Our Florida, West Coast, trip......

Thursday, April 25th - Thursday, April 30th we journeyed to Naples to visit the Copelands, after that, we drive North to St. Petersburg to join the McInerney clan as they celebrated Aunt Rita 95th birthday, we then drove to Sanibel-Captiva for a two night stay before returning home.  

Follow us on a pictorial journey....

Click on any photo to enlarge it!

          The golf course view from Pat and Bill's condo in Naples.

                The four of us at Naples Botanical Gardens.

                           Connie picking a green banana.

Then...

 We drove inland approximately 20 miles to see Ave Maria University and its modern campus.

 The Oratory or church at Ave Maria.

                                                  Modern interior.....

We stopped for lunch after which we drove to
nearby Corkscrew National Park....

                   

 A bit of creative photography in this giant cypress tree preserve.

                                     A local takes an afternoon nap...


The next day, Connie and I headed North on I-75 with a stop in Myakka State Park which is west of Sarasota.

 A white tail deer.  Who needs Disney when Florida has this ?

                                               Beautiful Lake Myakka.

Connie navigates the suspended "canopy walk" above the tree tops.

                                                      A Red Shouldered Hawk. 


Then, it was on to St. Pete, via the Sunshine Skyway, for "Aunt Rita's 95th birthday event.

                                 Crossing Tampa Bay.... 

     We met at Guppy's in Indian Rocks Beach for a delicious dinner, refreshments and birthday cake....

The next day........

  Down town St. Petersburg, Fl. looking west from The Pier!

        St. Petersburg's "Million Dollar Pier" first built 1906! 
        This landmark is set for demolition.

This it was heading South to the islands of Sanibel-Captiva. 

The beautiful  Marriott Sanibel Harbour for two nights.....

The Sanibel lighthouse.......

We stopped at a beach on Captiva to wet our feet.

As I post this, there are many more photos in Connie's camera.
I hope to post them at a later date......

jpk    5/2/13