Today Reva and Jo go off on the rest of their adventure to Sanibel Island. We’ve had a great time celebrating Reva’s 60th birthday. They will end their week in a tiki cottage on Sanibel across the road from JN Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, which was on Reva’s list of wishes for her birthday celebration.
In the hotel there was a print of a Dali painting that we saw at the Dali museum. JoAnn apparently hadn’t realized that as you come closer to the painting what you see changes. She didn’t believe it, so Christine took a series of photos moving closer to the print.
JoAnn was gob smacked!
After checking out of the hotel, we drove Reva and Jo to Bradenton to pick up a rental car at Enterprise. We drove across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which is one of our favorites. We found the car place and had to say goodbye to Reva and Jo. We have had such a nice time being with them.
Christine and I then headed towards Anna Marie Island to visit Christine’s high school friend Toby and her husband Jeff, who live just 20 minutes away from the car rental place. They recently built a winter home in Harbour Isle on Anna Marie Sound which is a lovely gated community. Christine had reconnected with Toby a couple of years ago when they had their 50th high school reunion. Christine did not attend, but she heard all about it from Toby who did attend. We also had dinner with Toby and Jeff when we were attending a conference in Alexandria, VA a couple of years ago. They live in Washington, D.C. when they aren’t in Florida.
Toby took us on a wonderful long walk around the lake in their community. We also toured several of the model units for both the homes and condos in the community. We can always dream about a beautiful home overlooking the sound out to Anna Marie Island.
Their community has a huge, beautiful clubhouse which was serving lunch. We sat out on a porch on the second floor that has a fantastic view.
Toby was so gracious showing us around and spending time with us. It was a very nice, but short visit.
We then set off for our drive to Deeny’s. We opted for the slow route down the coast rather than back to the interstate. Being Saturday, there was a lot of traffic, but we enjoyed seeing the gulf and all the little beach towns. This was a very nostalgic drive because we drove down Longboat Key, through Sarasota and then down Siesta Key, which is where Dad and Shirley spent many winters. Christine and I reminisced about the many visit we made to Dad and Shirley at the Peppertree on Siesta Key. I was really missing Dad then.
We found our way to Deeny’s in Venice, arriving about 6:30. It was great seeing Deeny and landing where we’ll stay a week. Being on the go every couple of days is quite tiring, so we’re happy to be staying with Deeny for a spell.