Sea fog, the Gulf, and the Menagerie

I took my first-ever trip to the Gulf coast of Florida. My bff Julie was down from Alaska for a conference, and made a stop in Florida to visit her sister and brother-in-law, Val and Keith. I crashed their party and hung out down there for a few days.

It was cloudy or foggy for the most part, but that didn't stop the relaxation or beach time.  Julie and I got in round about the same time on Thursday.  We got lunch at a restaurant where the average age was about 70 (helloooooooooo Florida!)  This was followed by meeting the menagerie at Val and Keith's: 2 pretty cool cats, Psycho and Tigger, plus Sammy the mellow, hungry beagle.  And then there's Honey Bear, the always-happy, obsessive-compulsive bull terrier.  If anyone met my dog Maxine, let's just say she demanded more attention than Maxine did.  She was entertaining to have around though.

We headed to Venice (median age: 68) to sit on the beach.  The weather didn't quite cooperate, as the sea fog we expected to burn off never did.  After sitting on the beach in our sweaters and towels wrapped around us, we got some drinks and later dinner at Sharky's on the Pier.  Mmm tropical drinks and gulf shrimp.

Julie and the foggy pier, Friday at Venice beach

Roomies for life

We headed south to Gasparilla Island on Saturday.  It was cloudy when we got there, but the clouds rolled out and the sea breeze felt nice to cool down the 80° and sun.  I think I've finally learned my sunscreen lesson though - even if it's cloudy, and January, you can still come back to NJ looking like a lobster.

Julie and Val, Gasparilla Island

We had early flights out on Sunday, so Saturday night was spent eating leftovers and bumming out.  Thanks again to Val and Keith for letting me stay with you, and for the chauffeur services!  The rest of the pictures are available here.

Real, live citrus growing on Val and Keith's neighbors' trees.  Hey, I'm from the northeast, let me marvel at this.