FLORIDA!!!!

before trip...: - Was shocked a week prior when my dad confronted me to consider taking a trip to Florida along with mom to the CTI board member conference. He told me that with the previous airplane trips had built up a free airplane trip with the frequent flyer miles program. Through I would be spending $350 for the whole experience. I was very skeptical and not wanting to go actually since I had no job with many rejection letters coming back to me. Basically I have just been bumming at home. So I was driven to wanting to stay at home and to keep searching hard but something told me that It would be a fruitless effort and I should go. So..I said yes.; - A week flew by with nothing interesting and pretty much just bummed some more until the day came.

Thursday 23, 2003: - Scarfed up some soup and packed last minute items.; - Steve drove me to the airport in Fargo, ND on his way to College. I took off my winter jacket and left Fargo at 1:20pm at 0 degrees with jeans and a hooded jacket into the terminal. This was the first time flying since the Norway and Finland trip.; - Since then security in all airport has risen extremely. My bag was patted down with a piece of paper that checked for any bad chemicals. Then only passengers could enter the terminal area and I passed the metal detector with a beep and I got scanned with a wand as they found my keys and watch. Next stop was Minneapolis and I figured...what in the world am I getting into???; - Oh and just for note mom & dad were on a different flight to Florida than I so I was alone for this part of the journey. Got to Minneapolis in an hour from Fargo. I got into the airport and wandered into a shop before going to the next gate. After half an hour I found the gate and then waited another 30 min to board.; - On a side note, I had a bag of popcorn I wanted to have for lunch but could not find a microwave anywhere for me to use so I got on the plane to Houston, TX. Flew over America and saw interesting landscape. At first the land was flat with farm ground, then thin veins of trees to thicker veins and then I believe I flew over Springfield..huge city and I saw little hills rippling underneath with a few having odd shaped stair looking levels from up high like a query mine would.; - Well got to Houston in 2 and a half hours or so at 6pm and hunted down meat and picked up a burger at Wendy's which had me seated down to eat at seat with a mirror in front of me which was really cool. I could see all these people walking on by. I do not know where all these people came from but here they were for some reason. Got on my way, sat back and entered the plane to Fort Myers, Florida. The place was only a few years old because it had adjustable head cushions and an LCD monitor that popped down to give the flight information before take off. Houston was 48 degrees F and it got dark at night but up in the air Houston was on FIRE with all the lights down below! Out the window over the Gulf of Mexico was another surprise. There were literally hundreds of boats out in the Gulf with their lights and it almost looked like we were flying over ND at night (kinda like ND has a farm hour every such a distance away from each other). We passed Louisiana and there were no more boats out there, just plain darkness. Arrived at Fort Myers with a temp in the 40's due to the night. Called Steve in Fargo to say I made it alright and he told me dad would be at the airport soon but once I got out of the terminal, Gloria and Dad were there. I got my backpack and suitcase and hopped into the van which kinda scared me a little because its doors were automatic and opened by the push of a button. We drove to the hotel and the first thing I saw was palm trees and weird looking evergreens. We got to the "Diamond Head" hotel which had a pineapple logo for its sign in front. Well we got out of the van and it was freezing outside with the wind and found the hotel very interesting. There was a mini front desk outside the hotel and one would just hop in the elevator to go up. The actual main lobby was actually on the second floor. Got up to the 11th floor and hugged mom who was reading her book. I took out the popcorn bag I was going to have on the airplane trip but decided to have it then with dad to nibble on in the room. I had the couch and I covered a blanket over me and went to sleep.; - Hotel room -> very spacy living room with a few dishes, microwave, fridge and dishwasher and other normal stuff.; - *weather: cold!!!; - Note -> woke up in the middle of the night with the loud cracklen of the heater system that makes a loud nasty screech!

