Panama City Beach, Florida

Christa's first trip to Panama City Beach, Florida. We arrived in Panama City Beach at 9:15 pm on September 9th, 2009 and checked into our hotel, the Days Inn on the Beach. We went down and walked the beach before retiring for the night.

We spent the mornings to early afternoons at the beach swimming in the ocean and trying to catch the fish that kept swimming around our feet. The water was nice and very clear that we could see the bottom of the ocean all around us. One morning we had a family of stingrays that kept swimming near us and we were able to use our goggles and see them from under the water. They were so beautiful. That was the first time that Christa had seen stingrays in the ocean while swimming.

We were on the 5th floor of the hotel and had a great view of the beach and the ocean. The photo above is the back side of the hotel that faces the ocean. We picked a great time to come to the beach as most vacationers had already gone home and the hotel and food establishments were not crowded at all. The weather was great except for the last day as it rained but it didn't stop us from going to the beach.

Our hotel room looked just like this photo above. We had lots of room but had to hunt down extra towels each day. We could have sat on the balcony forever staring at the ocean and watching the sunsets.

Panama City Beach has a brand new pier that you can walk out on and fish from at the intersection of Pier Park Dr and Front Beach Rd. Across from the Pier they have built a huge shopping center that is really nice and a shoppers heaven. The photo below is the entrance to the shopping center and it's all outdoors and it's an easy stroll to all the shops.

Thanks Panama City Beach for a wonderful time!

Family Visit to Minnesota

We left September 3rd, 2009 for a visit with our (my wife's) family in Minnesota. We had a good flight up and spent the first two days with my father-in-law and his wife.

We went fishing at Lake Washington (photo at left) which justhappened to be the lucky spot. It was awesome to spend the day with them while enjoying a relaxing day fishing on the lake.

We spent the last three days with my sister -in-law (Christa's sister "Linda"). We went shopping at the Mall of America, visited my wife's childhood home on Lake Marion in Lakeville, Minnesota, the Minnesota Zoo and to top the visit off we went to the Minnesota State Fair in St Paul. What a huge fair, it was bigger than any fair that I had been to before.

It's always wonderful going for a visit but it gets hard to come home sometimes because you want to stay longer. One of thse days we are going to go for a visit and we are not coming home. We miss you guys and love you all!