No we are not really retiring, but we did buy what we hope will someday become our retirement home. By this time you all know we selected the Charlotte Harbor condo which we now fondly refer to as “The Harbor House”. On Saturday, April 23^rd I was flying off, on my way to meet my Mom and two sisters for a week long trip to Rome. On the same day, Tod was flying off to Orlando with the Mayor of our city to check out a few of the places they had been recruiting for a development site in The Colony. Tod had a double mission, on Sunday he was driving to Punta Gorda to close on The Harbor House! Our new home away from home. I have a few photos to share but mostly I just wanted to bring this story to an end so that I could blog about the trip to Rome.

Just thought i would include a few photos of the guest rooms so you know where you will be staying if you come to visit us in Florida.

This is a photo of the 45-foot sailboat we planned to take to Florida, but, guess what? It has a 7-foot draft and there is no marina in southern Florida that can accommodate it! Can you believe it? Tod planned to have the boat trailer-ed to Galveston and then sail to Punta Gorda. New plans, we will fix up the boat, sail it for a year or two then sell and buy something a little smaller or at least with no more than a 5-foot draft. (Gilda was right; it is always something.)

Here is one of our neighbors. Well OK we went for a walk along the Peace River and this guy just strutted his stuff, paying us no mind at all. Well, thanks for reading, next post, a first class trip to Rome! I cannot wait to tell you about it!

We did look at several condos in this exact complex with Debra, but, we did not see the one we wanted to call home. All the units are mostly the same 3 bedroom 2 ½ bath layout, however this particular one had been purchased and refurbished. Professionally painted, new hardwood flooring, new appliances and refaced cabinets throughout. The  on-line photos looked very promising, but, you know, I really did not even feel like going to look at it. I was sick of looking at condos that we really didn’t even plan to buy in the immediate future and really just wanted to find an internet coffee shop and kill time until we had to head to the airport. Tod was insistent and unhappily I conceded, but, only because (believe it or not) the only Starbucks we found was inside a Target store and did not open until 10:00 am. Who in the bloody hell EVER heard of a Starbucks (or any coffee shop for that matter) not opening until 10:00 am? That is just a ludicrously tasteless joke I tell you!

So that morning instead of a coffee shop we ended up back at Charlotte Harbor looking at a condo on Melbourne Street.

As it turned out, I was very happy that Starbucks was closed that Valentine’s Day and also that Tod insisted on going to see yet one more dang condo before we left Florida.

We ended up spending the drive to the airport and the flight home discussing the last two condos we had toured. Believe it or not we were deep in thought and seriously contemplating the purchase of a retirement home in Florida. It was crazy to both of us because at the beginning of this trip we were really planning just to check out Punta Gorda and see if this was even an area we would like to someday retire in. Now here we were seriously considering purchasing a home. Of the last two places we toured, each had great although different things to offer.

Burnt Store Marina had the boat slips almost right outside your door. I had lived in a marina before and it is a fun and relaxing lifestyle. Burnt Store also had a golf course, the whole boating community atmosphere and some fun little stores and restaurants. The idea of having a boat-slip practically right outside your door almost made this a done deal, but, then we had to come to reality with the smaller, older condo. Even if we gutted the entire inside, it would not change the low ceilings and the limited living and closet space. Also, Burnt Store was at the top of our budget, therefore left little room for the much desired remodeling project. One other thing about Burnt Store was the location being over 12 miles away from all the cool downtown attractions. 12-miles doesn’t sound like much to most people, but, it was 12 miles on an old 2-lane country road and really, we both wanted to be able to walk and / or bike to shops, restaurants, music in the park, the used book store and just the entertainment district in general.

Charlotte Harbor had the location location location! And, it was even bigger than we needed with 3 bedrooms,  2 ½ baths. Add in that it had a great little gym, an awesome pool area and the best part is that it had been completely remodeled and other than a few kitchen supplies, was move in ready. We both really liked the idea of walking 1 1/2 miles across the Peace River bridge for lunch or dinner, the farmers market, live music the city marina, or even just to get an ice cream cone. Did I mention that this place was under budget?

Yes, we had much to think about after this Valentine’s Day excursion.