Mini Vaction - Florida

So we are finally home. Mark and I headed off to Florida to see his parents and go to the Bud Shoot Out which is a Nascar Race the weekend before the huge Daytona 500. Boy was it an adventure. So first of all we were suppose to fly from Buffalo to Washington and then Washington to Tampa, well that didn't really end up happening.

On Friday we kept checking to see if we were still a go to fly to Washington. So as of 2pm all flights to Washington were cancelled and we had to find another way down there. One of the options was that we could fly from Toronto, but it was going to cost an extra $300 dollars. Anyways Mark did some calling around and they found us a flight. So we ended up going from Buffalo to Detroit, and then Detroit to Tampa. But we only had 45 minutes to get to the other end of the Detroit airport. Which if you ever go is a really weird Airport. They have this Tunnel that you have to go through and it plays music and there are coloured lights and stuff. Just totally weird. So we ended up making our flight and boy was that planned packed, that we didn't even get to sit together, and then we waited on the airstrip in the plane at the end of the run way for like an hour and they weren't doing anything. That was just weird. So we finally made it to Tampa, and took a cab to the hotel. Oh my god I was a little scared for my life. The Cabbie was a crazy driver. He also missed the hotel entrance that's how fast he was going. Anyways we got in around 1:30, and went to the front desk. Told the lady who we were and she was like oh we gave your room away because we didn't think that you would be coming in. So we ended up with another room, which was fine.

Then on Saturday we took off we Mark's parents to Daytona. It was a fun trip it takes about 2 hours to get to Dayton from Tampa. So we went to this flea Market that was near the speedway which sells like flea market stuff and also the outside on Race days, has a whole bunch of thing for sale that are Nascar. Well the weather was nice in the day time. Then we headed off for the Race. We had some dinner at the Cracker Barrel. Which I totally love Raspberry Lemonade. It totally rocks. Then we went inside the park and looked around at the stuff for sale and the trailers that we giving free stuff away. Mark ended up getting a t-shirt and we got some other junk. Then we went and found seats for the first race which had already started. It was okay. The one girl driver made her Nascar debut, her name was Danica Patrick. I think that she ended up in the top 10 which was pretty cool. They also had a girl driver from Ontario racing also. That race there were so many crashes, and most of them were really bad. After the race they had a break before the Shoot Out and we got to see The Zack Brown Band, play which was really neat. Then the office Bud Shoot Out Race started. It was pretty neat to go and watch. I couldn't believe how fast those cars go around that track. But oh my god was it cold there. I had on four different layers and I was still really cold. If we ever go again I think I would have to bring something warm to sit on.

The DAYTON 500 - Budshoot Out

Mark and His Dad with Dale Jr. Car

Danica Patrick

Budshoot Out Racers

Budshoot drivers on the track you can kind of see Dale Jr's car #88

Anyways after the race we made are way back to Tampa and in the morning we went to the Tampa Aquarium. Which was really a fun time. We go to see a show with these two little penguins oh my goodness. They were so cute.

The Tampa Bay Aquarium!!!

Here is Rockey the Penguin! - So super cute.

The Dwarf Seahorses

Seahorses that look like seaweed

Jelly Fish - Very dangerous

One scary looking croc

Then after we headed to the airport where Mark's parents dropped us off. We headed to the check in counter for our flight, only to find out that they were not able to fly us to Buffalo that night, and if we wanted to could stay in Tampa until Tuesday and then they could fly us to Toronto. We were like are car is in Buffalo that isn't going to work. So the guy ended up finding us a flight. We had to fly to Pittsburgh and stay over night there and then we would be able to catch a plane to Buffalo Monday morning. So we flew into Pittsburgh and went to the hotel that gave us a discount from the airport and were told that they didn't have any rooms left. Boy were we pissed. They finally found us a room thank god and we got some sleep. Then in the morning we headed to the Airport and got on the smallest plane ever. I couldn't believe how small and scary it was, just a little commuter plane. Anyways we made it home and Mark said that he doesn't want to fly for a little while. I think all the switching planes got to him.