As per the work agreement, I spent the flights to Florida reading through the assessment training manual and trying to dredge up information from the deep recesses of my brain so I would be ready to help with the assessment. (It's a good thing I got through the whole thing because I accidentally left the manual on the plane. Oops. that's not a good way to impress your employer.) It was so nice to step off the plane into 80 degree weather. I could finally be warm for the first time since September! We got there in the late afternoon and spent a little time finding the assessment site, getting settled in our hotel, exploring the city and going to the beach to watch the sunset.
We got up early in the morning and headed off to the assessment. I think I did pretty well having been away from that type of thing for years and years. After about a half day, we were done and that was it for the work part of the trip. We were free to just play for the next 5 days!
We got up early in the morning and headed off to the assessment. I think I did pretty well having been away from that type of thing for years and years. After about a half day, we were done and that was it for the work part of the trip. We were free to just play for the next 5 days! If you have never traveled with Shawn, you have to understand that there is really no such thing as a "just sit on the beach and relax" vacation. It's not in his blood to sit still for very long. He did better than he usually does, though. So one of the first things we did was rent beach cruisers to ride around. (Also because it wasn't worth it to have to pay for parking every time we went to the beach. The bikes solved that problem.) This also made it possible to do an almost daily triathlon - a nice long beach/boardwalk run, an open water swim and usually 15 -20 miles on the bikes. (Once that was done,we could start relaxing for the day.) We had so much fun. Shawn said he felt like he was 13 again, riding around on his bike in swimsuit and flip flops, on the sidewalks. It was true. It was kind of a freeing feeling since most of my bike riding is more about pounding out the miles for exercise - not just for pleasure and transportation. I did feel like a kid again. If we lived somewhere flat, I would love to have a cruiser with a big basket on it. We hardly drove the car again the rest of the week.
The flowers and palm tress were beautiful. And lots of green grass. (Ours is still covered with snow at this point.)
Shawn's self portrait on the bike. You can see a little of his sunscreen mishap there. Also, you may notice the lack of a helmet here. Not recommended. Don't tell anyone.
The view of one of the many streets we rode to get to the various beaches.
And finally, time to just sit on the beach, soak in the sun and relax! We were in Naples, which is on the Gulf of Mexico side, so there weren't many waves and the water was like a bathtub - like 82 degrees. (OK if I take a bath at home, I usually run it a bit warmer than that, but when it's that warm outside, it feels like a bath tub.) You could stay in the water for hours and not get cold. Trust me - we spent hours playing and swimming in the water.
More pedaling.
And lots of beautiful sunsets. I think we have beautiful sunsets in Salt Lake, too because the whole sky fills with colors, but unless the air quality is really bad, we don't usually see the sun as a huge ball settling into the ground. And there's just something about a sunset over water....
More time spent at the beach. A little bit of color on our Utah winter skin.
And more sunsets... (Seriously, if you get tired of pictures, you should probably skip over the Florida posts.)
Of course, we had a little fun with Shawn's gopro camera in the water.
We went (back) to the beach every night to watch the sunset.
We stopped here for lunch one day. It was pretty good.
The flowers and palm tress were beautiful. And lots of green grass. (Ours is still covered with snow at this point.)
Shawn's self portrait on the bike. You can see a little of his sunscreen mishap there. Also, you may notice the lack of a helmet here. Not recommended. Don't tell anyone.
The view of one of the many streets we rode to get to the various beaches.
And finally, time to just sit on the beach, soak in the sun and relax! We were in Naples, which is on the Gulf of Mexico side, so there weren't many waves and the water was like a bathtub - like 82 degrees. (OK if I take a bath at home, I usually run it a bit warmer than that, but when it's that warm outside, it feels like a bath tub.) You could stay in the water for hours and not get cold. Trust me - we spent hours playing and swimming in the water.
More pedaling.
And lots of beautiful sunsets. I think we have beautiful sunsets in Salt Lake, too because the whole sky fills with colors, but unless the air quality is really bad, we don't usually see the sun as a huge ball settling into the ground. And there's just something about a sunset over water....
More time spent at the beach. A little bit of color on our Utah winter skin.
And more sunsets... (Seriously, if you get tired of pictures, you should probably skip over the Florida posts.)
Of course, we had a little fun with Shawn's gopro camera in the water.
We went (back) to the beach every night to watch the sunset.
1 comment:
Wow, does this mean you're caught up? Love the photos.
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