Sarasota, Florida

December 23rd, 2005 through January 1st, 2006

Friday, December 23rd - 41°, Partly Cloudy

    We left our house today at 2:40pm, after Tara finished working and we all ate lunch. We had to stop at the grocery store to pick up some Downey's potato chips for our family in Florida, then the post office to pick up Mom & Dad's mail, and then finally to their house for a final check to make sure nobody forgot anything and to make sure everything was ok. Once we completed our list of chores, we hit the highway for the long drive down. Aside from the required stops for food and bathroom breaks, our only food stop for today was for dinner at McDonalds (the kids choice). We also made a quick stop at Cabella's in Dundee, Michigan, on our way down for a bathroom/snack break, and also just to look around. The kids enjoyed all of the animals on display. The temperature stayed pretty steady all day today, going a few degrees above or below where we started.     

Saturday, December 24th - 74°, Partly Cloudy

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    Most of today was spent driving as well. We did stop for breakfast at Shoney's (which is like a Big Boy where we live). Aside from this stop and our stop at Wendy's for lunch, we pretty much kept rolling along in our quest to get to Florida. We also did stop at the Florida Welcome Center to take a couple of pictures and get some orange juice (they pass out glasses of that or grapefruit juice, your choice).

    We managed to arrive in Sarasota around 3:30pm, making the trip in just under 24 hours (or just over 25 if you account for our stops on our way out yesterday). Our first stop was a quick visit with my Grandma Beulah at her trailer, and then to my parents' camper to exchange some of the things that we each brought down for each other. After we said hello to everyone and got our stuff transferred between vehicles, Tara, Drew, & I headed to the condo while Tyler & Sam stayed behind to visit.

    We checked into our condo (unit 143) at Suntide Island Beach Club. We got a one-bedroom unit on the first floor. The condo was nice, although not nearly as nice as the places that we have stayed at in Orlando in the past. We tried to lay Drew down for a nap so that we could unload the truck, but he really wasn't cooperative. He has been teething (we assume) and has been pretty cranky, and he doesn't sleep well at all. We managed to get everything unloaded, and most of it put away before we had to be at Denny & Karen's house for the Christmas Eve party. We did manage to sneak in a shower before we had to leave as well.

    We were supposed to be at the party at 7:00pm, but in our typical fashion we were a little late. While we were there we got to see most of our family as well as have a few snacks. The kids each got a present from Grandpa Gary & Grandma Terry, while all of the adults did a "white elephant" gift exchange. Once everyone had the gift they wanted (or didn't want but were stuck with) we decided that we needed to get some sleep, so we headed back to the condo to try to get as much as we could. Of course Drew didn't cooperate too well, but we did the best we could.

Sunday, December 25th - 67°, Mostly Sunny

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    Merry Christmas! The kids woke us up around 10:00am, and although that sounds late I think that Tara & I could have used some more sleep. The kids slept on the pullout couch in the living area, and that is where we had set up their small Christmas Trees yesterday, and that is where Santa Claus left the presents. The kids opened their presents first, followed by Tara & I. We were all happy with our gifts, but we didn't have much time to enjoy them as we had to get ready to head to Tim & Sherry's house for Christmas dinner. Once again we were late, although this time was because we had to stop at the pharmacy for some medicine for Drew and some Kleenex, since the condo didn't provide any for us.

    We had a wide variety of food for dinner, but I stuck with the turkey and ham. I think that everybody enjoyed their meal, and I'm sure we all ate too much. We hung around Tim & Sherry's for most of the day (I got to watch the Pistons win, but couldn't find the football games).

    In the evening we headed over to my parents fifth-wheel to exchange gifts with them. On our way home we made a couple of detours to see some houses that look like "Clark Griswold" from "Christmas Vacation" decorated them. Once we got to the camper we all took our turns opening presents. We then decided once again that we needed to get some sleep, and thus headed to the condo for a night of rest.

Monday, December 26th - 65°, Sunny

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    Today was intended to be kids day, to let them do whatever they wanted since we kept putting them off on going swimming the last two days. The first thing that they wanted to do was swim at the beach in the Gulf of Mexico, which we did after eating breakfast. The waves have been pretty big the last couple of days, but that didn't really deter them. The thing that slowed us down the most was the water temperature. It was plenty cold in the water, which prevented Tara & I from going in past our ankles. Sam managed to get wet a little higher up, and Tyler was wet from head to toe, although not from going in that deep but rather from laying in the water. After about fifteen minutes (once my toes started hurting from the cold) we headed into the condo to change and head back to Grandma Beulah's for lunch.

