I’ll try to catch up on our trip. We’ve been on the move the past couple of days, spending our last day with Deeny, seeing a performance by DeLuna, driving across Florida to Vero Beach to visit with Shirley, and enjoying a nice day with Shirley.
Saturday, Deeny took us to Englewood, a funky little town south of Venice that is mostly old Florida. It has lots of art galleries and small shops and loads of cute little cottages painted in an array of pastel colors. Our first stop was at Lemon Bay Park, a lovely small nature preserve on Lemon Bay, a body of water between the mainland and Manasota Key. We left Deeny on a bench to enjoy the shade and a good book. Christine and I took a short walk around one of the nature trails. Much of it was a wonderful boardwalk through the mangroves and along the bay.
After our walk at Lemon Bay Park, we headed off to Englewood Beach. We weren’t quite sure of our route, so we had quite a tour around the Englewood area, but we eventually found Englewood Beach, which was across the bay on Manasota Key. It’s a very beautiful beach, and because it was Saturday, it sure was crowded. What a difference from the day we had a Venice Beach.
We stayed under cover in two different pavilions. We had packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it while taking in the sights. We then moved to a second pavilion where we had a better view of the beach and gulf. We spent a couple of hours there. Being under cover of the pavilion we had the best of all worlds – no fear of sunburn, but a nice breeze and a wonderful view.
Christine got a little reading done – NOT!
We headed out from Englewood Beach to find where DeLuna was performing, which was a nice little dance studio. Nearby was a café, so we stopped in for a quick dinner at the Spinnaker Café, which turned out to be a great little place.
We then settled in for DeLuna’s performance. She gave us a tour around the world, starting with Native America, then going to Ireland, Scotland, France, Malta, Africa, Indonesia, Japan, Boliva and back to the U.S. The music was lovely and we enjoyed it very much. DeLuna is really an accomplished harper. I didn’t get very good pictures during the performance, but here are two.
An extra added component of DeLuna’s music was that she was joined by a drummer who played along with many of the tunes on various kinds of drums. We thought this really added to the overall musical experience.
And that ended our nice day Saturday. Sadly, we had to leave Deeny on Sunday. Deeny is so very kind and generous and we have a terrific time with her. We are so appreciative of her hosting us. Thank you, Deeny!
Christine and I drove across the state of Florida from west coast to east coast. It is an interesting drive through the Florida heartland of beef ranches, citrus groves and sod farms. And boy is it flat!
We arrived on the east coast and made a little detour to the beach to have a picnic lunch. We were at South Park in Vero Beach. The Gulf of Mexico is beautiful, but I miss seeing bigger waves. As we sat having our lunch we enjoyed watching kids playing in the waves and riding their boogie boards.
We then arrived at Shirley’s, and I think within 15 minutes we were in the pool with her. Shirley loves paddling around in her condo’s pool, and so do we. The pool tends to be the gathering place and lots of socialization occurs there.
Just as we were leaving the pool, Shirley’s daughter Brenda and her husband Dick came around the corner. We all walked back to Shirley’s and hung out with them for a while. Brenda and Dick are in the process of selling their home down in Palm Beach Gardens and will be moving an hour closer to Shirley. They have a granddaughter nearby in Ft. Pierce and so it will be nice for everyone to be closer.
We then had a nice dinner with Shirley at home and spent the evening watching TV.
Monday morning Christine walked down to the beach to see the sunrise and Shirley joined her. Christine took some nice photos.
She also took some pictures of the lovely vegetation around Shirley’s condo.
After breakfast Christine and Shirley went over to the pool to participate in a water aerobics class. I stayed at the condo and finished a book. I then walked over to the pool and sat with Christine for a while. We had lunch and then we all had a nap. The weather had turned rainy, so it was a perfect opportunity to sleep a little. The rain sounded so nice rustling through the palm fronds.
We then drove up to Sebastian, FL to have dinner. Driving to the restaurant I saw the Sebastian welcome sign which really cracked me up.
The restaurant was a place called Squid Lips. What a fun and nice place this was. It is right on the Indian River and very picturesque. It’s not fancy, but the atmosphere was homey and the food was really good.
The river views were really nice.
We had a really good dinner, coconut shrimp, fried clams and scallops. It was an enjoyable evening with Shirley.
We’ll be moving on in the morning. Shirley is having a little eye procedure in the early morning, which I’ll drive her to and from. Then Christine and I will bid our goodbyes and head to Melbourne to have lunch with a friend of Christine’s. We have one more day and night before boarding the auto train on Wednesday.
We’re hearing about the big storm coming to the northeast. We hope that everyone stays warm and safe. We’ll see the end of that storm as we head home from the auto train on Thursday. I’m not looking forward to the winter weather, having been spoiled by this wonderful, sunny, hot Florida weather.