Florida

You may or may not know that at this moment I am in Tampa, Florida with my mom, dad and little sister Olivia. I figured that since I am relaxing and not doing much other than sitting in the sun and reading a book, I should write a blog post. (Also, because a friend of mine told me that “a wee little bird” hadn’t told her anything in a while.) So I will tell you about my trip so far. This might just be a pretty boring post but its something for now. I got a better one cookin up in my brain as we speak--hopefully by the end of the week, I will have it posted.

We drove here. I told myself last year that I would never drive this ever again, but when it came down to a sun or no sun situation, I chose the sun. We left Friday morning before 5am, drove all day. I popped some Gravol in my mouth and slept most of the way like I usually do on long drives. Why, you ask? Because I am not a nice person when I am confined a small space with people. I get grumpy and sarcastic and I am just plain rude. So a sleeping Jenna is a better Jenna. But when I was awake, I was kind :) But I was also tired, groggy and, what my best friend would call, “overspunna.” At one point I started crying hysterically. It started when I was eating a Crunchie chocolate bar. About an hour later, I found a piece of that toffee that you find inside that chocolate bar, melted on my chest. That’s when the first giggle started. I picked it off with my fingernail, unsure where to put it. So I flicked it. It flew across the car and landed somewhere near my dad. I watched him look up, down, and sideways. He didn’t say anything. He just had this really confused look on his face. And that’s when I started laughing uncontrollably. And I could not stop. Mom and Livvy looked at me like I was crazy and asked me what I was laughing about. I couldn’t stop long enough to tell them what had just happened. Eventually huge tears welled up and started flowing out of my eyes like a fountain. Every time I caught my breath and tried to tell them what had just happened, I started laughing and crying all over again. I gave up, buried my face in my pillow and convulsed in silent laughter. Sooner or later, the giggles were far enough apart I could tell them happened, but they didn’t think it was as funny as I did. And you probably don't think its all that funny either. Like I said, overspunna.

That night we stopped in North Carolina at a cheap hotel. The receptionist told us to go to “Brintle’s” down the driveway for dinner because they had “good food.” Boy oh boy. What a lie. The place looked a little sketch as it was. Olivia and I ordered a pop. Flat as anything. The waitress asked, “Will you be ordering from the menu or going to the buffet?” We said we would try the buffet. If we were smart, we would have walked over the buffet counter and saw that it all looked disgusting. But after driving for 12 hours, I guess we weren’t so smart. “Yes, we will take the buffet.” We get out plates and head over. Corn? What corn? All I see is cloudy water! Oh, but if you dig, if you dig nice and deep in that heated pan, you will find corn at the very bottom. OK, I will take a small spoonful. French fries? OK I will give it a try. And a biscuit. It looked normal enough. It all tasted real gross. The French fries were alright other than the fact that they were soggy from the corn water. We all had about 2 bites off our plate. Mom and I ate our biscuits. And that was enough. We munched on snacks at the hotel instead.
We left before 5am the next morning and drove the 11 hours to Tampa. Nothing eventful happened on that trip. Liv and I watched Greys Anatomy and fell asleep halfway through every episode.

When we got to Sheraton Tampa East Hotel, we were greeted at the door by quite the friendly fellow. His name is Verone, I think. He asked where were from in his little accent. He offered to drive us anywhere we want to go in his little shuttle van. That way our parents can get “drunk at the restaurant” and not have not to worry driving. Um hello?! I am 21 sir. I know look like I'm 10 because I have no makeup on and my hair is a mess, but come on, you shouldn’t assume. ;) Now this guy bugs us anytime he sees us, asking where we’re headed and when he gets to drive us somewhere. Mom and I have made a sport of avoiding him at all costs.
This is a very nice hotel. A very large hotel. I don’t venture off too far anywhere because everything looks the same and I would get lost for sure. I know my way to the pool and to the room with the free snacks and that’s about it. We are on the 5th floor. Apparently this is the special floor. “Sheraton Preferred Guests” is what they call us. Why thank you dad's aeroplan points! Like I said, we have a room with free snacks. But you need your room key to enter.


You also need your room key to get the 5th floor. First evening here, mom and I forgot that rule. We were taking our time coming from the parking lot after dinner. Dad and Livvy booked it to the room. Mom and I get in the elevator, “CRAP!” we both say simultaneously. Bright idea—let’s just go to the 4th floor and take the stairs. We get to the 4th floor, and like I said, everything looks the same here. After wandering aimlessly for a while, we never found those stairs. We gave up and mom called dad.

Olivia and I are sharing this room (that sentence doesn’t sound right but spell check says it is, so don’t blame me for improper English). We have nice king bed to share. We can’t even see each other over the space and plenty pillows from our opposite sides of the bed. But for some reason I still feel Olivia’s feet every night. The girl sleeps on a slant. Who does that? Her head is in her corner of the bed but her feet are near me. Also, I think the A/C is broken in this room. We came in the room and it was set at 72 degrees. Since then, I have it cranked up to 80. It is still freezing in here. I am wearing jeans, a sweater. and slippers as I'm typing this.

So far, I have a sunburn. Woohoo! Sitting by the pool, palm trees overhead, listening to my ipod. It’s just lovely really. When we woke up this morning, it was raining. Boo! We went shopping instead and hopefully tomorrow will be a day full of sun. I heard the weather in Canada was nice. :) I am happy about that. I am glad that I am not hogging all the good weather to myself. In case you didn't know, sunshine is good for you.


That is all for now my friends! Hopefully I can keep my word and get that better post up by the end of the week.


-Jenna