Hunting Expedition on the Florida's West Coast

Ah Venice....Venice, Florida, that is!

My friend, Nickie, had talked to me about going over there to hunt for fossilized shark's teeth, and I'd been wanting to try it for a long time. Finally the opportunity and timing was right and we finally got to go!

A whole bunch of us went over...Dave and Maria, Ob and his kids, Susan and Corky, Lj and us met Nickie, who got to go over Friday night. It was great being able to hang out with all my friends for the weekend. The main objective was to hunt for fossilized shark's teeth, and that we did. We bought a couple of sand/sifter shovel thingies for the job.

And used them to find these.....

They're not the Megalodon teeth we were hoping for, but I like them anyway. I think they're mostly Lemon shark teeth and maybe one Tiger shark tooth. It amazes me when I think of how old they are. We also found lots of pieces from stingrays and skates. The straight stick-looking pieces are pieces of their mouth that they used to crush their food. Not as impressive as the teeth, but just as old!

That's Lj and Nickie in the water)...

while Susan and Corky watched from the shore.

Aidan had to get dressed up to go to the beach. Why? I have no idea...

unless he wanted to impress his new girlfriend...

...Emily. Yes, she's older and more "worldly", but age means nothing to him! We ate at Cracker Barrel (always a favorite) and the best damn Thai restaurant ever - Thai Bistro, a little hole-in-the-wall joint in a little strip mall. OMG, it was the BEST Thai I have ever had in my life! If you ever find yourself in Venice, do yourself a favor and GO THERE!

A view from across from Casey Key.

While searching for a cache on Nokomis Beach, we found this! I am assuming that buried beneath that sand are some eggs. We were careful, and didn't see any other signs of turtles.

It was a beautiful, open, clean beach. The beaches here in South Florida never look this nice. Sad, but folks here tend to be such pigs. It was a treat to see a town with hardly any litter on it's streets or shorelines.

After finding the cache, we decided to take a drive to check out Casey Key. Now, Stephen King owns a home here and I wanted to see if I could guess which one was his. This one was HUGE, and I really hoped that this wasn't his. He just doesn't seem this pretentious to me....

I later found his address, and no...that was NOT his house! If you've read his latest novel, Duma Key, you know that it is set on a small island on the West Coast of Florida. Casey Key was his inspiration, though the island isn't nearly as deserted or creepy as his Duma Key!

The sunset below was actually taken very close to his home...if you've read it, you'll know why it's a little creepy...

Our last day in Venice, we headed back down to Casperson and ate at Sharkey's, a very cool little place with a pier out back.

Driving home now...I had to take his picture in Naples. Look at the traffic lights. See the poles they're on? the whole intersection was boxed in. Pretty cool. I've never seen a set up like that before. i wonder if it's supposed to be better in hurricanes?

Well, that's the end of the pictures from the weekend. We had a super time. A HUGE THANKS to Nickie for the idea of going there, and to Lj for her incredible Priceline expertise!