    After we had eaten our sandwiches and chips, we headed up to the pool area in Grandma's park. Our first stop was the kiddy pool, which ranged from 0 to 12" deep. All three of the kids had fun playing here, but it was too shallow for Tyler & Sam to really get much enjoyment out of it. We headed over to the regular pool next, and we swam here for quite a while. It was really just a little too deep for Tyler to stand in comfortably flat-footed. We had fun swimming with the kids here, but the water an ungodly smell to it that was making Tara & I gag, although the kids didn't care at all.

    Our next stop was back to Grandma's to warm up and to get a shower. Dad took Drew to his camper to nap, since he got so little sleep last night. Grandma, Mom, & Tara went to the grocery store for some goodies and to pick Steve up from work, while I hung out with Tyler & Sam. Once they returned from the store, we started to make our taco dinner. Dennis & Karen, Tim & Sherry, as well as my Grandmother's friends Dory & Peb joined us for dinner. After eating, Dory, Peb, Mom, Grandma, Tyler, & Sam all played a game of UNO attack.

    Once their game ended, we headed back to the condo where we all changed into our suits for a quick dip in the pool. I found the pool water to be a touch on the cold side, so I spent most of my time in the hot tub, with Sam, Drew, and Tara joining me for a short while before they returned to the swimming pool. I did manage to go into the pool for a little while after I got out of the hot tub, which was the backwards way to do it. After Drew, Tara, & I got tired and cold, we dragged Tyler & Sam out of the pool and headed to the condo for bed.

Tuesday, December 27th - 66°, Sunny

    We had another restless night of sleep with Drew. He wound up waking up for the day at 9:ooam, so that is when Tara & I got up as well. The kids did get to sleep in until 10:00am, and that was helpful for their attitudes. We each had a small breakfast this morning. Drew went back down for a nap pretty early this morning (due to getting minimal sleep overnight), and once he did Tyler, Sam, Tara, & I played Sam's Princess Monopoly Jr. game. After the game we started to get our showers. We didn't really have the required groceries to make a complete meal, so we wound up having bacon and eggs for lunch.

    Once we had eaten, we loaded up the Trailblazer and went to St. Armand's Circle to do some window-shopping. We walked around most of the circle before Mom called to have us go to Grandma's for dinner. We didn't find too much to buy (we did see a few paintings we liked, but one of them had a price tag that was a little out of our range at… $26,000), but did end up getting some candy for the kids at one of the shops. The smell was great there too with all of the restaurants & cafes.

    We made pizzas for dinner, but before they were ready to eat Grandma took Tara to play bingo in the park so we wound up having dinner without them. After eating, Mom, Dad, & I took Tyler, Sam, & Drew to the hall in the park for some ice cream cones/sundaes. After we had finished our dessert, we drove around the park for a while just checking out the Christmas lights, as well as just taking a general tour of the park and seeing how things are set up. Once we returned and Grandma & Tara got back from bingo we loaded up and headed back to the condo for what we are really hoping is a night of deep sleep.

Wednesday, December 28th - 70°, Sunny

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    Tara had made an 11:15am appointment at Gina's salon in Tampa, so she got up early this morning to pick up my mom and head north for the hour-long drive. She took Drew with her, so Tyler, Sam, & I were left behind to fend for ourselves. We ate breakfast, and afterwards we happened to catch "Jumanji" on TV. Since we had never seen that movie before so we decided to stay in the condo to watch it all. After the movie ended, we walked up to the swimming pool for a short swim, which we followed up with a short visit to the hot tub.

    Once we were done we called my Dad to come and get us to go back to the trailer park. While we waited for him to arrive we got ourselves showered. He picked us up and on our way to the fifth wheel we stopped at McDonalds for lunch (where I think I got ripped off, but that is another story). We hung around the park until Mom, Drew, & Tara got back from Tampa. Once they returned, we took a bike ride/walk for a while before deciding that we better do something for dinner. Since Tara & I hadn't been there in quite some time, we decided on the "Oyster Bar". Everything there was pretty much as we remembered, and overall it was a pretty good meal (the waitress was pretty crabby, but she made up for it by not charging us for our drinks).

    After dinner we took a drive down Proctor Road to see some Christmas lights. The particular house we were looking for had over 300 trees lit up and synchronized to music. It was a very impressive display, although I cannot begin to fathom how much work must be involved in the whole display. It wasn't just the lights turning on and off to the music, they changed colors as well. After we saw the lights, we took a drive through my Grandpa & Grandma's old subdivision. Everything there remains pretty much the same as I remembered. After our drive, we dropped Mom & Dad off at their trailer, stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of swim "noodles" to help the kids out in the pool, and then headed back to the condo. On our way back, we stopped at the marina where they had some art on display. The reason we stopped was for a sculpture of a sailor kissing a girl. We were told it is an annual art show, but that it is made out of Styrofoam. I guess that they would like to cast it in bronze in the future. It was very nice. After this stop, we headed home to our beds for the night.

