Escaping to Florida for a Winter Break

We're not really Florida people, but somehow we decided to rent a house in Sarasota for January and February of 2016. After we visited friends there in March of 2015, we kind of fell in love with that place. Then the horrible winter snow at the beginning of 2015 turned our stomach a bit. So, together with my sister and brother-in-law, we rented a house and made the commitment in early 2015. It's a house with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, including two master bedrooms with on-suits. Just what we were looking for.

Bob and I left home on 1/6, making a first stop at our daughter's place in Philly, then staying the next three nights on route to Sarasota, getting there on Sunday, 1/10, the start of our rental. My sister and brother-in-law would fly there the day after our arrival.

On Our Way - First Stop - Philly; Wednesday, January 6, 2016

We left the house shortly after 9am - I wanted to leave at 9am but we were not able to make that happen. We did not even get to walk the dogs as we were planning to do. Somehow the last minute packing too much longer than hoped. I should have known ....

After we got in the car, I had the nagging feeling that we forgot something. That something (at least part of it) turned out to be the dogs' food bowls, so we had to buy a couple of stainless steel bowls before we reached Ben's house.

Traffic was light so we made good time. Got to Ben's house before 4:30 - we wanted to drop off a few things for Caleb. I would have loved to go to his school to pick him up and bring him home, but our car was packed to the hilt, absolutely no room for anything else, not to say a kid and his car seat.

Ben was working at home so we were able to see them. Caleb read me the blanks he filled in on these "Mad Libs" little booklets. That was a good practice, to learn nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. But at this stage, Caleb's interests seemed to be focused on bathroom related vocabulary. Oh well, I guess it's a stage the kids go through.

We walked around the block once, with the 2 dogs, then we had to leave because we're meeting SS for dinner. We got to her house around 6:15. Caleb's laundry was piled up - at least 2 months worth, I figured, so I started putting a load in. SS planned for us to meet Brian for dinner at a restaurant half way between his and her places, so we drove there. Even though it was a bar like place, the food was not bad. After dinner we came back to SS's place, while she went to Brian's - they would not be able to see each other the coming weekend because her horse commitment.

We came back to her house, took care of the dogs and the laundry, then we went to the hotel, getting there shortly after 10. 

Second Stop - Florence, SC; Thursday, January 7, 2016

We left Kennett Square shortly after 10 - hoped to leave around 9 but that did not happen. We got to SS's house before 7:30am, then fed the dogs, did more laundry, walked the dogs, etc. etc. Finally took off. This would be the longest drive stretch - we needed to get to the hotel in Florence, SC. The drive was boring, mainly on interstate 95. And traffic was quite bad between Washington DC and Richmond. We got to our hotel Home2suites by Hilton around 7:15pm. Not too bad.

The hotel was quite nice, very new. The room was large and clean, perfect for us plus the 2 dogs. We fed the dogs, then left them in the room and walked to the nearby Mexican restaurant La Bamba. It was quite a decent restaurant and we enjoyed our meal.

We had a nice night with the dogs. Bob slept well but I did not, for some reason. I woke up around 3:30, then 4-something, then 5-something, then again 6-something when I got up. I guess with the two dogs in the room somehow I was worried if they needed to go out. Who knows - they were perfectly fine. Bob said when he got up to go to the bathroom, Djuna was sleeping on the couch :-)

Third Stop - Savanna, GA; Friday, January 8, 2016

Got up around 7am and took the dogs out for their morning business after we washed ourselves. Iubi did not touch his breakfast which made me worry. Djuna wolfed down hers, as usual. We had breakfast in the hotel - some simple cereal etc. People in the hotel were very friendly. I really liked the hotel.

From Florence to Savannah was only about 3 hours drive and we got to Florence around noon time. The hotel Residence Inn turned out to be quite nice. We had a suite that had a separate bedroom and living room, with a door that can be closed. This meant that the dogs could sleep in the living room without walking around our bed. The living room had a kitchenette that had all the necessary stuff if we wanted to cook our own breakfast, etc. The frig is normal size, pretty impressive.

The hotel was situated in an area that's full of hotels - all the hotel chains seemed to have one there. Five minutes drive away were nice shops including a Fresh Market which was like Whole Foods. We went in there hoping to get something for lunch. At checkout, I asked if it was the same as Whole Foods. She said no. Whole Foods was a health food store, whereas theirs was a gourmet food store. After having their salad, I beg to disagree. I bought one of those ready-prepared salad - caesar kale salad with chicken. It turned out the kale was not washed and I was chewing on sands. Ugh!

After lunch, we drove to town which was about 20 minutes drive away. We first stopped at the Forsythe Park - we asked the hotel receptionist where would be a good place to walk the dogs, she mentioned the two streets along the river downtown, and she said Forsythe park was also a place to walk the dogs. It turned out to be a small city park, with a large football field. There were a few other dogs there, but we were able to avoid them. We walked the dogs for a little bit, then got back into the car and drove to the downtown area. We parked the car, then walked the dogs down River street which was right by the river abad was lined with tourists shops. Djuna and Iubi got a lot of compliments. The place reminded me of New Orleans. Then we walked up Bay street back to our car. It was after 4pm. After that, we drove around town some more to get a feeling of the town. If we did not have the dogs, I would have loved to wander around the various streets and poke my head into the shops. Could not do that with 2 dogs.

