Blogs from Sarasota, Florida, United States, North America - page 2

Hello everyone Before I set off to meet Mickey tomorrow I better get a few days of blog up to date. Suz and I have continued to have excellent weather hot and sunny , sometimes a wee bit humid but we are not complaining and I am well aware that the photos I am sending are brightening up the grey days of rainy England for some of you. So after cruising we got our rental car and set off from Tampa south to a town along the Gulf Coast - Englewood where we had a few days Intervac Hospitality exchange and were hosted by the lovely Sharon and Theron...thank you both...and I look forward to seeing you at my home in the summer. for those three days we zoomed around and enjoyed Venice Beach, Sarasota and ... read more

The weather man promised a partly sunny day so I was looking forward to seeing the sun. He lied. I woke to the pitter patter on the roof again and this time the reporter said the front had stalled and would be here all day. Ok, on to plan B. I played on the computer, watched tv and continued to further mess up the house. (I can’t believe how much of a disaster we can make in such a short time). Yes, Oscar is to blame here too, there is sand and hair everywhere. I guess he’s loosing his winter coat. About noon the rain stopped so we went out for a walk to see what was up. We walked to the dock area and found that the air boat was running and the man at ... read more

The day started with raindrops on the rooftop. I wanted to get up early (7:30) because there was a coffee and donut social that couldn’t be missed. The rain cleared in time to take Oscar for a walk and I even had time to throw the ingredients in my new crock pot for chili tonight. Off I went to the Log Cabin, coffee cup in hand. The local volunteers conduct this social weekly to help inform and make welcome the campers who stay at the park. It was a huge success and I ended up meeting a couple that have a daughter who lives in Scranton and teaches in the Pocono school district. Small world. I was able to get some tips on where to stay and things to do, not only here but further south ... read more

All suitcases packed! We are leaving early Dec. 25 in the morning to Miami to catch our 3:50pm flight into Dusseldorf. We arrive approximately at 6am and once we pick up the rental car we are off. Cross your fingers that everything fits in the rental. They said it fit 3 suitcases and two carryon. Our first stop is Aachen, Germany at the point where Germany borders on Belgium and the Netherlands. Historically this spa-town was a prominent city, the place where the German Kings were crowned, and a famously favored residence of Charlemagne who still lies buried in the impressive cathedral he himself had built. The city is packed with historic sites that remind of those days, including medieval buildings, city gates and beautiful fountains. Our next stop is Vaals. The small Dutch town directly ... read more

Day 1 of our road trip was a little rougher than we excepted. The goal had been to arrive at the Fakahatchee Preserve mid morning, bike and then walk the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk right at lunch time so that we could go to Sanibel for lunch and then head up to Sarasota. But we had unexpected traffic on US41/SW 8thStreet so we didn’t get to Fakahatchee till 11. This meant we were biking the area at the highest heat of the day and we paid for it. The great thing is we hit our goal and did 9 miles. The first two miles of the park is scrub/open plains with lots of sawgrass. The path was littered with these interesting black and red grasshoppers that we tried our best not to run over. The remaining ... read more