Trip to Tampa, and Movie Day (The Hobbit)

(Avon Park, FL) Hi 76 Lo 53 -- We got up just after the sun this morning. Jim has his yearly physical on Wednesday but they called yesterday and wanted him to get his blood work done ahead of time. The outpatient lab at the Tampa VA hospital was open until noon today, so we headed out at 8:30. There was very little traffic during the 1 1/2 hour trip. We got a very good parking place near the hospital entrance, and he had his blood drawn about 10 minutes after we got there. However, unknown to Jim they also needed a urine sample. He's had two annual physicals there before and they only took blood both times. Well, we both hit the restrooms as soon as we got there, so Jim didn't have any to give. So we had to hang around for another half hour or so while Jim drank some water. Finally, he "got 'er done" if you know what I mean. :)

Our trip to Tampa takes us through Lakeland, so we used this opportunity to see the new movie "The Hobbit, an Unexpected Journey." It's the first movie shot at 48 frames per second (fps) instead of 24, and the theater in Lakeland is one of only a few hundred nationwide that's equipped to show it in that format. Jim's sort of a techie so he wanted to check it out. So we stopped for a quick lunch and got to the theater in time for the 12:45 show. It was in 3D, and was listed as "HFR" for high frame rate. I usually get a headache when I watch a 3D movie, but the new 48 fps makes the actions much smoother and I didn't get a headache this time. And the movie itself, although a little long, was excellent! The special effects were incredible. If you want to know more about 48fps this link has some information about it and a list of theaters where you can see it.

The theater is in a large outdoor shopping mall so after the movie we walked around a bit. They had a Christmas show going on with some young dancing girls under a huge tree. It was very festive. We found a Mexican restaurant, so stopped for dinner before making the one hour trip home.

It was a very nice day. We're back and all tucked in for the evening.