Came back to the hotel, rested a bit, fed the dogs, then walked the dogs, then it was time for us to go get some dinner. There was a restaurant in the nearby shopping are, called Bonefish Grill. It has good reviews on yelp, and it's close, so we decided to go there. We left the dogs in the room - they were very good last night so we thought it's better than staying in the small car, and we left them in the room. We told the hotel receptionist to call us if they bark.

We did not make a reservation so we had to wait for 20 minutes and they finally seated us. Just as we sat down and opened the menu, my cell rang. It was from the hotel. The receptionist said a guest reported that our door was open and a dog was running around. She said they closed the door but they only saw one dog in the room the other dog was nowhere to be found. My heart almost stopped. We immediately left the restaurant and drove back to the hotel, in less than 5 minutes. We rushed to the 2nd floor, and saw the receptionist and another male hotel staff both standing outside our room. They closed the door but of course did not dare to go in. We opened the door and saw both dogs there!!!! Phew!! I almost died worrying where one dog might have gone .... So, Iubi must have opened the door! The door knob was the kind you pull down the lever and push the door open. This was exactly the kind Iubi knew how to open! They must have run out to look for us, did not find us, then went back to the room. OMG!! Need to make sure we deadlock the door tonight when we go to bed, as we will be sleeping in the inside bedroom and the dogs will be in the living room.

Put both dogs in the car, we went back to Bonefish Grill, and had our dinner. It was a nice dinner! We like the restaurant. Maybe we will go back there again tomorrow.

Last Day before Sarasota, FL; Saturday, January 9, 2016

Having the dogs sleeping in the living room separate from our bedroom was good. Somehow I could sleep better that way. Iubi barked a couple of times during the night - he must have heard something in the hallway. I yelled out no and he quieted down. All was good.

We got up after 7am to a cloudy day. We walked the dogs before feeding them. One thing that's not ideal about this hotel was its environment - there really was not a good place to walk the dogs. It appeared that this was the hotel strip, one after another, and the parking lots were all connected. Thankfully today was Saturday, the weekend, so there were not too many cars in the parking lots around. We walked the dogs one parking lot after another. That was not bad.

Iubi had not been eating well - he skipped two meals already. This morning I added a little can food to his dry food, and he wolfed it all down. I did not dare to give him more as he had a very sensitive stomach and we certainly don't want him to have diahrrea!

After feeding the dogs breakfast, we put them in the car and went to breakfast ourselves. Simple breakfast, but convenient. After breakfast we rested a bit then went out. Our plan was to first go to the Savannah wild life refuge, then onto Hilton Head. While Bob was driving and I was reading one of the travel brochures, I found a horse-drawn tour which looked interesting. I called and made a reservation for us for 1pm, the two of us, plus the two dogs, on one cart.

The wild life refuge was quite nice. It would have been a good photo place if the weather was not so bad and if we did not have the dogs. The ranger at the visitor centre was very nice and explained everything to us. We actually watched their 10-minute video. We then walked the dogs in their parking lot, then got into our car and drove on the 4-mile wild refuge road. It had started sprinkling as we drove. Saw a lot of birds, and one alligator, with only its nose and forehead above the water.

Then we drove back to Savannah old town planning to get on the ride outside of Hyatt by the river (where we walked by yesterday). After we parked our car in the garage, it started pouring. We decided to cancel the ride and took off towards Hilton Head. 

It was about one hour's drive and the rain had stopped when we approached Hilton Head. Wow, Hilton Head really lived up to its reputation of being a famous resort place. It was an island. There were many gold courses there, and many many resorts. We started to appreciate why when we finally parked our car and walked to one of the beaches, the Coligny beach park. Because this was winter so it was not crowded and dogs were allowed on the beach. It was very very nice! The beach was so wide and the sand was so packed that people were riding their bikes on it. The dogs were in heaven as their paws were on such nice smooth and comfortable sand! We walked quite far, until we saw some people playing with a loose dog, that's when we turned around. One thing that surprised me was the ocean water was quite muddy. I had never seen ocean waves that were brown! Interesting.

By the time we came back to the car, it was past 4pm. We decided to head back to the hotel. We got back to the hotel just around 6. Rested a little, fed the dogs, Bob took a short nap, we walked the dogs and took them in the car when we went to dinner. Again, dinner at Bonefish Grill. Again we enjoyed it.

Tomorrow morning we will try to leave no later than 8:30, hoping to get to Sarasota by 3:30. We first have to go to the property mgmt office to get the key, before 4pm (so we can talk to the people and get insurance against incidental damage). Then we will go to the house! I pray the house can live up to our expectations!

