flying alligator beats vampire. shark beats flying alligator, vampire shark beats all!

so we got to the condo and as late as it was getting, there was really only one thing to do: eat a little ice cream and watch the only thing on worth watching-friends re-runs, and then i was off to bed and out!

the morning brought sunshine! it was AWESOME! and we determined that breakfast would be simple muffins from dunkin donuts, because shea had experienced her first blueberry muffin from said establishment, and was impressed (it was a bit of a fumble the way she found out she liked them, but a great story-you'll have to ask her about)!

we were driving in the general direction of the DD, and shea was worried we may have passed it (not scared worried, more like 'hmm...where could it be'-worried). so she asked siri, and the closest location that siri was willing to give us was about 37 miles away...but shea was POSITIVE there was one just ahead, so i kept my eyes peeled-there it is, no it's not, yes, yes, that's it on the right! (strangely the logo wasn't normal...it was dunkin, alright, but usually the words are stacked, these were written horizontally, and not in the color scheme). so we pulled in and went to the counter. i ordered my blueberry muffin, coffee and diet coke (you'll be happy to know that since vacation, i haven't partaken of diet coke-going to make the effort to cut back! again..). i handed the girl a $20 and she didn't have change, so she said she'd go to the back to get change. so we waited. after a minute or two, another gal came up, i imagine a manager, and said 'change-girl' would be right back, but she'd go ahead and get the drinks ready for the next in line and looked right past shea-who MUST have been wearing her invisible ring...one ring to rule them all....anyhoo, in the meantime, the other gal must have gone to the mint to print out some money and stamp some coins, because it took forever. manager-type told me i could get a diet coke from the cooler to the left, so when i went to said cooler, TRAGICALLY, there was only regular coke and some off brand of crazy drink, so i told her that, and she looked baffled! (money bags had still not returned). the manager-type went back to get a refund for me when the other gal finally returned with the change.

i think everyone else's orders went smoothly. no wonder siri was so hesitant to direct us to them-that dd was a hot mess! and she was just trying to spare us!

we arrived at lily's home, and this adorable little cocker spaniel was soft as velvet! but of course, she's a 'DESIGNER DOG!' shea had to find the can-opener and so we looked everywhere! where in the world could it be?! well, we took her for a little walk around the neighborhood and around the pond, stopping at an older neighbor's home to let her know shea would be there all week to take care of lily. it was very obvious that this was a place of treats and comfort. she knew exactly where the treats were, and what to do to get them! we left after a few minutes to continue around the pond, and shea went through the scenario of what she would do if walking lily and an alligator appeared. it sounds like she'd have a new handbag (not that she'd use it), and an alligator paw (that, she would find a way to use....like my creepy baby hands, no doubt!).

we then took off on another day of adventure-ca' d' zan (house of john..RINGLING!)  and shark tooth hunting!

first stop: the grounds of the john ringling, of the ringling brothers-like big-top circus! wow! the grounds are beautiful! the house is probably spectacular, the view from the back 'patio' certainly is...and the trees all over the grounds were imported from a plethora of countries. the obvious favorite were the massive banyan trees-humongous! fascinating- it would certainly have been fun to be a kid around here, playing hide and seek among these beauties! definitely a relaxing, quiet area.

entrance- welcome!

fascinating mix of trees and plant life!!

back side of the mansion that looks out to the bay

pic of me taking pic-LOOK AT THIS PATIO! just waiting for a party! (and by party i mean like 5-10 close friends-anything else is just over-population).

check out the architecture! beautiful!

ASLAN's table! 

someone hiding from the busy-body guards on constant patrol

we didn't pay for the tour of the house or the museum, but i'm sure it's very interesting (not nearly as interesting as the beach, but perhaps for a stormy day adventure). we did sit in the little tourist intro movie that tried to talk us into purchasing tours...and learned that there is a great video about john and mable, and that after john had passed, one of the directors purchased/imported an italian theater-house and that is where they hold many of their spectacular shows on site. all about the show...THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!

just so you can get an idea of the immensity

dog's eye view! woof woof!

must have at least one 'leaping for joy' pic

once we had enough pics, we went down to venice-a beach called caspersen beach, with darker sand. my understanding is that there is a reef not too far offshore where the nurse sharks come to breed..have babies...and when the babies lose their teeth, the current washes them ashore. so we stopped at walmart on the way there to acquire some gear-88 cent plastic strainers-what all of the professional shark-tooth hunters are using these days- WE SPARED NO EXPENSE! when we arrived on the beach, we staked our claim to a little plot of beach and began the process of collecting. when the waves roll in, and out, a ledge of shells, coral and such accumulates. that's the place to scoop from. so we began to rinse, sift and sort...rinse, sift and sort, with our professional gear.

shea taught me how the pros do it...find a tooth and hold it in your mouth until you have enough to put into the collection container. as i was doing this, i kept imagining tomorrow's headlines: IDIOT DIES OF STOMACH PERFORATION BY SHARKS TEETH-NOT A SHARK BITE! jrob, did you get your tongue pierced? umm. no, shark tooth accident.

so we didn't fill the container to the mark we were shooting for..i suppose that just gives me a reason to return! 

for real, though, finding treasure is exciting! 

this is pretty much an independent sport, so while i was working, i had a lot of time to think about some very deep things. i came to the conclusion that shark DEFINitelY beats vampire. hands down, no contest. EVERY time. sorry, not sorry, twilight fanatics. yep, shark wins EVERY time, unless..it's vampire shark. in that instance, i believe VAMPIRE SHARK WINS. here's the thing, shea spoke with authority on the issue and claimed that shark even beats flying alligator, because flying alligator's arms just aren't long enough to punch shark on the sensitive part of the snout, like the surfer dude...particularly during sharknado.

toward the end of the hunt, the water continued to get rougher, and it actually bowled me over at one point and i scraped my leg up on the coral and shells...i mean, a shark bit me, yeah, that's it! AND he drew blood trickles from these legs of steel. time to go before becoming shark bait. i tried to get some of the sand out of my suit before we left, but i fear i may have actually allowed more sand in! i even tried to rinse out a little at the public shower by parking, but you can only do so much before it is frowned upon and is considered borderline illegal..i mean, there were children present! ;) even at that, i had a little beach when i took a shower back at the house. one-piece suits are NOT the way to go when at the ocean.

my shark bite--battle wounds. you should see him!

we rinsed off, picked up lily and still made it back to tide tables for my last fish tacos-shea was feeding my addiction in hopes of winning over a #teambradenton...it may be working, as i am STILL dreaming of fish tacos! and the sunset did not disappoint! i could imagine myself as a regular there-lily was comfy-i'm sure the boys would love lounging by the causeway on the dock!

lily, the designer dog!!

you can barely see the rainbow, because the sky was already so beautiful!

and why WOULDN'T you want to come here at every possible opportunity?

the view, the smell, the company, the food- cue pharrell williams with HAPPY!

after dinner checking out the 'back-up-dock'

so we went back to lily's and shea continued trying to figure out how to make the time-lapse work, but had still not figured it out by the time i went to bed. but apparently overninght, something uploaded/downloaded/synced...idk, but shea said it something had worked with the app, and she was going to try to figure it out and pull it all together.

oh, so that can-opener that we couldn't find from the beginning of the post? well, shea got a text from lily's mom, and it was hidden in plain sight-camouflaged, if you will...#moderngadgets now we know!

next post: last day and traveling home.
julie