We enjoyed a road trip to The Villages to visit Carol and Bill in late December. The Villages are simply something one must see to believe. I think it takes about 30 minutes to drive from one end to the other. And one can buy a residence in all price ranges. There are more activities than one can imagine! Download the Villages app and look around a bit, you will be amazed.
We went to two different town squares the two evenings we stayed with Carol and Bill. Live music and dancing each night outdoors (except when temps are too low and they are cancelled).
Bill and Tom enjoying a laugh. Hard to believe it has been almost 20 years since we worked together!
Movie theatres (we watched Murder on the Orient Express) for colder weather (which we encountered) were on site. Lots of restaurants and we enjoyed a couple of those too! We all enjoyed a great burger, fries and shake lunch at Johnny Rockets!
Here is a photo of the earliest portion that truly reminds us of the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village in Fort Pierce where Tom's parents moved in the early 1980's.
Thanks for a great time Carol and Bill, it is always great to laugh heartily with you two!
On the way back to Longboat we dropped the car at Enterprise and got into the car for our "we pick you up" ride back to our boat. We were about to leave the parking lot and our driver received a call and informed us we would have another passenger. He hopped in and was a dark haired younger man with radios and other paraphernalia hanging on his body dressed in all black. Who is this guy??? He was going to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center. Long story short, Julie sitting with
him in the back seat, started chatting and learned Nicholas was a "world resident" (his words). Hmm, what does that mean? He asked how long we would be in town and Julie sort of just said a while yet. Well the Moscow Ballet was in town performing the Nutcracker and he was the road manager. He offered us complimentary tickets to the 3 o'clock show!
So given it was already after 2 PM we had the Enterprise driver drop us off at the boat to drop our bags and wait just a few minutes. We then paid him what an Uber would have cost to drop us back at the performing arts center. We made it about 5 minutes before the show started and had center stage seats in row 14 just behind the "dress circle" seats!!! And neither of us had ever witnessed a ballet or the Nutcracker, let alone one with such talented dancers and beautiful costumes...wow! It is just unbelievable how we meet the nicest people on this trip.
Another funny tidbit. As the Enterprise driver was waiting for us he witnessed an attempted Scrooge like theft. So picture this. Enterprise gentleman dressed in shirt and tie standing by the car. Older silver haired woman walking around the beautiful Christmas tree at the marina.
Oh, and she is "helping herself" to some carefully selected ornaments and is dropping them into her bag. Upon departing the tree she see the Enterprise driver standing by the car with arms folded, turns around and places them all back on the tree! And when I shared the story with the concierge at the marina she said "Oh, I know who that is." She said they have to remind her all the time that the things she picks up off the counter at the marina are not free! Too funny.
On New Year's Eve, our friends Paula and Rich joined us aboard for a few days. Looking at the weather report, we decided this would be our only beach day during their visit. We had a nice afternoon at the Longboat Key Club Resort beach. Paula discover something new to show us while beach walking. Snails were burrowing down in the sand as each wave receded. An interesting sight we had never seen!
It was a rather cold evening and as we walked around the grounds after a great dinner, a sprinkler had Ritchie's name and number. As we were walking along suddenly a sprinkler raised up and took perfect aim at Rich! Too funny!
The moon on our walk.
The next couple days were spent pretty much indoors
except one day trip over to Myakka State Park where we were able to take some nice walks. Enjoyed a few restaurants and a movie (Lady Bird) at the downtown Sarasota Film Society theatre. Small screen, no tickets, just pay at the window and walk in. Lots of laughs with Rich and Paula too, it is always a great time with you two!
See, the weather is cold in Florida too!
On Friday Jan 5, our friends Pat and Tim drove up from Bonita Beach for a day as planned a while back. It was another cold day so we enjoyed a nice lunch at the Dry Dock on Longboat and generally caught up with them. They will be heading back to some real cold Michigan weather for a few weeks, then they return to Florida so we may be able to catch up with them again! So nice to catch up and have a few laughs with you two!
We also learned about a family health issue on Friday morning. Tom's 94 year old Mom had fallen and cut her head requiring stiches on Thursday evening and had been admitted to the hospital due to overall weakness and low oxygen levels due to influenza B she had been fighting for a couple days. My sisters were ill or stuck due to snowy weather and my brother is in AZ for the winter so I found a flight to Grand Rapids on my birthday Saturday morning. I caught a ride from Tim and Pat to the Punta Gorda airport on Friday night for an early Saturday flight. Thanks so much for helping us out Tim and Pat.
I haven't seen this warning on a dash in a few years. And I should have captured the image when it was 7 degrees in Grand Rapids instead of 21 in Muskegon.
I did treat myself to a great Cuban sandwich and Bells Two Hearted at the Pints and Quarts restaurant on the way back to Mom's apartment. Michigan stuff....
Mom was released on Sunday Jan 7 to me and my siblings care and is doing better, although she will have home nurse, physical therapy and aid visits at least for a while. I got to hone my cooking skills a bit...grilled shrimp, stir fry and rice on the stove one evening.
I left on Thursday as my sister Betty stayed for a few days. And my sister Deb is certainly doing more than her share too. Thanks so much to all my family for all they are doing! More to come as we determine whether she will regain enough strength to continue her independent living arrangement.
Julie spent the week coordinating maintenance personnel on the boat while I was away. Wouldn't you know all the technicians showed up now after we have been here four weeks! Generator, detail/wax, engine impellers and zincs and varnish estimator personnel all showed up during the week. Julie was starting engines, supervising, answering questions and showing everyone where every thing was aboard.
Jordan had previously planned on coming to visit on Friday the 12th and I was able to join him on his flight to Punta Gorda. I even got to see Eliza our daughter in law in the airport, as she was travelling to a bachelorette party in Texas for the weekend. Here is the happy couple in the airport.
Unfortunately it was a cold weekend so a good bit of time was spent inside on the boat. We took a trip over to Julie's brother's home in Sarasota and visited with Deb and Kevin for a while. They are doing such a good job remodeling Julie's Mom's former Florida house.
We did get too take a rather cool walk along Lido Key beach on Sunday but other than that outdoor activities were out of the question due to the cold north wind. But it was great to spend time with Jordan! Thanks so much for coming down for the weekend Jordan. And thank you Eliza for sharing him!
Mom is home in her independent living apartment and my sisters and a niece are "tag teaming" taking care of her. She is improving every day, taking walks in the hallways, proving she can cook and take care of herself and is adamant she will remain in her independent living apartment. We all hope she can. Another big thank you to everyone in our family for helping out with Mom's care and safety.
We will continue to monitor her condition and make our next move to the Bahamas or to Marathon in the Keys dependent on her recovery.
A sunrise while Tom was in Michigan. (through the mesh window screening)
And one from outside the boat.
December statistics follow. Hard to believe we have travelled over 9500 statute miles by boat! An average of 46 miles per travel day. And the Great Loop can be done in about 6000 miles. But all who wander are not lost......
December statistics:
Miles travelled: Month: 519 / Trip to Date: 9501
Travel days: 9 / 204
Engine hours: 59 / 1081
Locks: 5 / 52
Bridges opened: 6 / 82
Travel days: 9 / 204
Engine hours: 59 / 1081
Locks: 5 / 52
Bridges opened: 6 / 82
Days on hook or free wall: 4 / 90
Gallons of diesel: 430 / 7748
Sunrises and sunsets in God's creation....too many to count!
More soon....thanks for following our blog.
Gallons of diesel: 430 / 7748
Sunrises and sunsets in God's creation....too many to count!
More soon....thanks for following our blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment