Got Alligators?

First of all, I need to apologize to myself, lol...this blog is supposed to be sort of a diary for me of my travels.

Then I need to apologize to anyone reading my blog since this is also supposed to be a blog filled with all sorts of fun things to do (and sometimes avoid) about the places I visit.

So on to Dunedin, FL...

This is actually my second trip to Dunedin, FL, and I just LOVE this area.  There is an oh so cute historic downtown filled with all kinds of restaurants and shops with colorful storefronts.

I realize I have not taken a picture of the little downtown scene, so I will do the next best thing...google images and post one here.  I'll be back in a minute to two...or five, lol...

 

I traveled here to do some consulting work so spent most of my days indoors but had some free time in evenings and on 1 weekend to do a little exploring.

 

I also had the pleasure of walking each morning (and some evenings, too) along the Pinellas Trail which was right in back of the hotel where I stayed.

Golf, anyone?

I am very happy to say that I've FINALLY started taking golf lessons...my husband has been asking me to golf with him for YEARS, and I kept putting it off...until NOW!

And guess what?????  I'm lovin' it!  A friend and I have been taking lessons at a local golf course in Encinitas and it has been loads of fun.  I even went and hit a bucket of balls a few days ago!  Yahoo!!!

Interestingly...and I'm sure NOT to surprising to most, I couldn't even hit the ball the first day of class...even though it was right IN FRONT of ME...on a TEE!  I've come to understand that this is common for beginners...whew!

Of course, THEN when I started hitting the ball...still not every time, though...it would just dribble in front of me, or skip across the grass like a stone skipping across the top of the water.  Remember when we used to skip stones and count the number of times the stone would skip before sinking?  Well apparently I'm the only one that counts to skips of my golf ball across the grass before it stops, lol.  I figured the more it skipped, the better I was doing, right?

Anyway, before long I would catch a REALLY GOOD stroke and my ball would fly up in the air like a little white round bird...with no little birdie head, wings or tail...o.k., maybe that was a bit MUCH...

I have to say, that WHEN and I mean WHEN I hit that little white ball and it flies up in the air, it is SUCH an AMAZING feeling!  So I keep hitting my little white balls, and hitting them, and hitting them...until every once in a while I get one of those REALLY good ones, and WOW, that feeling just keeps coming back!

I am soooo happy to be trying something that will give me more time with my hubby, too...Gotta love my hubby!

I know  didn't really travel far in this post...but my little white ball sure is:)

Fore! (heehee)

Over the hills and through the desert....

So I took a drive to Brawley, California this week to support an event sponsored by the Brawley Chamber of Commerce and the SBA.  I had never been to Brawley, so was excited to see another part of this vast state I live in...California:)

The trip started out smoothly...picked up one colleague in San Diego, and the other from the airport.  We had lunch at Anthony's...can you believe I've lived here for almost 8 years, have spent PLENTY of time in San Diego...but have never been to Anthony's?????  Well my colleagues thought is was some sort of huge disservice to San Diego, for sure, lol!

I do have to say that we had a great lunch, got a window seat (after, of course, my colleagues told the hostess I had NEVER been to Anthony's!).  The view was great and the staff at the restaurant did a great job to make sure I'd return again....and I will!!!

So off to Brawley, now....we traveled out the 8 freeway and all was good....until...we headed over the "hills"...well at one point we were over 4000 ft elevation, so needless to say, these were VERY BIG hills!  I'm minding my own business, talking to one of my colleagues when all of a sudden, I feel I'm going too fast and start to pump the brakes...now mind you, I'm heading down a curving hill at this point and I'm COASTING...no foot on the gas pedal here, no sirreee...and I look in my rear view mirror to see?????...some flashing lights, oh dear!

I pull over and an officer kindly tells me I was going 92 miles an hr!!!  Now after you've been driving on the same road for 1 1/2 hrs, and people are passing YOU...there was no reason to think I was driving that fast, I'll tell you that!

So this kind officer did tell me that he had been following me for a mile and at first I thought...wow, that's a LONG TIME to be following someone!...until I realized that IF I was REALLY going 92 miles an hr, that means he was behind me for let's say...20 seconds?

Anyway, when I noticed him, I WAS trying to slow down because I noticed I was going down a BIG hill and was picking up speed...oh, and did I say I've NEVER gotten a traffic ticket before?  Well, none of my explaining or pleading worked and low and behold, I've experienced ANOTHER FIRST on my trip...a whoppingly LARGE traffic ticket! 