Friday 24: - Mom & dad woke up at 5:30am *NUTZ* ufff and went for breakfast but kindly opened up the curtains to let in the morning sun so I just kept hidden under the blankets until I HAD to get out at 8pm because the session with CTI was at 8:30am. Crawled out of the covers and got blind by the sun reflecting off of the ocean. Besides the sun it was so beautiful as anything you could imagine!!! The hotel was right next to the ocean shore.; - I got into the doors at CTI just a little bit late. We sang a song and listened to the group say a few stories. We then left to do our own thing. I went around and talked with the group members. It was still cold!! outside but I braved the cold to walk on the beach because it just called out to you...walk....come here....lol; - I found Shane on the beach and wandered down the coast. Found a death ray which was only a shell which had a crab in it and later found it to be a native crab of the area. There was also a funky weird looking pink rock. The beach here was hard sand with small little mini shells here and there. The beach was totally flat here because the property beach owners had tractors come along to make sure the beaches were flat. The reason they do this is to make sure no dunes would start to grow with the native dune grass that was growing in a few areas which is protected for some reason. The beach was covered with birds here and there. I chased after a group of 20 birds cuddling around together. A flock flew over our head. Gray pelicans. Sea gulls with a weird hairdo and many others. One even was so lazy as to sit right in our walking path and did not move an inch when we walked just inches from it. Then we curved around and went to find eats and walked along the beach road. We ate at McD. Found a gift store going back to the hotel and found a Tshirt perfect for my best friend and a shark necklace for myself. We got back to the hotel and hopped into the van for the Manatee tour. During this time some of the other CTI members went out to the mall, golfing and miniature golfing. We got there at 1:30pm and hopped onto a pontoon with a few of us. Matt(group leader), Shawn, Mum, Dad, Gloria, David and others. On the tour we would get driven up the river Brackish (fresh/salt water) created with acidic something from the leaves of the trees falling into the water. Then we would stop and float back. Basically we would see these manatee's noses above the water to get air or their back or tail. They sank and looked like rocks when we floated by and then once we were a "safe" distance away , they would pop up to take a breath of air. One time we floated over a manatee and bumped it and it flapped its tail at us and lets just say it was cool because our boat felt like it hit a rock with the sudden jolt. Well that trip was still cold!! for all of us. Our group got back and we had dinner. After dinner was the next CTI meeting which included songs, stories and a finance report. We then split. Mom & Dad "partied" at their hotel room and I wandered around. Went outside and in the back is a bar that leads out to the beach. Looked around the beach, very dark . Stars were bright but not plentiful and I went back. I continued wandering and got inside the hotel to the 2nd floor and visited with the front desk clerk. Abraham from Lebanon lived in England and is living for 20 years in America now.; - CTI group members bio -> Shane -electric guitar, Steve -sound board and equip., Christian -bass FL minister son, Ed -singer, Amanda -singer, Kelly -singer and Will -slide show presentation.; - Abraham's words -> 1. more rejection job letters = more respect once you get the job! 2. relationship: his relative worked, had a marriage and he had to move because of his job and his wife would not follow...so they divorced. 3. God/religion all things one. Religion started by profits, religion is theoretically the same no matter what sect you are because the message still originates - from God.; - Stories -> Kelly: humility Africa - gum - spoiled- huts- poor, Amanda: cage pit in detention center...something happened, Christianson: host brother convert to christianity and Shawn: Lebanon - 700 Muslims careful what you say until one asked "what is your belief"; - *weather: windy & cold beach waves sound so sweet!

