We experience more Florida traffic
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We got out of dodge around 9:30. We’re still not quite on Florida time. The line of cars coming in was already pretty long (again). People put up with a lot to get their beach time here.
We headed to Sanibel Island — a nearby barrier island known for its shell beaches. But first stop, some breakfast. We’re in a long line of cars and no sign of food. We panicked a little early as it turned out but found a decent place in a grocery store called Jerry’s. Then we drove out to the nearest beach where we once again panicked a little early and parked, fearing the lots would fill up. The beach was nice. Lots of shells as advertised and we proceeded to stock up. Then we headed into town to see the Shell Museum. This is a museum (possibly the only one in the world) totally dedicated to shells. And it was kind of interesting actually albeit a bit pricey for a museum dedicated to shells. We were able to determine pretty well what kind of shells we had acquired. And learned a bit of shell lore.
There was a lot more to potentially see and do on the island but we were feeling the need to get on the road and on to the next place. So we abandoned it. It was a bit of a hike to get back to the interstate. We passed through the same mega suburbs we’d seen before and a lot of the same area we’d driven through to get to the Edison place. I don’t know why I thought Florida would be more ‘remote’ feeling but it’s not. It’s very built-up. At least where we were. Lots of nice weather but plenty of people.
After a few hours it seemed like it was time to stop. Maybe Marion wanted a diet coke. I can’t remember. But we saw a sign for ‘historic downtown Sarasota’ and decided to go have a look. But we never did see it. We must have driven right by. But in the process we realized we were right near the Ringling Museum so we drove around a bit until we found it. In the process we saw a fair bit of Sarasota. Sarasota seems very nice. It feels ‘new’.
The Ringling Museum is the former winter home of John and Mable Ringling (John being one of the circus brothers). His place makes Edison and Ford’s estate look like slums. It’s a beautiful Italian style villa overlooking the water on about 60 acres of lawn and gardens. They also built themselves an art museum to show off their collection (sure, why not). And now there’s a circus museum, a theater, and some other things.
It was 4pm by the time we got there and they closed at 5. The people at the desk said it was a 3-4 hour experience. And even believing we could do it in half the time, it seemed like we shouldn’t spend the $25 fee for such a short visit. We thought we might come back the next day but that didn’t work out (once we realized how far it was from our hotel). But you’re allowed to wander the grounds for free, which we did. A very pleasant walk and we both decided that we could easily see ourselves ‘wintering’ in Florida if we had a place like this (and people to take care of it).
They were setting up the back patio for a wedding while we were there. It looked beautiful. Certainly not the Scout House, where we had our wedding. It had clearly set someone back a few bucks.
We headed north again and once again across the Skyway Bridge. But this time up through the Pinellas Peninsula rather than across to Tampa. Once again, 3 lanes of traffic and stop lights. It took forever. We passed the time checking license plates. We’ve noticed that Florida has a wide variety of plates and we’ve been looking for new ones. All in all we found 24 different ones and that’s not even all of them. One for each sports team, each college, each branch of the armed service, most native species (dolphins, manatees, etc.) and various causes.
We managed to find some pretty interesting areas along the way. (Interesting in the sense of, I hope the car doesn’t break down here.) We weren’t sure how far up the peninsula our place (Dunedin) was so we were starting to get worried it might be in this part. We didn’t want to spend a night (let alone 3) where we were. But finally we got clear of all that and hit Dunedin which turned out to be very pretty and on a nice bay just north of Clearwater. The hotel is on a pier. The tide was out and there were a number of wading birds looking for frogs.
We decided to have dinner at the hotel since it was getting late and we didn’t have a better idea. There was supposed to be a dining room and a cafe so we figured the cafe since I was still wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops. We got over there and it became clear that this was not the expected dress code but they didn’t kick us out. It just felt like we were looked down upon. A couple was getting married at the marina (or were having their reception I guess). They were out on the dock with the photographers getting their pictures done. They looked very happy. I had gone out on the dock for a photo and said ‘congratulations’ as I passed by. The bride seemed very pleased by that.
Our waiter was definitely an east coaster. My guess is New York. A bit older. He really gave us a good run down of what he thought about the menu both good and bad. What was a good deal, what wasn’t. I surprised him by ordering a $26 entree. I think he was expecting a cheese burger. The sun was setting over the water and it was very pretty. A Scottish band (local high school?) showed up and started playing. Not well. But it passed the time (the dinner took a long time to show up). The theme from Star Wars on bagpipe is not something you hear every day (nor would you want to).
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