Gotta love the way they do this, though...you get a carbon copy of a ticket that you can barely read...do the actually teach them to have bad handwriting and not press down on the carbon paper so it doesn't show through????

So, not only do I NOT know what it says, I DON"T know how much the ticket will be...AND, if I don't see the ticket in the mail in a few days...I have to call THEM to see how much I owe...it's not like I get a "Get out of a ticket free" card if I never receive it in the mail...

The rest of the trip was much better AND I experienced a few more firsts...my first dinner at a Famous Dave's Barbeque...yummy!!  My first time drinking tequila STRAIGHT...(one of my colleagues ideas)...and no we weren't driving afterwards:)

The training I did at the Brawley Small Business and Lenders event went smoothly and was a great experience!  I also met a wonderful young woman that handles the social media for the SBDC in Brawley.  As we chatted, I found that she is a fellow scrapbooker!  How about that!

To summarize all of my firsts

1.  First time eating at Anthony's in San Diego
2.  First speeding ticket (well, first traffic ticket all together)
3.  First time eating at Famous Dave's Barbeque
4.  First time drinking tequila straight
5.  First time going to Brawley (and El Centro)
6.  First time presenting at an SBA sponsored event

I recently saw a stamp that says "When was the last time you did something for the very first time?", so I thought I would try to document my "firsts" from now on.

I'm so happy to still be experiencing "firsts"...although some, like my first traffic ticket I could have done without, lol...

So I got on the plane...

I left off with the fact that after I finally found an outlet to charge my laptop...we had to board the plane...now I did neglect to tell you that this was AFTER the plane was delayed for about an hr for mechanical checks (and yes, I am QUITE OK with delaying a flight for mechanical checks!)

You see, I was heading to Reno...a place I've never been, en route to Lake Tahoe for the weekend...another place I've never been.  I need to insert here that I LOVE traveling to new places!!!

Lake Tahoe was just LOVELY...wow, I haven't used that word in a while....LOVELY...{sigh}...

Anyway, we stayed at a casino on the edge of Nevada and California...not my favorite choice, cause ya know, I don't smoke...and well...casinos just REEK of smoke!  But.....my hubbie was traveling for business and you know what that means, right????  The hubbie's business was paying the tab, so I'm not "complaining" about the casino and smoke...I'm just "saying"...

Tahoe was LOVELY...yeah, I'm really stuck on that word for now...drove to the Emerald Bay lookout point called Inspiration Point...which certainly IS inspirational...if you don't mind listening to a paranoid driver (yes, that's the hubbie) as he frets over falling off the side of the road since there are next to no guardrails...while I'm (heehee) have a BLAST at the fact that there are no guardrails...

FYI, the hubbie doesn't like the "no guardrail" issue, nor does he like heights...so literally BACKED up to the railing for this foto...gotta love him:)

Getting ready for a Europe trip...and I'm SURE I'll have many altered travel experiences to share later:)

My Altered Travels

"My Altered Travels" is officially born after many years of conteplation (is that even a word, lol?)...I

My goal with this blog is to inspire, educate, enrich, humor, and most of all...COMMUNICATE and ENHANCE your travel experiences.  I wanted to use the blog name "havebagswilltravel" but that blog name was already taken...I REALLY need to visit that blog:)

Since my travels are ALWAYS ALTERED, mostly because I am an altered artist AND because I'm blonde (heehee), I thought it might be fun to give you my ALTERED take on traveling...

Today, I'm sitting in an airport waiting for a flight to Reno while en route to Lake Tahoe for the first time.  It's Thursday, and while I started out taking a vacation day tomorrow, I found that my hubbie has a golf outing tomorrow morning...so what's an altered girl to do????

So I pack my computer, find that I have some work that NEEDS to be done for my day job, and I say...hey, if I "work" while I'm away, can I NOT count my day off as a vacation day?...now I know many of us (including my husband) can work from "anywhere", but I'm just not in that category...I have a "regular" 9 to 5 type job that requires me to work in a traditional office...but in my "altered" world, I can work with this...so I say to my boss, if I "work" on this project while my husband is at a golf outing tomorrow, can we consider this "working" remotely, so I don't have to use a vacation day?  Wahoo, my boss says "I can work with that"...

Now I know that many of you think this is WAYYYYYY old school, but just run with me on this, 'k?

So, I'm still sitting in the airport on a Thursday afternoon, an realize that my computer is NOT charged...(o.k., feel free to start with the blonde jokes now...or fess up and admit this has happened to you, too:)

So I "plug in" and start to work on my NEW blog...and now it's time to power down and board...more later...I promise:)