Saturday 25: - Woke up quite apprehensive to what the day might bring and what the weather would be like. I slept in until 11am ish and bummed in front of the tube for an hour. Got dressed and waited for the "Lover's Key" ride for kaiaking. I met Larry for the first time and drove with Matt in Larry's vehicle to his house. At the house I met up with the others going along with. Once at the state park we paid $4.00 to get in and $10/hr or $25 for a half day of kaiaking. There were 6 of us total: Larry, Matt, Shane, Garrit, Kelly and I. We geared up and splashed into the water and off we went. Half an hour weaving through endless rows of mangrove trees and seeing a few birds and tiresome paddling sought us to turn around and head back. Once back after the hour we ungeared and set back to Larry's place where we relaxed until 5pm when we needed to be back for the next session. Before the session we took individual pictures and one group picture by the pool with Steve manning the camera. We ate dinner of macaroni salad, rice turkey and dessert. Then we had our gathering. We sang songs, asked questions about the results of youth encounters. Nola shared her sailboat story saying that we want to go fast but if we sail we need to rely on the wind. Q: How does one take a step back to live by the wind anymore? Christian sang a beautiful song by himself where he observed a foreign child begging for aid but the only thing he could do was pray since he could not speak the language.; - At the end there was a financial pledge offering and David Lien wished for people to give not of their wealth but from out of their poverty which I am not sure yet how to interpret.; - Rev. Donivan (sp?) paid attention to me and got to touch me with his presentation, posture and style which inspired me in a way. Basically he made sure I got up after the session to mingle instead of sitting down to think to myself.; - One other interesting conversation was with Garrett when the idea came out that there must be individualism and space for each member of the team to express themselves in song or the music gets boring and without motivation. Music motivates and the word is worship. At the very end this was shown when the band played "Sacrifice" by Creed. I went to bed at 10pm and slept after some TV.; - *weather: nice.

Sunday 26: - Woke up to Mom & Dad having breakfast at 7am and woke up once again to the sound of the alarm Mom put next to me at 7:30am which I eventually figured to turn off but by that time I was awake and got dressed for church. Got downstairs and realized I was early and had breakfast at 8am and sat down for church in the same banquet room we had been in for each session. We sang and Donivan gave a speech. The speech was that 1. All Should pray 2. Realize that God will provide the resources in some shape or form to help those in need. Then we had communion and prayed for the music team with the adults touching each team member. Afterwards the team packed up everything back into the trailer and I helped out a little. For lunch Uncle David, Gloria, mum, dad and I walked to the country Inn's Lani Kai "Island View Restaurant" We all enjoyed the food and the view of the beach watching the gray pelicans fly over us sitting next to the window. The ice cream man was also out there biking down the beach with a fake palm tree and a music box. After the meal we headed back to the hotel.; - That afternoon was set up for the CTI presidents conference and during that time Gloria drove us (Mom, dad, Carol, Steve, Margaret and I) to Larry and Donna W. house where all the CTI boys where staying at. At the house Larry invited us on a boat ride. We (Mum, Dad, Larry, Gloria, Steve, Margaret and I). We went out at a very slow speed due to the medium sized boat we were on and since it was shallow water. It actually was very boring and the only thing really interesting was looking at the different looking houses and boats while everything else, like the landscape, had started to get normal looking. For instance the grass in the area was ugly looking quack grass as we call it in ND and the palm tree look was standard at every house. The mangrove trees which were growing on the other side where a dime a dozen. It is interesting to me that I was able to adjust to a region and to figure out my surroundings in the first few days I have been here. Well we finally made it all the way North and to the bridge onto the island. By this time I was getting antsy and wanted to go FASTER on the boat. There is only one road that goes through the whole island with a bridge on each end. Before the bridge there was a junkyard and a few other boats here before the bridge which were entertaining to look at. Two of these were totally rusted down and full of barnacles. Then along the side were some majorly huge rich man's boats. Once past the bridge we were all quite chilly from the wind. Well Larry pumped it up and we zoomed out into the Gulf of Mexico. A few minutes later the most beautiful thing happened!; - Off in the distance a dolphin jumped into the air and I got to see it after a few others