February 19 - March 14.  Myakka River Motorcoach Resort - Port Charlotte, FL

With very heavy hearts, we are leaving Myakka River Motorcoach Resort (MRMR) and Port Charlotte, FL.  We truly enjoyed our time there and made so many new friends that we're wishing we could stay longer but we have other places to go and people to see.  We were actually able to squeeze out a sort of bonus day because we planned to leave on Thurs (3/13) but there were 20-25 mph winds with gusts even higher.  Driving a motorhome in that kind of wind is no fun and actually quite dangerous so we just dug in and stayed another day.  When we pulled out, there were several osprey flying overhead as if to say, "goodbye".

A pair of Osprey near MRMR

A frequent friend @ the MRMR Office

During the past few weeks, we've grown attached to the water aerobics classes and our instructor, Scott.  We really feel good when we leave the pool after the 1 hour class and it gets the day off to a good start.  

Scott teaching aerobics

What a cast of characters !

On Februay 22nd, the resort held a Murder Mystery play.  Some people were actors and some were observers.  Everyone enjoyed trying to figure out which our neighbors had committed the murder.  Lots of creativity in costumes and improvisation with the script.  

Jan has done several craft classes and Bob has attended a couple of photography classes. Our final Wednesday before leaving, the craft was to make party decorations for a surprise party to be held on Friday evening (3/14) as part of the weekly meet-n-greet.  The party was to celebrate our resort owner's upcoming wedding.  So sorry we had to miss the big party, but our best wishes go out to Amber & Ralf. They are wonderful people and a lovely couple!

We've had time to make some improvements & customize our coach to better fit our needs.  We've done a few minor repairs and gotten our network router mounted to be more efficient.  It's such a big help to pin down where we store items and how things are laid out in our home.

We made a trip to the Miromar Outlets which are only about 40 minutes away in Estero for some shopping, an additional trip to Anna Maria Island,

Jan @ the pier on Anna Maria Island

Our favorite restaurant on Anna Maria Island

 a trip to Stump Pass Beach park  (only about 20 minutes from MRMR)

Stump Pass Beach State Park

Neat blue heron

and a couple of more trips to Boca Grande.  

Boca Grande is the best place ever to look for shells, walk in the sand & surf, plus watch people and birds.  Another bonus is that a trip to Boca Grande wouldn't be complete without lunch at the South Beach restaurant that's right on the gulf and has delicious seafood dishes.   

Bob @ Boca Grande

Jan @ Boca Grande

A brown pelican in flight

Cute sandpiper

A view from Boca Grande into the Gulf of Mexico

The view from our table at South Beach Restaurant

Red-tailed hawk

We did a little exploring around Punta Gorda since it's so close and enjoyed some good seafood there.  While in Punta Gorda, we couldn't pass up another visit to the Peace River Wildlife Center ... the red-tailed hawk and the eagle are our favorites. 

The Venice Area Audubon Rookery warranted another visit and this time we saw several nests (mostly blue heron and egrets) with baby birds.  The chicks seemed to squabble and wrestle like small children.

An egret away from the nest for a few minutes

We also found the Cape Haze bike & hiking trail along the road to Boca Grande where we could hike to observe an eagles nest with 2 eaglets.  Along the trail, we crossed a bridge that gave us the opportunity to watch mullet (fish) jumping out of the water.  Pretty fascinating.   They apparently do that to take in some oxygen.  Who knew fish needed oxygen?!?

Mama eagle watching over the little ones

 

A heron watching the mullet

Most of our kayaking group

Getting everyone set to go

 We joined 4 of our MRMR neighbor friends and 3 additional people for a kayaking trip through a mangrove tunnel and out to Don Pedro barrier island.   While we've kayaked before, this was our fist time using sit-upon kayaks rather than sit-in kayaks.  Much different experience and lots of fun.  Our guide traveled on a stand up paddle board.   With the help of the guide, we were able to see a star fish, sponges, ink fish & upside down jellyfish.  After a nice lunch, we kayaked back to our starting point hoping to see dolphins or manatees, but it wasn't meant to be on that afternoon.

Since the Tampa Bay Ray's spring training facility is only about 10 minutes from MRMR, we spent a beautiful afternoon watching Tampa Bay play against the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Phillies lost, but as we were watching the game, we heard from our daughter in PA that they were getting snow.  For us, it was 80 degrees and sunny. 

Mexican Train is a popular game with the people at MRMR and we learned some different rules for the game.  We're convinced that there must be hundreds of ways to play the game and all of them are fun.   We just need to establish one set of rules for whichever group we join.

On February 28th, we had a potluck dinner with an amazing selection of great dishes.  We took a taco salad that's one of our favorites.   There were probably about 60 people in attendance.  It was a great evening of eating and visiting.

One of the reasons for our extended stay at MRMR  (like we needed more justification), was that we were able to celebrate our birthdays there.  We treated ourselves to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant near the resort. If you get the impression that we enjoy seafood, you're right on target.  YUM !!!   Our daughter sent us chocolate covered strawberries and called to facetime chat.  We also had a terrific facetime phone call from our son, daughter-in-law and two grandkids.   We had beautiful blown kisses from the little guys and only wish we could have felt those little boy hugs they like to give.

Speaking of boys ... while walking one evening just before we left MRMR, we found friends (Mike and Bernie) racing their boats on one of the lakes.  What fun!!