Florida Men Have Nipples Too

Just as men have nipples too, so does Florida have winter.

December and January in the Greacey Palms Senior Putt Putt Trailer Park can be quite chilly, with highs in the 50s and lows around freezing.

We even went below freezing a few times, just a degree or two, but enough to send Anita Bryant running out of the orange groves for a blankie and a cup of cocoa.

I haven't touched on this in the blog yet, but starting in 2022, the Quad Queen started having some neurological symptoms that affected her fingers. By fall it was quite a bit worse, and her mobility started to be affected.

It did make the three trips to Vegas we did from Florida last winter a little bit different, and each time, she found walking to be more difficult, and she tired out more quickly while on the go. 

The situation didn't play a huge role in this, the third trip in the string, but I found myself taking on more tasks that she could no longer do, like cutting up a third rate steak special slab of 'finished last in the 12th' meat. 

Gambling and drinking was not one of these tasks. More stuff like wrangling luggage, and making room camping meals.

With that out of the way, I think I am finally ready to write up this trip.

Day 1 - February 14th, 2023

Still playing COVID Catchup, the Quad Queen was ready to embark on The Quad Queen Returns to Vegas - Vol. 3.

We needed some last minute supplies, so I drove over to the Dollar General to pick up this and that. It was Feb. 13th and I saw something that I knew would tickle the Quad Queen - and it wasn't my soul patch, either.

For the low, low price of One Dollar, I purchased a 'sure-to-be-lucky' plastic gnome figurine as a Valentine's Day gift for my sweetheart.

She was sure to be overwhelmed with emotion!

The idea was the lucky gnome would accompany us to Vegas and bring us, well, luck, much as Hello Kitty had done during the fabled Victory Trip.

For this trip, we done got all smartened up on a few things, and booked a late morning departure on Spirit in the Big Seats. We had a stop in Dallas and had the Big Seats for both legs. And arms, I guess.

We'd hit Vegas at a reasonable time and stay at Wynn for a few nights, courtesy the Wynn Slots app, downtown at the Cal for five nights, and back to Wynn for a few more. Brilliantly, I overlapped the Cal and second Wynn stay so moving would be a breeze.

I'd booked a car for a week as well, a few days into the trip. I found out there was an AVIS booth at Mirage, an easy hike from Wynn. Much simpler than trying to get down to the airport rental car facility.

And on arrival, we'd be able to just grab a cab to Wynn, instead of dealing with the shuttle to the rental car place. Same deal on the way out - a quick and simple cab ride directly to the terminal.

Slicker than snot on a doorknob, as my shop teacher used to say. He also said, with regard to lighting an oxy-acetylene welding torch, "A before O, or up you will go." As in up in a fireball. I never forgot. Well done, Mr. Schwed!

The next morning, the Quad Queen informed me that she had packed 'Brains'. Brains as in a cheap plastic figurine of Brains from the Thunderbirds, something we've had kicking around like forever.

Brains

"We need a little figurine for luck," she said.

We got in the car, and there was the 'lucky' gnome, still in its Dollar Store cardboard backing.

"Happy Valentine's Day," I said. "I got this for you to take to Vegas. A little figurine - for luck."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

Never in my life did I think I'd be Valentine's Day cock-blocked by Brains.

In any case, it was nice to have some time in the morning before leaving the trailer park, and have a leisurely white-knuckle drive to the airport. That I-4 should be called the Die-4.

The Tampa airport is wonderful. I'm totally in love with it.

We shlepped (damn I do a lot of shlepping on trips) to the tram, trammed to the terminal, and shlepped some more to the Spirit bag drop-off.

When there is a malfunction in a Spirit 737 cockpit, does the alarm go 'BAD DOG!'?

Bad luck - the Quad Queen's suitcase was 4 pounds over the limit. We had to find a place to open up all our stuff and try to re-allocate enough weight between the bags. This is always great fun in a busy airport. It's fun to put a pair of your underwear temporarily on your head to free up your hands. It's even more fun if it's her underwear on your head.

One of the smartest things they did at TPA was to push out security to each of the satellite terminals, instead of having everybody bottleneck their way through one security line. With Pre-Check, we got through in no time. Like zero time. It was literally instantaneous.

(I'm very pleased with my verbing of the noun bottleneck. I hope it catches on.)

Food is interesting, tasty, and very reasonably priced in the airport. A pre-flight slice seemed like a great idea, and I was shocked to see the menu - in a good way.

The slice was very good, well worth the money. A measley $5.45 for a decent slice? Hell yeah!

No sooner had I gotten that slice in ma belly, that the plane was ready to go. Next stop, Hub Airport, Some State USA!