Big Eagle and I returned home yesterday from a weekend trip to Florida for his fiftieth high school reunion! That’s right … 5-0 … FIFTY! Talk about a reality check!
Thursday
The alarm went off at 3:30 last Thursday morning, so we could get ready and be at the airport for an early flight to Tampa. Once we arrived there and got our rental car, the first order of business was to visit Big Eagle’s mom and sister in Clearwater.
Seeing Big Eagle’s mom and sister
After talking for a while, we went to Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill for lunch. Their grouper sandwiches are delicious! After lunch, Big Eagle completed a household project for his mom that he had volunteered to do. Then we chatted for a bit longer, and I finally had the presence of mind to take a picture.
At the hotel
It was getting later in the afternoon, so we left to check into our hotel. We stayed at the same hotel where the class reunion was to be held: the Holiday Inn Harbourside at Indian Rocks Beach. I couldn’t get over what an amazing room we had!
It was a 2-story room with bedroom, huge closet, and bathroom upstairs and living room, kitchen, dining area, outdoor balcony with table and chairs downstairs. Here I’m in the living room taking a picture from in front of the couch. The opening above is where the bedroom is located.
And this was taken from behind the dining table in the opposite direction. I didn’t get pictures of the upstairs. The only two drawbacks were (1) having to go upstairs every time you needed the restroom and (2) the balcony looked out onto the parking lot. But we got the room on points, so these were great digs for the next 3 nights!
After settling in a bit, we had dinner at Crabby Bill’s. Then we hit the nearby Publix to pick up a few things to put in the fridge. It had been a long day, so I went to bed while Big Eagle watched baseball.
Friday
On our way to our hotel the day before, I’d had the idea to pay a surprise visit to my sister Nancy at her workplace the following morning. So I looked up the address before going to bed last night.
Seeing Nancy
The plan was to surprise her around mid-morning and find out if we could return at lunchtime to take her out to eat. She works at an insurance agency, and it was fun to see her face when she came out of her office. It took her a couple of seconds to recognize us. Here she is at her desk:
Happily, she was on board for going to lunch. So we asked her to text us when she was ready, and we would come back and get her.
That gave us just enough time to stop in at Publix again and get some flowers to put on my mom and dad’s grave.
As soon as Big Eagle and I had finished doing that, we got the text from Nancy, so we headed back to pick her up. We went to The Living Room in downtown Dunedin for lunch.
As we were walking back to the car after lunch, we passed this amazing bird of paradise plant!
I’ve seen the flower before in shops, but I’d never seen them growing in nature. What a treat!
We took Nancy back to the agency and bid our good-byes. Now we were headed to my niece’s workplace (Nancy’s daughter) to make another surprise visit.
Seeing Rachelle
My niece Rachelle works at Robert’s Christmas Wonderland in Clearwater. Nancy had told us she was working today, so we popped in on her. It was another surprise mission successfully accomplished!
And what an amazing store! When we lived in Clearwater back in the seventies, they sold pool supplies in the summer and Christmas in the winter. Now it’s Christmas year round! I got rid of our 20+year-old artificial tree after last Christmas, so we took the liberty of browsing their selection, and whaddayaknow … we ended up buying a tree! It should be delivered in just a few short days.
I also bought a couple of ornaments that needed personalization. Here’s Rachelle putting the names on them for me. Cool!
Susan
I would have liked to have seen my sister Susan, too, since she lives in the area, but…
she and her husband were in Mississippi for the weekend to visit their son Wesley and do some tailgating. They even brought their dog Deeks with them! He’s so adorable! (And, yes, I took this picture off of Wes’s FB page.)
Meet and Greet
After leaving Rachelle, we went back to the hotel to just chill for a bit. That evening was the Meet and Greet for the first of two reunion events. The other would be dinner the next night. Tonight’s event was held outside on the deck near the hotel bar, and hor’dourves were provided. We just happened to meet up with our good friends Scott and Linda outside the hotel beforehand. On the deck, we also found Al and his wife Luci. I didn’t get any pictures, but here’s one for you that’s a throwback:
Isn’t this a handsome fella?
Saturday
We had a pretty laid back and lazy morning on Saturday. The plans were to meet Scott & Linda and Al & Luci for lunch.
Miniature Golf
By the time Big Eagle and I decided to play miniature golf, we barely had time to squeeze in the game before we had to leave for lunch.
There was a miniature golf course that ran the length of the first floor of the hotel. It was really a fun little course! And it was even more fun when I (yes … me, myself, and I) WON the game!
It seemed as though the clerk gave Big Eagle a defective ball. It must have had a fish inside it, because it was highly attracted to water. (wink)
Lunch
All of that golf fun made us a little late to our lunch date. We ate at Louis Pappas Market Cafe where I was able to get my Greek salad fix! The Greek salad in the Clearwater/Tarpon Springs area is THE BEST any where. And an extra special surprise was that Scott and Linda’s son Phillip joined us all for lunch! Dang! Wish I’d have gotten a picture!
Indian Rocks Beach
Back at the hotel, Big Eagle and I decided to take a walk along the beach.
Oh, my … look at our hair! It was SO WINDY!
We walked back street-side and stopped at this cute sweet shop for ice cream.
We shared our cup of ice cream in the shade on that bench right there. After that we walked back to our room to rest up a bit before the evening event.
Class Reunion Dinner
We went around 6:30 to the dinner. This night I remembered to take a few pictures.
Right after we checked in, Big Eagle introduced me to his former classmate Pat Oatley.
Our good friends Scott and Linda, whom we don’t see often enough. They live in Alabama.
Here the alumni are attempting to gather for a group picture. This is only a small part of the crowd. There were about 80 or so who attended (not including their significant others). The photographer had her work cut out for her. That fellow in the center front is Mike Pique. He was the president of the great class of 1969.
This is Al Flohr and his wife Luci. It was so nice to finally get to meet her! Al, Scott, and Big Eagle were tight in high school. I’m glad they’ve been able to stay in touch over the years. It was a fun weekend, but everyone had to get up early the next morning to head home, so we called it a night relatively early.
I know how old I am, but thankfully I don’t feel that old. I’m not ready to call myself an old lady yet. OldER lady … yes, but not old. However, when you’re in a room full of this many people that are around your same age, it’s kind of hard to deny.
How about you? Did you do anything special this past weekend? Have you been to any of your class reunions? If so, how was the experience? How do you feel about class reunions? Feel free to share in the comments!
this post linked to The GRAND Social