We've been home two weeks now, and I'm finally getting to the last blog entry to record our trip.
When we left Fort Myers, we headed towards Venice, Florida, where we spent the last two nights of the trip. On the way, we stopped in North Port to meet up with an online friend and her husband. She and I had become acquainted back in 1997 when we were expecting babies as part of an online email group (before Facebook ever became a thing). Her family had lived in the northeast back then but recently moved to Florida, and (because Facebook is a thing) she had been sharing photos from various Gulf beaches near her that made me interested in checking them out, too. They suggested meeting for a mid-afternoon meal at Blue Tequila which was so delicious that DH declared it his favorite meal of the trip. It was nice to meet face-to-face and they had some good recommendations for things to do in the area.
The following morning we woke up to rain. It was the first rain we'd had since we were in Dominica on our cruise, and it was the first time our plans had to change due to weather. In fact, when the tornado warnings sounded, it was reminiscent of our Middle States trip when we were dodging severe weather. Thankfully it passed by about 10:30, so we decided to go ahead and venture out.
First order of business was gassing up at Costco! There's a pretty new one in the area, so we went to check it out. It makes our local Costco look like a 5 & Dime store.
Then we drove out to Manasota Beach because my friend had told me they often find sharks teeth there. A few years ago, we had gone to Amelia Island, Florida, for an anniversary trip, and while walking along one of the beaches, we had talked with a woman who was hunting for (and finding) sharks teeth. Ever since then, we've wanted to find our own, so this seemed like a great opportunity to try. The beach wasn't busy as the rain was just letting up (and it was a Monday morning), so we spent about 45 minutes enjoying the fresh air and sea spray and searching for sharks teeth. We met a family that had the whole shovel and sieve set-up for some serious sifting, so we asked them to show us what we should keep our eye out for. The kids were so excited about their finds and gave us some helpful tips.
Of course we were just looking with our eyes and not digging around and sifting, but we managed to find a few on our own. Another fella was also looking and had a handful that he gave us since we were such obvious tourists!
We had plans to meet one of DH's cousins who lives in Venice, so we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and then headed over. DH hadn't seen her since the mid-1970s, but we had talked on the phone a few weeks before meeting up with them. I was especially excited because I asked her about old family photos and such, so she had a lot of things ready for me to scan for the genealogy projects that I am working on.
After our visit, we headed back to the hotel. There was a Culver's nearby, so we "broke" our rule about not eating at restaurants we can go to at home - and I got a cheeseburger. Not the same as getting one in Key West, but it worked.
We had originally planned to visit another of DH's cousins in Bradenton on Tuesday, but she had to be out of town unexpectedly. We were going to go up to Tarpon Springs and check things out there and then on Wednesday to to Weeki Wachee Springs to see the Mermaid show on the way home, but since his cousin wasn't available, we decided to just head home a day early. Tarpon Springs and Weeki Wachee are within a reasonable distance, so we can do a short trip to see them another time.
So that's that! We wanted to see the Edges of South Florida, so we did just that! I love being retired!
~ Cindy D.
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