Well, Kim had an early early wake up call at 4:00 am to get her family up and to the airport. After going to bed after 1, that amounts to 3 hours sleep! Mom and I stayed in bed for a few more hours. A little more rested, we got up and, with Kim who had come back from the airport, made our way to breakfast. The views from our 12th floor window and the hallway windows along the way were incredible. We are staying in a Golf Resort who must cater to big name golfers! The course we looked down on was beautiful.
Out a side window I could see a resort waterpark as well as a 'Lazy River ' which is a man made creek you float down on tubes. What a fun place to bring a family!
We had a fantastic breakfast - wonderful blueberry sausage, fruit, cheese biscuits, omelet bar, egg Benedict bar, grits, applewood bacon, pita, hummus, pancakes, French toast....wow. Our only problem was we got up late and had to leave to check out. That meant finish packing and get downstairs in 10 minutes. I think we were a little late handing those keys in...
This is the Omni Hotel ChampionsGate at Orlando. The room rate was very good, despite how fancy the hotel was. I would definitely look at an Omni hotel again.
Off to Tarpon Springs. This took a few hours to get there, hours that were fraught with driving stress as we had to go through Tampa. Drivers are crazy here! Kim was following 'Siri' on her smart phone. I was also following the map with my phone but my app took me another way. Since it was easier for Kim to listen to Siri's spoken directions, we followed her. This Siri always makes me think of Big Bang ( TV show) and other shows that spoof Siri. I admit she is quite handy to have though!
We finally got to Tarpon Springs and discovered it is a destination for tourists and they were out there. I had watched a Good Morning America segment on 'Europe in North America'. They had mentioned this community as being Greek. The Greeks came over in the 1900s to dive for sponges because the sponges were found in the Gulf. They brought with them their religion, so there are Greek Orthodox churches, as well as their food. Since I have not gotten to visit Greece I thought this place north of Fort Myers would make a good day trip.
We saw "Sponge Boats" moored along the main street there. One had sponges hanging up drying. These particular sponges are called "finger" sponges. Anywhere along Main Street you can buy any size or shape of sponge.
Some sponges were being sold as facial or body sponges. Larger "Vase" sponges were sold more for decorative purposes, some having airplants or bromeliads displayed in them.
We had to eat at a Greek restaurant before we left. Kim picked an excellent one. We had flaming cheese called saganaki for an appetizer.
Some Greek beer...
Kim and Mom had variations of moussaka which is eggplant with ground beef, chese and a sauce.
I had Kalamari, or fried squid. It was wonderful!!!
Don't knock it till you've tried it.
This is the area, Mykonos, the restaurant is named for. They are famous for their windmills.
According to their placemat (above) this restaurant has been featured on Rachel Ray and on The Cooking Channel. Kim, who has eaten in Mykonos itself in Greece, said the Kalamari, saganaki ( fried cheese), and moussaka are the best she's had since eating on the island. Her family gets to eat at Greek restaurants in the cities.
Completely stuffed and carrying three baklavas for dessert later, we got back on the car for another 3 hours of driving. More traffic, plus everyone is so tired from our late theme park activities and lack of sleep. We were so glad to see our hotel, a Hampton Inn, in Fort Myers. We haven't moved since.
No sunset pictures tonight, or firework pictures. I'll just finish with a picture from earlier in the day.
Good Night! Last night in Florida. Maybe back to Naples and a beach tomorrow before we head home. Until then, sleep tight.
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