Started the day by breaking camp at Fort DeSoto Park Campground Site 38. Took a couple of moments to watch shorebirds foraging for their breakfast. Then met Kay and headed to Paradise Grille on Pass-a-Grille Beach. We fell in love with this place when it was Seaside Restaurant. There’s been a change of ownership. For some reason there are fewer fellow diners here today but the view is still phenomenal and the company delightful. After breakfast the two of us headed for points south checking out a few favorite places along the way such as Ted Peter’s Smoked Fish – an amazing eatery – St. Joseph’s School, Highland Park Apartments. Because of significant winds, we opted to go east over the Gandy Bridge and south on US-41. That gave us a chance to go by Fisher Buggies but didn’t manage to connect with our friend Ken. We ended up west of Fort Myers on Pine Island just a little north of St James City in a KOA that one resident describes as “red Neck Riviera”.
By deliberate choice we were in Medina for all the winter holiday festivities from Candlelight Walk in the days before Thanksgiving through A Christmas Carol and A Celtic Christmas as well as an Alex Bevan Concert and a historic house tour all the way through Medina’s 31st Ice Festival but perhaps the highlight was the town hosting hundreds of folks whose homes and lives were devasted by Hurricane Helene at the A Promise of Christmas Event the middle of January. It’s an honor to be a part of this amazing community!
The warmth we anticipated when we headed to the Caribbean in mid-January didn’t really materialize but the fun we had with our dancing friends and the great crew of the Margaritaville at Sea Islander more than made up for the not so favorable weather.
Aboard Jewel of the Seas, a favorite ship of ours, we enjoyed a foray into the history and geology of Canada’s Atlantic coast while enjoying the joys of friendships, longtime and new. Now we’re looking forward to returning to the same ship for further adventures!
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