They’re Here

My daughter Tiffany and her fourteen-year-old daughter Destiny were scheduled to arrive at the Daytona Beach International Airport at 11:24 yesterday morning. We got a bit of a late start leaving, and traffic was heavier than usual, but we still got to the arrival gate at 11:10, only to read a display is saying that the flight would not arrive until 11:54. That confused me because I had checked FlightAware before we left the house and saw that it was in the air and almost to Florida. A moment later, I saw people with carry-on luggage coming out of the arrival gate, and there were the girls, ten minutes early. I have no idea why the display was wrong.

Unfortunately, they picked what is apparently going to be the coldest week of the year for their visit. The high yesterday was only 70 degrees, and I don’t think it reached that for more than a few minutes. On the way home, we drove down the beach and there were not very many people out because it was such a cold and windy day. The ocean seemed to be agitated with a lot of surf, but there was only one surfer out on the water.

We stopped at the house so the girls could drop off their luggage and change clothes, then we drove to Goodrich Seafood to get a bite to eat. The wind seemed to have died down by then, so we decided to eat on the back deck overlooking the water. It turned out to be a bad idea because the wind picked up again by the time we got seated and we shivered our way through our meal.

Destiny was looking forward to seeing our fishing pier, so when we left the restaurant we drove down there, where a couple of pelicans were on hand to greet the girls.

Even better was a pod of dolphins which were swimming in close to the pier and rolling in the water. Destiny had never seen dolphins before and she was able to get some good video with her phone. How cool is that?

I took a picture of these three pretty ladies I have hanging out with me for the next week. Eat your hearts out, guys.

And don’t ask me to explain this one. I think they were checking out the oysters that grow close to the edge of the dock or looking for hermit crabs. Or maybe they were just tired from their long flight.

As most of you know, we planted some fruit trees last year. The only one that has produced much so far has been the tangelo tree since the nursery told us to pinch off the immature buds the first year. I left one bud on it to grow and see what happened and ended up with a large fruit. Destiny picked it and cut it in half and it looked pretty good, and it tasted even better! I’m looking forward to a lot more of those.

If I couldn’t explain the two goofballs laying on the dock, I can’t explain this picture either. Blame it on jet lag.

In spite of the bad weather, they timed their trip right for one thing. There is going to be a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral this morning, and they’re excited about seeing it. Then I don’t know what we will do for the rest of the day, but I’m sure we will find something fun. Maybe a trip through the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge so Destiny can see an alligator or two.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – No matter how big a hammer you use, you can’t pound common sense into stupid people.