Funerals Change Things, but at Least We Were Near

We had reserved an Airbnb place for Christmas night over near the East coast.  Then  we got word that Ron’s uncle in Ft Myers – 3 hours south of here whom we had planned to visit anyway – had passed and the funeral was this morning.  

The I-275 bridge to Ft Myers in the morning fog...beautiful!

   

So we canceled the Airbnb and got a hotel in Ft Myers, so we drove down there Christmas Day instead of across to the East Coast.  We ate Christmas dinner at Denny's  as almost all other places were closed, including the fast food places.   
     
We are glad we were near enough to go –we represented the Dungey family! 

Ron and his Aunt Juanita

After the funeral and visiting, we headed toward the East Coast and St Augustine.  We had thought about trying to go around Orlando since the traffic is usually pretty thick on I-4, but the Google map indicated the traffic was not too bad.  If stopping twice on a freeway jammed with cars is not “bad”, then it wasn’t bad, but that was only in a few places.  The colored lights around the town were pretty.  We ate dinner late at a McDonalds in Sanford, then came on to St Augustine, using the after-hours key box to get in. 

The ferris wheel along I-4 in Orlando changes colors

Lots of colored lights through Orlando

Beso del Sol Resort, Dunedin, FL

We drove down to Florida Friday, we are staying on the Gulf Coast (Dunedin) in a timeshare from DAE -  Beso del Sol.  It is rather a “strange” one – a little bit not what we expected – particular since the first 2 days here it was still 48 degrees at 10 a.m.  In the morning!! 

REVIEW OF RESORT

      I was quite excited to be able to get this exchange (from DAE) since it was on the Gulf Coast and I saw the beautiful sunset photos on their website and on Tripadvisor.  We had been to St Pete Beach and Treasure Island in the past.  We had a 1 bedroom unit so I knew we would not be oceanfront since only the studio units are.  When I called ahead (as instructed in RED letters:   “Reconfirmation is MANDATORY 25 hours prior to check-in”),  I requested a larger-sized refrigerator (as many even in the 1 BD are the small hotel size) and an oven, since we usually eat in and cook (the lady was very surprised at that) and we did get them which really helped! 

      The resort is not ocean front but bay front.   A surprising thing were the elevated “hallways” to the rooms:  they were built like the jutting out balconies that are designed for resorts to allow each room to have ocean views.  However they led to the doors of the units and overlooked the parking lot, and it was quite awkward pulling a cart or suitcase around all the angles.  There is one elevator at the back of the resort and stairways on either end (but, interestingly, with unmarked doors).

      The Unit:  We had 326 (that was the unit that had the roaches last year, reported in TUG).  The bathroom is immediately to the right as you enter the unit, then you go into the living area which has a small kitchenette and four very large heavy dining chairs around a small round glass table.  The sofa, one easy chair, coffee table, one side table with a lamp and 1 floor lamp are in the living area, then a patio door that leads to the balcony.  Only two lamps made it dark so we needed to use the overhead light, which I usually prefer not to.   The furniture was attractive but a very heavy style.  Our friend cannot figure out why interior designers select “pretty” furniture which is so difficult to use or move as so many condos have heavy chairs. You could hear every time the chairs upstairs were moved; we did try to be careful for those below us, but…  We were instructed NOT to move the furniture but we had to; we just could not even move around the kitchen area with those large heavy chairs in the way.  The easy chair was set right next to the TV so it was better to move it across the room to be able to watch the television from it as we moved the table to the other side.

         There is no dishwasher and as we are supposed to clean the condo and dishes prior to leaving, it was not unexpected to find dirty dishes and pots and pans in the cupboards.  Wiggling loose uneven burners made it hard to cook some items, and the oven was quite dirty.  Inventory was not listed nor uniform within units.  Two celling fans, one in the living room and one in the bedroom, might help during hot weather BUT…..they were filthy.  Dust/dirt was literally stacked on top of the blades.  The air conditioning/heating was by two highly placed machines in the walls, one in the living room and one in the bedroom and controlled by buttons to push, quite highly placed for short people.  They were very noisy, they turned off and on all the time including all night, sometimes for just a few minutes, acting more like the typical motel units.               

    The resort:   The resort was converted from two motels into the one resort about five years ago.  It is affiliated with the travel club, Global Connections, so there are many ways to stay here, including what they call “retail rentals” which would be just like reserving a motel unit.  I have seen it listed in DAE and Platinum Interchange but not RCI.

      There are two waterfront pools on a huge pool deck with lots of chairs and tables with umbrellas but one pool (unheated) is on the larger deck and is for the bar only and no children allowed on that side at all.  The southern pool is heated and quite nice; also a hot tub is there.      Two piers lead out from the resort to be able to park your boat, but the railing is only on one side of the long docks, so I didn’t dare walk out there.  Others did.

     There were no organized resort activities but much advertising that some of the best beaches in the world are right there.  Clearwater Beach and Honeymoon Island are both about 10 miles away and the Calabesi Beach can be reached only by boat.  The town of Dunedin is typically Florida quaint.  We really enjoyed the Art Center.

