On The Go with Florida Friends

We started our first week in the Tampa Bay area visiting with old friends who have recently moved to Florida. Josie has known Bob and Pat Joseph since the early 70's when they were neighbors in the Pembroke Meadows area of Virginia Beach. The Joseph's daughter, Sue and her husband Tom Fischer moved to this area a few years ago. These folks were the ones who introduced me to Josie in 1991. 

We visited Pat and Bob's new home and then we had a great dinner at the Clear Sky Draught Haus.   Sue and Tom had a fantastic Kentucky Derby Party with all the fixings. Susie made killer Mint Juleps and also made a Kentucky favorite, "Hot Brown" a delicious open faced sandwich with Turkey, Bacon and Mornay sauce.

Tom and Sue have an Airbnb in their home and during Spring Training they host a young man who pitches for the Toronto Blue Jays, Joe Biagini.  We were lucky to see Joe make his first Major League start. He is usually a middle reliever, but the Jays needed Joe to step up into a starting position due to injuries in their pitching staff. It was very exciting watching him pitch and then meeting him after the game. 

The day we left Dunedin, we had early lunch at Rusty Bellies on the docks in Tarpon Springs. Both Tom and a man I met in the RV Park recommended eating there. We were not disappointing. We both had a cup of Crab Corn Chowder. Josie had Crab Cakes and I had another Grouper Sandwich. 

I was able to get in a day of birding in the area and visited Honeymoon Island State park and was able to take a few good pictures. 

We spent our second week in Florida in the Bradenton area, south of Tampa Bay. My old Navy buddy Tom Ney and his wife Paula moved here a few years ago from Pennsylvania . Tom and I met 49 years ago when we were both stationed at Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. We have stayed in touch all these years. Tom knows I love baseball so one of the first things we did was attend a Tampa Rays vs Kansas City Royals game. 

The next day Tom took us out on a boat to Egmont Key, a National Wildlife Refuge and State Park. We were able to anchor just off shore and wade into the beach and look for shells on the State park section of the Key. The Wild Life Refuge section of the Key is off limits so as to protect the thousands of nest birds. We did find a rare Gopher Turtle eating sea grapes. We then motored back down the Manatee River and had a nice lunch at Woody's Pub and Grill. 

The next day we went over to Tom and Paula's beautiful home for dinner. After leaving the Navy, Tom went to the Culinary Institute of America in New York and became a chef. So that will give you an idea how fantastic this meal was. Below is the menu described by Chef Ney himself. 

                                                  Cashews; Calamata Olives; Chorizo
                                           Chia & Quinoa Chips w/ Blue Cheese Spread
                                           Lime-Chili Crusted Shrimp w/ Harissa Sauce
 
                                              5-grain Italian Rolls & Plugra Butter
 
                                    Chardonnay – Kendall-Jackson, Grand Reserve 2014
                                                Sangiovese – Santa Christina 2014
 
                     Bucatini Pasta & Cabbage w/ Black Truffle Oil and Shaved Parmesan
 
                                         Sautéed Grouper Cheeks w/ Lavender Shrimp
                                                          French Black Lentils Salad
                                                                 Cucumber Raita
                                                  Salad Nicoise w/ Citrus Vinaigrette
 
                                                              Melita Classic Decaf
                                                   Josie’s Baked Cranberry Clafouti
​
 After dinner Josie, Paula and I played Mah Jongg by the pool, while the Chef rested. It was a great evening. 

A few days later Tom took me fishing on another of the Freedom Boat Clubs fine boats. We were joined by a hitchhiking Snowy Egret who was very interested in the bait fish we had in our live well. We sped out to Egmont and Passage Keys and tried hard to catch our dinner. Everything we caught was either too small to keep or not worth eating. We then stopped for a late lunch at Tide Tables on the Inland Water Way in Cortez, Florida. While we were fishing Josie and Paula had lunch at Waterfront Restaurant on Anna Marie Island and then browsed through lots of thrift stores in the area. After that they played many games of Mah Jongg.

Our full time RV friends from Pueblo El Mirage in Arizona, Lee and Carol are from Bradenton and they just happened to be in the area while we were here. We had a nice Mother's Day dinner with them at the Pier 22 restaurant and then spent the rest of the evening at Caddys, a riverside Tiki bar playing Corn hole and listening to the reggae band.  A few days later, Lee invited me to play golf at the new Lakewood National Golf Course at Lakewood Ranch. The Arnold Palmer signature course was a fine test of golf with water on almost every hole. We had a great time. All four of us met later that night at a local Mexican place for Taco Tuesday. 

On our final day in Bradenton, they gave us a whirlwind tour of the coast. We started in Sarasota where Josie and I recreated the famous picture of the sailor kissing the nurse. We then drove over to St. Armands Island and checked out the mega yachts in the harbor. We also stopped and checked out a few of the Banyan Trees. From there we went down to Siesta Key and hit the Happy Hour at the Daiquiri Deck. We took a walk on the beach at Siesta Key followed by a drive down Casey Key where we checked out all the beautiful and very large houses on the beach. We made one last stop at the Casey Key Jetty before heading back to Bradenton through the quaint downtown of Venice, Florida.

It was great seeing all of our Florida friends and having such fun times with them. Tomorrow we head north to Georgia.