Arrived at Our Rental House; Sunday, January 10, 2016

We got up at 7, with the plan to get on the road at 8:30. But somehow it was almost 9 when we packed everything, walked the dogs, and finally got in the car. Google map said it was about a 6-hour drive from Savannah to Bradenton (where the rental property mgmt office was), and we made it there at 3:15p. Not bad. We stopped a couple of times to use the restroom, and to let the dogs out for a little bit. There was not much to see on the road, pretty boring drive. Bob drove the entire way.

The letter from the property mgmt firm said if we arrive on the weekend before 4pm, they would have people in the office which was what we hoped to do. But it turned out they're closed on Sundays. The letter was wrong. We got the house key from the lockbox. 20 minutes later we arrived at the rental house.

It was pretty much as what's shown on the photos I saw. Overall impression was not bad! But you can't look too closely. The cooking utensils were pretty crappy, even though the dishes were alright. The kitchen cabinets looked decent for a rental house. Some of the baseboards were falling apart (which I must report to the mgmt office tomorrow). The master bedroom with its on-suite was nice. My sister insisted that we stay there, but I insisted that they do, and we will exchange on Feb. 11. We're staying in the bedroom that had a small on-suite. The so-called queen bed was quite small, and the room was quite small as well. It felt stuffy. I turned the ceiling fan on which made a little difference.

After we offloaded the car and put things more or less in place, we went out to get the necessary household things - paper towel, toilet paper, trash bags, Kleenex, hand soap, shower gel, laundry detergent, etc. etc. We got to Costco 45 minutes before it closed. Then went to Target to get other stuff that we did not need large quantity for. We came back to the house around 7. The dogs were starved - they've been so very good! I fed them dinner. After that, I started putting things away. I put the beers Bob bought into the frig, on the shelf of the door. After I put in the 4th bottle, all of a sudden the shelf crashed - everything fell on the floor, 3 bottles were shattered, beer and glass all over the floor .... Thank goodness we just got the paper towel! We quickly put the dogs in the car so they would not get hurt by the broken glass. Then we mopped up the beer and the glass shards with paper towel .... Ugh!! It took us half an hour. I had never seen frig door shelves this bad!!

We did not have lunch, only some chips and snack in the car. By now we were starved. This place did not seem to have any night life per se and we had a hard time finding a place to eat, even with our friend's tips. The Peruvian Grill restaurant which our friend recommended was closed at 8 even though on the web it said it would close at 9 on Sunday. So we finally ended up getting some Chinese take-out at this hole in the wall place next to Winn Dixie. It was edible, especially when we were so hungry.

We're beat. Time to take the dogs out for the last business run then we're going to bed.

Starting to Settle In; Saturday, January 16, 2016

It's been almost a week since we arrived here in the rental place - 5291 Echo Lane, Sarasota. And we finally started to settle in.

The first few days were not really fun. Many many of the little things we needed in daily life, which we take for granted at home, were missing and had to be acquired. To be fair, the house had more things than I expected. For example, it had hand soaps in each bathroom and the kitchen, even dish detergent, and some laundry detergent! The layout of the house was nice. Things were relatively clean, if you don't look too carefully.

We did a bunch of shopping in Costco, Target, the pet store, etc. And I ordered another traveling crate from Amazon (which arrived surprisingly fast and made me and both dogs very happy). Monday evening we went to Tampa airport and picked up my sister and brother-in-law, and had dinner at Bonefish Grill near University shopping center. My sister insisted that they did not want to sleep in the master suite - she wanted to sleep in the twin-bed bedroom, and JY slept in the other queen bed bedroom which shared the same bathroom with the twin-bed bedroom. So Bob and I moved into the master suite. We sure appreciate the big bed and the more spacious bathroom.

For the following few days, we did more shopping for mainly groceries and household needs (such as kitchen knives, cutting board, etc.). We went to Siesta beach and they got to see the nice white sand beach. But it was a rather cold day, just like last year when we went there with Ira and Fran. Actually the weather had been quite chilly until today when the temperature rose to high 70s - this is the kind of weather we came here for.

We sort of settled into a routine. Bob and I get up before 8 and take the dogs out for their morning walk before breakfast, Then we come back, feed the dogs, prepare and eat breakfast, then go out somewhere - grocery shopping, visiting different places, go for a longer walk with the dogs, etc. Then cook and eat lunch. Then go out again somewhere while my sister and brother-in-law take a nap. We usually take the dogs for another shorter walk.

So far we've been to Siesta beach, St. Armand's Circle, Whole Foods down town, 3 different Asian markets (they're really quite dismal), Red Bug Slough park/nature reserve where dogs are allowed on leash, Publix grocery store, Winn Dixie grocery store, Morton gourmet food store, and of course Costco, Trader Joe's, GNC, etc. We visited one dog kennel - if we go to Miami we will need to board the dogs unfortunately - everything seemed fine except the dog's living quarter seemed very dark and damp ....

Yesterday was a rainy day but rather warm. Before that it's been chilly. But today it was sunny, very nice. Not sure what the weather will be like going forward.

