Enjoying a week of fun in the sun

December 7-14, 2013
Cortez, Florida
Holiday Cove RV Resort



With most of the nation in a deep freeze, we have been especially grateful to be enjoying temperatures here in the low 80s and high 70s. It has been a glorious week here while our hometown of Corvallis, Oregon has had record cold and snow with school cancelled five days in a row!  I do admit to missing the thrill of those early morning calls saying that school was canceled. When you retire and have every day “off,” you do lose something of the pure joy of an unexpected day of freedom. Perhaps the trick is to live each day as a “snow day” or in our case a “beach day”--the perfect trade-off.





On Saturdays though, I still like to keep the ritual of strolling through a farmer’s market.  Even in winter in Corvallis, there is an indoor farmer’s market with fall vegetables and lettuce and other organic goodies and baked goods. The best farmer's market we have found in Florida is the one in downtown Sarasota. It has many locally grown fruits and vegetables and a potpourri of other offerings including unusual entertainment.









Sarasota is a beautiful waterfront city that reminds me in many ways of Portland with its thriving art scene, hip clubs and cafes, and great shopping (think St. Armands Circle). If we drive down Longboat Key from our park, it takes about a half hour to get there and it is well worth the visit. We are looking forward to checking out Sarasota's more notable attractions such as the Ringling Brothers Museum, Mote Aquarium, and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Yes, the local bucket list of things to do here this winter is ever growing.

We also need to keep the dogs in mind when thinking of things to do in the area. One favorite is to take the dogs to a small neighborhood park about two miles from here which is on the bay. It is not advertised as a dog park, but they allow dogs off leash. They are in heaven playing in the water and running free—something they need to do on a regular basis.



We also like to find doggie daycare places nearby when we are staying somewhere for a while. After quite a bit of internet research, we chose one that we wanted to tour, Bayside Pet Resort and Spa. It is about 15 minutes from us and is the cleanest, most inviting place we have ever seen for dogs. We haven’t left them often overnight, but would have no qualms about them staying here where they get plenty of play time outside with other dogs and lots of individual attention. We plan to take them here for a few half-day sessions in the weeks ahead just to give it a try.



Other pastimes this week included having dinner with our new friends Dave and Suzi of Beluga’s Excellent Adventure. Dave has a sixth sense for dogs (probably from raising several guide dogs) as Jetta is usually shy with new people, but she was in Dave’s lap in no time. All I managed to get was one blurry photo. I am hoping we will have more photo ops of their new relationship.



We also went with our friends who are staying at the campground next to us to try out Jose’s Real Cuban Food Restaurant, a place that has been featured on Guy Fiero’s show Diners Drive-In’s and Dives. The place is a little bit of a hole in the wall café with only a few tables and long counter, but it was spic and span with lots of good spicy smells emanating from the tiny kitchen. We tried their pulled pork and Cuban sandwiches with black beans and rice. The food was good and very reasonably priced. They also offer samples of their specialties which is quite helpful for choosing from several offerings.



Other joys of the week were spending time at our favorite beach on Longboat Key, getting the kayaks wet for the first time since we were at Glacier National Park in September, and eating my first soft shell crab sandwich at the Starfish Café, a well-known local spot just a few blocks from us on the bay.







We have also been enjoying our pool here at the park as the water is kept at a perfect temperature and it is large enough to be able to swim laps and get some decent exercise. Every Wednesday the park holds a happy hour by the pool where everyone brings an appetizer to share. It is a lovely way to get to know both the long-term residents and many short-term guests who flow in and out of the 97 sites available here at the park. Suffice it to say, we are enjoying this locale.



Whenever we are in Florida, I become a little obsessed with taking photos of birds. Here are just a few of the shots I took this week while kayaking at Robinson Preserve. Too bad I couldn't get any photos of the jumping mullet: the salt marsh was teeming with them, but they disappeared every time I clicked the shutter.

