Friday 7 March 2014

Sarasota Beaches

This morning we had breakfast with Ken and Andrea. We talked mostly about family and children and swapped stories. Ken and Andrea are very funny, with their New York accents and the way Andrea constantly corrects Ken when he tries to tell a story. If he's wrong she tells him and that's that! Like us they love the theatre and we told them about the West End in London - they've never been to England. But they do have a painting by Princess Diana's best friend, who they know, so if they come to the UK they'll be in good company. They talked of the wealth that Sarasota has and the way the wealthy support the very vibrant arts scene. There's so much to do here. Apparently, Oprah Winfrey and Stephen King have houses here. Oprah is hardly ever here but Stephen King is often seen around town. It makes you wonder how he comes up with such dark, gruesome novels when he lives in such a place of light and colour.

So we chatted for a long time, and could happily have chatted all day but we had beaches to explore. We headed for Siesta Beach:



The beach was vast and the sand like powder; a truly wonderful place. And we walked and walked and walked until we could walk no more. There were life guard huts of red, green, blue and yellow along the beach; a picture postcard sight:



Unfortunately the weather was overcast a lot of the time  and the wind was quite cold. We ended up in a place called the Daiquiri Deck for a well earned rest before struggling 2 minutes down the road to the Siesta Key Oyster Bar (SKOB). We listened to live hillbilly blues and ate Shrimp, Scallop and Grouper. By the way, Grouper tastes much better than it looks - trust me!



We returned to the beach for another well earned rest and enjoyed the sight of the very rough sea; maybe a hangover from the storms of yesterday:



Tonight is our last night here and we headed for downtown: more great bars and restaurants with plenty of live music. We ate Sushi and Sashimi and listened to a country band before ending our night in the White Buffalo Saloon. It's a big barn that's perfect for bands and country dancing. Here we saw line dancing like we have never seen it before; a really great place.

And  now it's 1.30am as I finish this blog and tomorrow we drive up the coast to a place we've been before - St Pete's Beach, before heading home. It's been a memorable 50th birthday treat. Our lasting memory will be of the Everglades, amazing beaches and people like Sergio, Ken and Andrea who made us so welcome.

And, oh yes, Sadie the dog!

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