Florida

Anthon and I go to an HVAC convention every year. Each year it is in a different location, which is kind of fun because we have gotten to visit some locations we wouldn't normally have gone. We have gone to Nashville, Orlando, Houston and this year was Sarasota, Florida. We usually bring a few employees and this year we brought our new construction manager Dan and his girlfriend LeeAnn.

Our trip was at the end of September and we left on a red-eye flight on a Friday and arrived early Saturday morning. We weren't able to get into our Airbnb until 3pm so we had some time to kill. It took about 2 hours from the time we got off the plane until the time we were able to get our rental car, so that killed some time. When we were finally able to get our car, we took the scenic route from Tampa to Sarasota. We went over a couple beautiful bridges and ate at a local breakfast place where everyone else that came in knew the owner.

We were pretty tired at this point and having a hard time staying awake because of our overnight flight. It was really hot in Sarasota (which was a big difference from the cold and rainy Utah that we left) so we got permission from the owner of the Airbnb to stop by, even though she was still there cleaning, and drop off our bags, (I didn't want my makeup to melt in the car) change our clothes, grab some beach gear and then we headed to a beach.

Siesta Beach has the softest sand!! It's like powdered sugar!

We relaxed for a while and then headed to the Airbnb to get cleaned up for dinner. We went to a local Italian place that only opens for a few hours at night for dinner. There was one couple leaving when we arrived and then we were the only ones there. After we ordered, someone else came to eat there, but we heard the guy tell them that they were closing early because his mom wasn't feeling good. Apparently it is just a mother and son that work there. They made delicious food and we were glad we were glad we got there before they closed.

The next day Anthon and I went to a local ward to go to church. It's always fun to see how the church is the same no matter where you go. Dan and LeeAnn are pretty adventurous and LeeAnn had done some research on some fun, active things to do in Sarasota. First we went kayaking through the Mongroves. It was so much fun and so beautiful!!

The water was full of jellyfish so they told us not to get out of the boat unless we were on land. They were pretty cool looking jellyfish.

We brought some snacks with us so we took a little lunch break on a little sandbar area.

While we were paddling around, looking for manatees and dolphins, these birds flew down out of the sky and dove into the water near our kayak. They would float right next to us and then dive under our kayak and come out the other side, usually with a fish. At first we were really confused why these birds were staying right by us, looking at us, and then dive and swim in the water like penguins. We quickly realized they were using the shadow of the kayak to catch fish under us.

We were able to see a manatee for just a few seconds as it swam by in front of us, but I wasn't able to get a picture. We saw a lot of huge houses whose backyards were the water and they all had docks and boats. There was also a sightseeing boat with palm trees on top of it.

After rowing around for about 3 hours, our arms were ready to be done. We turned in our kayaks and drove a short distance to Lido Beach. The sand was not quite as soft as Siesta Beach, but it was a lot less crowded and we had a beautiful view of the sun setting.

The next day we planned a bike ride! A company dropped bikes off for us at Oscar Scherer State Park and that morning we started our 20 mile bike ride down the coast of Florida and back up. It was a lot of fun! We got to see things that we wouldn't have been able to see if we were driving around in a car.

My chain kept falling off.

 We were outside for 3 days straight and none of us got burned. We wore sunscreen, but if we had spent that much time in direct sunlight in Utah, we would have been fried. I think it's because we were at sea level instead of 5,000 feet up.

We saw a large turtle! We watched it slowly make it's way to a hole in the dirt and get in a fight with another turtle that was already in the hole. I figured it was his wife.

We ate lunch at a pizza and ice cream shop in Venice. As we were riding through some neighborhoods there, we saw a house that was being built and of course the HVAC guys needed to stop and see how they run their duct work in Florida. It looks like it will be a beautiful house and since it's back yard is on the water, it will probably be worth a couple million. Then we rode to Venice Beach.

We decided we'd gone far enough so we headed back to our car. Since we still had some time before dark, we went to Myakka State Park. We had heard that this was the place to see alligators and that is pretty much all Anthon wants to do whenever we are in Florida. It was true! We saw a lot of alligators and even had a close encounter.

We found the Canopy Walkway hidden in the trees. We were able to climb above the trees and see everything!

Anthon does not like heights so this was not his favorite part, but he went all the way up and we all got to enjoy the amazing sunset together.

We had just a little time before dark so we played with the alligators some more. There was a bridge and Anthon discovered if he shook some sticks in the water, alligators would think some food was there for them to eat. It worked and an alligator swam over just below us.

When it realized it had been duped, it was not happy. It just sat there, staring at us.

Anthon threw a stick in to see if it would move and the stick landed right on the alligator's nose!! It didn't move! It just sat there with a stick on it's nose.

Eventually it went down into the black water and swam away. After that, we headed home.

The next two days were work days. We attended the conference with Praxis University. We learned so many valuable things that we have already started implementing into our business.

One of the most inspiring parts was when Keni Thomas spoke to us. The movie Black Hawk Down was based on a military mission that he was a part of.

By the end of two days of intense learning, our brains were full and we spent our last night in Florida at the beach.

Work doesn't stop just because we are on vacation.

We got up early the next morning (like 3am early) and drove to the airport. It was a fun trip with fun people. Lots of adventures and lots of learning.