"What does DB stand for?" ~ Aussie

[caption id="attachment_1783" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Daytona Beach Boardwalk[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1784" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Daytona Beach Pier
(now much shorter due to hurricanes)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1785" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nom, Nom...Pizzaaa[/caption]

Yay, it’s Aussie Day ♫ it’s really Aussie Day ♫ That’s why I feel so Gay, because it’s Aussie Day!!  ♫

I get to see my best mate! I’m super stoked, we haven’t seen one another in over a year. Even though she’s been here for years, she has yet to go to Daytona, so we thought what better timing than together. Duckie, (that’s my name for her. I know, cute huh!?) met up with us and we headed to Daytona.

 First we grabbed a bite to eat, Duckie was hungry and needed to get a full belly…this would have been better earlier as I will update you as to why…

After our bite we started walking the boardwalk. We went into some stores to look for stickers, we tried to take pictures in a photo booth but it was broken. We looked at all of the rides they had. I don’t think anyone was working them (except maybe the Ferris Wheel, that thing is always running!) due to the off-season.

[caption id="attachment_1787" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Play time or Free Shower?
Both![/caption]

As you walk down the boardwalk (depending on the way you are going) you can go straight at one point to stay on the boardwalk or break-off up a couple of steps into the pavilion. It's pretty cool, this area is called the Ocean Walk Shoppes with a stage built in the North side and shops & dining built into the rest of it! They have a pretty great movie theater as well. As we were walking toward the shops, Duckie said she didn't feel well. Luckily, I knew where the terdlets are so that's where we went. Unfortunately, they sit at the back of the third story...so we went...quickly. To make a gross story short, she got sick, sick and sicker. After spending quality time with her porcelain God my Duckie recovered enough to make fun of J' in a 'shoe insert' shop that he, by no means, wanted to be in.

[caption id="attachment_1788" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Best Mates forever[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1789" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Do you have a minute?
Not really.[/caption]

As we were walking back down the stairs, there was another photo booth right at the bottom and it worked! Woo-hoo. This photo booth was definitely way more rad than the broken one we came across earlier. It was all digitized and played back a recording of you taking your pictures and it gave you two sets of pictures. Pretty rad stuff, man! Oh, and there was a super-creeper sitting with his little dog right outside of the photo booth...'Wanna pet my doggy?'....umm, gross.

 We walked back down the boardwalk over to Main St. We had to show her where all of the madness of Bike Week takes place. It's almost eerie walking down Main St. when it isn't Bike Week, due to there not being a single soul on the sidewalks or in the shops. Everything is closed down. It's strange but understandable. We went in a couple more stores and then started heading back toward Joon Van.

[caption id="attachment_1790" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Duckie asks,”Why are they selling Arabs at Daytona Beach?”[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1791" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My own Feng Shui Tortoise[/caption]

Duckie needed a little something to refresh herself so we stopped @ the same joint and grabbed a pepsi and some fries, then headed back to get her to work on time.

*Side-note: We learned that J’ was telling Duckie about these awesome pills (5-HTP-a building block of serotonin) and he gave her two to try, to see how she felt with it. Those two pills and no food earlier in the day is what made her sick! Nice inside joke, right? haha *

[caption id="attachment_1792" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Food. Round 2[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1793" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I don't even know where this came from??[/caption]

PEACE

 

Beach Blast from the Past

Daytona Beach,

the beach we frequented most while we lived in Florida. We took a gradual stroll down memory lane and wound up straight where we were about two years prior...on the sandy beach of Daytona!

Usually during the day & season it's 5 dollars to park on the beaches.

PAY: February 1- November 30.

FREE: Any other time.

(Volusia County Beaches)

I think it's quite the ganga for an entire day on the sand with your vehicle at your beck & call, ready to whip you into the 7-11 or just give you relief for the few moments...it's all right there on the beach WITH an ocean! Doesn't get much sweeter than that!

 PEACE

[caption id="attachment_1800" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Captivated by Mother Ocean[/caption]

69- DB here we come by Ayevangabond

It's the L.A.W.

Today was a rainy day and with a rainy day comes a little bit of sadness…well in this case. Since we were around where I grew up, I asked J’ if we could go by my old swim place and we went. It has been run down for some time now. I guess my coach sold the land (and the pool that was on it) many years ago and from there it just dilapidated. It’s sad going back and seeing so many things that you know so well just damaged or gone. It was very memorable to me though. I ended up “breaking in” (not really, just went through a hole in the fence) and taking pictures of the old place. So many great memories, friends and swim times were made here and I will remember it forever.

