Day 218 – 221; 12/23 – 12/26: The day before Christmas Eve brought one of our Christmas gifts to us – a visit from our son Michael! We will miss Sarah this year at Christmas, but will just do a Christmas repeat when she and Richard come to visit at the end of January. Michael had a Baltimore Blast game in Utica, NY the evening of 12/22 (bummer they lost), which was followed by a bus ride through the night to get back to Baltimore. He caught a few hours of sleep on the bus, then a few hours at home then boarded a flight from Baltimore to Tampa, arriving a little after 2:00 pm. There was just enough time to pick him up, get back to the boat for a little snack and head back to Tampa with our good friends Steve and Carolyn to go grab dinner and see the Trans Siberian Orchestra (TSO) concert. The TSO concert has been a Christmas tradition for our family for 8 or 9 years now, but we usually attend in Washington, DC. It was amazing that when we looked up where they would be and where we would be, Tampa on 12/23 was a perfect intersection. The show was fabulous, as usual. We had great seats right on the floor in the 6th row where at one point in the show, we enjoyed being snowed on. Most people know TSO from their big hit “Christmas Eve Sarajevo” (see rendition below from our seats).
It’s hard to explain TSO to someone. TSO was formed in 1996 by Paul O’Neill as a progressive rock band that would push the boundaries of the genre further than any group before. TSO is named after the railroad in Siberia, a symbol of hope in a hard, unforgiving place. They are partially hard rock and partially symphony orchestra.
Paul O’Neill said “I wanted to take the very best of all the forms of music I grew up on and merge them into a new style. Basically I was building on the work of everybody I worshipped: the rock opera parts from bands like the Who; the marriage of classical and rock from bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Queen; the over-the-top light show from bands like Pink Floyd… I always wanted to do a full rock opera with a full progressive band and at least 18 lead singers.” And he accomplished all of that with a Christian theme and amazing Christmas show. Paul died in April of 2017, but his memory and band lives on. Everyone enjoyed it and everyone, especially Michael, slept well that night!
We spent 12/24 (Christmas Eve Day) being a little touristy. We started with Dad’s egg scramble for breakfast, a walk on the beach and to the end of Pier 60 followed by lunch at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill for their famous Grouper sandwich.
We hit a few of the beach shops before heading to Tampa to go to The Florida Aquarium. The aquarium was a nice mix of fish, fowl, reptiles and other wildlife like penguins, ring-tails, otters and iguanas.
We topped off the night with a visit to Steve and Carolyn’s beautiful waterfront condo in Clearwater Beach, where we enjoyed some snacks and champagne, then it was back to the boat for one of Michael’s favorite dinners….Mom’s home made pesto and shrimp!
Christmas morning was just a few gifts under the painted palm trees, Christmas movies, football and prep of some of our favorites Christmas food traditions: prime rib, roasted red potatoes, broccoli casserole, corn soufflé and apple crisp….. a challenge for a small galley and small ovens, but we did it! Steve and Carolyn joined us for our Festive Fleming Feast! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and Michael had to fly home later that night since he had practice in the morning….. life of a professional athlete!
12/26 was a strange weather day…. It had rained overnight then cleared, looking to possibly be a sunny day. The fog rolled in and out 3 times, so we alternated between sunshine and cool overcast fog. It was a laundry, cleanup, trip planning day for us, followed by an amazing dinner at Steve and Carolyn’s.
12/27 we are off to St. Petersburg for a couple days where we connect with Carol’s cousin Rick and his wife Heidi… then we will venture down the coast with them for a few days hitting Anna Maria Island, Bradenton and Long Boat Key before going to the ReliaQuest Bowl to see Univ of Wisconsin take on LSU on 1/1/2024. We are ready for the Florida weather to kick in…kind of tired of being chilly, foggy and otherwise a little damp!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
chashurley
TSO is quite an extravaganza!