July 4th in Bellair Beach

Although it was a shortened trip, we did have a very nice time with Kathleen and Nick over the July 4th holiday.  We left Binghamton very early that morning and were surprised at how many others had the same idea that we did!  I guess that the since the holiday fell on a Thursday, perhaps that made it easier to make a long weekend out of it for travelers. 

Regardless, our favorite Bellair Beach Limo Service "Rao-At-Your-Service" picked us up so we could begin our holiday.  Almost immediately, we jumped into the pool (of course); had a couple of drinks and got caught up.  The Tampa area has had rain in excessive quantities same as most of us have had these last couple of weeks so we weren't surprised by a sudden strong storm that blew up almost out of nowhere. 

The storm knocked out the power, so we amused ourselves by playing "What's in Your Wallet?" I've been after James for a long time about his George Costanza style stuffed wallet but this was validated at the airport security line by the officer that said "Wow, this is heavy!" when she hoisted James' wallet into the bin.  So we took the opportunity to play the new game and the three of us passed judgement on what James did or did not need in his wallet.  Then each of us showed our own.  (Wallet).  I am pretty sure James squirreled away his wallet detritus for later re-packing. 

Nick cooked on the grill for our July 4th dinner feast and noticed some new unknown droppings underneath one of their plants.  I declined the generous offer to take a look and see if they seemed to be from a species familiar to me.  But it continued to bug Nick because he'd clean it up and it would return. 

I was looking forward to some awesome fireworks and I was not disappointed.  There was a light sprinkle but the "show must go on" and there were formal and informal fireworks on all sides.  I was looking forward to testing some of my new photography knowledge on the fireworks and had plenty of opportunity to practice!  It was epic and I threatened Nick and Kathleen that we may return next July 4th to enjoy the spectacular.  It was setting up to be a memorable weekend.

I selected these from the nearly 100 that I took for your review.  I think they are decent for a first effort. I was glad to have Nick's help.





The mystery of the droppings was solved the day after we left under close observation (very close apparently) and here's the offender:

Whew!  Mystery solved!