Last Day

Day 28

Or, 4 weeks on the road. Though, it feels like it lasted longer. Bike vacations always do, and 

that is why I love doing them. But all good things come to a end, and today is that day.

Here's a nice shot of the pool that I passed everyday, so as you might have guessed, I don't 

really do pools.

Nice having a Ihop next to the motel. Did a dinner there one night. Nothing special, but nothing

bad, typical Ihop. 

I had plenty of time today, so I watched a couple of Premier games, and yes, the motel had 

good enough wi-fi to handle it. I packed all my crap, which, because I packed most of my stuff 

in the storage locker with the bike, means just the backpack. I asked for a late check out, which

they didn't have a problem with. From there it off to drive to the airport, which is about a 1/2 hour

drive.

The no problem dropping off the minivan. Though I had to return it a bit early (1pm) as not to

get another day added on.

                                                               Tampa airport expansion

So here I am at Tampa International 4 hours early. Wasting the time is no problem as I can

always work on this blog. I did upgrade to First Class tickets, but that still doesn't get you

into the Delta lounge. But still, why not try. The lady at the counter was nice and decided to let

me in. My first airport lounge, well, is, little underwhelming. But the drinks are free, and so

is the food. Plus as a place to work, it is great. I was able to finish Disney day 2 while 

there. The 3 hours went fast, and soon it was time to head down to the gate. It's a 2 part

flight, with the first leg to Atlanta (Coach), a 2 hour layover, then first class from Atlanta to 

Toronto. For the first part I booked the back of the plane hoping to get the seat next to me

open (I actually ending up getting whole row). With a 2 hour layover in Atlanta, I'm in no

hurry to get off the plane fast. 

How I don't want to leave Florida .

                                The first time I've seen one of Amazons Prime air planes.

I make it to the gate and wait for boarding. Now compared to Orlando international, I love 

flying out of Tampa. It's a better airport. Short lines for TSA, more places to shop. Give me a 

choice and I'll pick Tampa any day. Orlando feels like a meat market where they just want

to push as many people through as possible.

One of the reasons I like Delta, is the back seat entertainment. Don't get me wrong, I have 

a tablet and can watch stuff, but the back seat tv just works way better.  Plus I had a really nice 

flight attendant at the back of the plane giving me some extra snacks for the flight. Good flight.

       Bye, bye Florida. But not for too long. I plan to come back for a week off work in late February.

A hour and a half later we land in Atlanta, and to one of the worse landings I've had.

Congrads to the pilot. the wind was brutal.

I  have a love/hate relationship with Atlanta international. It's a great airport, but you do walk 

forever, and with no moving sidewalks. But if you have a layover, it's one of the great ones. I hit up 

one of the Delta One lounges and try to get in. No Dice. The restaurant choice here is really

second to none, so I decide on PF Chang's. A couple of appetizers, a great waitress,

and a good hour plus wasted. I've never see Atlanta not busy, have you?

So I start to head down to my gate, but to my mistake I thought it was in the domestic terminal. 

Oops, so I have to head over to the international terminal. So down to the subway that runs between

all the terminals. It's fast and the hardest part is just getting to it. A good selection of Duty free

shops. But I am pressed for time,  so I head off to my gate to make sure it's the right one. I've 

missed flights before, so now I tend to be real careful.

                     Well this is new to me, and as you can guess, it makes boarding take a lot longer.

        As with all new tech, it doesn't always work. Hopefully this won't be coming to every airport.

The flight goes well,  and of course it does when your in first class.

Too soon we get there, and here are the lights of Toronto through the clouds

Finally the clouds open I'm seeing the east end of Toronto.

                   I can see Greenwood Yard from here. It's one of the locations which I work from.

                                            I can almost see Chris and Vanessa's home from here.

                                                       Not all pictures come in great.

                       Then we even fly over my Apartment building, honestly it's down there.

We even land early, and since it past midnight, I fly through Canada Customs. The shuttle

tram that  takes you to Terminal 1 and UP express is down for service. Luckily the Airport

Rocket is waiting at the post, and we're soon off to Kipling Station.

                                                      It's nice when it's not too busy.

Well that's about all, I take the bus to Kipling Station, hop on the train and talk to one of 

my workmates all the way to Kennedy Station. Where I can easily hop on a 34 bus which 

takes me to my door. It will be nice sleeping in my own bed after a month. tomorrow  morning

I'll have to go out and get supplies before going to work. 

What a trip.

The what to do day. Culture or Amusement park?

 

Day 27

It was a long day yesterday, so, I had a really good sleep. Since this is my last full day in Florida,

it was down to going either to Bush Gardens or the Salvador Dali Museum. Surprisingly I picked

the  Museum. The Dali is located over the bay in St Petersburg. But first, the dreaded motel 

breakfast. 

I'm usually happy at yogurt and cereal. Throw in some bacon, sausage and eggs and I'm real happy.

No meats here,  so it's yogurt and cereal. But I do bring those instant Starbucks coffee things, so at

least the coffee is ok.  When I booked this motel, I originally planned on going to Bush Gardens, which

is in the northeast part of Tampa. Whereabouts "The Dali" is southwest of Tampa. Thank god, "The

Dali" doesn't open to 11am. Tampa traffic isn't to bad compared to other big cities, but I'll be going

through the city centre which doesn't help.  I still make it there before opening. $10 to park and 

$25 admission. 