Settling into our winter home in Cortez

December 1-6, 2013
Cortez, Florida
Holiday Cove RV Resort



After just an 80 mile drive from Zephyrhills, we pulled in to our new home for the next two months: Holiday Cove RV Resort in Cortez, just one mile from the beaches of Anna Maria Island.  After checking out various campgrounds and locations to stay in Florida the last two years, we both agree that this area is our favorite place to spend the winter. We love that we can walk or ride our bikes to the beach, launch our kayaks right from the park into a canal that leads to Sarasota Bay, or walk across the street to enjoy happy hour at a local tiki bar.







Another big bonus in staying here is having friends nearby. Two couples we met on the road our first fall are next door at Buttonwood Inlet RV Resort. We have spent time with them the last two winters in Florida at Seminole RV Park in North Fort Meyers and have even traveled to their home towns in South Central Illinois on more than one occasion. Buttonwood is close enough to walk or ride our bike to their sites and join them around a campfire.  Yay!  We are also lucky to be here at Holiday Cove with fellow bloggers Suzi and Dave of Beluga’s Excellent Adventure and their adorable dogs Lewis and Sasha. I have been following their blog for a few months and this has been our first chance to meet them. I had high hopes that Rico would play well with Lewis their standard poodle, but the first meeting did not go well as Rico acted nervous like I was going to leave him. He has some attachment issues with me. I think we would do better to get them off leash at a park nearby where they can play more freely. We joined them later for a very pleasant happy hour on their patio (with our dogs at “home”) and look forward to getting to know them better even though they sport a big green O on the back of their motorhome. We forgive them for having a son who is an alumnus from our rival school, the University of Oregon.  And—I need to forgive myself for neglecting to take photos even when I bring my camera!

The past couple days we have enjoyed setting up our place for a longer stay than usual. It reminds me of when I was young and had a pretend house in the woods by our house. My girlfriends and I would sweep the dirt, arrange old cast-off furniture, and even decorate with flowers and borrowed housewares. Setting up a motorhome, after having been on the road awhile, sure feels like playing house. I really enjoy finding ways to make our new site cozy and comfortable—especially the outdoor area. Sadly, we have not had many opportunities to set up the outdoor patio since we were in Florida last winter. With Christmas around the corner too, it is fun to add some holiday décor to our new digs as well. We have a small tree and some white lights to string up on a palm tree—haven’t gotten to that yet. With storage space at a premium, I need to keep things pretty simple in spite of the temptation to add to our holiday bling.













We weren't here long before heading out to our favorite beach about three miles away just over the bridge onto Longboat Key.  There is public access here but no facilities such as showers or bathrooms, which makes it less popular than the sometimes crowded Coquina Beach.

The beaches are sugar white sand with a gentle surf and lots of shelling possibilities. On a good day, you can expect to find some sand dollars, whelks, conches, and olive shells. My first day here we happened to catch high tide, the least favorable time for shelling, but I still came up with a few treasures on my beach walk.



Another main attraction for me is watching and photographing the shore birds. They always seem to put a smile on my face.









Our park has a lovely swimming pool, small exercise room, shuffleboard, and perhaps best of all for us, a boat launch. The park is built along a small canal so some of the sites have their own dock where they can tie up a boat. This park has lots for private ownership and rent. Some of the folks who own their own lots have quite a few outdoor amenities on their site with more permanent looking furniture and big gorgeous potted plants.











The pool is a big deal to me as I really like to swim and the Gulf is not too warm this time of year (73 degrees today). They keep the pool at 87 degrees and it feels terrific. In addition to swimming, I joined a fitness club for women that is just a few miles away. They have Zumba classes 6 days a week and a variety of other classes I intend to at least try. This area is also one of the best we have stayed at for biking (other than Hilton Head).  You could actually stay here for the whole winter and never use your car as the beach, grocery stores, great restaurants, and even Starbucks are all a short bike ride away.

You might be able to tell we are excited to be here. This will be the longest we have stayed anywhere in our travels so far. It feels good to have a home base for a while and we are feeling more than fortunate with sunny weather in the low 80s while our hometown is experiencing record lows with an abundance of snow.  That would be fun for a few days, but we’ll gladly take the beach and palm trees for our holiday in the sun. Cheers!