Bass Lake

[Gail in Ca]

Ah, vacations!
I just got back from Bass Lake, and I have a tan (thru a 30spf)!
Just cruised the lake in a boat, and floated on a raft pretty much for 5 days in a row. Very relaxing, to say the least. My husbands relatives meet there yearly for a week. Lots of laughs, margarita nite and nacho nite, too. I don't water ski anymore,(bruising), but my teenager got up on a single ski and stayed up all the way across the lake. What a trooper!
Came home thru Yosemite, and it was so beautifu, as always.
The falls were still flowing, and so breathtaking.
That will be my last vacation for awhile, since I went to Sarasota, FL for 11 days in July as well, to visit my favorite sister and her twins.
Now I must start practicing my clarinet, as I have been asked to play in the local Orchestra! No more slacking for me.
Gail

 

[ccrawford]

Gail - Glad you had a good time on vacation. Where is Bass Lake ?
So far my tan has come from being on the back of a tractor, or atv on the farm. I spent a lot of time just south of Sarasota during my days at Ky. Military Institute. They had their winter campus in Venice Fla, and I got to know Sarasota pretty well. The whole area has grown way too fast to suit me, but it used to be pretty nice with only minimal development. I remember some pretty good fishing on the Myacca (sp) river, and on the jetty just north of Venice. This was back in the 1958-1961 time frame. Time goes by fast when you are having fun ! Chris

 

[Gail in Ca]

Hi Chris,
Yes , Sarasota is changing. My sister lives in a nice gated home community right on a lake and with a wildlife preserve. Custom home and only 425K. Her husband thinks we are nuts living in Silicon Valley, where the homes like ours are 40+ yrs old and selling for over 600K. We saw storks, huge herons ,snowy egrets and ,of course ,an aligator, while swimming in their pool.
She took us to the Myakka state park to ride a fan boat and we saw many gators and an osprey grab a fish right out of the water!
What a site! On the way out we saw a 10ft gator just laying in the weeds only a few feet from the road. She stopped the car and I took a picture. However, we were so glad to get back to Ca, and out of that heat.
Bass Lake is about 20 miles from Yosemite. There is camping,boating, fishing, eating out at Ducey's.( my favorite) The film The Great Outdoors was filmed there, with John Candy. We had some thunder storms in the afternoon, just like Florida.
Vacations are fun, too bad they can't last a bit longer!
Gail

 

[hensylee]

Ahhhh, Sarasota - shades of home. Lived near for 20+ yrs. Did you know there is a Myakka City on Hwy 70 between Arcadia and Bradenton? Very small (or was). My son lives in Sarasota with his wife. They are house hunting right now. Yes, Chris, it has grown, especially from that far back. You wouldn't know it anymore - I don't even know it anymore. Purty, tho - and the sunsets, aren't they something.

 

[bvdr]

I lived in the Venice/Nokomis area for almost ten years. We moved from there in l984. It was beautiful but it had a real growth explosion around that time. My boys remember Florida as where they grew up and I have many wonderful memories of that area. Sarasota was our closest big city and airport so we were up there quite often.

My husband also lived in Bradenton Beach as a child in a older wooden home right on the Gulf of Mexico. Today the property has beautiful condominiums on it.

 

[LUVMyBirman]

That sounds fantastic Gail. My kind of vacation!

I am a beach and lake lover. Easy to relax that way for sure. Just returned from San Francisco and Napa. Wine country was very very nice. First vacation alone with the hubby in years.
We were on the move the whole time. Next trip is down to Orlando with our daughter....so I am certain there will be no relaxing

Glad you had a nice time. Hopefully your INR is in order. Mine always gets messed up on vacation.

 

[ccrawford]

Betty and Hensylee - When I was down there, there were very few houses or buildings on the Tamiami Trail between Sarasota and Venice, and Nokomis was just a little bitty blip. Likewise the road south to Naples and Fort Meyers was lined with Jungle. Longboat Key was still under development. We used to take our boats up the intercoastal to Midnight Pass and have a party on the weekends. Some pretty good fishing on the intercoastal if you knew where and paid attention to the tide tables. Quite a place, and I'm sure I wouldn't recognize a lot of it today.

 

[Gail in Ca]

Amazingly enough, my INR was right on target when I came home from these trips to the heat. A couple of yrs ago, it was down to 1.9 in the same situation, so go figure! Gina,
you will enjoy Orlando, wear comfortable sandals, like Ecco,
if you go when it's hot. We were lucky enough to be there a few yrs ago, and saw the space shuttle Atlantis take off! What an experience.
A trip to Orlando is kind of like work, you never sit unless eating or going to bed! After 4 days I had had enough and we went to the water slides, to relax a bit.
Then on to the next theme park, and the animal park wasn't even done , yet, so there's even more to see now.
Have fun when you go. It is a trip the kids remember, for sure.
Gail

 

[hensylee]

Chris, it's solid city from above Tarpon Springs to below Naples....

 

[ccrawford]

If they build too much more, the whole state will sink into the Gulf. Sorry to see all the development, but I guess that's what we've got until we figure out some population growth issues.

 

[hensylee]

Ross sent me some population figures today about Ohio - seems everybody in Ohio is moving out and most are coming to Florida. Expecting him any day now. Ross, the rocker is here and I have one for Lyn, too.

 

[Ross]

I thought it was funny how people leaving Ohio were moving to Florida and the people moving in were from Florida. Tell me this place isn't screwed up. I feel sorry for those moving in. They haven't a clue what there in for unless they've resided here previously.

 

[hensylee]

Well, Ross, at least you don't have to worry about Jerry now.