gasped in the boat. It was so cool but what happened next rocked my world as I saw one after another of 5 dolphins swimming next to each other in a row. It was something from out of a sea world trick Well the dolphins swam away and the boat zoomed away across the waves. Every wave we smashed into made a person buck and it was almost like riding a bucking bronco. During the ride mom was sitting in the front seat while Larry drove standing up and I was standing up behind mom and everyone else was sitting in the back. During the Gulf ride it was fun watching the hotels and condos wiz by while we road the waves. At the end of the island we got under the bridge and slowed back down to a halt while we trolled back to Larry's house. Along the way back I got entertained by the gray pelicans fish for dinner. These guys would fly over the water and then literally dive bomb into the water in hopes of catching a big fish into his mouth. Well most of them I saw did not seem to have much luck but they were still funny to watch. Then all of a sudden one popped up after its dive with a huge fish in its mouth. This pelican had its pouch stuffed with the outline of a fish with its "V" like fins flapping around the outside of the bird's beak. I pointed it out to everyone and they were in awe as well. Back at the dock this happened again and Steve was able to take a few pictures of the event. Mom, dad, Gloria and Clare left for the hotel to party, order pizza and watch the superbowl XXVI with the Florida Buckeneers playing the Oakland Raiders. During the first boat trip I got a light sun burn on the boat but it didn't cause much problems since I asked to go on the second boat ride as well with Steve and Will. Will was leaving the next day and the other CTI group members didn't want to go out. I think they missed out! Well we got back to watch the superbowl at Larry's and Shane cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. We also had cheesy bread and veggie pizza which was a Pillsbury pizza/bisquete crust with cream cheese, veggies with ranch dressing poured on top. Personally I think I would have enjoyed having pizza much more. I was also hoping for more of a party but a couple of CTI people did not want to watch. Kelly read a magazine and listened to some music and Garrit was in another room watching Independence day and MTV. Well after the superbowl Will drove the girls to their host house and then drove Steve and I back to the hotel while Will tested out the van because the alternator had been acting up. I did not know I would not see the group again so I was disappointed with not being able to say good-by to the group. Well I got to the room, said hi to mum, watched the tube and went to bed.; - *weather: 60's F.

Monday 27: - Woke up lazy and watched TV and took a shower. Then went to the lobby to switch hotel rooms at the DiamondHead hotel because the CTI convention was over. I went down to the lobby while mom and dad moved everything to our new room. We hopped into the white car mom and dad rented and left the hotel for a day trip. The first argument happened in the first min as we left the hotel parking lot. Since the hotel was connected to the only main road going through the island, the traffic was horrible. Dad asked which way to go and mom said left however the traffic was really tight and the moment got frustrating so dad went right and we went the long way around the island. On the way we stopped at the Toucan restaurant. This place was different with a bamboo look all around. I asked for chocolate milk and had the grouper sandwich since I heard people saying it was so good. Well once I got done with the chocolate milk, I was still thirsty but no one came to ask for more and then once I tasted the grouper sandwich on rhy bread, I had second thoughts! It was so nasty! This was so blah and gross! And if that wasn't enough bashing...well anyway I ate it all and didn't die! We found highway 41 and drove up North on our way to Sanabel Island. Along the way we drove past the Country Suites where we would be staying the next day since the hotel rates were going up at the DiamondHead if we stayed another day. We paid $3.00 driving toll to get through to Sanabel Island.; - Over the bridge to Sanabel we saw 2 sail surfers in the Gulf, a sail boarder with wheels on land and a fella in the water with a baby surf board near by with a kite he was holding onto. Sanabel was thick with vegetation and trees and one could not see very far through them. Once again the driving through this island was rather slow and while dad was driving we made some jerky quick stops. Well we planned to go beach walking and we ended at ______ beach where we parked for $2.00/hr so we spent an hour there. We got out of the vehicle and walked down this path to the beach which had a nice bathroom facility to change into swimsuits. On the beach we started walking and I noticed the beach was all made up of shells and then looking down farther I found the whole beach to be completely made up of shells! We walked further and it felt weird and it sounded as if you were walking