Carefree Resort--We'll Be Back!!!

28 Feb 2015--Been here at Carefree Resort in North Ft Myers, FL exactly one month today, and we have been having a great time.  We have what seems like a thousand things to do here, from learning to play bridge, ballroom dances or pickle ball to joining the band or going to the hot tub/pool.

Behind the main clubhouse are the pool and hot tub and one of 2 small lakes on the property.



We weren't here but a couple days when they had their annual Bourbon Street Follies, a show they put on for 2 nights that was a smash. They crown a new king and queen every year, but we don't know the nominating criteria yet, so we will have to learn that over time (haha).



This woman was playing Bonnie Raitt, lip syncing to her song, followed by a bunch of others playing other stars or home-grown skits.  Her real name is Mary Gay, is about 72, and shows up prominently in almost all activities here.  A real Star!!!!



If you look at nothing else, check out some of these videos...very entertaining group here.  We'll start with Wayne Newton, who really got the show going.

This was take on 1920s flappers and gigolos.

Mary Gay, in her glory, singing Be My little Baby!

For the finale, the whole ensemble sang "I Am What I Am", Carefree's anthem I guess!.  Once Again, Mary Gay grabs the viewers attention by really belting it out!  haha

Every year they hold a Madi Gras parade, so we got to catch it ...a few good laughs




An hour before we arrived here on the 1st of February, our friends Gayle and Yvette arrived in their RV right across the street from us.  They're from Canada and are spending just over 5 weeks here, and like us it's also their 1st time here, so we were lucky to get to know each other so quickly.  We spend the majority of our time with them, and have thoroughly enjoyed their company!

After the parade we all got on our bikes and headed into downtown Ft Myers, about 7 miles away. They were having somewhat of an art fair, from paintings to pottery, along with food and of course the ever-present protesters who want to damn everyone to hell.


 

Back at the ranch later in the afternoon, the Carefree crowd had a Cajun "low boil" to celebrate Madi Gras further.  These are crawdads, which look like very small lobster, that people all over the south eat, but especially in Louisiana.  The hard core diner actually sucks the brains out of the head, but the lady I got to show us how to eat them wasn't up to that.  haha




We have spent a couple days out at the beach...we think this one is called the Coral Bay Marina beach.   The overwhelming majority of days have been between 75 and 85 degrees, so we couldn't have asked for anything better.  In the middle picture, to Cathy's right, is Bonnie, another visitor here that we were lucky to meet very early in our stay here.  She is from Woodstock, NY...and lives by the motto of "sex, drugs, and rock and roll!"  haha (only kidding)




These were pretty and different from the group of seagulls we're all used to seeing on the beach. Actually, we saw a seagull literally snatch a pear right out of a guy's mouth and hand not 10 feet from us...the look of shock on his face when it happened was priceless!

 

Sanibel Island is not far from here, but we won't be re-visiting any time soon because the traffic trying to leave was horrendous.  The cops told us if you are not out by 4pm you might as well wait till after 7pm...and our 2 1/2 hour trek to go about 2 miles proved it...ugh!

We saw some cool birds though, including an Osprey on the side of the road eating a fish, the black one, a Cormorant,  sunning himself that almost looked translucent, and these white pelicans that seemed to be on steroids...they were huge!




Prior to Valentine's day we attended "ballroom dance" classes (I hurt my back somehow playing pickle ball, so Cathy is dancing with Bonnie).  The main lady (Linda) giving the classes is Linda and her partner in the boots is Sherry...they are good, but run a tight ship .  haha

Clearly, everyone here is messing up, but Gayle and Yvette seem to have a corner on "hysterical"...I was cracking up!!! (turn up your volume if you didn't already)

Here is the Box Step

And the Rumba

The Waltz

And finally the East Coast Swing

You have to wonder what Yvette is doing here...she's the only one with her legs so far apart.  haha



When it came to the Valentine's Day dance, no one paid any attention to the dances they had tried to learn earlier and just did their own thing!



So that was actually a quick look at everything we were doing over the 1st two weeks of our stay. I didn't put up any pickle ball pics because I saved them all for the next blog entry, but we played that a lot and really love it...stay tuned for more "fun at Carefree" on another day!  haha

Alligators, Manatees and Ospreys, Oh My!

