Sun-N-Fun RV Resort, Sarasota, FL:  This place is huge—around 2000 sites.  There are mostly park models in here—a smattering of older ones and a lot of really nice new ones.  A lot of people winter here.  We saw a bunch of high end motor homes.  Our site is between two park models.  One is not occupied right now and the other is either owned or rented by a British couple.  We ran into another British couple at the laundry.  I decided to wash the quilt and put it away, so we headed over to the laundry with our books and put the quilt in one of the washers.  When it finished washing we put it in what we thought was a dryer.  Turns out it was a front-loading washer.  Can’t stop them because the door locks, so we had to wait ANOTHER 39 minutes for that to finish (sigh).  While we were waiting we walked over to a little garden by one of the ponds.  Turns out it was a butterfly garden.  Pretty little place with little sculptures and bushes with these fragrant orange blossoms.  Smelled wonderful.  Back to the laundry and put the quilt in the dryer.  In about 10 minutes it was mostly dry so we headed home.  Turns out there are a lot of Brits in here because they have a “lawn bowling” court.  Not sure what that is, but we passed a beautiful bocce ball court.  They have everything in here.  They even have a lawn bowling petanque court for the French people. Not sure what that is, but the French love it.  There’s a small fishing/sailing lake, several big pavilions housing billiards, activity rooms, game rooms, workout rooms, etc., tennis courts, and of course a swimming pool.  There’s also a restaurant and tiki bar by the pool.   So we set off on our bikes to explore this place.  Biked down to the pool which is huge and very warm.  Had a cocktail at the tiki bar (it was almost noon!).  Then we biked over to the lake and continued on past the tennis courts.  Wish we had our tennis rackets with us.  Back to our site and relaxed outside reading for a while.  This resort even has their own movie channel which runs movies 24/7.  Have to watch Dancing With The Stars one last night to (hopefully) see Jennifer Grey win.  I'm feeling unloved.  Think I'll go to the airport and get a pat-down.

Huge pool

 Cocktail time

One of several pet washing stations--accommodates both big and little dogs

Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-O-Lakes, FL, to Sun-N-Fun RV Resort, Sarasota, FL:  Not much on TV last night but we found two great shows on PBS—one on Florida history with an emphasis on the Tampa and Ybor City area, and the other on Stiltsville, which we’d never heard of.  Stiltsville is a group of wood stilt houses located one mile south of Cape Florida on Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The structures stand on wood or reinforced concrete pilings, generally ten feet above the shallow water which varies from one to three feet deep at low tide. Started in the 30s, they reached their peak back in the 60s with around 19 homes—and even several social clubs (Crawfish Eddies, Quarterdeck Club, Bikini Club, Rod & Reel Club) attracting a lot of connected businessmen and politicians, and celebrities were seen out there all the time  Tony Roma, the restaurateur, owned one of the homes there.  The area of Biscayne Bay where the seven remaining houses stood was deeded to the National Park Service and slated to be torn down.  But a bunch of activists got together and stopped it (S.O.S.—Save Old Stiltsville).  They can only be seen from land at Bill Boggs Cape Florida SP which is just south of Miami.  We plan on heading over there when we’re staying at the Everglades.  With a permit you can actually stay at one of the houses.  Wouldn’t THAT be fun!  We left Pasco Winter Quarters around noon and arrived at Sun-N-Fun and were set up by 2:00. 

Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-O-Lakes, FL:  A little cloudy this morning.  We went over to Sandy & Dan’s at noon and we went out for a late breakfast at a really nice little restaurant with great food.  After that we went back to their house and played a couple of games of Spades.  They won both.  We stopped and heated up left-overs for dinner and then played another game—which we finally won  Rushed back in time to see Desperate Housewives—only to find out it’s not on tonight.  Oh well.  Oh, and, happy birthday Mom!

  Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-O-Lakes, FL:  Sandy and Dan drove over to us today and parked their car and we drove over to Ybor City in our truck.  We found a parking spot and then headed to the little trolley that runs from Ybor to downtown Tampa.  We got off at the Channelside stop and had lunch at Bennigan’s on the channel.  There was a cruise ship docked there and they were loading food and luggage.  Watched that for a while and after our lunch we walked down to the aquarium and toured the Victory Ship that was docked there.  After the self-guided tour we took the trolley back to Ybor and drove back to our site.  Sandy and Dan went on their way and we just hung out and relaxed. 

Victory Ship

  

Dan, Sandy & Mike

Fri, Nov. 19:

  Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-O-Lakes, FL:  Lazed around all morning.  Mike washed all the windows on the outside.  What a guy!  I sat outside reading for a while.  Cool in the shade but really nice in the sun.  A beautiful, cloudless deep blue sky.  Left for Sandy & Dan’s around 3:00.  Waited around for Danny, Lorelle, and their new baby, Danny, to arrive.  Cute little guy!  After dinner, they left and we played Spades.

 

Thu, Nov. 18:

  Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-O-Lakes, FL:  Spent all morning on the computer again.  Finished up e-mail and took care of some banking chores.  A little cooler today, but sunny and nice.  A huge motor home pulled in next to us.  They’re full-timers—have been for 11 years.  We left for Sandy & Dan’s at around 3:00.  Sandy had made a mouth-watering pot roast in the crock pot which was delicious.  Their whole house had this wonderful aroma all afternoon.  After dinner we played Spades.  Went home early.

Nap time?

 

Wed, Nov. 17:

  Pasco Winter Quarters, Land-O-Lakes, FL:   Spent all morning on the computer catching up on e-mail and other stuff.  Ran our laundry over and got it going.  We’re right across from the office/laundry, so it’s really convenient.  Very warm today.  Had the air conditioning on for the first time yesterday.  Went over to Sandy & Dans about 3:00.  Had dinner and played Spades.  They won both games (sigh).