What a wonderful weekend adventure! It stormed all the way down, and we had a 60% change of rain for Saturday, but it blew by and left us with a glorious day in Tarpon Springs. The boat ride was simply amazing! We came across a pod of dolphin that stayed by the boat and entertained up for almost 30 minutes. We also saw several individual dolphins that were jumping and playing. We stopped on a little uninhabited island that had beautiful white sand and tons of shells. I live in Florida and I've never found the types of shells that I found there nor so many whole shells. I had to watch though because most of them still had their sea creatures inside. As careful as I was, I still found 2 little sea creatures when I got back and cleaned the shells 😞 Our hotel room was very nice and the balcony over looked a pretty canal. And the food...what can I say but Yummy, Yummy, Yummy! Even better, we got the boat ride tickets off Groupon for $17.99 and found a deal for the hotel on Priceline for $47.00 a night. Unfortunately, I had to face the reality that my bucket list cruise will need to be marked off the list. Despite smooth waters and prescription medication, my vertigo was still keeping me off kilter.
Despite the vertigo, it was amazing fun that was made even more amazing by the fact that I wouldn't have even considered doing it as a smoker! Are you kidding me? No way would I have spent hours on a boat ride where smoking wasn't allowed! And no way would I have considered staying in a non-smoking hotel or room, regardless of how nice the room or the discounted rate! As a smoker, life revolved around my ability to smoke. I think back and realize just how many times I turned down opportunities simply because I couldn't smoke for extended periods. Where I went, what I choose to do...if smoking wasn't allowed, I didn't want to do it!
As a smoker, I would have missed one of the most incredible adventures of my life. I would have missed all the glorious beauty of nature and God's creatures. I would have missed sharing the experience with my loved one and the simplicity of holding hands as we walked the lonely beach. Yes, it was a beautiful day to me a non-smoker! And the sky, just look at the sky in these pictures!