              I am mystified at the fabulous reviews on Tripadvisor, considering the meagre views from the 1 bedrooms, the poor housekeeping, especially the dirty ceiling fans, the awkward air conditioning units,  the signs everywhere with rules and the inconsistent inventory items, but perhaps the Tiki Bar and smaller waterfront units are more appealing to others than to us.  Usually I am quite positive and enthusiastic about the resorts we go to, but I am not for this one and we do not plan to return. 

    Our original plan coming so early in December was to spend our “gap” day (Friday, between timeshare stays) with our friends from Toronto who said they were coming down to FL too in December, as we did two other years and had such a good time spending time with them on Christmas Day.  But then they changed their minds for this year and will not come until Jan 2.  So that left us blank on Christmas Day since we can’t check into St Augustine timeshare until the 26^th.

Back to ATL on the Way to Florida

At Wyndham Fairfield Plantation

       This is probably our favorite Wyndham now:  Wyndham Fairfield Plantation near Atlanta.  We come as often as we can on the way to Florida.  It’s very hard to get into, it’s so small a small complex in the middle of a large residential development.   It's right on the lake here, 20 miles west of Atlanta. 

         Our van was parked at our friends’ in Douglasville, and the Wyndham Plantation is in Vila Rica, which is by their house .  See http://ronandjoanjourney.blogspot.com/2015/02/leaving-east-coast-vehicle-behind.html.  We flew into ATL last night and our friend picked us up at the airport.   He had already gotten our van out from his back yard. We visited with our friends a while, then drove over here, checking in at the back gate after hours.      

        The van drove fine (after 10 months of sitting!  Ron is out at the van now searching for things like peanut butter and club soda... We'll go to the store today to get milk, etc, and see our friends again tomorrow. 

     Beautiful day today, just opened the French doors looking out onto the lake….

Linda Wanted a Beach Picture of Us

We had run a quick errand today and then walked along an adjoining beach.  

Linda and Ron walk along the shore

Linda took this picture of us.

A Trip to Hilo

We had planned to go Hilo to the Wednesday farmers’ market – Hilo is the town on the other side, usually a two-hour plus  drive one way, but there is a new highway (SR200) crossing which makes it about 1 ½ hours one way and Ron wanted to try it, so we did, and enjoyed it. 

Beautiful pics of the sun shining on the telscopes

We wanted to drive around Hilo more, so we drove the narrow highway SR137 along the southeastern coast which was beautiful, then returned last night to visit with Linda and her sister – sister Karen and brother-in-law Tom had arrived late last night from Seattle for a three-week visit.

A Day at the Beach

Today we all went to the beach – our first “touristy/vacation” activity!  It was fun and relaxing with Dave and Linda and their two friends (Mike and Amanda) and Amanda’s parents from Holland.  It was great: they have lots of beach chairs and grilled hot dogs, plus a big ice chest!  They know a nice beach which is relatively private too as most tourists would not know about it.

   The dogs come along too and they are fine.  So well-behaved.

Ron and Joan  with Amanda's parents

We think the beach is pretty, but it's not for swimming

Ron and Dave

Getting the BarBQue ready - since then, they bought a new portable one at Lowe's

Gardening Project #2: Planting Coffee Trees

1 1/2 year old seedlings

A second planting project was the planting of coffee tree seedlings.  Linda and Joan had quite a routine, so much easier with two people.

Area with 9 sprayed markings 6 feet apart

First of all, they need to be six feet apart, so we measured and took sray paint and sprayed where to dig the holes.  Then we asked Dave or Riley to dig them:  Dave’s new drill really helped that, especially when there was a rock shelf.

Hmmm, I see places to dig!

   

After the holes were dug, we gathered materials:  1 year seedlings, hose, rooting compound powder, Miracle-Gro powder, fertilizer, scissors, watering can, wheelbarrow with topsoil, shovel.

   While Linda mixed the Miracle-Gro into water in the watering can and finished clearing out the hole of rocks with the shovel, Joan cut the seedling plastic case, extracted the seedling roots and sprinkled the rooting compound on the roots.  Linda put water (with the Miracle Gro) into the hole, then Joan held the seedling upright while Linda shoveled soil into the hole to the right height. Joan sprinkled the second fertilizer on the soil, pressing down the soil around the plants, while Linda searched for appropriately sized rocks to circle the planting. Joan helped to finish that, then on to the next. 

     

We d three sections on three different days, each one getting harder than the first, since there was more rock debris around the holes and at the last we had to clear paths through many rocks to the holes, just to be able to push the wheelbarrow through – and not fall down getting from hole to hole too!  Oh, and did I mention? -- the sun beating down.  That last day was three hours!

    A fourth section of six plants were planted later – that was easy.  That made a total of 47 coffee trees on the site: there were already 18 before which had already produced, after a year and a half, 20-some pounds of coffee cherries.  A fun hobby!

See the rock circles with the plants inside them.  That area had been covered with several layers of rock and we cleared them all out.  That area took the longest and no shade in sight!  

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Linda rakes the first area clear of rocks.

Now to add the watering tubes

Each plant gets its own water

Later we picked the (coffee) cherries from the plants that had been planted a year and a half ago along the driveway.  Already producing!  Linda takes them to a roaster who will accept small amounts and prepare them.