on glass as you went crunch...crunch. Well we picked up a few shells and then I got a major urge to get my feet wet. So I took my shoes and socks off and yelled when the icy cold Gulf water slipped over my toes and then I yelled a few more times until my feet were numb enough so I couldn't feel the coldness anymore. ***Henceforth the rule of life that if one has so strong a motivation to do something. Then they will go to great lengths and sacrifices to get what they want! *** Well my bare feet really hurt going over those shells but it was well worth the effort and it was lots of fun. Dad had set his watch to make sure we made the correct timing and didn't go over the hour upon which mom and I wined and teased dad wanting to stay longer. Well we walked back, played with the birds on the beach and watched the vegetation along the path back to the car.; - On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a place we saw on the way to the beach and were interested seeing called "she sells sea shells". Inside the shop were all sorts of sea shells you could imagine. We picked up a few gifts and got back on the way to the hotel. Mom got on the phone and called up AnnaMarie but no answer and then called Gloria to see what they were up to. Well they were going to eat with Clare and Dan so mom set it up for us to join them. We got back to the hotel rather quickly (30 min) compared to the way up. At the hotel we knocked on Gloria and David's room, said hi, then changed and went back to their room. In process of taking a sunset picture with mom we met up with ________ whom suggested a restaurant which we all headed to in Gloria's rented van.; - We got to this hotel which had the restaurant in bak of it near the bridge named _______. We waited a little while and were seated. Dad ordered a bottle of wine and some stuffed crab mushrooms of which I had 3, a salad and a dinner of salmon cake which I thought were extremely blah! I was thinking that if I had lots more wine it would of tasted better...in theory. Well we got back to the hotel stuffed and I looked around for something to drink of which I had some apple juice and part of an orange. I still didn't feel good and mom suggested a walk so I went out for a stroll on the beach. I walked out there a long distance with my pants and my hooded jacket because it was cool out there. I thought for a long time about making a mission statement while I looked up at the stars and across the beach while listening to the waves crash. I was still uncertain of my destination on what my mission goal should be that Donivan talked about. Well I got back to the hotel and sat down to sleep on the brand new couch the hotel newly renovated the rooms with. Personally this new red one was more firm and it wasn't as cushy as the white one I slept on the previous two days. Well I got to sleep just fine and woke up to mom opening up the curtain with the sun shining through!; - *weather: nice! 70's but super cool 50's at night.

Tuesday 28: - Woke up and took a real quickie shower because we were checking out of the hotel and had to be out at 11am. Mom was nice and wanted to find something fun for me. She suggested for us to go to one of the three miniature golf courses. There was an animal safari, pirate and another one that had a castle. I suggested the pirate one which we went to called smugglers cove. It was $6.50/person and the first hole had a pen with baby alligators (2-3 years old) that were relaxing and sunning themselves on the sides of the pool. I thought they were really cute! Well I thought this course was really cool and fun because it had a water wheel, huge tunnel, waterfalls, twists, traps and even a bonus round which either took a point off your score or put two on if you wanted to gamble. Along the way mom bounced the ball off the course twice which she had to take a penalty for but somehow managed to still beat both dad and I. Scores: mom- 46, dad- 49 and me- 65. Dad dug into his pocket and paid for another round since it was only a dollar more for the second game. Dad also splurged on a haugen- daus ice cream treat while mom put her purse back to the car which we were dragging along. We visited the alligators again and ratted at mom trying to psych her out this time. Well it worked and dad was leading the rest of the game with an ending score of: mom- 56, dad- 45 and me- 47.; - After the fun time of miniature golfing we headed to the island of Corvica which was just north of Sanabel. On our way we checked into our Country Suite hotel room and then headed back out to Corvica. We arrived at the island and looked at all the beautiful luxurious homes. Wow! They were huge and sweet. The kind you see as a serious party house like in the movies. Well we followed the beach access signs and had a little difficulty. The beach this time was 75 cents/hr parking and we spent 2 hours this time. This beach was much line the beach on Sanabel but it had a few different shells. This time I went all out and changed into my swim suit in the car and wandered out onto the beach slowly as I cringed walking on the