I've been struggling with my Dell All-in-One computer. It crashed for no reason I could tell, then Dell's backup/restore program automatically reinstalled the OS, after that Windows was no longer activated and none of my MS Office apps worked. I spent more than 6 hours on the phone with Dell support, they could not solve the problem and insisted I must pay because the computer is out of warranty. I am beyond pissed!!! ....

Another frustration: I ordered a couple of books from Amazon to be shipped here. Then I was informed the books were delivered. But they were nowhere to be found. It turned out the mailboxes of all the houses here are at the entrance to this "Mocking Bird Place". The mailboxes were numbered 1 through 12 in section A and section B. We have no idea how the numbers map to the houses. I contacted the property management company and they contacted the owner. Owner responded saying they never used the mailbox themselves and had no idea where to get the key. So now the property mgmt. people are trying to find out from the community .... Ugh!! The owner of this house is in England. I guess they never lived here themselves. Sigh ....

I have not taken my camera out - life is too hectic here for me to want to take photos. I also have not been studying as I should .... Feeling guilty about it ....

Tornado; Sunday, January 17, 2016

Last night we were woken up by the thunder and lightning in the middle of the night. While we were marveling at the huge storm, Bob's cellphone rang which turned out to be a warning for tornado in this area. It rang twice. We looked at each other, saying: well this house has no basement so we have no where to hide; if the tornado touches down here, it'll be our fate.

The thunders were so LOUD, as if it would shatter and split the sky. I was worried if the dogs would be scared, but they did not make any noise! I guess being in their crates must make them feel safer. The rain actually started before 11pm. It was raining quite hard when we took the dogs out for their last pee run right before 11. Iubi did not want to go and insisted on coming back into the house. I had to coerce him. He got very wet, so did I.

How did that beautiful a day suddenly turn into such heavy rain?!

Bob and I got up around 7:30 this morning and took the dogs out for their morning walk. The side walk had a lot of tree branches and leaves from the storm. But the rain stopped, and it was not cold. It was a bit windy, but walking with just a shirt felt fine. It turned out we were very lucky. Soon after we came back, the rain started again. Glad the dogs got their before-breakfast walk!

We watched TV to find out more about the weather. It turned out the tornado touched down just west of Bradenton, and Siesta Key was affected - two people got killed by the tornado! Gee!

Did not do much today, besides walking the dogs all the way to Bee Ridge and back, then again to Proctor and back. 6+ miles. I read the writing by Luo Yu, and studied a little the Song poems (long over due homework).

My Dell All-in-One computer continues to have trouble - Windows is not activated and cannot be activated, and none of the MS Office apps works. I swear to god I would NEVER buy a Dell computer again!!!

The Past Few Days were Busy but Fun; Friday, January 29, 2016

Our friend ErLin came from NYC to visit for 9 days. He arrived in the evening of Wednesday, 1/20. Bob and I last saw him at our house in Wayland probably 25 years ago. My sister had not seen him since probably 1980! We had a lot to catch up and it was a fun 9 days!

We took him to Siesta beach, to the bay front where there was the statue of the sailor kissing the girl, etc. Then on Saturday, 1/23, we headed down south. We had to board the two dogs at the Bayside Pet Resort in Osprey along the Tamiami trail. It was a brand new facility, very nice. We booked them the delux "Promenade" suite so they had the indoor room plus the outdoor run, but the run was very small. Even though we booked the extra 1x1 play time, that was only 15 minutes. I was able to view them through their video camera all the time. I was happy to have found a nice place for them, but I was worried about how well they were being taken care of all the time ....

We rented a Chrysler "Town and Country" where the 5 of us could all sit comfortably. We left the house around 11:30, and got to Miami after 4. We booked one night hotel in the South Beach area, the blue moon hotel. Bob and I looked for a long time and found this one that's somewhat affordable. Since it's their first time in Miami and they were all interested in seeing the famous Miami beach, I though it would be best if we stayed one night near the beach. We really did not want to spend the $500-$600 for the hotel right by the beach, so this hotel (part of the Marriott chain) fit the bill. It was an OK hotel, very small rooms, but clean and a couple of easy blocks from the beach.

We walked to the beach after we checked into the hotel and caught the evening scene. There was a big round moon above the water, quite pretty. Then we went to a Cuban restaurant not too far away, called "Havana 1957". It was not bad. Most of the dishes we ordered were tasty except the chicken dish. We called it a night after walking back to the hotel.

The next morning, we walked to the beach again. We got delayed checkout for one room, our room, so they checked out and we all walked to the beach. Bob and I came back before noon, got the car from the valet, loaded it with all our stuff, checked out, then parked it in the public parking place before joining the rest of them on the beach. We then drove to Fort Lauderdale which was less than half an hour away, had lunch at the Chart House by the water, then walked to the nearby beach to take a look (while Bob watched football on TV in the restaurant). Then we left for our hotel in Homestead, which would be our hotel for the next two nights.

We checked into our rooms at the Courtyard Marriott in Homestead. Boy, the rooms sure felt spacious after those tiny rooms in Miami! We all enjoyed the stay.

