Christmas - New Years - St. Pete - Punta Gorda - Sarasota - Ft. Myers - Naples

January 3, 2024!

Happy New Year everyone!  Wow, who would have thought that 2024 would come so quick.  But, the year is off to a great start so here we go!  First I want to apologize for the length of this post.  We have been from one great event/place to the next for the last two weeks and there is so much to tell.  I try not to make any one post real long, but I think I failed on this one. 

Christmas

Christmas at St. Pete Beach turned out to be a blast.  Our expectations were low given that we had neither family nor Looper friends with us.  We had a great spot tied up to a dock outside a resort in St. Pete Beach.  Being that we were part of the resort, it entitled us to all the activities the resort had to offer.  Cool!  in addition to the pool and free happy hours, they had a beachfront tiki bar with very reasonable drinks!  To the Tiki Bar we go!!!

The Tiki bar was owned and operated by a guy named Chris.  He was your classic case of "I am going to leave Detroit and own a bar on the beach in Florida!".  And he did.  Chris worked to make it fun for everyone and on Christmas day he threw a free all you can eat (still pay for the drinks) open buffet for any and everyone.  He immediately invited us so that is how we spent our Christmas.  We are in the front left of the pic.  Our Looper friends, Scott and Amy drove over from Clearwater to join us and they were so much fun!

Turns out this was a really fun way to spend the holiday.

Punta Gorda for New Year's Eve

We decided we wanted to spend New Years in someplace different.  Our next stop was Punta Gorda Fl so we pulled the lines up on the 27th and headed that way.  It also turned out to be a great place to spend the holiday.  They had a large ticket only party at the marina restaurant, but we knew we would never make to midnight so opted out.  But the marina was great, the food at the restaurant was fantastic and the harbor was full of manatees.

New Years morning we were treated to an outstanding breakfast accompanied by a Jamaican steel drum band.

What a great way to start a new year!

Sarasota 

Onward to Sarasota Florida.  This is a beautiful, highly groomed, Florida town (small city actually) with a great city marina allowing us to stay in the heart of the town.  I had actually been here multiple times on business but had never taken the opportunity to really explore the place.  It has a ton to offer.

As I said, the marina was right in the heart of the town but was buffered from the town by a beautiful park.  This gave us ample opportunity to walk Yudee and explore.  (Find the Squirrel) 

One of Sarasota's big attractions is the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art.  Yet again, I had low expectations but the Admiral wanted to go.  It was a 5 mile scooter ride that also allowed us to explore the city.  It's beautiful.    Yet again, my low expectations were completely misplaced for the museum was FANTASTIC.  

We all know about the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus being the "greatest show on earth".  But, none of us are old enough to really understand how true that statement was.  Upon entering the museum we were treated to a 3/4" scale (every foot is 3/4 inch) model of the show as it appeared in the 1920s that was created by a single man (Howard) and his wife.  It contained over 50,000 hand caved pieces and was actually animated.  It took almost 30 minutes to walk around the model.  There were actually 15,000 seats IN THE MODEL (just as it was back in the day).

Main Tent

Animal Tent

Yard Scenes

Then we got to enjoy all the actual show equipment and items.

Anybody want to be shot from a cannon?

Thinking our admittance fee was well spent, we headed out to see the grounds.  Then and only then did we realize our screw up.  We had only allocated 3 hours for the museum.  We should have planned a whole day.  It turns out there is a world class art exhibit co-located with pieces over 800 years old.  We got to walk right up to a Michaelangelo drawing.  The exhibit was HUGE with stunning pieces everywhere.

"John and Mable Ringling’s vision to create a world-class art museum was realized with the creation of the Museum of Art’s original 21 galleries. These galleries opened permanently to the public in 1932 as The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and have been wowing visitors ever since with a stunning array of European art from the medieval period to the 19th century."

Guercino’s Friar with a Gold Earring

With dark coming we headed to our scooters.  The art exhibit was so large that it put us out in a different area of the property forcing us to walk the long way around.  My gosh, the grounds were beautiful with huge old Banyan trees and the actual home of the Ringlings.

We hung out as long as we could before low light forced us back to our scooters for the ~5 mile ride home.

But Sarasota had not exhausted its charm yet.  Arriving back at the boat, we asked some locals where the locals go when they want a treat.  Everyone immediately said Owens Fish Camp.  It was about a one mile walk from the marina so putting our depleted scooters on the charger we hoofed it the one mile to Owens.  GREAT PLACE! It was a classic old school Florida restaurant specializing in fresh seafood.  The atmosphere was open air with charm built into every decoration. 

Cabbage Key

One of the many "Looper Favorites" is Cabbage Key.  Accessible only by boat, it contains only one establishment ... The Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant.  Somehow, this tiny island was spared by Hurricane Ian and the restaurant remains in all its glory.  But what makes this special you ask?  Well, I'm glad you asked!!!  

Cabbage Key Inn and Restaurant is reputed to be the inspiration for Jimmy Buffet's Cheeseburger in Paradise song.  It is also, of all things, the inspiration for ... BATMAN!  Mary Roberts Rinehart, the mother of the Inn founder, was one of America's most successful fiction writers.  Her play, The Bat, ran on Broadway and is said to be the inspiration for Bob Kane's Batman.

Click and this should appear larger so you can read it.

Since we were in paradise, we had to have a cheeseburger!

Finally, the restaurant has an estimated 70,000 dollar bills stuck to its walls making it incredibly fun.

So, of course we had to put a SMOOT bill up there.  We made sure it was where everyone would see it.

(Look on the fan)

Outside with a guy playing Buffet songs.

Naples

But, Cabbage Key was only for lunch.  Naples was the destination for the day.  Naples Florida is the playground for America's super wealthy.  We were told (not verified) that just the lots from Gordon Pass (the Inlet to Naples Bay) up to Naples sell for as high as $10m.  We were also told that many of the homes we saw were valued at north of $50m.  This is the Mary Kay house.  The same person told us this was valued at $65m.  Phew.  (It was easy to tell it was hers because it was all pink.  I think the smaller one is the guest house.  It was also pink.)

But, the real allure of Naples is John and Dianne Crisan.  If you have been following this blog, you might recall we met with them on Staten Island NY in June.  Well, their primary home is here in Florida so we got to spend another evening with them.  Dianne was Terri's UofD freshman year quadmate and throughout life has served as her grounding rod.  They love each other like sisters and it is always a delight to see them together.  Her husband John is a good man and I totally enjoy his company.

Well, I want to leave you with a smile and nothing says smile like a pirate ship against a setting sun!

Take care and stay safe,

With Love,

Terri and Aubrey