28 Dec 2014--Hallie and Donna came for a Florida visit and I will get to that in a minute, but wanted to post this segment quickly to get it done.  Cathy and I saw that a group was putting on a Civil War Re-enactment locally, so went to it and got snookered.  haha

This couple greeted us and should have been our first clue...charging only $5 per person and with no line of people ahead of us, we got in right away.  There were more participants than observers, probably because everyone else in town knew that there had never actually been a Civil War battle in the Ft Pierce area.  haha  What these clowns were "re-enacting", we don't know, but it was a pathetic battle...about 5 or 6 groups of 8-10 guys apiece, all in a large circle and all shooting in the air--never aiming at anyone other than the birds flying overhead--and only at the very end did anyone have the good sense to fall down on the ground and pretend they were dead.  You could occasionally hear shouts of "Charge" or "Retreat", but no one in the groups moved, so the whole exercise was truly laughable. (Check some of the pictures...I defy you to find anyone aiming at eye level--haha).



One person was dressed as a Seminole Indian, but no mention was made of him, so I don't know what side he was fighting on.  There are also a few dead guys there in the 3rd pic...appeared out of nowhere!  haha



I guess this guy was the camp cook, and these ladies dressed as "Camp Followers", including one who was African American and seemed totally out of place to me.  haha



Best of all, an Order of the Confederate Rose member!  This cracked me up...this lady explained to me that the Order was for those married to direct descendants of Civil War participants...she had a French accent and was originally from Quebec, but her husband recently got involved in these re-enactments so she joined the Order.  Can you imagine at her age suddenly being asked by your husband to dress and go along with this?  NOT with a gun to my head would I do this!!!  Too Funny!!!



Some things being sold there, including old Confederate and Yankee currency, and best of all a pamphlet on State Sovereignty by none other than Jefferson Davis himself.




And the original Florida flag, called "Bonnie Blue", and then the one adopted after Florida seceded from the nation during the Civil War.  The old guy was selling them, was very nice, and very informative.



This lady was holding a framed notice from a Yankee general saying any southern woman who denigrated the soldiers in the streets was to be treated as a trollop!  I guess she still holds a grudge!




OK, So then Donna and Hallie joined for a few days, and we did a little sightseeing along with a little relaxing.  We first went on an air boat ride, like in Flipper!--hahaha--to go see some alligators up close.  The fan and motor are quite loud, so in order to talk and hear each other we had to suit up with ear phones like helicopter pilots wear.




Initially we were going pretty slowly and only seeing some birds, so we were a little concerned that this may be a bust, but it turned out quite well.  We saw a ton of Osprey and other birds, with every single Osprey we saw having a fish in his talons...the feeding was obviously pretty good.



We slowly approached our first alligator.  Check out the video!



1st Alligator!



And the biggest one we saw...he was huge!!!



The guide took us all around and into the brush...here is an alligator egg and hide he had on-board. He explained that authorities harvest about 40-50,000 eggs every year to keep the population down.



Check out the teeth on this guy!!!

A few random shots...check out how close the bird is in the 3rd pic to the alligator...the guide explained that though the alligators eat the birds, right now the alligators are somewhat dormant, so the birds know they are not likely to be attacked.

  


Downtown Ft Pierce, looking for some Manatee...saw a couple.  Then out to dinner a visit with Santa.



 


On the beach across the street from us.




And at the co-op we are staying at.  Cathy and I dominated at shuffleboard, but although I had perfect form at Bocceball, Hallie and Donna crushed us!!!




Hallie had a unique throwing style that clobbered us!



Look at Hallie trying to put a hex on me...she didn't need to...I stunk it up!!!  haha



We had such a good trip when we went air boating, we decided to try our hand at a kayak trip on the Indian River Lagoon looking for Manatee and dolphins.  I was confident we would see dolphins, and more than hopeful about the Manatees, based on the write-up we saw from this guide company, but we weren't as lucky as we were with the alligators.

It was a "3 hour tour", so we were happy it didn't turn into a Gilligan situation.  haha  We stopped on an island, but unlike Gilligan, we were able to get off again.

   

We saw no dolphins, and only at the end did we see a few sleeping Manatee..or at least that is what the guide told us this lump was...haha.

 

Hallie and Donna left right before Christmas, and Cathy and I have been in Tallahassee over the past few days, heading back to Ft Pierce tomorrow for the rest of the winter (and some exercise to get rid of all this Christmas food--haha).