Brooksville Trip

***Written yesterday on the plane, but forgot to post it when I got home***

Our trip to Brooksville was a whirlwind. Sadly, our 5pm flight out of Houston on Friday was cancelled. We were unable to get out until 9pm. Seeing as we didn't arrive into Tampa until a little after midnight, there wasn't much we could do but go right to sleep. Arriving 5 hours late ruined our plans to eat at a premier steakhouse in Tampa Baby's parents were planning to take us, and it made the almost hour drive to Brooksville even that much more exhausting. Oh, well.

Saturday was more eventful. Baby and his sister took me on the "grand tour" of Brooksville. For those who grew up with me, let me give you an idea of what Brooksville is like. As my previous suspicions were that it would be a lot like Channelview, I was relatively correct. It is CV, a sprinkle of North Shore, and a lot of Pasadena/Deer Park minus the refineries. Strangely, it may very well have been smaller than CV - amazing, huh? Needless to say, I wasn't taken aback by the "small town" premise his family thought I would find so different from inner loop Houston. Being smaller than CV, everyone literally knew everyone. No joke. Driving down the streets in one day, they recognized at least six cars driving of which they knew the drivers. We even ate at a restaurant of which Baby went to high school with the owner.

After the driving tour, we headed back into Tampa about 50 miles away to go shopping at the International Mall. You all know my dislike of shopping, but Baby's mom did end up buying me some gloss and lip liner from Chanel as a gift. I argued back and forth about not wanting anything, but I had made the mistake in mentioning that I needed new lipstick that morning, and she remembered. It was extremely sweet of her. I actually ordered them two bottles of wine as a thank you for all their hospitality - an Italian merlot for Baby's dad and an Italian pino grigio for for his mom. Unfotunately, they won't receive it until the end of next week (damn holiday) because it was almost $30 more to expedite it to arrive only 2 business days earlier. Ridiculous, don't you think? I hope they like it regardless.

Anyway, after the mall, we headed to a steakhouse for dinner. Baby got a steak while the rest of us got seafood. It was fabulous by the way. Then, we headed home to watch some of the Tampa Bucs pre-season football game against the Dolphins. That was about it.

This morning, we had a quick breakfast and visited with Baby's grandmother who lives directly next door to Baby's parents. Afterwards we were on our way back to the airport for our 11:35am flight. I wasn't kidding that our quick trip could give someone whiplash. Baby got stopped by security at the airport because he triggered the explosive materials detector. They took him to a secured area to check him and his carryon with special scanners and hand picked through his bag. Crazy. Wonder if his chapstick in his pocket or the new cologne he was wearing that his mom bought him at the mall the day before had anything to do with what the machines picked up. We almost missed the flight!!! It's always something when Baby travels - cancelled flights, delays, missed connections, and NOW... cavity search for explosives!

To much saddness, I got some terrible news while catching up on friends' blog pages on the drive to Tampa airport on my blackberry. Banana had a horrible 30th birthday on Friday. I send her all of the mental hugs I can possible give. Also, I offer a supportive ear and a surprisingly super tear-absorbing shoulder if ever wanted or needed. I need everyone I know to send good thoughts and positive mojo her way!