Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Whoo Hoo's Great Catch Up (or life after a computer virus)....

Hello and Happy New Year to our family, friends and followers (yes, we do realize it is already May).

We owe apologies, once again, for being so slack in blogging. We aren't sure what happens with our "free" time. Our jobs at Sun-n-Fun kept us extremely busy and by the time our days off rolled around, we must admit we were tired and often didn't get around to blogging after catching up on chores. Having said all of that, let us catch you up. PLUS, to top it all off, we had a computer virus, which Best Buy supposedly removed but the old PC boots up ever so sloooowly now. So, we no longer forward e-mails or open jokes and forwards, so don't be offended when we don't respond to your chain emails.



After arriving in October, we were quite busy learning new jobs, meeting thousands (literally) of guests, participating in resort activities and trying to visit nearby sites.


Our visit to Siesta Key Beach (pre-gall bladder surgery for Kathy) was nice but the mood was a bit dampened by Kathy not feeling well. The beach is beautiful, as you can see.




Several days after our visit to the beach, Kathy ended up in Sarasota Memorial Hospital having her gall bladder removed. Jerri worked, held down the home-fort and checked on Kathy as best she could during this week. It was quite an experience for us but all is well now.



During our time in Sarasota, we had the great fortune of going to the circus and the Ringling Museum (photo of Museum grounds). Some of the circus performers stayed at Sun N Fun, which was very interesting, aside from all the other interesting stuff going on.
















Christmas in the resort was great fun with lots of participation. The resort-wide lighting contest was heartily embraced by the guests.


















In January, the Elvis Meets Tom concert was lots of fun. Watching the guests clamour for these Elvis and Tom Jones impersonators was quite interesting. We were assigned to opening the door at the appointed time and taking tickets. What sounds as if would be simple tasks, was like taking your life into your own hands when those doors opened!












Life in this resort is quite interesting and we learned a lot. Sun N Fun is a great place to visit and to work. We learned so much about guest services and what keeps people coming back to the same campground/resort year after year no matter what the economy looks like. The work was not boring; the guests were (for the most part) pleasant and interesting, and the area was great. We often felt like we were at the United Nations with so many nationalities, but it was a wonderful learning experience.

The area around Sarasota has a lot to offer and because of Kathy's gall bladder and a very cold, wet winter, there was just not enough time to explore everything. So, yes, we want to come back here again. We met some great folks at Sun N Fun (Ginny and Amber - you know who you are) and we enjoyed working there. We got to know some other workampers who were kind and showed us the 'ropes.'



Sun N Fun is unlike any other place we've worked. We enjoyed fresh oranges and grapefruits all winter (it's Florida). We were able to see many entertaining shows, a couple of different circuses, the Big Cat Habitat (across the road), participate in community involvement benefiting several charitable organizations, learn new activities (Jerri learned to play Pickle ball and Kathy got shushed at Bingo), plan what we want to learn next year from the 150 activities offered per week during the winter, and a whole lot more.



All in all, we had a blast and want to do it all again. So, yes, we plan to return to Sun N Fun in the fall.



After a few weeks in Georgia, we are en route again back to Camp Hatteras in the Outer Banks. Please keep in touch and we will do our best to stay current with the blog. If some events appear out of order it's because they are. We may go back and reminisce once we touch down again.



Be cool and travel safe.
K&J

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