island. So it was Day 5 of the quest, the quest for fun. We checked out a massive beach in Marco Island. It was quite large and littered with bits of broken shell. We were only allowed to take used shell, live ones were strictly verboten.
We did little at the beach, but walk along it and maybe tip toe through the water. It was pretty cool though the resorts along the beach and the water of the Gulf of Mexico. Walking through the water left some lovely salt stains on my shorts, but it was all in good fun. The trip to the beach was short though because the real reason we were in Marco Island was to try the world famous Grouper sandwich of the Snook Inn.
The Snook Inn was a friendly place situated on the mouth of one of the canals leading to the rich and famous types living in the area. Famous is the operative word here when you go to the Snook Inn. I believe every one of the items on the menu at this place was world famous. This included everything from the Grouper sandwich we had come for to the salad bar you got with it. I think their tap water was even world famous, but maybe not for the right reasons. My question is there anyone out there reading this blog who has ever heard of the Snook Inn? I want to know. Anyway the sandwich was good and the grouper fish is delicious. The salad bar was darn good with giant sour dill pickles and pickled mushrooms that made the trip too healthy eating well worth it. So maybe the Snook Inn is not as world famous as it claims, but I would definitely recommend if you are ever in Marco Island that you check it out. With are appetites satiated it was now time for us to move on to Everglade City and the opportunity to be face to face with a gator.

Take me down to the Everglade City where the gators are plenty and the streets are empty, ohhhhhhh take me home. Who wants to go on a fan boat ride? I do! Your bearded tour guide has always been interested in the fan boat. I have always seen it movies and on fishing shows and it just looks like a good time. I remember seeing Matt Dillon gliding along the everglades in a fan boat in the 1998 John McNaughton classic 'Wild Things.' The scene may have had nothing to do with the narrative, but it sure made me envious of Dillon's lifestyle. Just imagine spending your Sunday flying around the swamp on an aluminum hull with a giant fan blowing behind you. Intriguing isn't it? Our fan boat ride may not have been as glorious as I have witnessed in the movies, but dang it if it wasn't a heck of a time. Our trip took us along a system of creeks and canals through the thick marsh of the glade. We met a very friendly raccoon during our trip who was quite fond of dog biscuits. He wasn't as large as the raccoons you may be use to seeing and he did not seem to be as annoying either. He was cute. We also saw many different birds and the pelicans were so crazy they came and perched on the front of our boat.
Oh yeah we also saw some gators. Apparently during the winter the water in the glades is more salty and this is not desirable to the alligator so we didn't have too many run ins with them during the boat ride. The two we did see were pretty sedate and didn't seem to even take notice of our presence. Trying to pet them though may have been a bad idea. Anyway the gators our pretty cool. The fan boat ride was a lot of fun and again chef recommends.
So day 5 was the most active of my week in Southwestern Florida. In contrast day 6 was probably the laziest of my days in Florida. Most of the day was spent by the pool and then we went out for some of Canada's best ribs at Michelbob's. I miss wearing shorts and sandals everyday.
Well that's it for now. You pretty much know how day 6 went for me so next time I'm skipping ahead to Day 7 and the trip home. It is worth the wait. Later.

When the Levee Breaks

So I promised more details about the quest to Florida for sun and fun, but I felt the need to give a shout out to my good friend, Jimmy James. Dude totally gave me props in his own adventure page; Vis Comica. He usually likes to talk about serious things, well more than I do anyway, so it was nice to feel his praise. He has gotten lazy though in his old age. His last post he goes and puts an email from our other brother in Christ, Paq24, the Squirrel. He seems to be disappointed in Paul's lack of an online journal. You see the problem is that Paul is not a lonely guy.

A new book by University of Calgary Political Studies professor Michael Keren called 'Blogosphere: The New Political Arena' looks at the growth of blogs. The author was interviewed on The World Tonight with Rob Breakenridge on Calgary's CHQR radio station. During his interview he described bloggers as lonely people. Now since I did not read his book or really listen to the interview I can't say if he meant anyone with a blog or only those who have politically themed blogs. No matter, the gauntlet has been thrown. Bloggers around the world let it be known that you all have lives and tonnes of friends. Some of us must have friends right. Anyway, good times.

So you see Paul is too busy with his family to share his political views, inane theories or stream of consciousness. Damn I envy that guy. Well not really. So Paul its time you started writing out your thoughts. You have a wit a young Macauley Culkin would envy.

Hey by the way I would like to say congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts. They did it. Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning can finally call themselves champions. Although I though Manning may have been the least enthused super bowl winning
quarterback I have ever seen in my life. If they still do those; 'I'm going to Disneyland', commercials after the game, I think this year it may actually lead to a drop in visitors for Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Maybe Manning is just an android and has not the ability to show emotion. I thought I may have seen Rick Deckard out there rushing the quarterback for the Chicago Bears. Blade runner has skills. Anyway we will continue the Florida trip next time. I'm delaying the story because I just wanted to extend my memories of fun in the sun now that Calgary is getting some snow.

Later