I slept fitfully. Whether it was because I was over tired or in a strange place or whatever, I don’t know. The time difference certainly did not help. I was up at 5am so as not to disturb Karen and explored the villa quietly.
The pool area was lovely and became even more so as the sun rose. I had my breakfast (with the porridge we had brought with us) and waited for Karen to finally stir.
After enjoying some of the early morning sunshine by the pool we decided to venture out to the nearest Publix supermarket. Driving there Karen decided it had been worth the long drive the night before as she gave the villa and the area the thumbs up. I was not surprised as she had really liked it when we stayed here previously.
Despite only popping it to get a few essentials from the supermarket we managed to fill the boot with our purchases. The cost of living in the USA has risen so much since we started visiting and certainly the cost of food far exceeds what we would now be paying at home. It used to be the other way around.
Back at the villa I enjoyed my Clam Chowder with some bread for lunch and after a quick cuppa we headed out again. We chose to visit the Venice Beach area, somewhere we knew we had been before but neither could remember much about.
We headed to Casperden Beach. It was shut for a reason we didn’t understand until we noticed all the damage round us. This was one of the victims of Hurricane Helene as was much more of the coastline and many buildings around the area. We drove to Venice Fishing Pier which was also still closed. Here we did at least manage to park and have a walk on the beach.
By now the sun was beating down. The beach was not the pretty pure white of Siesta Key or Anna Marie Island, being more greyish. We didn’t know if this was because of the storm surges. Despite this there were still several people on the beach. Many were at the sea edge with metal net/sieves going through the shallows apparently searching for shark teeth. I have no idea why this would be a good spot to find them. Perhaps there is a shark dentist just off the shoreline, or perhaps this is where sharks come to die. I suppose it could be the equivalent of sharks losing their baby teeth and putting them under their pillow. If a human finds them then perhaps, they get a £1 coin or a nibble of a human leg as their reward.
As we walked back up the beach Karen decided she was in desperate need of a coffee. We drove to Venice downtown where coffee shops were lacking. We drove around for a while seeing the piles of Hurricane debris piled up beside the road waiting to be collected. There were many fences down and lots of tree damage but most of the buildings seemed to have got away with it.
We were in a Republican state and there were many boards up for Trump. I think we only saw one for Harris. It is a strange situation as the current projections seem that Harris will win the popular vote but lose the election. Mind you our electoral system isn’t any better.
We talked about the boards and flags people have in their gardens. I mentioned that there was a flag pole in our pole. Karen gasped with surprise which in turn then surprised me. She then said that in all my 28 years of being there I have never noticed it. I responded with ‘Not at home you fool, the villa we are currently staying in’. That sums up with what I must put up with on a daily basis. She thought there was a 30ft flagpole at home that somehow, she had never seen.
After not finding anywhere suitable to stop we used the Sat Nav on my phone to take us to the nearest Starbucks where we sat outside for a while with our drinks.
As it was too early for dinner, Karen thought some retail therapy was needed. As the first shop was to be Dollar Tree I agreed. It turned into a multiple dollar tree as we bought loads of things like wipes and nibbles. I bought my traditional new pair of reading glasses. A bit like Poundland in the UK is changing, most things in here are now $1.25.
Then Karen wanted a wander round Marshalls. Her wander was almost long enough to have run a half marathon but we got eventually and then drove to the nearest Outback.
Recently some of our Outback visits have been a bit hit or miss. This was a big hit. The service we got was exceptional as was the food. All the staff were happy and worked as a team covering for each other. It was a real pleasure and I have sent the manager an email complementing our experience.
With that we headed back to the villa where we had a cuppa and a glass of wine. We tried to watch the last episode of Rivals on Disney +, but the US region didn’t have it and I couldn’t be bothered to faff around sorting out a VPN as I was tired. Instead, they had ‘Dancing with the Stars’ as a choice which Karen watched. I hadn’t heard of any of the stars and some of them really could not dance.
Before 10am, I was overcome with exhaustion and headed off to bed with the previous day finally catching up with me.
