An artist at a craft fair turned us on to Myakka River State Park. How could we have missed this gem on previous visits to Sarasota? It's Florida's largest state park and it abounds with wild life. We enjoyed the drive to the boat landing, took a great one hour boat tour with an interesting and well informed Captain/Narrator, took a tram ride through primal tropical forest, enjoyed a "bird walk" out into Myakka Lake," and ended up with a short hike to a set of canopy towers transversed by a hanging "jungle" bridge that brought us into the trees and [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Turtle Beach would have been hard if we hadn't know how wonderful our next stop - Sun n Fun - a few miles to the east of Sarsota would be. Our neighbors at Turtle Beach tooted (blared) as the sun went down each evening by blowing conchs. We drove the jeep down to Venice to see friends and friends of friends for lunch and came away with impressive insights about low rise condo communities (Bird Bay) a bit away from the beach with tons of ammenities - par 3 golf, pools, tennis, etc. We also were directed to the Jette, [View Full Entry]

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Marie Selby Botanical Gardens - It is so wonderful that wealthy women - like Marie Selby in Sarasota; Charlotte Hyde in Glens Falls, NY; and Isabelle Stuart Gardner in Boston, donate their homes, art collections and, in this case, gardens, to be enjoyed by all. This lovely attraction is indeed worth the rather pricy $17 admission fee. Again, pictures speak a thousand words. [View Full Entry]

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Pictures speak volumns ... uncrowded beach, gorgeous natural site, close to restaurants, much to see and do. H.A.W.T.....W.Y.W.H. [View Full Entry]

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Fort Pierce and Vero Beach Our stay on the "east coast" of Florida was fun, if chilly, and went by all too quickly. We hooked up with friends from home and had a little bar-b-que at the Holiday Out Beach/Pool complex across A1A via tunnel from where the RV site was. We also hied ourselves (girls' shopping) up to Verro Beach while the guys played golf. We found several upscale boutiques including Blondies and Pathington's in the beach area of Vero Beach. I found a vey cool dress on sale - you'll see it at the track in August. "Blondie" at [View Full Entry]

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We are near Jenson Beach on Hutchinson Island, Florida. Our "park's" lots are individually owned and VERY close together. No trees, no views; but a wonderful "gated" beach compound with clubhouse, pool, deck where members/visitors can entertain, lovely view and great beach. Security is huge here - everything is gated, locked, private! We even needed a key to get OUT of the pool area! Hutchison Island itself is a string of condos on a beautiful beach - a few strip malls - no restaurants to speak of (but we did get great pizza and wings from Sunrise Grill & Pizza on [View Full Entry]

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Friday and Saturday (before our departure from Pine Island) were amazing = it was raining; and since we both still work - Friday was a good "catch up" morning for client stuff - then the Flea Market in Fort Myers - which has a very invigorating mix of cheesy (ACTUALLY FUGLY if you catch my drift) and cool stuff - we got fresh fruits and veggies and a few things to further enhance our lives like special cloth dusters and things to make it easier to maintain plants when one isn't home to do so herself! Back in Matlacha, we stopped [View Full Entry]

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On Jan. 27, we left Albany in 2 degree weather and arrived at Fort Myers airport with temps in the 80s. Pine Island is just as we left it - beautiful. The pool is VERY heated and dinner at Red's rated A+ for great seafood, atmosphere, and service. Our driver from the airport was great with very good info. The revelation re: the secret beach was NOT from him; however, but we now know where the secret Pine Island beach is! This is a closely guarded secret. Woody's Waterside for dinner and beach music by Mark Northey. Woody's had a promo [View Full Entry]

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We love to be on the road...but we LOVE where we really live! Sometimes we miss being home. The Captial Region is a great destination for the visitor. Here's a little sample of what we did when we were home for Christmas - sledding with grandchildren in Saratoga and Rutland Vermont - Skiing with family in Vermont - Enjoying frozen Ballston Lake with grandaughter (x-c skiing, snow shoeing, skating, snowmobiling, etc.) are litterally "out our front door." Shopping on Jay St. and Upper Union St. Schenectady (avoiding the mall). Browsing the Sunday morning indoor Farmers' Market at Proctor's [View Full Entry]

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We treated Monday as our "last night" in Pine Island --- What a time - we decided on Woody's for dinner. It's on one of the major Pine Island canals and features Zydeco night on Mondays. We made a good choice: the entertainment, Charlie from the Yard Dogs and many guest "sit ins" including young Tiffany who tore up the washboard; the food, the mango margaritas, the couple we joined at a high top (a sailing pair from Lake Michigan biding their time awaiting a 3 am (not a typo) high tide to get their sailboat safely to its dock), and [View Full Entry]

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