allie5
<font color=blue>WARNING! DHL men should be cautio
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2002
- Messages
- 1,572
Tuesday June 24th. Not a Disney day, so I will keep this trip report a bit briefer than my usual epics! Everyone has a bit of a lie in this morning. We dont get up till 8am. So much for an early start to the beach! Dont get underway till gone 9, then stop at Maccy Ds for breakfast. I have one of their tasty breakfast bagels. DH & DD have egg mcmuffins and mum has pancakes.
We then take a leisurely drive over to the Gulf coast. It takes about 1 hour 45 mins to get to our first destination, Anna Maria Island. We stop at several locations on the island, which has suffered quite bad flooding due to the heavy rain last week. Today, however, is lovely, hot and sunny so a perfect beach day! DD gets out her bucket and spade and spends sometime digging an impressive hole. DS is captivated by the pelicans and is unusually well behaved. We walk out onto one of the fishing piers that has a restaurant and bar at the end. We dont eat, but order some ice cold buds and OJ for the kids. One of the fisherman is having quite a bit of luck, and its fascinating to watch all the different kinds of fish he pulls out. We also spot a ray swimming just off shore.
The heat finally beats us and its back to the car for some welcome A/C! Our next trip takes us down Longboat Key into Sarasota. We "ooh" and "aah" at all the enormous beach houses and pick a couple out that "will do" if we win the lottery! Into Sarasota itself and we stop at Chilis for lunch. This proves to be a tad ironic, as their A/C had broken down and it was FAR from Chilly in there! We swelter through dinner and cant wait to get back in the car. Although we were going to spend sometime at the Lido Key beach, the heat is too intense and we opt for a wander round St Armands circle (posh little shopping area of Sarasota) instead. We are upset to find several of our fave shops have closed down..... Anyone remember Animal Crackers? Its gone!
The heat is still relentless so we start to head back via the outlet mall at Ellenton. We like this place as prices are sometimes up to 20% cheaper than in the Orlando area. I find some bargains at Oshkosh and DD manages to find a toy store. We head back along I-75 and are puzzling over why there are so many turtles on the side of the road. We can only assume they have been washed up in the recent floods. Its quite sad as most of them are dead or dying.
Back to the villa, where we settle the kids and pop out for a pizza to bring back.
Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom / Crystal Palace, Spectromagic and Fireworks.
We then take a leisurely drive over to the Gulf coast. It takes about 1 hour 45 mins to get to our first destination, Anna Maria Island. We stop at several locations on the island, which has suffered quite bad flooding due to the heavy rain last week. Today, however, is lovely, hot and sunny so a perfect beach day! DD gets out her bucket and spade and spends sometime digging an impressive hole. DS is captivated by the pelicans and is unusually well behaved. We walk out onto one of the fishing piers that has a restaurant and bar at the end. We dont eat, but order some ice cold buds and OJ for the kids. One of the fisherman is having quite a bit of luck, and its fascinating to watch all the different kinds of fish he pulls out. We also spot a ray swimming just off shore.
The heat finally beats us and its back to the car for some welcome A/C! Our next trip takes us down Longboat Key into Sarasota. We "ooh" and "aah" at all the enormous beach houses and pick a couple out that "will do" if we win the lottery! Into Sarasota itself and we stop at Chilis for lunch. This proves to be a tad ironic, as their A/C had broken down and it was FAR from Chilly in there! We swelter through dinner and cant wait to get back in the car. Although we were going to spend sometime at the Lido Key beach, the heat is too intense and we opt for a wander round St Armands circle (posh little shopping area of Sarasota) instead. We are upset to find several of our fave shops have closed down..... Anyone remember Animal Crackers? Its gone!
The heat is still relentless so we start to head back via the outlet mall at Ellenton. We like this place as prices are sometimes up to 20% cheaper than in the Orlando area. I find some bargains at Oshkosh and DD manages to find a toy store. We head back along I-75 and are puzzling over why there are so many turtles on the side of the road. We can only assume they have been washed up in the recent floods. Its quite sad as most of them are dead or dying.
Back to the villa, where we settle the kids and pop out for a pizza to bring back.
Tomorrow: Magic Kingdom / Crystal Palace, Spectromagic and Fireworks.
