Spring Time in Florida

My friend Jan from Raleigh was here visiting this week and we spotted this beautiful bougainvillea on Casey Key.  It was a solid wall of blooms.  Never saw any quite like it before.  What a treat!

We played a lot of gin rummy  and I am the 2011 spring champion, thanks to an incredible run of good cards.  Jan was very game and made many attempts to come back, but it was sorta like the Duke-Carolina game - Carolina was just destined to win that one!  What a great game it was.  A super fine finish to the season. 

We just had to visit Myakka State park and while there, spotted Fred the 12 foot gator lounging in the shallow water about half way up the pic, right side.  It was a very windy day, which gators don't like, so we didn't see very many.  Similarly, there weren't many birds, either.  It was still a gorgeous day on the Burgman with Jan. 

On Sunday we headed to St. Armand's Circle to hang with the rich folks and do some shopping and people watching - Jan the former, me the later.  It was another splendid day and the food at Columbia Restaurant was superb, as always.  It was worth the long wait for a table. 

Our trip to Casey Key also included a short stop at the tiki bar near the fish camp restaurant.  We had attempted some fishing on the inland waterway near Venice, but the rocky bottom claimed too many hooks and sinkers too quickly for it to be fun.  Lots of fish were being caught at the Venice jetty, but we didn't have a license and didn't want to get ourselves caught by the man.  It was fun to watch others doing the catching, though. 

After taking Jan to the Tampa airport, I came back and slept for a couple of hours.  It sure did feel good.  The air was cool, the bed was warm and I was very sleepy from being on the road at 5:15.  It was a rare treat to see the sunrise as I came across the Sunshine Skyway bridge.  I was very tempted to try for a picture, but I really needed two hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road at that early hour. 

The rest of today was spent doing chores and helping friend Ginger with checking the air in the tires of all her vehicles.  Let's see;  there were 13 tires all total.  I had volunteered to help, since she has a little trouble kneeling.  How come 13 you say?  One SUV; one golf cart; one bicycle and one 3-wheeled device that I don't know the name of.  The little tires on the 3-wheeler took 90psi!  They felt like rocks!

March is slipping by very rapidly and in no time I'll be back in Asheville.  Lots of mixed feelings about leaving, but that's the nature of a traveler.  Bon voyage!