Catching Up

We met Archer and Karen Ann through the AWS.  They were both volunteers and Archer was a member of the Board of Directors.  Over the course of my three years as the Volunteer Coordinator, we became friends.  Generally, we try to get together once a month or so, when we share a dessert and play cribbage.  

They are snowbirds, like us but unlike us, they own property and are residents of Florida.  Up until this year, they owned a house in Destin, which is way too far to travel to get together.  However, this fall they moved into their own "apartment" within an adult community in Sarasota, which is only an hour away.  So now, we can see one another during the winter months, too.

We agreed to travel to Sarasota first so that we could see their new place and then go to lunch.  They are living at The Fountains at Lake Pointe Woods, which is a community that residents buy into and includes independent living through skilled nursing care.  They bought a small (800 sq. ft.) apartment which has high ceilings and two large windows overlooking the pond, making it appear larger than it is.  The grounds are lovely and the amenities include several eating areas, a pool, movie theatre, library and much more.  This is the kind of place Bill and I will NEVER be living in...way too expensive for us.  Karen Ann did reveal that their monthly fee is based on the square footage and for the two of them it's $2400 A MONTH!  That's nearly $30,000 a year, nearly as much as my annual income.  

Well, I digress.  They gave us a nice tour of the facilities, we loved on their two dogs while we chatted about what has been happening in our lives since we last saw one another (Oct/Nov) and we headed out to lunch in their brand spanking new hybrid Lexus, which is so damn clean it looks like they just drove it off the lot.  

They had selected a nice little cafe on Casey Key, an island near Sarasota.  Within 20 minutes we arrived at The Casey Key Fish House.

It sits right on the water and although it was cool, the sun was out and it wasn't terribly windy so we opted to sit on the outside deck.  It was really nice being outside in the company of good friends.

Obviously, it is located next to/in the marina but it was very quiet.

The food was very good...crab cakes, fish tacos and blackened grouper sandwich.  The only down side was our tab was $51 for lunch!  for two of us!  Yikes!  Luckily, it was mid afternoon when we ate so we didn't need to eat dinner.

There was a Great Blue Heron that stopped by and perched on a nearby boat and we noticed this group of pelicans perched in the trees.

Trust me, there's a lot of pelicans there.

From here, we went back to their place briefly before heading home.  Next month, they are coming to visit us.  The "tour" of our place will take five minutes but we will need to spend a lot more than five minutes cleaning the car because ours looks lived in, not just purchased.  

Thanks for stopping by...
;o)