With tears in our eyes we left Inverness and drove down the Florida coast to Sarasota. The sole purpose of this visit was to connect with Peg's Uncle Bill and Aunt Ursie. They have recently relocated to Florida from New York City. We stayed in the Arbor Terrace RV park which was crammed full of snow-birds. It was the most lively place we have seen... shuffle board, pentaque, bike riding and walking. Everyone was very friendly and they had a great dog area. The rv sites were very tight, but we fit with a few inches on either side to spare.
We had arranged to meet Uncle Bill (Peg's dad's brother) at his rental apartment overlooking Sarasota Marina so that he could take us over to their new penthouse apartment which is almost done being renovated. The weather was not great with high winds and lots of rain, there was even a tornado warning for the area! We kept a close eye on weatherbug and forged ahead. Their new place is magnificent with 360 degree views of the marina and city. He then drove us all around the city and took us to a lovely lunch on the water. We then parted ways with the plan to come back to their place for dinner. It was a great evening catching up and eating a delicious meal cooked by their personal chef Mikah - stone crab claws, lamb chops and a chocolate souffle for dessert. Yummy! We had a great time listening to old stories about Peg's dad as only a big brother can tell them. Unfortunately, I was having such a good time I forgot to get out the camera and have no pictures of the evening! Shame on me!
We then drove further down the coast to Fort Myers which seemed like a good homebase spot to see Sanibel island - the namesake of our traveling home. We arrived at Shady Acres another lively snow-bird campground. They put us in an end spot that backed up to the edge of the park covered with a little bayou and trees etc. We packed up the dogs in the morning and drove to Sanibel and Captiva Islands. They were not as impressive as we had hoped. Lots of shopping, restaurants, traffic and the few public beaches didn't allow dogs. We did finally find one spot where we could walk on the beach, but it was covered with dead fish from the red tide condition affecting the area. We also drove over to Pine Island which wasn't as crowded, but again no public beach access. Two short stops on our way down to the Everglades where we will be for 10 days.
Coming soon.... Homestead, Florida.
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