2/6/2022 Siesta Key-Celery Fields

 We played hand and foot last night and the girls won!  Yay!

This morning Russ went for his long run - 10 miles.  The rest of us had a leisurely breakfast.  Dave noticed that there were underwater lights in the canal below our balcony that attracted the fish.  There were some sizable ones that swam into view.  When Russ returned, he had breakfast and showered.  We drove into town to browse the small craft fair (see the only non-bird pic) set up there and then headed out to Celery Fields to watch the birds.  We saw a least bittern, a Nanday parakeet, blue winged teals, both white and glossy ibis,  American, snowy and cattle egrets, great blue, little blue, green and tricolored herons, painted buntings (although I only saw the female as I was watching the staff check the purple martin houses for signs of nesting), grackles, boat tails, cardinals, brown-headed cow bird, red-winged black birds, common and purple gallinules and a pair of sand hill cranes.  We came back for lunch and Russ, Cathie and I walked the beach while Dave took a nap.  The weather was 67 and overcast again today, but there were a few people in beach chairs bundled in their sweatshirts.  We will wait for a sunnier day to go to the beach.  I am making dinner tonight - meatloaf, mac and cheese, and salad.  Tomorrow we will order out again.

2/5/2022. Emporia GA to Siesta Key, FL

 When I woke up this morning and turned on the TV to check the local news and weather, I realized that the reason for the lack of hotel rooms was not only because of all the high school wrestlers and their families, but the killers of Ahmaud Arbery will go on trial Monday in Brunswick.  I'm sure there are plenty of news and media reporters here to follow the trial. We had breakfast and loaded up the car and got on the road.  We stopped at the Florida welcome center for our free glass of orange juice, but we all remarked that it didn't taste fresh squeezed like it used to.  We got on Route 301 right after Jacksonville - not very exciting, but a change of pace from the highway.  We did pass by several lovely horse farms.  In Ocala we got on I-75 and headed south.  When we got near Tampa we waved to our friend Kelly.  We got to Siesta Key a bit early so went for a short drive and then loaded up at the grocery store.  We expected to see most people without masks, but I would say at least 2/3 of them were masked - probably all the Yankees and Canadians down here to get out of the cold weather.  We packed the groceries around our feet and on our laps and went back to see if we could get the key.  Check in was supposed to be at 4, but they finally had the room ready around 3:45.  We were happy to get into the unit.  We are on the seventh floor and have 2 bedrooms and 2 baths.  There is a lovely balcony, a pool, tennis courts, and a private beach across the street.  Russ and Cathie went into town to pick up grouper sandwiches and a large salad to share for dinner.  We are planning a card game while listening to the Olympics (as long as it is not curling!).  Most of our ride today was overcast, but it did get up to 70, but only saw sunshine near Jacksonville.  We hope to go on a bird walk tomorrow so will put some pics on. 

2/4/22 Emporia VA to Brunswick GA

 We had a much better day today.  We met in the lobby for a 6 AM continental breakfast - very good.  We got on the road and for most of the day the skies were cloudy with a few odd showers here and there, but there was not steady rain.  We stopped for lunch at a Wendy's - Cathie and I had baked potatoes.  The outside temperature kept rising as we drove south.  The highest I noticed was 82.  I am definitely wearing shorts tomorrow.  We stopped at Brunswick to get rooms for the night.  We went to five different motels in the area, but they were all full or charging outrageous prices.  We found out at one of them that there was a high school wrestling competition here this weekend and that is why every room was taken.  We traveled on down the road to the last exit in Brunswick and found a Comfort Inn.  There again was not a huge choice of restaurants so we ate at Denny's at a table very far away from everyone else.  No pics today.  We will hopefully watch a bit of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics and hit the sack.  I am so glad I was finally able to get on the blog, but will work on pic placement next time.  We will get to Siesta Key tomorrow and are all looking forward to it.

2/3/2022 Mystic CT to Emporia VA

 We rose early this morning - 3 AM, had a quick bite to eat, loaded the car and got on the road at 4.  Our idea was to get through New York City before the traffic got bad.  Unfortunately we got slowed down a bit with the thick fog all along I-95.  There was quite a bit of truck traffic too as we got closer to the George Washington bridge and it started to rain.  At one point, we saw a sign that said 12 minutes to the bridge.  After 20 minutes, we began to see signs for La Guardia and finally signs for the Long Island Expressway and I know something had gone wrong.  Somehow with the fog, the rain and the monster trucks all around us we got off of 95.  We managed to turn around and get back on the right path, but that error cost us about 45 minutes.  Oh well, we did eventually get over the bridge and onto the Jersey Turnpike.  Our trip through Delaware and Maryland were uneventful.  We also skirted around Washington DC with no problems.  We had three slow downs above Richmond however.  One was just a volume slow down, one was an accident off on the shoulder.  After that things were going smoothly for quite a while, but at one point I noticed that there was no traffic moving in the northbound lanes.  We did see one lone car, but then no others.  It was like something out of the Twilight Zone - very eerie.  We couldn't imagine what was going on until Russ mentioned that there must be an accident on the northbound lanes and the traffic was not allowed to pass.  The hold up in our lanes was due to rubberneckers.  We eventually passed the scene of the multi-car accident and the north-bound traffic was stopped for several miles.  We finally got below Richmond and were happy to stop for the afternoon in Emporia VA.  The whole day had been foggy, rainy or both so we were happy that the weather in Emporia was just overcast.  The rooms were not ready for us so we took a ride to explore the downtown area.  We got through our car tour of the town quickly as there wasn't much there so we turned around and had to stop the car so I could take a pic of the Senior Citizen Inn (first two pics) - quite the place, but so happy we were booked into the Hampton Inn!  We started to take a walk down by the river, but it started to rain and we left downtown Emporia with its two pawnshops and not much else to speak of (except for the Senior Citizen Inn).  The last picture is the "peanut love sign" (last pic) that welcomes you to the town.  We loaded up the baggage carrier and took the elevator to the second floor of the hotel and our bad luck was still holding:  the elevator malfunctioned and we were stuck inside!  We had to press the panic button several times before we were connected to the front desk and someone came to let us out.  The rooms were lovely and Dave took a short nap before we went out to dinner at the only viable option: Shoney's.  We would have done take out, but there was hardly anyone inside and there was no one on the glassed in porch which is where we sat.  We got back and had an early night.   

