Florida Part III

We were very lucky to be able to stay in Florida for seven days. My previous vacations were short bursts...lasting only four days, two travel days and two days to explore and visit. This time, having seven days to do whatever came to mind, made it more relaxing and easier to decide on what we wanted to do with our time.

On the ride down to see my Aunt and Uncle who live in Englewood, we stopped at Stump Pass Beach
and got out long enough to take a quick walk. The day was chilly for Florida, (low 60's), the wind was whipping; a perfect day to do a car tour of the area. The visit with my family was wonderful. Lots and lots of talking, eating, and being merry! My uncle makes stained glass art and I took some photos....




aren't they beautiful?!

Another adventure we had was visting the Mote Aquarium located on City Island just a few miles outside of Sarasota. I especially liked the up close and personal with the (barb-less) Stingrays. They seemed to like the attention they were getting, swimming up close so folks could touch them. They feel incredible, not slimy, but sort of "spongy". The two resident dolphins

were not especially active, save for a moment or two when one of the handlers came out to the pool. One of the dolphins became quite excited and circled the large pool at great speeds, then favored us with a couple of jumps. Once he realized he wasn't getting food he calmed down a bit. Both dolphins were rescued from stranding and came from two different areas of the country. For whatever reason, the feds refused to allow the aquarium to re-release them after they had been rehabilitated and that is why they are now permanently located there.

I revisited the Sarasota Jungle Gardens, having discovered them on my last trip. It was Easter Egg Hunt day, and the park was full of children carrying baskets, searching for the treasured Easter eggs! The exhibits were great, and when we came upon the Flamingos,

we stopped long enough to feed them. They have a funny way of eating. I think their bills are upside down(?) so they have to lower their heads and turn them upside down to get their food down into their throats. It's quite the maneuver! My favorite part was the visit we had with the Birds of Paradise.... you are allowed to pick out a bird that you'd like to hold, and the trainer brings it over to you and places it on your arm. I held a little Sun Parakeet,

brilliantly colored with yellow and red feathers. My brother decided he wanted to hold a Cockatoo, so when the trainer brought it over, he held out his arm, and then `whoosh`!

The bird ran right up his arm and latched onto his ball cap! The bird apparently did not like the hat, tried to take it off of his head, and the trainer had to pry it out of the bird's beak!

It was hilarious! Hope you enjoy the photos!

I have two or three more adventures to share with you .... but I'll have to save them for the next post. Duty calls!

Florida Part II

After lunch, we returned to Sun N Fun, where we were greeted by a very friendly staff. The paperwork signed and keys obtained, we headed to our home for the next seven days. Sun N Fun is exactly what it says it is. If the following sounds like an advertisement for them, well it's for good reason. We had a beautiful mobile home, practically new, (you could "smell" the newness when you walked in), extremely clean, fully equipped with brand new appliances, linens, cookware, silverware ,dishes, glassware; you name it, we had it.

I especially liked the little outside deck, where we ate most of our evening meals.

The park is huge (177 acres) and there are so many mobile homes and RV's it's impossible to count them all. The first thing you notice about the place is how friendly everyone is.
Most of the residents live there for nine months out of the year, some, like us, come for a week or two.


There were older areas of the park where people had owned their homes for years, knew their neighbors and created a community within the park. Everyone we passed as we walked about, spoke to us, said hello and were willing to help and answer questions. They made eye contact! They were smiling! It was awesome! People were comfortable and secure there, that was evident.
Although one could drive a car throughout the park (10 mph please!), there were lots of bikes and motorized scooters; but the favorite means of transport seemed to be golf cart. Lots and lots of golf carts. Not just your ordinary golf cart....
souped up/decorated golf carts,

golf carts painted like Nascar racing cars,

even a Model T golf cart!
You could always tell when the pool was crowded by the number of golf carts and such parked in the lot!
Speaking of the pool, it was enormous.
It was clean.
It was HEATED. It was heaven! There were two large hot tubs,
a Tiki Bar and a kids pool
and a Tiki Bar, oh and did I mention the Tiki Bar? Everything was well kept, clean and bright and the staff provided outstanding service. We had occasion to do laundry during our stay; yes that dull, boring chore, but right next to the laundry-mat was a rec room with nine giant pool tables, free to play! If we had been allotted more time to stay, I believe we would have tried our hand at horseshoes and the mini-golf course, perhaps taken a woodworking class or participated in the morning exercise class held in the HEATED pool. So much to do, so little time! There are several lakes and ponds suitable for fishing and boating, but we just didn't get a chance to do it all!

After we were unpacked and settled, had gone grocery shopping for the week, we decided it was time to take a ride down to the beaches. We drove out to Long Boat Key, just in time for a glorious sunset walk. I'll leave you for now, with these photos. More later.

Sun and Fun!

My vacation this year, is unscheduled, unplanned; it has no itineraries, no time lines to adhere to, nothing but pure unadulterated leisure! My aunt and uncle live in Englewood so we will be spending some time hanging out with them. The rest of the time is open to fancy and whim. We've rented a couple of beautiful mobile homes in an RV park in Sarasota. The place is loaded with stuff to do, a huge lake to swim, boat and fish; mini golf course, tennis courts, horseshoes, fitness center, woodworking shop, stained glass window classes... you name it, there's something going on there at all times! The gorgeous beaches of Bradenton, Sarasota, Siesta Key are only a few miles away, and Florida has many museums, animal exhibits and water cruises to offer. I doubt we will be bored! However, we are dedicating this trip to relaxing and trying to de-stress ourselves, so you might just find me parked somewhere reading a book or two and sipping on a nice icy Pina Colada!
I'll have my camera, so hopefully will have some good pics for you when I get back!