Trolleys, and Gators, and Cheetahs, Oh My!

As our crazy whirlwind Florida adventure continues, we decided last minute to hit the beaches for Memorial Day weekend. The weather was supposed to be decent up until Sunday night when parts of Tropical Storm Beryl were possibly gonna rain down on us. So I tried Priceline and Hotwire with no luck. I searched the various travel sites and found nothing. All the beachfront hotels wanted a 3-night minimum and their prices were triple the norm. So I went over to Craigslist and found a hotel for $100/night including taxes. Sold! It was off the beaten path but a really cute place that served our needs (a couple beds to rest our weary sun-drenched bones).

Saturday was all beach, all day with our friends, Dawn and Carl. They have a son, Mason, who Izzi just adores, so it was a great day all around. Perfect blue skies, warm Gulf temps, and small to no waves great for the little ones (and me, if I’m gonna be honest). We had a light dinner early with them in Clearwater Beach and then they went home while we went back to our hotel to shower and get ready to head out for some music, drinks, and maybe some dessert or a late night snack. We decided to hop the trolley to John’s Pass which is a cute area with a boardwalk and tons of shops, restaurants, and nightlife.

We found a waterfront table, got some drinks, Izzi got a strawberry smoothie that was delish, it tasted like ice cream (more milkshake than smoothie). She also said she was hungry and got some fried mac-n-cheese nuggets that were so very tasty. Ed & I nibbled on some stuff but weren’t very hungry. We were pretty wiped from the beach day so called it an early night and headed across the street to the trolley stop a little before 10pm. This is where things went downhill fast. First Izzi had to pee, and she had to go BAD but refused to go in the grass b/c we “were in public”. We couldn’t leave our post to find a bathroom for fear we’d miss the trolley, which was already running late. They claim to run every 30 minutes, it had been about 40 mins so far. By the time we hit one hour, Izzi was crying so I grabbed her and made her go in the grass. Under duress, she relieved herself even if she did splash us both. Awesome!

Another 15 minutes or so go by when another couple walks up asking if this was the trolley stop. We THINK so but haven’t seen a trolley in over an hour. They informed us that all the cab companies were claiming a 90-120 minute wait to call a cab and even then they can’t promise it wouldn’t get picked up by someone else. What was going on here? We had meanwhile seen about 6 trolleys going the opposite direction during our wait. So why are they all headed Uptown but none were coming Downtown? We waited. Izzi cried. She was so overtired that she was going into full meltdown mode. Her stomach hurt. But then, this is her go-to complaint when she wants attention. We didn’t believe her, until she hurled all over the ground in front of us. Awesome! This time, we all got sprayed. And the puke kept coming. And coming. She hurled for about 10 minutes when finally the trolley arrives! Awesome! Normally, I wouldn’t get on a trolley with a vomiting child but in times of trouble, you gotta do what ya gotta do. I was absolutely not letting this trolley leave without us. So we carried her onto the trolley. Meanwhile, our kid has a major motion sickness issue. This should be fun. Did I mention the trolley driver was drunk? Oh yea he was. Awesome!

Thankfully we had bought Izzi a new dress tonight (which she was wearing) so I had a dress of hers in my purse. That, and about 3 small tissues were gonna have to save the day. Ed held her in his lap, with her dress up in front of her face. And this little piggy went puke, puke, puke, all the way home. Awesome!

It didn’t stop there, Izzi made a very large black man retch from the sound and sight of it all. Izzi fell fast asleep when we got back to our hotel but puked again in the middle of the night all over the one bed in the room. Awesome! Thankfully there was a spare set of sheets in the room. But we all had to sleep in clothes at that point since our one set of PJs now were wadded up in the hallway with the rest of the chunky clothes. I worried that our weekend was a total bust. We had another night reserved at this hotel and had planned on much more beachy fun but those dreams were fading fast, as we all finally drifted off to sleep.

Sunday morning was a new day, and Isabelle felt 100% fine. Whew! It was food after all and not a stomach virus. Let’s rock and roll, sistah! She and I hit a street festival early (by accident, how fun?). We went back to wake up Daddy so we could go get breakfast. Then we went back to put our suits on, pack for the beach and headed to mini golf since it was still a little cloudy in the morning. We got to feed alligators at mini golf! So cool. So very very cool. Can’t wait to go back and do THAT again. Then we found a smaller, quieter beach and hung out there for a few hours where Izzi got some more boogie boarding lessons from Daddy. She’s quite good, actually.

Sunday night we found a waterfront place within walking distance. We are NEVER going on that damn trolley again! It was a fun night, beautiful sunset, great music, cold drinks, and fun was had by all.

We went home Monday morning after a quick stop for breakfast and while it rained in the morning, it kind of burned off and got semi-sunny. We still had a few hours of holiday weekend left and I was trying to rally the tired troops to go back out and find something fun to do. How about Busch Gardens?!?! We just got our annual passports so we can go over, if it’s crowded we can just leave. No biggie! Well it was NOT crowded and we spent almost 5 hours there having a blast. There weren’t lines at any rides, we literally walked right onto all the roller coasters. Ed & I had to ride solo, obviously, but it worked out fine since there weren’t lines and they do offer a kid swap thing anyway if there was, where one parent waits with the kid and then gets to board the ride without waiting in line after the first parent returns. We finally got to ride the new coaster called Cheetah Hunt. Wow, what a ride. I’m glad I didn’t know anything about it because there are surprises on it that you probably have never seen in other coasters. I was surprised anyway. And it was a good surprise. Can’t wait to go back, maybe without the kid next time so Ed & I can ride together.

Other than those few sketchy hours on Saturday night, it was a great weekend. I’m glad we found that last minute steal so we could enjoy another fabulous Florida weekend in the sand, sun, and surf.