The next morning, Monday, we headed towards the keys. It was interesting to finally experience the drive to the keys, ending in Key West shortly after noon time. After parking the car somewhere near the Duval St. we first had lunch in a small Japanese/Oriental/Fusion noodle restaurant. Then we walked around town, took pictures at the Southernmost point, before getting back in the car. We then drove to a few spots by the ocean, walked the beaches, fed the birds, etc. We started the drive back around 5, then stopped in Key Largo for dinner. It was ErLin's 71th bday that day. We had dinner at the Fish House Restaurant and we each had a jumbo stone crab claw for appetizer. The dinner was good. They had a unique bday celebration gig for ErLin - they presented him with a whole raw fish, with a candle sticking out of the fish's eye, while singing happy birthday for him. Then they gave him a piece of keylime pie (free). We all ordered keylime pies. But I still did not like them - I thought I might like it, but I was wrong.

We got back to the hotel in Homestead before 10.  The next morning, we headed home by way of the Everglades. We took them to all the good places we visited last year - the Anhinga Trail, the Kirby Storter park boardwalk, the big cypress bend boardwalk, etc. But we hardly saw any birds! We saw more birds in Sarasota than at the Everglades! People told us it was because of the El Nino effect. There had been too much water, so the birds all scattered. Oh well ...

We went to the Everglades City for dinner because I wanted us to have the stone crab claws. Bob drove us to the Oyster House restaurant and we each had the stone crab claws dinner. Yummy!!

We got back to our rental house in Sarasota around 10pm. It felt good to be back, even though this was not really our home.

The next morning, Bob and I got up at 7:30 and went to return the car then pick up the "kids". We got to the kennel around 8:30 and we were so happy to see the dogs!! And vise versa! Now life returned to normal :-)

When ErLin first came, we had to put muzzle on Iubi, just in case. Soon we took the muzzle off. Even though he did not bite, he was following Erlin and growling at him whenever ErLin moved. It took him quite a few days to really warm up to ErLin. By the time ErLin left, he was totally comfortable with him.

It started raining on Wednesday, the day after we came back. So our planning was good, and the weather forecast was accurate, for a change. Originally we were planning to leave on Sunday, returning Wednesday. Because of the rain forecast we move our schedule forward by 1 day, which proved to be good.

We did not do much on Wednesday, except meeting a friend ErLin met on the plane for lunch at Brio's at the University Town Center. We met Sally and her sister Wilma. Sally insisted on treating all of us and we had a lovely lunch. The Brio there was new, very nice, much more upper scale than the one we've been to (with Caleb) in Baltimore. And it was very nice meeting Sally and Wilma. They told us a good Chinese restaurant in Sarasota called the Yummy House, which we tried today. It was very very good!

Yesterday, it continued to rain. We decided to go to the Kennedy Space Center, with the dogs. It was a 3-hour drive each way and it was absolutely pouring when we left the space center. We were soaked. But, it was worth it! I did not expect myself to be so touched and moved by the space program! We watched the IMAX movie Journey to Space, then took the bus tour to see the launch pads and all the places related to launching the space crafts. Absolutely impressive!! We definitely will try to go back again! Too many things we did not get to see!

Today was the day ErLin would return to NYC. He treated us to the Yummy House for lunch. We then drove to the St. Armond Circle so he could buy some souvenir stuff for his office mates. Then we took him to the airport shortly before 5 for his flight before 7. We really enjoyed the time with him!

We've been here for almost three whole weeks now! We've definitely settled in. Even though the weather here has not been warm and perfect, we escaped the last snow storm back home and the coldness. Can't complain.

Have We Really Been Here 4 Weeks Already? Saturday, February 6, 2016

More than a week has gone by since I last wrote my blog. Time surely flies. We've been here 4 weeks now. In three more weeks, we'll be heading home. Gee ....

What have we done in the past week?

I got in touch with our friends Mike and Lin and visited them on Tuesday. My sister and bro in law saw their "mansion" and were quite impressed. Indeed, with the house opened into the big lanai, the inside and outside became one. it was really lovely! Lin cooked a nice lunch for us. We very much appreciated their hospitality! We'll be having lunch with them on Chinese New Year's Day in the restaurant Ginza.

Per their suggestion, on Wednesday we drove through St. Armand island, the Longboat key, then to Anna Maria island, which was at the end of that string of islands. We had lunch at Rod and Reel, which was recommended by Mike. Interesting place! Quite unique. It was a casual seafood eatery, at the end of a pier. There were people fishing around the restaurant on the pier. We watched a lady filleting the fish she caught (I believe she would sell the fillet to the restaurant), and feeding the skin and fish eggs to the pelicans who were waiting in the water by the pier. It was an interesting sight.

On the way back from Costco one day, we discovered the Legacy Trail near the Palmer Ranch Pkwy. It was a really lovely stretch of road. So we drove there on Thursday and Friday morning to walk the dogs and ourselves. Very enjoyable! Much better than walking near our neighborhood. We had lunch at the Indian restaurant in Sarasota downtown - we said we would try to eat at each of the restaurants downtown once, so far we had 4 lunches, one at each of the oriental ones - Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian. Yesterday, Friday, we went back to the Yummy House and had Dimsum again. Really yummy! I stuffed myself!

