When last we blogged, good buddy 'Detroit' was headed north to---hahaha---DISNEY WORLD to---hahaha---PLAY GOLF, (would have loved to have been a little bird on THAT foursome!) and FISH (oh whoops...)
Never did get to ask him,per my brother Christopher's request, for those tips on Ford stock (buy the preferred,short the common?)
Accordingly,we headed south. This being our second pass through this area, we skipped a lot, but for those of you wondering "Where should I go in Florida?" let me say this:
Sarasota seems to be THE city in Florida if you desire a modicum of culture (not that I do):a good symphony,resident ballet and opera, a bit of jazz and art scenes. Like most of Florida cities however, the beach areas are separated from the city proper by annoying stretches of mall and causeway laden roads---(Miami /Miami Beach, St. Pete/St. Pete Beach, Fort Meyers,Fort Meyers Beach). As far as beach locales in this neighborhood, I would recommend CASEY KEY (mostly high end private residential,but with the occasional small hotel ) or the lower end of SIESTA KEY.
By the way, no matter how ardent a Sox fan you are, I can't recommend Fort Meyers or the even seedier Fort Meyers Beach. Unless Hooters is your thing.
SANIBEL and CAPTIVA are accessed from Fort Meyers, as MARCO ISLAND is from Naples. Didn't care for any of the 3, although Naples itself seemed nice enough, and has a nice beach area just north of it at BONITA BEACH.
This time around we stopped in Collier Seminole St. Park (a big NO for camping) just south of Naples. Then in the morning we made a short side trip to EVERGLADES CITY,the last outpost of civilization before Rt. 41 crosses Florida through EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK.
I'd always thought of the Everglades as a swampy place, and although that is true over on the east side where Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay meet, the west side has a lot of very arid grassland. Anyone camping in the Federal Campgrounds along this stretch is looking for some hard-core solitude. Rt.41 passed eventually through an Indian Reservation (Surprise! Casinos!) and then mile upon mile of nurseries, (obviously supplying the entire state with landscaping materials) before landing us in Key Largo.
Coming up: The Keys,Old Photo Edition and Our Night in a KOA.
Whew! You guys are really becoming quite the Florida-travel-guide-experts! Its nice to get the skinny on the various vacation retreats. Maybe getting detoured to Florida this year was a good thing. You've got the whole state covered now for any trip back and I'll bet you've got some mean suntans.
ReplyDeleteWhoa--wait a minute. Are you guys on a trip or something?! Jeez, way to not tell me!
ReplyDeleteGad, now I gotta get something going right away. Don't worry, if there's anything I've learned in fifty-six years of goofing off it's how to goof off at the drop of a hat.
I'm thinking topical this time... You know that news report about Muammar Gaddafi always traveling with a buxom Ukranian "nurse?" (Did you see the air-quotes I put around nurse?) A-a-a-a-anyway, the nurse, Galyna, contacted Alex via Facebook to hire her with a pressing legal issue that's come up. It seems Muammar's HR people didn't withhold her federal taxes and over-shot on the state's. Now Galyna's facing some stiff fines and penalties unless the plucky Alex can unravel this action-packed intrigue-laden sequence of events that... wait! I've got it!
Leave Alex in Lybia for now, she'll be fine. Here's the second rail: The H2N2 flu is coursing through the world like Miley Cyrus' latest Youtube misdeed. The only known human being immune to the ravages of this curse is Mark Worgaftik! Weird, huh? One DNA sample from a clipping of his beard will save man-kind. Mark, however, is pissed that Wellfleet hasn't sent his 2011 over-sand permit and he's holding firmly to his facial follicles. Dire straits!
Meanwhile, the ill-fated over-sand sticker actually was issued and is now proudly adhered to the bumper of Gabe's new Range Rover. Gabe, while ordering pizza on-line was momentary distracted by a game of "Toss me a Brewsky" and in three fateful unseen computer clicks bet the farm on the commodities market. Soy beans, people, soy beans. The kid cleared 250K and is now making plans to drive to Maui. (Don't worry, the Range Rover's GPS system will get him to LAX and book him on a non-stop.)
So, citizens, unless Wellfleet coughs up a replacement sticker (never before accomplished in the annals of petty-bureaucracy,) we are all doomed, DOOMED to seven to ten days of the sniffles and mild achiness. Will Mark relent? Will Galyna re-submit her W-4 form? Will Alex get to chill in Paris on the way home? Will Justin ever escape from China?? Well??
Later.
S.
P.S. Would it kill you to pick up some spring training gear and send it to:
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The Tolland Inn
63 Tolland Green
PO Box 717
Tolland, CT 06084
860-872-0800
877-465-0800
www.tollandinn.com
mail@tollandinn.com