St. Patrick's Day in Sarasota

We awakened to YET another gorgeous day in Sarasota.

Sunrise with the last of the beach replenishment happening.

Wanda did water aerobics, which I skipped because honestly I didn't do so well with the whole staying afloat thing the last time I did it!  The laundry was calling my name, so I did chores.  Then we "walked to the wall" - a great long walk on the beach that got me to my goal of 10K steps by 11 am!  Yay me!  My last day of laying by the pool and reading ensued.

First Lido loves a good party and St. Patrick's day is an opportunity!  Several people prepare corned beef and cabbage and everyone else brings something else to share and it's a feast shared with the friendliest of folks.  A wonderful way to say goodbye to our friends here.

Bo looking particularly festive!

The feast!

Gale, Kathy, and Wanda

I told you it was a good party!

The next morning on the road before 9 am.  A long day of driving on I75 and I10 provided nothing of interest really.  We did start seeing more trees - many starting to bud - and fewer palms.  Arrived at our hotel, which trip advisor folks RAVE about - the Country Inns and Suites in Crestview, Florida.  Well, our experience was not stellar!  First we probably waited about 15-20 min to check in with all of 2 people in front of us!  Then got in our room and in about 15 min discovered we had no shower curtain!  Called and about another 15 min later got moved to another room.  This one did have a shower curtain but the a/c sounds a bit like a truck outside the window.  Not so bad that I asked to be moved again... but I was quite surprised since I've only been let down by trip advisor once... now twice.   And there are internet issues that made me just give up twice - once before dinner and once after.  Plus side - we could walk just a block to an Applebees and had a really decent meal - each had one of their new pub meals and it was pretty good.  

Today we will hit the road and arrive in the Big Easy - next post from New Orleans!