3-11-20

So we are home and I realize that we left things hanging a bit about the last days of our time in Florida.  We spent some time packing on the last afternoon and then went into town for grouper sandwiches for dinner as we didn't want any leftovers.  We came back and then walked to the beach to our nightly sunset watching.  It was a bit chilly and windy, but the sunset was glorious.  There also was almost a full moon so took a pic of that on the way back.  We played our usual game of hand and foot, but Cathie and I conceded after round #2 as it was quite obvious that the boys had a commanding lead and we couldn't possibly catch up.  So, the champions of the Siesta Key hand and foot competition for 2020 are Russ and Dave! 

Unfortunately, I had packed my camera for the trip home so couldn't take a photo of the wonderful sunrise Saturday morning.  We got to the airport early for Russ and Cathie's flight and sat with them at their gate until they were ready to board.  After hugs all around, we walked to our gate and had a long wait until our flight was called.  We spent the time reading and people watching - always interesting.  I finished a book and gave it away to the woman at the information booth.  I told her it was a bit steamy and she said, "The steamier, the better!".  We had a good laugh.  She also likes to people watch and said she never got bored as their was live entertainment around her all day.  We were surprised to see only three people with masks in the whole airport and none on our flights.  We also expected to have not full flights and that also was not the case.  In retrospect, I think we got out just before things got a bit crazy with the Coronavirus.  On our second flight, we were on the same plane with Joe St. Martin (Jody Capen's husband).  He had been down in the same area we were last year. 

We had a wonderful trip and even though the weather at home was warmer than expected while we were gone, we were happy to be in a place where shorts and tees are the norm and there are so many birding places to enjoy.  Russ said he would like to return to Siesta Key next year so we will see.

3/6/2020

Last night there was a thick deck of clouds when we walked over to the beach for our sunset viewing. 

 We played cards and the boys won so the score is now tied at 6 to 6.  Tonight is our last night here so we will play for the Siesta championship!

It was not a beach day today - highs in the low sixties and windynso we started the day with a sunrise walk on the beach

and then drove into Sarasota to the Art Ovations Hotel.  There is a huge art exhibit in the lobby/dining area of the hotel and different artists are featured on each floor in the elevator lobbies.

wall mural on the side of a building across from the hotel

my favorite painting

Russ trying out a chair on the roof pool deck

We drove down to the water area where the couples took turns re-enacting The Kiss.

We walked around the marina and noticed a party barge decked out with real palms on the top deck.  It was a bit brisk for a ride, but we did see people lining up a few minutes later - hope they had some warm clothes!

We walked over to a park and noticed that there were lots of school children there on a field trip.  The exhibit was called Embracing our Difference.  Over 16,000 art works and quotes on the theme were submitted from 127 countries and 50 states.  The art and quotes were each judged separately and then a panel matched each quote with an appropriate piece of art.  They were blown up to bill board size and distributed throughout the park.  It was a wonderful exhibit!  We watched a group of fifth graders and they chose two panels to replicate on paper and then write about what the artist was trying to portray and judge the appropriateness and meaning of the quotes.  What an awesome learning experience and talking point for these students!

Since we can't have any leftovers tonight, we have decided to do take out grouper sandwiches from The Cottage for dinner tonight.  We have to get up early tomorrow as Russ and Cathie have an early flight.  Dave and I will go in with them and talk, people watch, and read until it is time for our flight.  We will arrive in Providence at 6 and then drive home.  This has been a great time - lots of walks, sunshine, birding and relaxation.  We hope to do it again next year. 

3/5/2020

We drove into Tampa yesterday for a dinner at Bern's.  Traffic wasn't too bad until we neared the city and then it was pretty awful.  We got there early for our reservation so had a walk around the neighborhood - lots of old Florida houses, most of them were renovated and painted wonderful tropical or traditional colors.  Our dinner was fantastic!  None of us are avid steak lovers, but the steak at Bern's is done right - nicely aged and cooked well.  Russ and Dave had grilled shrimp appetizers, then all of us had onion soup and salad (included with each entree).  The steak was accompanied by a baked potato, fried onion strings, mustard greens with bok choy and julienne carrots.  All of the vegetables come from their own garden.  Cathie and Russ enjoyed everything about it.  We joined a tour of the kitchen and the wine cellar tour.  They have 125,000 bottles on hand and another 500,000 in the warehouse.  We then went upstairs to the dessert room.  Oh, my!  We have tons of leftovers for tonight's dinner so we will feast again.  We didn't get back until just after 9.

We revisited Myakka State Park this morning.  A very good place to see birds.  There was a juvenile bald eagle on the shoreline - too far away to catch with my camera, but someone had a scope and let us look at him close up.  The most birds were at the weir area - roseate spoonbills, white and glossy ibis, tri-colored herons, great blue herons, limpkins, stilts, blue-winged ducks, a snow goose, lots of black vultures, and a half dozen alligators.  We came back for lunch and I am doing a last load of laundry before heading to the pool. 

view of the drawbridge from our balcony

The stilts have impossibly long legs

Tri colored heron

Gator eyes