shells. I got into the water and shouted out from the sting of the ice cold ocean water....cold cold..and got out of the water because I was so much of a shock but I went back in and my feet and legs eventually got numb enough for me to stay out there. I dug my feet in the sand instead of standing on the rough shells and bent over to comb for good shells in the water. Well it was sunset and we left the beach after a few pictures, waving as some dolphins swam by and collecting a few more shells. The sun went down and mom took a few pictures. Everyone on the beach watched and then left afterwards. I found a bench and changed out of my wet swimming suit and hopped into the rental.; - We heard rave reviews of a restaurant called the bubble room nearby and sure enough there was a tall building with a fence painted pink with bubbles all over it. We got in and walked up some stairs while looking at the 20's- 40's actor's pictures on the walls. Our waiter was dressed in a boy scout looking uniform and addressed us as our bubble scout for the evening. All around us were portraits and the dinner table was even a glass clear display case with nick-nack items in it. I went to the bathroom and tried drying my wet sleeves from the ocean excursion but the paper towels didn't work. Sitting back down we got a look at the menu and found the plates to be approximately $25 a plate! We ate the meal and had some cake that they went around to each table demonstrating their slices of cake. It looked so good that we couldn't pass it up. Well we ate it and it was good but wasn't fresh. Afterwards we got to the hotel and slept for the night.; - *weather: nice.

Wednesday 29: - We woke up and checked out of the Country Suites and drove to the air-port. Total sadness! I looked out the windows thinking this will be the end of ever being in Florida again. Since the ticket was exchangeable for another date, I could have stayed longer but I would not know what to do by myself. Mom and dad dropped me off at the airport and then they left to drop off the rental car. I went through the gates, check-ins and security guards "oh-my"! I got all excited about the flight and found the flight to be delayed. I sat down and wrote in the journal and looked out the window. Mom and dad said hi as they waited for their direct flight to Minneapolis while I hopped from Detroit, MI to Minneapolis. On the plane I sat down and waited. Then this big man with a laptop case sits next to me and bonks into me as he sits down with little care for those around him. As I wrote in the journal, he watched old old movies on the laptop and interrupted by pushing the flight attendant's ring bell a few times for extra assistance. Over Florida I could see the Miami Coast and such that it was very beautiful and full of life. I think why I have liked Florida so much is because there is so much life from human architecture, beach life, the everglades, ocean activity and bird life. This place is always changing but yet keeps some of its past mixed into Florida as well. I arrived in Detroit, MI and saw for my first time a nuclear power plant with the two huge cylinder structures. I thought it was kinda cool and I am not sure but I think I saw one in Florida too way off into the distance up in the air. Well this Detroit airport was brand new and the gate had two exits to the airplane instead of one. I got off the plane with about 20 min to board the next plane so I checked the departure monitors and hopped onto the mobile walkways. The terminal was one very long walk that was straight and in the middle was a super cool water fountain that was shaped like a doughnut table with water curving around its edge and water spurting up and landing in a hole on the other side. I wished I had a little more time to play! Instead I hurried off and hopped onto the next plane with a couple min to spare. This flight had me seated next to a few college students from Montana. They played miniature travel scrabble and I continued writing in my journal up to about Monday. Wow, I was so far behind! The sun went down and the clouds became pink. In Minneapolis, our plane had to wait a while longer in the air before we were clear to land. At the airport, I walked the shortcut new path that connected the C shaped concourse tips and met up with Mom and dad waiting for me at the next gate. Mom called Steve at home to come pick us up and dad handed me a Burger King sandwich which I ate when I got on the airplane which is alright now that airplanes don't serve meals on their flights anymore. Well this airplane was rather ummm frightening because the engine made some odd sounds and sputtered before we took off. Though everything went fine and we got back to Fargo safely. We waited for our luggage and Steve came running into the terminal with our warm winter jackets. Well it ended up so mom and dad got their luggage but mine was left behind. They apologized and gave dad 1,000 bonus flyer miles (25,000 needed for a free flight) and I picked up my luggage the next day without any problems.; - *weather: Cold in Fargo...gotta love it!.; - THE END!