December 14, 2009 Venice, FL

December 14, 2009

Venice, FL

We thoroughly enjoyed our day and a half in Venice, FL and now see why Tom & Lyn spend their winters here.

The Crow’s Nest Marina is perfectly placed just off the ICW and on a pass out to the gulf. Tom & Lyn’s place is next to the Crow’s Nest. Yesterday afternoon Lyn and I probably did 10 loads of laundry trying to catch up on the last two weeks. Because we landed on a Sunday, we were entertained by pleasure boaters and fishing boats alike passing by.

On Monday the plan was to go to town on the bicycles for shopping and some groceries. We attached our bike cart on Mark’s bike and off we went. Lyn assures me we only saw a small part of town, but it was charming as you can see by the banyon tree-lined streets. Because we were hot and full from the pizza lunch we got in town, we decided to only get main provisions and got groceries at a little market on the way back to the boat. As it turned out, it was a good thing. Our bicycle cart did not perform as expected. Our load of bottled water, soda and beer (priority shopping) kept shifting forward causing the two little support legs in the front to drag. So…. Tom took the pop in his bicycle basket, Lyn took the beer in her basket, I had the bags of bread and chips, and Mark dragged the case of bottled water back to the boat. We were a motley crew – especially Lyn with the beer.

After getting back to Grateful, we all cleaned up and yes, did another 2 loads of laundry. As Lyn was monitoring laundry progress, she went out to the condo dock to visit with the regulars and read. She came back with fresh caught grouper for our dinner. The landlord of their condo complex also does fishing charters. He came back with a great catch and shared. Chef Mark grilled the grouper with lemon butter and onions, Lyn whipped up a salad and rice risotto as Tom kept the crew in refreshments. That night we captured the sunset. Lyn and Tom typically go to the nearby beach to watch this nightly event.

Ahhh…. Life is good.