Monday April 7, 2014
Months ago, we made arrangements to meet our daughter, Jennifer, and her family on Florida's Gulf Coast for their spring break. While not yet settled into our new digs in Okeechobee, we were looking forward to getting away from the stress of moving and some much needed R&R on some of Florida's beautiful beaches.
This would be our first camping trip in our new 22 foot Sonic travel trailer, and we were anxious to see how many items we forgot to bring along on it's maiden voyage. We also wanted to see if we could adapt to the travel trailer after camping in a 38 foot fifth wheel for three years.
We arrived at Sunny Sarasota South RV resort a little after noon. Sunny Sarasota South is a clean and well kept campground that has several campsites as well as some permanent park models, and the rest rooms were some of the best we had seen. There is a club house, dog park, swimming pool, and exercise room. We were set up and eating lunch in no time and ready to do some exploring while waiting for Jennifer and family to land in Tampa and drive to their rented condo near Englewood Beach, Florida.
We drove north from our campground on US 41 a couple of miles then turned west heading for Siesta Key Beach. This is a beautiful stretch of beach with plenty of white powdery sand, lots of Florida sun, and some nice rolling waves in the Gulf of Mexico. The full service beach includes rest rooms, food, and some rentals. This was exactly what we were looking for! Well...almost. We had Kallie with us and dogs are not allowed on this beach. But, that didn't stop us from enjoying this little speck of paradise and snapping a few pictures.
Siesta Key Beach
Just as I was trying to figure out a way to disguise Kallie as a person and break out some sun screen so we could enjoy this beach up close and personal, my cell phone rang. Our daughter had arrived at their condo on Manasota Key. So, we made our way back to the camper and dropped Kallie off because their condo does not allow dogs either.
Their condo was right on the beach with a second story view of the Gulf. We all walked the beach along Manasota Key for a while then went inside a had a nice dinner cooked by "chef" Neil.
Tuesday
This morning was certainly not the kind of day to spend at the beach. We had no trouble hearing the rain as it pelted our camper and the wind gusts raced up to 30 MPH. By mid afternoon, we were all ready to do something despite the occasional heavy rain. The aquarium in Sarasota is always packed this time of the year when it's raining. So, we opted to visit the nearby Sun Coast Sea Bird Sanctuary.
The Sea Bird Sanctuary has quite a variety of birds that have been injured in the wild to the extent that they can no long survive without assistance. Some birds had damaged wings, eyes missing, and leg missing among many other issues.
Here's the condo gang!
L to R: Jennifer, Neil, Grayson and Logan
Grayson is 4 years old and Logan is 11 years old.
By this time, our stomachs were letting us know it was time to eat. So, we headed to Captain Curts on Siesta Key for some world famous clam chowder and a couple of appetizers like oysters on the half shell, gator bites, some tasty chicken wings, and a basket of fried cheese sticks. Yum yum! It was all very good and we made a mental note to try a full meal here some time real soon.
Here's Neil and Logan chowing down on those raw oysters!
This was just enough food to hold us over until we made the 20 mile drive back to the condo where "chef" Neil prepared some fresh lobster, fresh cooked clams, and a couple pounds of fresh caught shrimp. It was quite a delicious meal and one that will conger up fond memories for many years!
Wednesday
It was very windy today, and the surf was really pounding the beach. There were rip tide warnings posted and we made sure the kids did not get close to the water.
We decided to check out Stump Pass Beach State Park just a couple of miles south of the condo on Manasota Key. The beach is about a mile long and many shells and shark teeth wash up here. There's plenty of sand to play in here as you will see in this next picture.
Here is a sand man, aka Grayson!
The wind was making it a little uncomfortable on the beach, so we took a short path over a sand dun to a beach along an inland water way. The beach here was smaller, but it was protected from the wind by the sand dun we just crossed.
Here's Kitty, Neil, and Logan hunting for wild life.
Look! We found big Foot!!
Or is that Logan wearing a pair of home made sand shoes?
Look! Another Big Foot!! This time it's little brother Grayson!
Well, that was a really enjoyable family day on the beach. There is always interesting things to see and explore on Florida's beaches, and that cool wind made it easy to sleep when we got back to our camper.
Thursday
We all made a trip to Fort Myers to visit Neil's cousin. Then Kitty and I watched the boys and gave Neil and Jennifer some time to enjoy themselves.
Here's Jennifer (left) dropping the boys off at our camper in Sunny Sarasota South RV Resort.
We took the boys out for pizza, then went back to the camper and played some games.
Friday
The kids had to fly back to Indiana today. We decided to go back to Captain Curt's for our last meal together.
Grayson is doing his famous knife trick!
Logan is enjoying some more raw oysters!
After lunch and good bye hugs, the kids headed to Tampa to catch their flight back to Indiana while we packed up the camper and headed back to Okeechobee. On the way home Kitty and I talked about the nice beaches, the great time we had with the kids, and agreed that we created some lasting memories for all of us.
