onward to next stop.....Perry, Florida

Left St. Petes fairly earlier since we had a 4 hour drive today, according to the GPS. Decided to take the beach route 699 (Gulf Blvd) and follow it through Clearwater....picked up Hwy 60 after that and connected to Hwy 19/98 to Perry. Very nice KOA here....mostly just an overnight stop for most. Beaches are 30 miles away. Just needed a quite and quick route stop for the night, but this route ended up being 5 1/2 hours. Enjoyed an Mexican dinner in town. Off tomorrow to Miramair Beach Destin RV Resort for the week and attend Chris and Erica's wedding on Friday. Anxious to see family.

Day 2 St. Pete's

Wanted to make sure I got my place at the beach today.....got there
at 9:00 and a little breezy

Oh yes......it did warm up quite comfortably

Never seen sky writing before.....only caught the last word....
think it said Jesus Forgives

Hanging out at the campsite before Dinner....decided to feed the squirrels
some of Buddy's $7 nuts

and this little pecker of sort wanted some too....

this is more like it....

Enjoyed breakfast at Snookers, Lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory, before
dinner drinks at Gators then dinner at Snookers.  All this area is
called "Johns Pass" - just a few miles from our KOA.  You can
walk to a dozen restaurants and easy access to the beach.

St. Petersburg Area

We're off today headed onto St. Petersburg. Had a break in the weather until we reached the last 10 minutes of our drive and then the bottom broke and the lighting started. Got checked in to the KOA (cough, cough, its $93.75 per night, not the usual $30ish) really was expecting a luxury resort, but it was a typical KOA campground with pool, hot tub, mini golf, but with water access on the bayou with boat rental. Nice enough, but an unlevel lot. Okay, will deal with for two nights.

Set out to discover a small area of St. Pete and find a beach and some fun. Oh, yes....found both. Will set out early am to have a fun sunny beachy day!

From I-275 crossing over to St. Petersburg

Friendly Fisherman Seafood Restaurant
at Johns Pass on Madeira Beach

more beach time

A little breezy and partly cloudy day on the beach but I wanted to see more of the Lighthouse Beach Area and test my luck to find some great seashells. We got an early start so we could get a good parking place....it's $2 per hour to park plus $6 for the toll going over to Sanibel.

It turn out to be a fairly quite partial cloudy day on the beach with not much luck in the sea shell department....I mean, yes there are shells, thousands, but most all broken and tiny. After lunch at the Lighthouse again, we headed back to the campground but stopped at the Causeway to see if I could get some more shells. Not much there either. I was expecting to see alot more whole shells and larger ones. I've been told that the shells come to the island during a winter storm and then the sea washes them back out during the early summer...that is if any are left that haven't been gathered by the seashell authusist.

We both agreed to move on futher up the coast...maybe St. Peterburgs area. After some research and a day hanging at our campsite, we decided to leave early and book 2 days in St. Petes. We will do one day futher up and then go in early to Destin by a day.

Dinner was at a local Italian Restaurant just up the street from us and an after dinner drink at the other Lighthouse Restaurant before you cross the causeway. As it turn out, they had a band that played R & B....very cool! Buddy wasn't feeling all that great so we passed on the dancing. Still enjoyed listening to the tunes.



Citrola's Italian Grill & Pizzeria

 The weather when we left Ft. Myers was very rainy and tornado warnings out. We had the help of our neighbors to maneuver vehicles so we could easily access our way out of the park. The rain let up a bit and we're off for about a 2 hour tour toward our designation for the next two days. KOA St. Petersburg/Madeira Beach.

Entertainment at the Lighthouse Restaurant and Marina

enjoying the day

A little bit of a rainy day....so we rode over to Camping World to look for a sunscreen for the awning. Wouldn't you know that had them, but not the color we needed. Will keep shopping! Found Joe's Crab Shack"...one of my favorites because they have dungness crab. We have actually eaten at this one a few times in the past years visits to this area.

Isn't he so cute.....

Where we are staying in Ft. Myers

One of the local hangouts - enjoyed breakfast here
They have a sign out front that says "Florida State Law
Mandates that you must have at least 1 mimoisa every day"

Ft. Myers/Sanibel Island

On the road again to Sanibel Island. Well actually it's Ft. Myers area, but only 2 miles from the bridge that crosses over to Sanibel and Captiva Island. Decided to avoid Hwy 41 through Naples and took the I-75 route to Ft. Myers. It only took under two hours to arrive at the Groves RV Resort. We couldn't get in the only campground on the Sanibel Island....it's always booked a year in advance. I'm excited to visit this area mainly because this area is so famous for there sea shells. The resort is a typical florida upscale trailer park with site available for RV's. This particular one was extremely tight in backing into our site...but thankful for nearby RV'ers to help with that task. Not looking forward to existing when that time comes.

Off to get a feel for the area......

The campground we wanted to stay at on Sanibel Island
Just after you cross the bridge turn right at the first stop sign
and campground on left.  We parked at entrance and did a walk through.  Another typical
Florida Campground, but at least the RV's were in another section.  There is access to
the beach at the campground.   A Plus!

A brief walk from the parking lot over a river to Bowman Beach.

And here is one of  several public beaches in the area....of course, we
had to come at high season and during sprink break.

Lighthouse Beach - 2nd day....rainey weather kepted most away.

Just a small sample of the sea shells

The Sanibel Lighthouse

The Bubble Room Restaurant on Captiva Island

Bubble House Restaurant

Shelling on the Causeway - Neat shells

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still dangling in the Everglades

Our group on our 2 hour excursion

One of the many sandbars out in the ten thousand islands

We enjoyed our last evening at the clubhouse and was treated to coctails by the owner of Everglade Isle Resorts. Everyone was most friendly during our entire stay and would enjoy coming back again.

Some of our local restaurants included Island Cafe (breakfast), Everglades Seafood Depot (late lunches), Oyster House (dinner), Camellia Street Grill (lunch)...there are quite a few more in the area, buts these seems to work find for us.

more to the Everglades

Billy singing Love my Solo Cup at Stans Bar in Goodland

These guys are always hanging around the fishing boats on the docks

On board the Princess Dinner Cruise Ship

and our sunset for the evening

Everglade City


 

Everglade Isle Resort...we are at Site
A First Class for A Class only Motor Coach's 12

Pool at RV Resort

Captain Eddie from Jungle Erv's Airboat Tours

View of our RV by water

Our excursion through the Mangroves on the airboat - wild ride!




Meet a whole family of these critters on our airboat tour

And this big guy - a very large croc

A steady stream of these airboats pass us regularly at the RV Resort

View of Marco Island from Sail Boat Tour we did.....Off the Hook Adventures

Shelling on one of the Ten Thousand Islands in the area - our Sail Boat Captain
gave us an awesome tour (just the two of us)

Our sailing catamaran

Buddy helping the Captain

Such a peaceful time sailing in the Gulf - encountered many dolphins

This is the outdoor seating at the Old Lodge Restaurant
Goodland, Fl (very remote drinking community with a fishing problem)

Billy and his girlfriend at the Snooks Bar and Grill...A favorite place for all. Good fun, drinks, entertainment!