Sun-n-Fun, Sarasota Florida...

 

Hello faithful followers! It’s hard to believe that we have come to the end of our stay at Sun-n-Fun.

Sarasota is such a beautiful area of Florida. There is so much to do here, because it’s known for its vibrant arts community, excellent restaurants, unique shopping, and beautiful beaches.

Sarasota, although a mid-sized city, is considered to be the cultural center of West Central Florida. The city has a metropolitan flavor unique to cities of its size and to cities in Florida in general. We have complied a mental list of some “must do’s” while in Sarasota since spending 3 plus months here in case any of you are interested.

 

Given the fact that this is a travel blog we think it only fare to let you know that with all these opportunities there is usually a downside to things; that being we’ve found Sarasota to have horrendous traffic chaos at all hours of the day. So definitely don’t  be in a hurry when you get here. Another factor to note is that along with all those vehicles on the road, comes with many dangerous drivers. You pretty much take your life into your own hands each time you get into your car around Sarasota, and we can attest to the fact that the vast majority of near misses we’ve encountered they were NOT baring out of state or Canadian plates, just say-in! 

 

In all fairness to Sarasota, I think we should also mention that poor driving abilities can be found everywhere in Florida; which likely can explain the hundreds of “memorial drive safely signs” that can be seen along the many stretches of highway that we’ve driven since arriving in the state.

 

Enough about the Sarasota area, let us say a few things about the place we called home for a few month; Sun-n-Fun...

 

Sun-n-Fun can be considered an "activity" based lifestyle RV Resort, and encourages a great sense of community . There are many recreational activities and everyday experiences to be had. There are a ton of sports, leisure, creative and healthy activities to participate in. Mind you there is also a few unhealthy ones too, wink wink! You might leave dragging your livers behind you if you know what I mean ;)

 

Just to mention a few of the many amenities offered at Sun-n-Fun... there are two Olympic sized pools, one outside and one inside a fantastic wellness centre complete with fitness centre.

2 huge hot tubs outside and one inside the wellness centre 

tennis/pickle ball/volleyball/bocce ball and it's French equivalent Patanque. Woodworking, stain-glass and lapidary studios, computer labs and free Wi-Fi. Miles of walking/bike paths and a 10 acre fishing lake.

 

For our much loved fur babies, there is even an on site pet-groomer and 2 dog parks. Toby was groomed twice during our stay and Michelle was awesome and had competitive rates. There was even outdoor pet baths!

 

Here are a few pictures from in and around the park....

 

 



 

 

 

This was our second site. We requested a new site part way through December because we were under a very dirty live oak tree. Chillax’n wouldn’t have looked so good if we had stayed there for the entire time, plus it was relatively cool as we didn’t get any sunshine. We rented a golf cart to get around this vast property.

 

Below are a few photos from one of the day trips that we made with our friends Matt and Kim who visited us briefly this past winter. This one was to Sarasota’s award winning beach Siesta Key. 

For the record, this beach was named winner of this years (2015) Trip Advisor Travelers' Choice Awards for Beaches.

 

 

Below are a few pictures of the annual Sun-n-Fun “Homecoming Parade”. We had the privilege of obtaining front row seats compliments of our new friends Ken & Randa Walker who hail from Iowa. We also had an awesome breakfast complete with Morning Glories at their place prior to the event. Thanks for the memories!



 

Our Canadian contingent



Some Flora of Sun-n-Fun

View from Tommy Bahama’s restaurant St. Armands Circle…good eats

Friends from home Joe and Doreen!

We made some awesome new friends during our stay at Sun-n-Fun. This motley crew below can be credited for opening up their arms and welcoming us into the AARP, aka American Association of Retired People. Thanks to our “Happy Hour” Gang we had the opportunity to participate and regularly enjoy a lot of Sarasota’s culinary establishments with them. We will miss them very much, and hope to be reunited again with them someday soon.

In order of appearance (left to right) George and Trish Wilson from Ajax, Ontario; Jerry and Gerri McLain from Mount Ayr, Iowa; John & Sally Beckwith from Edwardsburg, Michigan; Randa and Ken Walker from Newton, Iowa, and of course us. Thanks for the memories, it will always be 3 o'clock somewhere on our travels!

Anyway peeps, I will leave you here because if I talk more about all of the stuff we did during our stay you’d be here all day.

We left Sun-n-Fun on March 5^th headed southbound for the Keys…another soon to be checked off mark on Sandra's bucket list. So stay tuned for more adventures from Chillax’n soon.

Thanks for stopping by R & S J