[caption id="attachment_1804" align="aligncenter" width="300"] THEN (1993)…that’s me beating my competition[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1805" align="aligncenter" width="300"] NOW (2012) Kinda eerie, huh?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1807" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Then (1993)
I think we were supposed to be doing dry-lands[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1806" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Now (2012)
All dried up[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1811" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 1995 Underwater Pictures after practice[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1810" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2012 Don't get in the water now![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1813" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 1996 About to get in for practice[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1812" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2012 No practice today[/caption]

Crazy huh? It's good to be able to go back and see where you've been and what you have accomplished and this was one of those days for me. I've come so far and this is really where my life started, at this swim club. Thank you to my Coach, Dan Dittmer and for Longwood Aquatics to give me that great push into being the person that I am. Without swimming I would have missed out on a tremendously blessed life and am happy to be able to say that I didn't.

To all of the amazing memories, jokes, pictures, laughter, friendships, records and even the grueling practices and the painful tears.

I love you and will always cherish everything I was taught while being a part of this 'family'. I think a positive energy will always be woven into this land. And I'm happy to be a part of that vibe.

Love to the L.A.W.

[caption id="attachment_1814" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ingrained in my brain[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1815" align="aligncenter" width="300"] If this hi-dive could talk!![/caption]

PEACE

Navigating North

Now that it's getting closer to 'going home time', we thought we would start heading North, maybe do some drive-by's of past memories and then just keep going. We drove up through Tampa & Orlando.

[caption id="attachment_1837" align="aligncenter" width="300"] What up O-town?[/caption]

Always good to see O-town! We decided to stop for lunch at a place I used to work at, for shits & giggles of course. We ate our signature salads and kept on down the road.

[caption id="attachment_1848" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Happy to be sitting & not working[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1838" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Stretching from all of her hard work of sleeping[/caption]

While we were still around Sarasota we called a few campgrounds up North. When we lived in this area we used to camp for nothing in the regular season so we thought we'd give a few places a call. After calling some places, we were left scratching our heads because we happened to be in town the same week as all of the big car races as well as the Daytona 500! 

Go figure. 

[caption id="attachment_1846" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Captivated[/caption]

So prices were a lot higher than we were expecting. Just one more lesson of things to watch for: Big Events = more money, everywhere!! We did finally get a good price over the phone and that's what made the final push to drive up North. After a little bit of haggling, (bc the lady didn't want to give us the rate that we were told over the phone), we ended up paying for a week for a spot there. We took a walk around and set-up the van in our spot. We had spot #2 @ Clark's!

[caption id="attachment_1844" align="aligncenter" width="300"] # 2[/caption]

They had a pool, that wasn't working, but I was told (by the lady that worked there) that I wouldn't want to get in it anyway, it would be too cold. I thought that was somewhat rude, how does she know what I like? They also have goats there for your ears' pleasure and squirrels that have never seen/eaten peanut butter before...pure-natured squirrels! I'll keep ya posted on how it goes the rest of the week.

[caption id="attachment_1839" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Give me food[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1840" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I don't think that squirrel knows what it's getting into![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1843" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ello[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1845" align="aligncenter" width="300"] “The Sleep-away Camp” Bathroom….scarrrry[/caption]

PEACE

66- Checking out Clark's Campground by Ayevangabond

To the Island...

[caption id="attachment_1851" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Welcoming the day @ The Days Inn[/caption]

 What a full day we had! We woke up, after our not-so-bad-of-a-night, at The Days Inn, had some oatmeal and coffee, & hot showers. 

*Side-note: Before we left, I made a three ring binder full of FREE festivals, FREE events and just stuff to do that was going on around where we were going to be. 

We looked in the notebook and found that there was an Arts & Crafts Festival on Anna Maria Island and that we could have Savannah on a leash, so we were off! 

[caption id="attachment_1853" align="aligncenter" width="300"] These are all candles![/caption]

The festival had a lot of different vendors, some that you see everywhere and a few products that were pretty unique. There was also a Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center, where they had a few birds that they have been rehabilitating. To see birds like that up-close was just spectacular, simply amazing.

[caption id="attachment_1855" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Amazing Survivors[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1857" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Squeezable[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1858" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Made entirely from screen[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1859" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mommy's Girls[/caption]

 After we walked around for a bit, we dawdled right to the end of this gigantic field (like a baseball field). Perfect for our pup to get some exercise. And by chance, there was a guy playing ball with his dog. He threw balls for both Savannah and his dog for quite a while. Savannah got some much needed exercise and she was just the happiest pooch in the park!!!!

[caption id="attachment_1862" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Soo happy[/caption]

 It was a great day to have 'tribe time', but when isn't!? It's always great to see B' and spend quality time with her. She brings a bright & positive energy back to us when we're around her. It feels good and I miss her, but she's on her own adventure now and hopefully she'll fly back to the coop every now and then (wherever that may be) to see her Papa & Mama Owls!

[caption id="attachment_1868" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I love my tribe[/caption]

 PEACE 

63- Nanna gets to run by Ayevangabond