Thursday, December 29th - 70°, Sunny

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    We got up today, ate breakfast, and hung around the condo for a while this morning. Drew slept for most of the night last night, but he was up for a while around 6:00am, and was up for good at 9:00am. He was pretty cranky, so he went down for a nap pretty early again. After he went down, Tara took Tyler & Sam up to the pool, where they swam for about an hour and a half before they returned to the condo. Mom & Dad came out and joined us for barbequed chicken and ranch potatoes. After some hassle getting matches to start the grill that the condo provides, we got to cook and eat our meal.

    Around 2:00pm, we walked down to the public beach area for an arts & crafts show. We wandered around for a while without seeing anything too exciting. Sam got a few spring-like pretties for her hair, and Tyler & I each got a shark necklace that was carved from petrified whalebone. Tyler also got an anchor necklace from another vendor (before we found the shark necklaces - go figure).

    We walked back to the condo and went to check out the beach there. We rolled up the Tyler's pants (and some of the adults did too, Sam had on a skirt) to wade in the water, but the kids kept going a little further out with each successive wave. They wound up getting wet. We let them continue on for a while, since no one was getting hurt. Once they were done with that, we went back to the condo to change their clothes. We had to give them a bath just to get the sand off of them, and when we unrolled Tyler's pants we found seashells and a ton of sand in the cuff area (from being rolled up, near where his knees were). Sam's skirt ended up soaked as well.

    With everybody cleaned up, we loaded up to head to the park. Mom & Dad took Tyler & Sam with them, while Drew, Tara, & I stayed behind so that I could take some pictures of the sunset. It was pretty right up until the point that the sun should have been hitting the water but instead went into a cloud, making it pretty anticlimactic. Once I finished with my pictures, we took off and headed to the park as well. We got volunteered to stop at Chick-Fil-A and pick up dinner. I wasn't impressed with the taste (I would have preferred KFC), but I think everyone was happy with it. Tara went with my Grandma to play bingo once again so the rest of us took turns watching Drew & Sam and going bike riding with Tyler. In the middle of their bingo game they take an ice cream break, at which we joined them. Once play resumed, we headed back to the trailer. When they got back to the trailer, Tara was ecstatic to have won nine dollars (of course it cost her seven to play over the two nights, and she bought ice cream for the ladies at her table - but in the end it was fun, and that is the important part).

    After the bingo game was complete, we joined Tara & Grandma at Peb & Dory's trailer (Peb & Dory are two of my Grandma's friends that live in the park). We went there for "happy hour", even though it was close to 9:00pm. They had wine, beer, cheese, and summer sausage waiting for us, as well as presents for the kids (mugs full of candy with candy canes). After conversing with them for quite some time we decided that we better get ready to go back to the condo for the night.

Friday, December 30th - 70°, Sunny

    Today was going to be packing day, since we had to be out of the condo by 10:00am tomorrow morning. The original plan was to take the kids into Sun-N-Fun to hang out with Mom & Dad while we did that, but as usual our plans didn't quite work out that way. We got up for breakfast, then got ourselves ready for the day.

    Once we were ready, we rode into town to pick up my parents. After everyone was in the Trailblazer we went to Mixon's, a fruit market in Bradenton, Florida. We picked up some oranges, as well as an orange/vanilla swirl ice cream cone & some cinnamon flavored kettle corn while we were there. Once we were finished with our ice cream, we checked out and headed back to the fifth-wheel. From there, Tara & I headed over to Dennis & Karen's to pick up our trailer, and of course we wound up talking longer than we should have. By the time we left, it was hardly worth going to pack up before dinner, so we went back to Sun-N-Fun.

    We went to the parks restaurant, Boondocks, tonight for dinner. We met up with Peb & Dory once again, as well as Dick & Lois, Kathy and her friend Steve, and Mom, Dad, Grandma, & Steve. The food was ok, although there wasn't much selection. I suppose that is to be expected in a restaurant solely devoted to serving a trailer park/campground. After dinner, Tara & I took the kids back to the condo to start packing. We actually got done at a decent hour, and went to bed for the first time on this vacation before 11:00pm.

Saturday, December 31st - 70°, Sunny

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    Today was condo checkout day, so we got up early. After breakfast we showered up, and then finished loading our stuff into the Trailblazer (like our pillows and our pajamas from the night before). We had to pile up all of our linens in the kitchen, and then we vacuumed the floor before heading to the office to turn in our keys. We pulled out of the condo parking lot for the last time, and then made the drive back to the park.

