Florida: Day 4

Sigh, only one more night in Florida. Today's agenda was the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I'm not really sure what my mom and sister did all day - remember I did have meetings to go - but we made it to the aquarium on the Jolley Trolley for a couple hours of fun. The aquarium wasn't very big, in fact it was tiny but this was awesome because we could get so close to the animals. The aquarium is more like a rehabilitation center and all the animals there were injured too badly to be released back into the wild. Each had an amazing story of survival! Winter was a tailess dolphin who had been fitted with a prosthetic tail and was learning how to swim with it. The other dolphins had been injured by boats or sharks. There were a whole bunch of sea turtles. A couple were blind and would just swim in circles around their tanks until they hit a wall then would turn the other way. Another turtle had lost it's front flippers in a boating injury and couldn't swim very well. Then there was this turtle who would float up to the top of the tank butt first because some retard fisherman had dropped it on it's shell and paralyzed the poor thing. It was kind of funny to see it bob up to the top butt first but really sad at the same time because it had to work really hard to swim under the water.
Stubby
Bailey
Cocoa

Of course there were a couple of lazy otters, sharks, and some sting rays too. I tried linking to each of their individual stories after their pictures, so hopefully you can read more about each one of these amazing creatures. The aquarium is a must-see for a relaxed and close encounter with some really special animals. Oh and they actually had a nice gift shop. I even found a book called Pearlie the Oyster for Pearl! I'm sure she won't think it's nearly as cool as I do, finding a book with her name in it but maybe someday.First of all, what's with giant animal statues? And second of all, what draws people to getting their picture with them?Kimmy pulling her best scared face at the sharks.

After the aquarium we went back to Sand Key Beach to play and watch the sunset. As we were heading up to our room I spied the perfect souvenir for Kimmy. She had been searching up and down Clearwater for a pelican something and hadn't found anything and had practically given up. I spotted the cutest pelican hidden in our hotel gift shop. Kimmy owes me BIG time now!On the beach another quirky side of my family became apparent. My mom is the worst example when it comes to skin cancer prevention! She bought "tanning lotion" or SPF 4 sunblock! And the day before, my sister begged her to put some sunblock on her before heading to the beach during prime-fry time and my mom said that a few minutes in the sun wouldn't hurt and that she wouldn't put any sunscreen on her unless she stripped down to her bikini (which meant no board shorts). Ha! My mom never encourages us to use sunscreen, even as kids... it's always my dad reminding us! What a goon! Out of fear that I wouldn't be able to move the next day after seeing several blistering red bodies the first day in Florida, and that the Cancer Control Program at work would find out I didn't use sunscreen and chew me out, I regretfully came home just as pasty white as when I went. At least I won't get skin cancer, right?The sunset was gorgeous! No clouds to block it and boy was it fun to watch. Seriously, it's been so relaxing to just sit on the beach. Now I remember why I would go to Bear Lake every week back in my single days (only then I actually was tan, skinny, and bikini body worthy). After the beach, we decided to splurge on room service... getting $80 worth of pasta, crab cakes, and key lime pie. Yummy! And the best part of it was that we also got complimentary breakfast buffet tickets ($14 each) for the next morning because when we tried to call our phone wouldn't work. How cool! The Sheraton Sand Key really was great...free wireless Internet as part of my conference and now a free breakfast.