A magical, Halloween sister trip to Florida, a surprise hotel, and a ghost story

And I thought last year's sister trip was fun. This one was just perfect, even better.  Before I went to Utah for the Grand Masquerade, I flitted down to Tampa to meet my sisses at the airport for our new tradition of an annual beach trip.

(Yep, October was a whirlwind for me, three trips and a workshop at my home… now it is time to relax and rest up after all of that.  No, wait!  I think there is more to come… Christmas is just around the corner and if I want to sell any angel kits or other decor -dyed and glittered trees, anyone??- I need to get into HIGH gear)

My sisters had booked a week or so at a condo on Siesta Key beach, where we stayed last year and I'd liked sooooo much that I took all of my kiddos there this summer and where my husband and I had an impromptu wedding vow renewal.

Bobbie and Sissy were having a nice long trip (I met them for 5 days of it) but the condo wasn't available for their whole stay. So, they decided to each surprise the other with a night not too far from the airport.

Unknown to them, they had each chosen the SAME hotel.  And what a place!! The Loews Pink Palace on St. Pete beach.

I figured that they had both admired it and spoke of longing to stay there sometime.

Nope.

Sis had never heard of it before, Bobbie had never mentioned it. They both chose to splurge (big time) and treat their sister to a night at a spectacular resort.

Since I knew both secrets, I called ahead, upgraded a tiny bit and  made sure that we could check in one day and stay both nights in the same room instead of moving from one to another the next day.  

We had a balcony room overlooking the ocean, at one of the prettiest hotels I'd ever seen.  We walked along the beach, ate seafood, shopped at a boardwalk in Treasure Island, and just relaxed on the balcony.  

They shared a king bed and I had a rollaway, otherwise known as my baby bear bed.

We had some crafting time on our vacation, and here is how I drew that sweet, little baby bear bed. Not so sweet?

Well, one night, I had the worst nightmare. I'm not much of a nightmare type, they happen very rarely for me.  But this one was a doozy, and felt so real.  It was one where I tried to call out for help, but couldn't make myself heard.

But I just KNEW that if I could force the sound out, my sisters could hear me and they would save me from the long arms (with claws) that were grabbing me from under the bed.  It hurt!! 

Finally, I croaked out what to me felt like a blasting scream, but what was in reality a scratchy, little creaking sound.  But, it did the job, I awoke my saviors and they rescued me from the black arms coming from under my baby bear bed.

But, it still hurt.  

Seriously, my shoulder and hip were hurting. I figured I had tensed up so much from fear that my muscles were aching.

Till the next morning came…..

AND I HAD TWO, HEART SHAPED, painful, BRUISES ON MY HIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (We called them ghost bites)

Later on, I read about the ghosts in the hotel, apparently the owner and his true love can be see at times.  Which might explain the two hearts? (I didn't take a photo, because they were almost more butt than hip and no one wants to see that.)

As Dewdrop likes to say, "That's Crweepy!"

Well, in all actuality, I probably had bumped my hip the day before and didn't realize it and the pain was what caused the dream.

At least that is what I'm going with.

The hotel was amazing and except for the short, ghostly visit, was perfect. I enjoy older hotels with a lot of history. F. Scott Fitzgerald used to hang out there, and you could feel the Gatsby vibe. 

As I like to do on vacations, I created a sea shell fairy as a thank you to the beach.  Since we were having a Halloween themed trip, I called her a Sand Witch.

And it seemed fitting, since I was finding so many black shells on this beach.  I wanted to make another witch later on for Siesta Key, but the shells were mostly a lighter color there.  Each beach has its own look with its shells and the ones I pick  up determine who or what I'll make.

But she is always a fairy of gratitude.

After making the shelly witch, we spotted this bench, a perfect photo op and place to play!

I loved the old faded colors of the boats and chair.

Sissy had gifted us all with these matching shirts (from Walmart) and they were ideal for our witchy week theme.

She even brought her cauldron mug for coffee. We aren't big drinkers, so coffee was our vaca brew.

And coffee has never tasted better than it did from this balcony. 

She also gave us matching scarves in this sea color.

There were lots of laughs that week, like here where we asked the person at the next table to take our picture just as a bird was pooing on my head.  I had to go to the restroom and dunk my noggin in the sink to wash it out, then came back out with a sopping, dripping head just in time to barely catch the last of the dolphins playing off the pier as they swam away. I guess they'd been showing off while I was scrubbing my hair.

Everything about our stay at the Pink Palace was just beautiful. The place was pure luxury through and through. 

With never ending salt water taffy at the front desk!

I was not too shy to keep "trick or treating" the concierge.  This is part of the haul that made it with us to the condo at Siesta Key later on.  We were set for candy for the week.

We didn't make use of the hotel spa, but we did ask for a tour of the rooftop garden area attached to the spa.

And we spent some time at antique and boutique stores around town. I'm showing off the back of my new shirt here.  I don't know why we even packed anything, between all the gifts we gave each other and the shopping we did, we didn't need anything from home at all!

Sissy even brought us silver ice cream spoons. They used to be our mom's.

And they made sure to use them when they went to the ice cream parlor at the hotel.

But as much as we loved the high life at our palace, the best part was the company.