My aunt and uncle on my mom’s side moved from Minneapolis to Tampa and then to Parrish Florida. We’d been looking forward to seeing them for months.
Some CA friends, Donna and Bob, were tired of the CA rain and they decided to take a last minute trip to Sarasota, a place they are considering for retirement. When they reached out to tell us, we made a plan to connect with them in Sarasota before heading to Parrish.
In cutting across FL from Miami (east to west), we went back through Big Cypress and then to Sarasota.
We had a nice brunch with friends Donna and Bob in downtown Sarasota. Then we strolled downtown and over to the beach. We stopped for cocktails before we headed to our campground and they left for Tampa. Even though it was only one day, it was fun to hear how they’d been doing and after their vacation week in Sarasota, why Sarasota might be where they retire.
We stayed at a Sun Outdoors RV park that was clearly set up for long-term snow birds. They had a calendar full of activities that included shuffleboard, pickle ball, lawn bowling, swimming, etc.
Before leaving Sarasota, we drove to Lido Key for some time at the beach before driving back through City Island, downtown Sarasota, and up to Parrish. We were able to see the Sarasota condo building Doug’s uncle Roger and aunt Kay had once owned and spoke so fondly of.
The late afternoon traffic was worse than we expected so we arrived 90 minutes later than we expected in Parrish, but my aunt Cathy and uncle Rick were prepared with beer, wine, appetizers and an amazing steak dinner. It almost felt like they ordered up the pretty sunset the evening as well!
The next morning, Doug, Bailey and I explored Little Manatee River State Park and then had a meal out with my aunt and uncle.
Their new house is gorgeous, they were incredibly gracious hosts, and because we usually only see them at large family gatherings, my favorite part of the visit was just being able to sit and talk with them. It was a great visit!
My aunt had suggested that we go to the Manatee Viewing Center to see the manatees, which we did and really enjoyed. We even got to “pet” stingrays here and I saw something I’d never heard of before…a spinner shark! The spinning leap out of the water is made as part of its feeding strategy. They speed vertically through schools of fish while spinning on their axis.
We crossed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge into St. Petersburg where we’d arranged for more moochdocking with my friend Karen. (More on St. Pete’s in our next post).
These aren’t logs or rocks, they’re manatees!
Doug petting a stingray. They feel like snot covered rubber.
We are lucky to have such supportive friends and family and it always lifts our spirits to spend time with them!
