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  • Writer's pictureKara

The Sunshine State


On January 9th my dad and I started our drive to Florida. We stopped in Emporia, VA for one night and ended our drive in Jacksonville, FL to visit our family for a couple days.



We all went out for pizza and wings at V Pizza. It was delicious. The next day, my dad, cousin Jonathon, and I got unlimited sushi for lunch and walked around San Marco.


January 12th, we had breakfast with the family before heading out for North Port, FL where I'll be staying until April. This time of the year, there are limited places to stay and thankfully I met a nice woman in Albany who is also a traveling nurse. She is from North Port and offered to rent out her extra room to me! Only 20 minutes from work, I couldn't pass it up! We arrived late that night and we went to Dean's South of the Border. Lory, the lady I am living with, knew the band so we enjoyed music, football, and the glory of being outside!

The next day Lory took us to Englewood beach.


The next three days I started my new job! This time of the year since so many people are snow birds, the hospital has a difficult time not only being fully staffed, but having enough room for patients. Some patient's have to go in the hallway as their room which is not ideal for anyone.

After my three days of work, my dad and I ran some errands and ended up having lunch at Hurricane Charlie's. A popular place in Punta Gorda that is located on the water.


Our server was great and had plenty of laughs. Afterwards we walked along the water while the sunset.

The next day went down to Fort Myers to visit my family who snow birds there! We took a drive to Sanibel Island and saw beautiful houses and beaches.



After driving around we went to Bimini Bait Shack for dinner. It is located right before the bridge going into Sanibel Island, making almost any seat, a perfect seat to see the water.




The bar was very cool. The air boat was lifted up when the band showed up to sing above the bar. There were fish inside the bar too!



The next day we left our family in Fort Myers and headed to Cape Coral which is just North of Fort Myers. We have friends from church who snow bird there, so we spent the day with them. Cape Coral is known for having over 400 miles in canals so that more people have waterfront property!


We enjoyed some lemonade and ice tea while sitting by the canal. We then headed out to see manatees! Unfortunately, I couldn't get a great picture of them, but they were out!



If you look closely, you can see a little brown thing in the water, that's a manatee! We looked at them for awhile and then went to 6 Mile Cypress Slough Preserve. There are walking trails, various plants, and wild life!




We got to see an alligator!! Woohoo! Then we walked out to the Cape Coral Pier.


Last minute, my friend from college Sahriah booked a ticket to fly down and visit her grandparents in Naples. Sunday we drove down and spent time with her. We went to the Snook Inn on Marco Island for lunch, where her and I tried escargot for the first time and liked it!


Then we walked around 5th Ave where we bought homemade ice cream from Kilwins.



We watched some of the Saints vs Rams game at Shea's before heading back to her grandparents to watch the Patriots vs Chiefs game. Once the games were over we drove home.

My dad and I also spent a day at Nokomis Public Beach which is just a little north of North Port. Once we were done with the sun, we went to Pop's Sunset Grill. We ran into people from Skaneateles which isn't far from my hometown! After hanging out with them, a band showed up and there was an hour wait for a table! We decided to go back to the beach and see the sunset. To our surprise, we walked into a beach party that happens twice a week. There are people dancing, bongo drums, and music!




We ended the night with one of the best meals we have had yet! We drove to Casey Key Fish House and had shrimp, salad, and lobster mac n cheese.



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