Today after we walked the Legacy Trail again in the morning, we decided to scout out Port Desoto park near St. Petersburg. It was about one hour's drive and it started raining as we started driving there, so the entire visit was done in the rain. We first stopped in St. Pete's "400 Beach Seafood and Tap House" restaurant for lunch. My bro in law treated us (both today and yesterday) because he got paid for the job he's done). It was a very nice restaurant by the water. Unfortunately it rained quite hard so we were not able to walk around the shops as I had wanted to.

After lunch, we drove to the park. Because of the weather, the park was pretty much abandoned. We were almost the only ones there. The park would be very nice to visit in good weather. We would probably come back again!

The dogs were cooped in the car for more than 6 hours. They were so good! Hopefully tomorrow will have good weather and we will walk them again!

Heard from friends about the snow storm back at home and then found out power was out on our street since noon time. The power was not back up in the evening, we were really worried .... If it stayed out for too long, then the water pipes might freeze .... Bob started looking at the available flights to fly back .... I was so relieved when our kind neighbor sent me text msg telling me the power was finally restored, around 10pm. I was SO relieved!!! Escaping the snow and cold physically was good, but mental worries could be more taxing ....

Tomorrow will be Chinese New Year's Eve. Our plan is to get the stone crab claws from Costco for dinner and stuff ourselves with that yummy stuff! :-)

Less Than 3 Weeks Remain ....; Wednesday, February 10, 2016

For Chinese New Year's Eve, our original plan was to get the stone crab claws from Costco (where we saw them for sale a couple of days prior) for dinner, but when we got there Sunday morning, they were all gone. There were only king crab legs and claws, so we bought a bunch. That was our New Year's Eve dinner. They sure did not taste as good as the stone crab claws. We played Mahjong that night, like we did on many other nights.

On New Year's Day, we met Mike and Lin and their friend Helena for lunch at the Ginza restaurant. That restaurant had a rather unique lunch buffet where you order off the menu but you can order the stuff you like as much as you want, so far as you don't waste them. The food was actually quite tasty! We had a good time.

At lunch, Mike told us about a few more places to visit. One was a place where you could see the Lipizzaner horses, the other was the big cat sanctuary. They also recommended us to visit the Ringling museum which was free on Mondays for the art museum and the gardens. So after lunch Bob dropped my sister and me off at the museum while he and JY went back to the house. My sister and I walked through the art museum - well, she would have spent much more time looking at the art displays but somehow I did not have too much interest, then enjoyed a walk through the gardens and the water front. Bob picked us up shortly after 5.

I googled the Lipizzaner horse place (http://hlipizzans.com/). Unfortunately there does not seem to have much going on right now. I also found the big cat sanctuary place (http://bigcathabitat.org/) and we visited it this afternoon. I enjoyed seeing the lions, tigers, and ligers, and bears! Unfortunately it was not a place where you could take any real photos. I did spent a dollar and fed the big bear a piece of hotdog on a stick. I spoke with the owner lady while watching the show her son conducted (first with the monkey, then with the big cats). I asked her why wouldn't she allow people to pet the big cats with a fee, like what the lion habitat in Vegas does. She said they don't do that, too many people .... Oh how I wish I could hug those big cats!!!

Yesterday we paid our second visit to the Kennedy Space Center. It was a cool day, sunny and windy, which was what we wanted, because it would be safe to leave the dogs in the car during our visit. We left the house around 10am, got there around 12:40pm. This time we visited the rocket garden, watched the 2nd movie about the Hobble, the Atlantis museum, etc. I did not feel as moved as the first time but still we enjoyed the visit. We got back around 8:30. A long drive for Bob.

We now seem to have established a habit of walking the dogs near the Legacy Trail every morning after breakfast. I really like that area! If we had the $ to have a home here, I would love to live in that area.

We would like to visit the Dali museum near St. Pete. We may go there tomorrow.

Less Than 2 Weeks to Go; Tuesday, February 16, 2016

So what have we done since I last updated my blog? I really have to think hard to remember ....

Pretty much every day Bob and I were up around 7:30, then took the dogs out for their first morning walk. It happened to be the same time the two men in one of the two houses next to ours would take their little dog for their walk, and Djuna would go crazy as soon as she smelled the dog. It made me very nervous and we tried everything we could to avoid being close to the two men and their little white dog. Sigh .... I really need to send Djuna to Solid K9 Training's socialization class!

After the first morning walk, we did our breakfast, then it was time for our real morning walk. We'd been taking the dogs to the area by the Palmer Ranch Pkwy near the Legacy Trail. It was a very pleasant area! We could walk without worrying too much about avoiding other dogs. There were other people walking their dogs on leash, but we could always cross over to the wide grassy area to avoid any close encounter, knock on wood!