    We ate leftovers for lunch at Grandma's house, after which Sam, Tyler, Tara, & I went over to Dennis & Karen's to meet up with him for a boat ride. We rode with Denny to the dock, were we put his boat in the water. Tyler's first comment about the boat was that it smelled like fish sticks (it is a fishing boat, after all). We then headed out, taking a tour of Sarasota Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, & the Intercoastal Waterway. We got to see several huge homes (one of which was supposed to have been valued at $17 million), as well as the Van Wezel auditorium (known locally as the purple cow) and the Ringling Museum. We had a good time on the boat, and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. Tyler & Sam liked to put their hands in the water splashing up as we cruised along. According to Tyler, the worst part of the boat ride was the pink Barbie life preserver that Denny had to borrow for him. It wasn't too bad, as he quickly forgot about it. After about 2 hours, we headed back to the dock to load up. Denny had forgotten his lighter, and we had pretty much completed a circular tour of the area surrounding the dock, so it was time.

    After the boat ride, we went back to Mom & Dad's camper to help with the dinner plans and preparations. Several people from the park were meeting for a New Years Eve dinner, to be followed by cards. We were invited for dinner, and Mom had started lasagna to take (it was to be an Italian potluck meal). Dinner was good, but as usual with potluck style meals I didn't eat too much (besides my Mom's lasagna I also ate a piece of garlic bread).

    After dinner we went back to Mom & Dad's trailer. We wound up watching a "Dukes of Hazzard" reunion movie on CMT, followed by a behind the scenes look at the show. Once these shows were over, we all hit the sack for the night, falling asleep before 11:oopm and missing the ball drop in Times Square.

Sunday, January 1st - 70°, Sunny

    We woke up this morning and had a light breakfast. We took our turns showering before heading to my Grandma's trailer for lunch. We were joined there by Dennis & Karen and Tim & Sherry, as well as my Mom & Dad and Grandma & Steve. We enjoyed our last home cooked meal before leaving while watching the football game. Before we loaded up the car and left, the kids showed everyone how well they rode their bike with a "race" up and down the road. Once they were done, we hooked up the trailer and hit the road, leaving at 2:50pm.

    Our drive was routine. We hit our first raindrops near the top of Florida, and had them occasionally all day, sometimes heavy. Our only food stop for today was a quick sit down meal at Pizza Hut. The remainder of our time was spent driving.

Monday, January 2nd - 40°, Rainy

    We finished up our drive today. It was rather uneventful, except for the on and off rain that we ran into. We did stop at a McDonalds in Ohio for breakfast today, and then plugged on until we got home. We pulled into the driveway at 1:50pm, making for a 23-hour drive home. The rest of our day was spent unloading, showering, and resting. Back to the daily grind starting tomorrow!

Trip Summary 

    Overall, this was a good trip. There were a few things that we would change for next time, but we enjoyed ourselves despite these things. The first thing that we would change would be when we leave. We had planned on leaving a day earlier, but I got sick a couple of weeks prior to leaving and I used all of my vacation time. We are going to have to start stopping for the night, as we just get too tired driving straight through the night.

    The next time we go to Sarasota for a week like this, we probably won't be staying at Grandma's condo. Although it really isn't much distance from Sun-N-Fun, the traffic made the drive seem like forever. Since we wound up there everyday anyway, it would have been much easier to stay closer. It was suggested that we could stay in the fifth-wheel next time and Mom & Dad would sleep at Grandma's while we were down, and that might be the easiest way to handle things. Heck, we all camp in it, there is really no reason we couldn't sleep in it there as well.

    The final thing that we weren't really happy with was the condo itself. There isn't anything wrong with it per se, but it was a little too small for our family of five and all of our stuff, especially at Christmas time. The other thing that we weren't really too happy with was their checkout policy. We thought that the checkout time could have been a little later, and we really didn't like the fact that we had to take the sheets off the bed for them. For the maintenance dues that Grandma has to pay, this is the least that they could do.

    Aside from these issues, we had a good time on this vacation. We got to see a lot of family that we don't get to see often. We had a good time at the Christmas Eve party at Denny & Karen's, and at Tim & Sherry's on Christmas Day. We also enjoyed our boat ride with Denny, as well as the time we spent at Sun-N-Fun. The kids liked to swim in the pool, as well as riding their bikes around the park. This was the first time that Sam really got excited about riding her bike, so we were happy about that. Tara enjoyed her bingo nights with Grandma, and I think that she would fit right in down here when she retires.

    As I said, we had a good time on this trip, and are hoping to make it again soon. We really enjoy seeing everyone, and we enjoy the Sarasota in general. Our only hope is that it doesn't take us so long to get back next time.