By John Olesky
For the first time in the eight trips I made to Florida since my 1996 retirement from the Beacon Journal, I did not have a reunion with former BJ Composing employees Dave and Gina White, who live in Venice after years of having a Sarasota residence, and Terry Dray and his wife Cecily, who live in Avon Park, near Lake Kissimmee.
Dave and Gina were busy with their daughter and family, and taking them to Ft. Myers Airport. Terry and Cecily were having a reunion of their own, too, with Cecily’s sister and her family from South Carolina. That’s where Terry and Cecily went to deal with hurricanes (yes, plural) that affected Avon Lake last year. I think 3 of 4 hurricanes affected Avon Park.
Paula (who reported for the State Desk in the 1970s when I was assistant SD editor with Harry Liggett and John McDonald) and I stayed at Sea Castle on Siesta Key, off Sarasota, April 15-22. It was my sixth stay at Sea Castle, but the first that wasn’t in February.
Paula and I took the airboat ride on Myakka Lake, where the alligators dominate the opposite shore.
We took another tour boat into Sarasota Bay, where we watched dolphins go fishing (they slap the fish against the sea wall to knock them out, then eat them).
We enjoyed the orchids and banyan trees in Marie Selby Gardens.
I took Paula to my favorite restaurants in Sarasota: The Original Oyster Bar, El Adobe (Mexican restaurant; duh!) and Sugar and Spice (Amish restaurant). We were only there April 15-22, instead of the month-long stays that my late wife Monia and I used to take.
For those who came in late to my annual reports on my trips to Florida since my retirement, Sea Castle is on the beach, and the rental complex adjacent to the parking lot behind Sea Castle once was owned and operated by the late Bill Gorrell, a longtime BJ printer. BJ printers for years would stay at Poor Bill’s, the name Gorrell gave to his place. Now Gorrell’s old place is part of three adjacent complexes owned by, I believe, a conglomerate of doctors.
As usual the weather on Siesta Key was sunshine, blue skies, temperatures in the 80s (but cool enough in the evening to wear a light jacket) and the sunsets were spectacular, orange balls setting into the blue water as sea birds fly off the shoreto their nighttime sleeping quarters on the water.
And the red on our bodies turned to tan by the time we got back to Akron/Canton Airport, where Delta Airlines lost my luggage. Vacation over.
wow, glad you had a good time. I met "Poor Bill" in 1979 when I was dating his nephew Bill. My girlfriend and I went to Florida to retrieve the nephew's motorcycle and bring it back to Ohio while getting in a little vacation. Uncle Bill treated us like family and had even offered us jobs there paying three times what I was making at Akron Savings and Loan but love is blind and I had to return to my Bill. It sure is a small world. Now I am still in Ohio and nephew Bill lives in Nokomis Florida not far from "Sun and Sea" lodge.(now your Sea Castle)
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