Re: Trip Report Sep. 2 through Sep. 12 2007 Day 4

Me, 40
Daughter Chris, 17
Son Alex, 11
Stepson Derek, 23 (first-timer)

Day 4 -- Wednesday, Sep. 5, 2007

We managed to miss our 8:30 shuttle to Alamo. We were tired and some of our party were, umm, focused. I won't relate the experience here, just suffice to say that it was the most unmagical experience of the whole trip. We hiked to Custom House at CBR and called Alamo who picked us up at 9:30. We were in our car by 10:00.

The car was a pale yellow PT Cruiser. None of us had been in a PT Cruiser before and as it turns out, we were not impressed. It did get us to Clearwater without incident however. The trip was actually less treacherous than I thought. We spotted dolphins following boats in Tampa Bay. I drove, Derek navigated, Chris backseat drove and slept, and Alex discovered that he could get from the back seat to the cargo area by folding down the backseat. At any rate, we managed to get to Clearwater and actually find our way directly to Pier 60.

The beach at Clearwater was clean and white. The water was nice and warm. We rented an umbrella and chairs for the day. The kids swam and played in the sand. We bought floaties, and masks and snorkels and all had a good time in the sun. Later in the day we bought cheeseburgers and fries at the surf shop. We initially intended to stay until sunset, but the sun, serf, etc. had us kind of wiped out and we packed it in. Unfortunately, we missed seeing some relatives who live in Clearwater. That was unfortunate, but we were trying to get EVERYTHING done. We cleaned up for the trip back to WDW, and I bought an ice-cream cone to eat on the way to the parking lot.

We managed to get back to the resort around 4:30 and went to Shutters for dinner. The food was okay, but not quite what I expected (the jerked pork ribs were sweet). We didn't go back, but it wasn't horrible. We did laundry until about 11:00. While we were doing that, we turned Alex loose in the Arcade at Old Port Royale where he discovered that he could use his Key to the World to put cash on his game card. Oh boy.

--
Mark E. Adams, 2004 -- drop the "dot" to email me.
http://adamslan.shyper.com -*- Mandriva User# 263042

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