By the time we came back from the 2nd morning walk, it would be around noon. After lunch, we did various things. My sister and I went to the University Town Center mall for two afternoons to shop around. Yesterday we drove to the Sanibel and Captiva islands. Nice places but we did not have enough time to explore much. We drove to the end of Captiva where car was allowed. On the way back we went to the Ding Darling preserve. It was close to sunset and I tried to take some pictures of the birds, did not have too much success. Wish I could have taken better shots of the spoonbills in flight!

It was after dark as we drove back. We stopped at the CRaVE restaurant in Fort Myer, which turned out to be quite pleasant. It was around 10pm by the time we came back. The two dogs had a late dinner. They behaved so well! They loved riding in the car with us even though I would imagine it's quite boring for them ....

Today after we walked the dogs, we brought the dogs back then went out to the Sandhill Preserve to look at the houses. I really liked their models! But, there's no way we could afford a winter home here while having another home in NE :-( And we definitely don't want to live year around here .... It's just that the new homes were so tempting! They really do have very good floor plans!!

We had lunch again at the Pho 99 Vietnamese restaurant near us. Bob and I like their food quite well. So, nowadays we often eat out for lunch, and have a simple dinner at home. Not bad! Except that I've been eating way too much!! ....

Oh, it rained pretty hard last night (even though the weather forecast said nothing about rain), with thunder and lightning. Iubi barked in the middle of the night and got Bob and me up - we were worried if he did not feel right. Once we put him on the leash and took him out, we found out it was raining. I guess it was the rain and thunder that got him scared. The rain stopped by the time we got up, but made the morning very wet and humid. It was a very warm day, almost too hot for me when walking the dogs. The next few days are all going to be warm/hot, if the weather forecast is correct. Back at home, it is Arctic weather ....

It's Time to Go Home, Really?! Friday, February 26, 2016

Did not realize that the last time I updated my blog was 10 days ago! And we will be leaving for home the day after tomorrow!

Today is Friday 2/26. We just came back from seeing my sister and bro in law off at the Tampa airport - it's 9:30pm now. Their flight was at 8:25. My bro in law took us all out for dinner at St. Pete. I picked La V, the Vietnamese fusion restaurant which turned out to be really quite good! On the way back from the airport, I specifically asked Bob to stop by there for me to pick up a Bhami which was SO GOOD that I wolfed it down despite the fact that I already had dinner (talking about why I'm getting fat!!).

So what did we do in the past 10 days? Can't remember exactly day by day but here are what we did, besides doing our daily walk around the Legacy Trail at Palmer Ranch.

We visited a few open houses last Sunday around the Palmer Ranch area - a couple in Prestantia, a couple in Turtle Rock, etc. The price ranged from low 400s to 1.2 million. None impressed me, even though the environment of Prestantia was very nice. Of all the houses we've seen, we liked the new model at Sandhill Preserve, especially the Martin Ray, the best.

We drove to Lido beach one afternoon and enjoyed the beach there for a little bit.

We went to the Art Walk at Towel Court on the 18th with Mike and Lin, and had dinner at the Made restaurant.

We had Mike and Lin and Helena over for lunch. Had a good time. Had to put muzzle on Iubi. He seemed to be particularly nasty towards men, especially the men who seemed to be afraid of him. He kept wanting to nib them. Lin was very good with dogs. She was not afraid of them and they all liked her, at first sight! Strange!

We went to the Lippizaner horse place and watched their training show. Nice!

We had dinner at Indigenous and enjoyed it.

Time surely flies! Our 7 weeks here are almost over! We will be getting out of the house by 10am Sunday, the day after tomorrow. My sister already left - we would have preferred them to leave tomorrow but the airline tickets (for non-stop to Boston or Providence) are so much more expensive so unfortunately they had to take the flight tonight. I already miss them .... We had a good time together! What's left is mainly packing! So much stuff to pack into the back seat area of our car ..... it stresses me ....

So what's my overall impression of Sarasota and rental experience? Let me summarize in no particular order:

- Enjoyed Sarasota, especially liked the Palmer Ranch area! Loved the walks around Legacy Trail - the side walks are very nice and there's plenty of room to avoid close encounter with other dogs.

- Would love to be able to live here for 3 or 4 or 5 months of the year, during winter. But no way in hell for the summer :-( Since we can't afford a 2nd home, the best we can do is rent.

- Florida in general seems to be so flat, and there are pools of water here, there, everywhere. Somehow when I see the water, I think of mosquitoes and alligators :-(. The place overall did not seem to be particularly pretty to me, aside from the nicely maintained neighborhoods, like Palmer Ranch, Lakewood Ranch, etc.

- The workers seemed to be much more polite and friendlier than back home. A few times when we were walking the dogs and the lawn people were mowing/blowing. When they saw us, they would stop the engine to stop the dust and avoid spooking the dogs. Much appreciated.

About our rental house - it really is very nicely laid out, perfect for us two families. Even though the quality of things are not to my standards, I really can't complain. The carpets could have been made cleaner, which is the responsibility of the property mgmt company.

