General Conference in Tampa: The Full Report

[deacon blues]

FIRST REPORT COMING IN................................................ ......................

Well, we got to the airport and caught our flight to Orlando. We flew into Orlando b/c my wife found airfare for $137 round trip! O is only about an hour from Tampa. We picked up our rental car and much to our delight, we got upgraded from a mini van to a full-sized SUV! We are driving a beautiful GMC Yukon XL. Perfect for our family of five. We stopped in Orlando at a Pizzeria Uno for dinner and then headed to our place south of Tampa.

We had about a two-hour trip to our destination. We stopped at Wal Mart in Bradenton, FL for groceries and then on to our vacation rental home in Longboat Key, FL. We are 300 yards from the Gulf of Mexico on some of the prettiest white sand you'll ever see. The best part: NOBODY IS HERE this time of year! We found this place about twelve years ago and we have vacationed here at least half a dozen times. One of our favorite places. Not a tourist magnet and very family oriented.

We took a walk down the beach last night by full moonlight. My seven year old daughter found a fully intact sand dollar and she was very excited about it. We returned to the house and my thirteen year old son and I watched Ken Burns' new documentary "The War". We then all crashed.

We are abviously here early. Its only about an hour drive to Tampa from here. I will not be able to give a lot of inside info of what is going on in the hotel lobbies or the conference area scene. But I will take notes on the services I attend and other activities.

For now its a day to ourselves. I have to run to the store for a few loose ends. The wife and kids are headed to the beach.