SKYWAY MEMORIES

Crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from Manatee County to Pinellas County is always a visual thrill. The view of Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico , as well as the St. Petersburg Skyline, always delights me. It also brings back a flood of memories that happened over my lifetime.

 I  once made a trip with three friends to Miami Beach for a weekend. Before that date, one had to cross the bay in a ferry boat, then pick up the Tamiami Trail on the other side. (so named because it went from Tampa to Miami.) While we were cavorting on Miami Beach and flirting with sailors from the Key West Naval Base, the newly constructed Sunshine Skyway bridge opened. It was Labor Day, 1954 and everyone in St. Pete decided to drive over to Sarasota and vice versa. There were no breakdown lanes then, so every other car in the slow moving lanes was overheated and stalled. On our return trip, we were determined to join the sightseers  and  therefore lengthened our trip by hours! But the view from the top of the bridge was worth it!

In May of 1980, I was visiting a sick aunt in St. Pete, staying overnight in Bradenton. As we crossed the bridge the night of May 8th, the rain was coming down and the wind was blowing fiercely. The children were a little spooked and it didn't help that my husband kept teasing them saying, "Oh, my, I can't control the steering wheel!"  Needless to say, we made it.

Next morning, our relatives woke us to say that a large ship had hit one of the bridge piers and that the southbound lane had  broken , sending many to their deaths.

It was with a quiet sense of our good fortune that we left early and traveled over the mainland to St. Pete on that day.    You can find  a wealth of information and good photos by simply googling "Sunshine Skyway crash" , but one video is worth watching for some chilling photographs.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMjBGLxMdP4

PLAYING WITH PUPPIES

Recently, I visited the Southeastern Guide Dogs Facility in Palmetto , Florida. To give you and idea of where to find it, it is located just south of the Sunshine State Skyway causeway from St. Petersburg  heading toward Bradenton. Go online to www.guidedogs.org to find full information about them.

We were first shown a video explaining what kind of dogs are used, how they are bred, the care and training procedure, how to qualify for a dog, and what we could do as volunteers. 

The grounds surrounding the facility are lovely, a true Florida setting. Seeing multiple volunteers walking dogs around really inspired more than one of us to come back and volunteer.

The puppies, at about 8 weeks, need to be socialized. That is, they need to get used to humans. Thus, they have a  puppy play room. We were ushered into this large room  , told that we could touch and pet the dogs, even hold them, but that  we must first be seated. They want to guard the pups from falling or getting into an injurious situation. 

I tried my best to get some "cute " pictures, but it is impossible to get a puppy to pose and say "cheese" .

This darling little blackie is the best I could do.  On signal, and opening the gate, all the pups come flying into the room, just like a bunch of fifth graders being let out of school at 3 o'clock.

They romp and pee and run and let off steam until they can't play any more. The little brown guy was just pooped out from all the excitement.

The center is always looking for host homes to take the pups after 9 weeks and train them for two years. After that time, they are assigned to a vision impaired "partner" and stay at the facility for almost a month, learning  to get along with one another.

It was a real pleasure to visit and have fun with the pups, but at the same time I was educated on how this program works and how it benefits those who are visually impaired. There is no cost to visit, they welcome groups (with advance notice) and their hours are posted on their website.