The property mgmt company, Gulf Coast Property Mgmt, leaves a bit more to be desired. At first I was very happy about them, when we reported the problem of water not flowing down in one bath tub. They immediately came and fixed it (with Drano). We also reported the problem with the TV, they called Comcast and had it fixed quickly. But later when I asked to get the key to the mailbox, it took them 5 weeks to get me an answer which did not work. For the refrigerator problem (it froze everything), it took them more than a week to get someone here. Disappointed.

The neighborhood of the rental is a modest one, but very quiet. The houses are very close together, which seems to be the case even in the upper scale neighborhood. It's difficult to have big dogs here.

OK, so much for now. Tomorrow I need to have everything that can be packed packed. Will bring the folding table and some stuff we did not use to Lin. Then Sunday morning we leave! We will make 3 stops: Florence, Virginia beach, Kennet Square. Expect to be home Wednesday 3/1.

Home Sweet Home; Thursday, March 3, 2016

After seeing my sister and bro in law off the night of the 26th, the house seemed quite empty. On Saturday the 27th, we packed everything that could be backed, took the dogs for the walk by Legacy Trail in the morning, then another shorter one in the afternoon. After that we headed to a bird preserve somewhere in Venice which Bob found. We aimed to get there around 5, before sunset, for me to take some bird pictures. It was a worthwhile trip! There was a small island in a small pond where the birds seemed to really LOVE it! SO MANY birds, white heron, gray heron, big ones, small ones. A lot of people were taking photos there, some with decent cameras. I only brought my 100-400, no tripod. I tried to practice shooting birds in flight but did not get any good ones. Well, I tried, which was better than the rest of the time while we're in Florida.

We did not bring the dogs to the bird island. After we got home and fed them, we took off to Mike and Lin's place to deliver the stuff we did not use including the folding table - better to let them make some use than leaving behind. 

We had our last lunch in Sarasota at Pho 99, loved it. But we got so stuffed so we were not hungry at dinner time. Bob got a frozen dinner and I had a few fruits. Went to bed at midnight then got up around 6 on the 28th. Took the dogs for their morning walk, fed them, then started the final packing. Boy that was stressful! The car was packed to the roof and we had to leave the paper towels, cleanix boxes, etc. behind. We were out of the house by 9:50, and returned the keys to the Gulf Property Mgmt office at 10:21. Then off we went!

9+ hours later, we got to our first stop, Florence, SC. We stayed at the same hotel, Home2Suites. This time there were more guests with dogs, so walking our dogs was a little harder especially since the other dogs were all those barking small dogs which drove Djuna crazy. Sigh ....

Dinner at the nearby Mexican place, same as 7 weeks ago. The next morning, Monday, we leisurely left the hotel before 10a. 5+ hours later we arrived at Virginia Beach where Bob had booked the night at Residence Inn, right by the ocean, which allowed dogs (with a $100 fee). Very nice hotel! Similar to the hotel we stayed at in Savannah. The location was really gorgeous, facing the ocean. It was a long stretch of sandy beach, with a wide board walk, and a separate bike trail in parallel. Dogs are allowed on the beach. I wish Djuna were not such a dog-reactive dog!! There were some dogs on the beach and on the board walk, which drove Djuna crazy and made me very nervous. Sigh .... We had a suite room. When we went out for dinner, we left the dogs in our bedroom. But when we came back, they were in the living room :-( So Iubi could open the bedroom door! Thank goodness the outside door was heavy so he was not able to press the door knob lever down and pull open the door!! We had dinner at a place called Chops. We had all small plates. They were just OK. There was an interesting dish whose name I could not pronounce. The description said crispy pork. It turned out to be strips of pig's ears, fried crispy. I liked it, but it was quite greasy and filling.

The next morning, Tuesday, we leisurely left the hotel around 10. 5+ hours later we got to SS's house, with a stop at Costco in Delaware where I got the breakfast sandwiches for Caleb. They're nice and would take only a couple of minutes to heat up. It was high in protein. We got to the house before 4. SS and Caleb came back around 5. We went to dinner at 4 Dogs and I was very glad to see Caleb have a good dinner! The kid was growing fast!

The dogs stayed at her house, we went to the usual hotel. Bob started getting sick with a cold. The next morning I got up at 5:30, went over to SS's house hoping to prepare the breakfast sandwich for Caleb. I got there by 6:30 and they were sitting there waiting for Caleb's driver already. I asked SS if she got the sandwich ready. She said he did not want it .... Poor kid .... I only got to hug and kiss him goodbye.

Bob slept some more - by then his cold was in "full bloom". Gee, he had not had a cold for a very long time. Not sure how he caught it .... We then picked up the dogs and got on the road shortly after 10. This time I drove part of the way, and we got home around 4:30.

House was still here! No leaking roof, no burst pipes, phew! Unpacking took a while - so much stuff, how did we get all this into the car!? Gee!!

Home sweet home!! Very glad to be back!! Even though it's cold here, it still feels good! I do wish there's a way we could spend the winter in a warmer place, but I just don't see a way. Not sure if I want to rent for a long time again .... We'll see.