So there was a Tropical Storm. But it kindly went north and bothered some one else. And I got on with my vacation.

We spent the day Tuesday at the Lowry Zoo in Tampa. We saw Tigers, Orangutans, Rhinos, and manatees. And a bunch of other animals. I, of course, took about a thousand pictures. The sky threatened to rain on us a couple of times but it never actually did. We grabbed subs for dinner and then headed to the beach to the sunset. The wind was blowing fiercely. And the surf was incredible. The kids had fun running into the waves. I took pictures of one of the prettiest sunsets I’ve seen. Not a bad day.

Wednesday, we ended up going to the beach. It wasn’t exactly sunny, but it was warm enough. We body surfed on the waves, still larger than usual thanks to my friend Alberto; built sand castles and looked for shells. We went out for dinner at nice little restaurant and called it a day.

Today we took a ferry to Egmont Key. You can’t get there, except by boat. The U.S. built Fort Dade there in preparation for the Spanish-American war. The ruins are still there. The whole place is quite breath taking. There are no concession stands, no tours, no gift shops. You just walk around this island that is filled with palm trees, tortoises, cacti and lizards. You’ll be walking through the sand between palm trees, when you catch a glimpse of a ruin of the perfect beaches. It was absolutely incredible. And to make it just perfect, if very hot, the sun was out and the skies were blue.

Tomorrow we head home. We will probably go visit the bird sanctuary before we leave. And I think we will take our time and take 2 days to get home.

I leave you with this picture of Egmont Key.