Mikey and I took a few days off work to go gallivanting over hill and dale (okay, so it was Florida--no hills, sorr-REE). We just spent some time driving around, shopping, and seeing the sights.

Click on the thumbnail or the words to see a large image.

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mikeygas.jpg: I surprised him with an "oh god it's morning" shot at the gas station. I wanted an "and they're off!" shot.

gaspeace.jpg: You can even see I dressed up a little for the occasion: I put blue streaks in my bangs! (I would later regret that in the rain, but that's neither here nor there.)

We of course had to go to Perkins for old time's sake, but we forgot our cameras in the car so there are no pictures of that breakfast. We ordered the same thing as each other (though Mikey didn't ask to hold the butter and I always do). Then we visited my old co-workers and place of work at Books-A-Million. Afterwards, we went to go shopping. . . .

vacationers1.jpg: Oh shit. We were so eager to get going that we got to Gainesville before anything was really open. Are we having fun yet?

vacationers2.jpg: Ummmm how 'bout now?

Of course we had to stop at Maude's and the surrounding downtown Gainesville area.

mikeymaude's1.jpg: Waiting for coffee at the famous Maude's. This place is kind of a legend in Gainesville and it is directly next to a Starbucks and yet it has not been put out of business. Yay Gainesville.

maude's1.jpg: Unfortunately the outside area where we usually sit at Maude's had been hit recently by a rainstorm. . . .

maude's2.jpg: Still very beautiful and picturesque, though.

ivyhipp1.jpg: Here's me in a "ta-da" pose in front of the Hippodrome State Theatre.

ivyhipp2.jpg: On the bench in front of the Hipp, with my Maude's Rainforest Blend coffee of course.

mikeyhipp1.jpg: Mikey's got coffee too, in front of the Hipp . . . you gotta have it!

mikeywmaudecoffee.jpg: Same sort of shot except he's by a pillar and has his hair down.

mikeymaude's2.jpg: Pretty cool posters for the shows, and the scenery of Mikey with Maude's coffee isn't bad either. . . . Hehehe. . . .

mikeyhipp2.jpg: Mikey's hair has gotten LONG! Doesn't it look great?

hippowl.jpg: There is a fake owl in the architecture of the Hippodrome. Cool!

Actually, we visited this place twice. Once on the way FROM Gainesville to St. Augustine, and once on the way back (because the first time it was raining and we kinda got cut short and the museum was closed the first time we went through). I'm lumping all the pictures here together though, 'cause it makes more sense album-wise.

Mikey took most of these shots, and here you see military vehicles, memorial stones and plaques, and other interesting sights. We are also in some of the shots posing with the equipment!

ST. AUGUSTINE!

vil1.jpg: Waaah. Wet Swankivy.

mikeypiggy.jpg: I insisted on a "piggy" shot of Mikey eating his veggie burger in retaliation for the pig shots he took of me in Farah's last year.

We did some silly things in the hotel room. Not the same sorts of silly things most people do in hotel rooms.

After some Mad Libs and Milk Duds, we went to sleep, then got up the next morning for some fun going around and exploring the city!

Look! Ready to kick some ass!

uspopeyes1.jpg: Mikey's arms are nicknamed "the Popeyes." Here's both of us in the room doing Popeyes poses.

uspopeyes2.jpg: More Popeye madness.

First off, here are some interesting historical photos we took of buildings and other things around the town. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S. or whatever, so this stuff is really cool. These are out of order, and some are actually inside the below-mentioned Lightner Museum.

300hair.jpg: Mikey was wearing his 300 shirt with his hair down.

hitonstatue.jpg: Mikey is pretending to hit on the statue who is being rather flirtatious.

lightnerivy.jpg: Cool, there was some ivy to play with. ;)

picker.jpg: I picked a pole statue's nose. . . . Shame on me.

thisislightner.jpg: "THIS IS . . . LIGHTNER!!!" Running around making the "This is Sparta!" pose while wearing a 300 shirt was the running gag of our trip, apparently.

usatlightner.jpg: Yeah, there's both of us waiting for it to be time to check the place out.

Inside the Lightner Museum, you probably aren't supposed to be taking pictures since I saw they sold postcards and stuff, but we did sneak a few. Here are the favorites:

A plate with a battle scene on it.	A cool old machine that'd collect eggs for ya!	Gorgeous old furniture!	Mikey posing with a soldier.
We took pictures of these old salt shakers 'cause my mom collects salt shakers.	Very nice stained glass.	Ooh, an old typewriter. . . .	I have no idea how I'm gonna type on this.
Art based on an old story. Pictures a daughter helping her father escape a starvation sentence by secretly breastfeeding him on her visits. Odd.

BACK TO TAMPA . . . BRIEFLY!

We decided to stop back home instead of dumping money on a hotel again, so we drove back toward Tampa. We drove through Gainesville first and we ended up having our lunch at Farah's.

farahs1.jpg: I was taking a picture of Mikey, but our cute waitress came into the picture right at the last minute. I liked her so I don't mind she's in the picture. Heheh.

farahs2.jpg: Then the waitress took our picture. I was still looking at my falafel burger.

farahs3.jpg: There we go. Falafel burgers and spuds. Happy!

farh1.jpg: Gainesville has some really neat places to hang out and eat. Farah's has a cool atmosphere; it has one bright room with all kinds of plants, and a glass ceiling, and then the room we were in which seemed more like a bar. (It is also a hookah lounge; you can get different flavors of tobacco and try them in a hookah.) Weird.

farh2.jpg: I was stuffed. Mikey thought my "oh god, I'm going to try to cram these last couple spuds in" expression would make for a good photo opportunity. Hmph.

We ended up stopping over at the BAM in Ocala to see if my friend was working (she wasn't), and we went to a mall where I dropped tons of frickin' cash. Malls are dangerous . . . but then again, vacations are for enjoying yourself. ;) We moved on through some scary rain and darkness, but we lived.

ivytiredgas.jpg: We were tired from driving, but I tried to muster up the energy for a "getting gas" shot.

mikeytiredgas.jpg: Yeah, Mikey didn't really bother trying to show energy. Just like, "Hey, I'm getting gas, bitch."

dairyqueen.jpg: We decided we really wanted a Dairy Queen and FINALLY we found one. Hooray for sundaes.

ivypanera.jpg: The first thing we did when we reached St. Pete was get coffee at Panera. Mikey loves this place!

misfitpanera.jpg: See, told you he loves it!

uspanera.jpg: There's both of us! We also saw a really cute baby while we were here. Cute babies put me in a good mood.

ivykingbuffet.jpg: The highlight is indisputably the giant King Buffet. Mikey took this creative shot of me with my food.

ivykingsushi.jpg: I even got to have a sushi plate!

mikeykingbuffet.jpg: Behold Mikey's first helping.

spideyivy.jpg: This is outside a comic book shop we think is cool called "Emerald City." I'm in Spider-Man's crotch though.

supermanivy.jpg: I'm not exactly Super-Girl, but that guy behind me seemed to want me to try to impress him!

supermisfitcrossedarms.jpg: This is almost identical to the shot we took of Mikey the last time we were here!

supermisfithair.jpg: . . . Except that he has long hair now.

supermisfitsunglasses.jpg: Badass anyone?

thisisec.jpg: Oh, look, Mikey's ever-popular "This is Sparta!" screaming pose.

thisiseccloseup.jpg: Ya know, just in case you really wanted to see it blurry and close up?

xmenivy.jpg: I'm not a big fan of this painting, but I like The X-Men. Do I fit in? (I appear to have Professor X's weird glow around my head. . . . )