We were going to come down the following week but switched it to this week as Ellie was going to be back in NJ January 27. Good thing we found out about her plans in time so we could cancel our flights without penalty. We end up paying an extra $100 ($50 each) though.
1/22/2010. CO218 EWR-TPA. Don took us to the airport. We were upgraded to first class and enjoyed a hot roast beef sandwich and cream of mushroom soup. When we arrived at TPA I had a couple of phone calls with Alfred W and David L to straighten out our travel plans for China in March.
Rental car from Hertz (through Hotwire) is a Toyota Corolla. We drove to Tradewinds Resort in St. Pete Beach, 30 minutes away. Our room (also through Hotwire) alas didn’t face the ocean, it was actually above a storage area. You get what you paid for. We walked on the beach but didn’t get to see much because of the heavy fog that rolled in.
Drove back towards TPA to have dinner with Paul & Genny King, at PF Chang’s. They now take reservations and we got seated promptly at 6 pm. Dinner was not as expensive as I thought ($40 fixed price for 2) and was surprising good tasting if not authentic. We had Dali Chicken, Sweet & Sour Pork, Orange Peel Beef, and Kung Pao Shrimp as the mains; dumplings and calamari as appertizers; hot & sour and egg-drop soups; and various (western) cakes for dessert. The manager had to talk to us (hint hint) and gave up coupons for appetizers to get us to leave. After we were finished with coffee at Starbucks it was past 9 pm. All in all a great dinner.
1/23/2010. Morning stroll in St. Petersburg was disappointing. The Pier is an interesting structure but there weren’t that many interesting activities going on, even for a Saturday. We gave up on the town and drove to Port Charlotte. Had Checkers (double fish, chicken wings) for lunch in Ellentown. Drove by a few houses in Port Charlotte, including that of the Chiu’s, visited the Cultural Center, and then we visited North Fort Myers and Fort Myers, enjoying a sunset in the process. Dinner at Oyster Bar in the Fisherman’s Village, Punta Gorda. They were a bit slow as the place was busier than we had ever seen. Fried shrimp & scallops for Anne and Fried shrimp, scallops, and oysters for me.
We are staying at La Quinta in Port Charlotte for the next three nights. This is a new hotel right at the exit of Route 75, very few guests, it appears.
1/24/2010. Woke up late at around 10 am. Drove to Cape Coral to look at Marina South, went into an open house. Place was quite busy. Met with agent Jim and spent about 4 hours looking at various house in Cape Coral. Lunch at Shrimp Shack, dinner at Olive Garden in Cape Coral. Glad to see more cars in the parking lot at the hotel.
1/25/2010. Drove by Cape Coral to look at a couple of houses again. Decided to rent a boat to check out how long it takes to reach the two houses that interest us. Turns out to be 1 hour and 35 minutes respectively, starting from the lock. Boat wasn’t behaving properly when we took it to the river; it wouldn’t go faster than 10 mph. And it was quite choppy, a front on the verge of coming into the area. Unfortunately I hit the piling by the fuel dock pretty hard, will find out what the bill is later. Somewhat of a bust, I guess. Returned to Port Charlotte for dinner at Sakura Restaurant, back to hotel at 7:15 pm or so.
1/26/2010. Drive to TPA from Port Charlotte was uneventful, highway a bit congested though. Ate lunch at Carrabbas at the airport. Anne has always wanted to try this restaurant. The Pasta Rambo (shrimp, mushroom, spinach, pepper tossed with linguini; lots of lemon butter sauce) was a bit too rich. Flight CO319 TPA-EWR arrived about 20 minutes early; we were upgraded to first class (not a meal flight, though). Took NJ Transit to South Amboy and walked home.