  

                                           Credit to SCTV wiki for the sctv screen shots. 

                                            Here's the link if you need some SCTV info:   

                                                                        SCTV Wiki

Now for me to be honest, my exposure to Dali mostly comes from the skits from SCTV. I know

who he is, and somewhat knows something about his work, but we'll leave it there. So the good part is,  

 I can go in with an open mind. Also you might be wondering on how I found out about this  

museum and some of the other places I visit. I watch YouTube a lot, and one of my favorite

youtubers is Traveling Robert. So while watching his vids, and I see somewhere I'd like to visit,

I mark it on Google Maps, then when I'm in the area I can decide to visit or not. Here's the link

to his website:

                                                            Traveling Robert   

                                                        Here's a link to the museum:

                                                                        The Dali

                                                             A nice quirky museum 

                                                        I start out with the outdoor exhibits.

                                                            I need to do more selfies!

                                         It's not a huge museum, but neither is it small. 

I'm so glad that they took such a great interest in Dali, otherwise I'd never be able to view this great

collection.

                                                                 The man himself.

The detail on the ants were amazing. Pictures can never do it justice, and that's why you must visit 

museum's.  You can never appreciate a piece of art, until you are actually there on the spot looking

at it.  Well, it's a big part of it.

                                             Maybe a hint of what you'll see in the future.

                    It's the details that you can't see in pictures, that you can see when actually there. 

This picture is huge, and is something I didn't expect. Also when seeing the works of art, you can see

the texture of the brush strokes. Something I'd never knew that I'd appreciate, but makes you understand

the effort it takes to paint these. 

                        The fun part about looking at Dali's paintings is  looking at the small details.

       In case you were wondering, yes, it looks more like Abraham Lincoln the further you go back.  

                         The great part is these could all be separate paintings, but no, it's just one. 

Well, that's it for the paintings, also, you end up on the top floor. So here are some pics of the 

museum itself.  

                                         I tried, but no, you can't go all the way to the top.

For a museum, it's in a great location, what you don't see is the light aircraft airport. But when you are

in the museum, you can't hear it at all.

Of course the dreaded school trip, but honestly, I don't think any museum would survive without them. 

So, I just made sure I was ahead of them. Plus you have a good view of the winding staircase.

I was one day away from seeing this exhibit. Disappointed, but what can you do?

The final stop is the gift shop, and yes, I actually did buy a  couple of bits. ie: fridge magnets.

Well that's the end of the visit to "The Dali". I think I was there for about 2+ hours, and for me that's

along time. I can't even remember having lunch,  so lunch couldn't have been memorable. Since I 

wanted to do my final sunset in Florida at John's Pass,

 I had plenty of time to waste. Which means looking around at the local pawn shops.

 Unfortunately nothing was found and no pics were taken. As I've said before,

sometimes you'll find one or two good things at a shop, but most of the time nothing. But it's those

one or two things that make the rest worthwhile. If finally remembered where I had lunch, it was

Burger King, so that's why it was almost unrememberable.

About an hour before sunset I drive into John's Pass. Parking was around $10, so I parked and went

exploring.  

  Good old memories from Samantha's and Larry's wedding. It's been how many years since I've seen

"The Lobster Zone"

                                                                  Pelicans everywhere!

                                                  They know they can't be bothered here. 

                                                                     Pelicans fishing!

             One of those things that doesn't interest me, but maybe your into a sightseeing cruise.

                                            The Pirate ship heading out for it's sunset cruise.

                                                                   Yep, he's real.

                  The sun is going down, so time to head over to the beach and watch the sunset.

                                 What a great beach, white sand that seems to go on for miles.

                                                                        Getting there.

                                           I'm surprised on how well these pics came out.

                                                      But that could have worked out better.

Now that's a great shot!

       As you can guess, I'm not the only one here for the sunset. I like the floating tiki bars at sunset.

Panoramic, and I'll find out how that works out after publishing.

Funny how in Key West I'm never able to get such great sunset pictures. Hopefully it's just that I'm 

there at the wrong day thing.

                                                                         Fly Pelican, fly!

And all good things must come to an end.

                              It was kind of a problem keeping people out of the picture.

                                                          And the end of a beautiful sunset. 

Time to head back to John's Pass and enjoy the shops.

As with most fishing piers, you can clean your catch and you don't have to worry about disposal. The pelicans and herons take care of that.

The Pelicans and Herons jonesing for some fish scraps. 

                                                                  Just hanging around.

                           A good mixture of shops and boating excursions for everybody's taste. 

                  I really love these, but I can't see me getting these on to the plane, on my carry on.

                                                                        No cone for me!

                                                             Always remember the lost. 

                                                              Toffee made the real way.

                                                                       The Ice guy!

                                       Just not feeling the tiki love today, maybe next time.

                                           That and tiki bars in Florida are a dime a dozen.

                                                                      One for Nial.

                                                                     It's getting dark.

                                Someone's gotta start that Christmas crap, but it is still too early.

Nice try, but never heard of you, besides it didn't look all that good or I would've bought a slice.

                                                                      Looks cool.

       They are back, and way more drunk then when they left. Looks like good value for the money.

Well, that's about all for now, I fly home tomorrow after one of the best vacations/rides that I've ever 

been on. So back to the car, and I head back across Tampa to the motel. Traffic is a little worse than

I was hoping for, but it can always be worse. Till tomorrow.