Sarasota - Where It All Started

So I bet you all guessed that Brad wrote all of the blogs. Actually, I wrote a couple of them to give him a break, but of course he had to edit some. This is Kathy and I get to do the Sarasota blog. I might not be as entertaining, but you guys can decide.

In case you didn't know, Brad came to my office at SCG shortly after we started dating and said I have a surprise for your birthday. When you go home tonight pack two suitcases. One winter and one summer. My birthday is December 5th so winter would have been a close to home surprise. I only packed the summer. 😎😜 I was taking a chance. Yep you guessed it, he was taking me to Sarasota. That's when I fell in love with this place. So what was next. We got married on Siesta Key beach a few years later. We brought all the kids with us. Kate was pregnant with Aubrey, our first grandchild. We had a wonderful time with our blended family and we continue to enjoy Sarasota immensly.

We made the front page the next day. Siesta Key Beach was voted the #1 beach in the USA. I guess that's why I fell in love with Sarasota.

That being mentioned, on our initial day, we checked off the top two favorites: a visit to "The Hub," our go to bar, and a sunset at Siesta Key Beach. Later, we returned to the RV for a cozy fire and dinner, concluding a splendid day. .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spcawS2rqPQ

Another benefit of Sarasota is spending time with Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy. We met them downtown for the Sarasota Farmers Market. While there, we had awesome pastrami and corn beef sandwiches at Palm Deli and went to this car dealership that didn't have a car less than $380,000.00. Brad and I sat in the park at Marina Jacks to soak in the salt water and fresh air before heading back to the RV.

My friend for 48 years, Val and her husband Marty met us for dinner at Ford's Garage. Marty remodeled our house in Hamden and made it our beautiful home. They've had a place in Sarasota for about 10 years. Val's one of our best and most dedicated blog readers. Hi Val! We had such a nice time we sat at the table for 3 hours. Looking forward to another Sarasota date with them.

Our next visit with Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy was a wonderful day. We met them at their home and Aunt Judy took us on a beautiful day trip to Casey Key in Venice. Aunt Judy was born and raised in Sarasota. She knows all the hidden gems. The ride to the North Jetty at Casey Key was absolutely beautiful. The houses were gorgeous on the bay and gulf side and the streets still gave you that old Florida feel. When we got to the Jetty and beach I could have stayed there forever. The view, the birds, and the atmosphere was like being on an island in the Caribbean.

We stopped for lunch before leaving Casey Key at a cool restaurant on the water. The bar was on one side of the beach and the restaurant on the other. Such a relaxing vibe.

As you know we love our bike rides. The Legacy trail goes from Sarasota to Venice. We didn't make it to Venice but we did put 21 miles onto our ebikes. We stopped at one of the many pit stops along the route for lunch. Our bikes could have done another couple miles but our butts couldn't so we stopped riding and went to Sun King Brewery on the way home. Oh I forgot, I tried to make Brad touch that turtle. I think he was afraid. 😂

On Superbowl Sunday we went to Lakewood Ranch Farmers Market with Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy prior to going to Duffy's to watch the game. We could have watched at home but we wanted to make it more exciting, especially for me since I hate watching football. What a long fun day we had. And check out the size of that onion from the market.

Brad's sister Donna and her husband Bob came from Boca Raton to meet us and Brad's sister Marci and her husband J for lunch at the Salty Dog in Siesta Key Village. From there we went to the cemetery to visit Brad's parent's gravesite. They are buried at Sarasota National Cemetery. What a beautiful well kept place to rest. Then we did one of Flo's (Brad's mom) favorite things to do, eat ice cream.

My brother JP and sister-in-law Deb and their/our friends Cindy and Jerry Kopazna came to Sarasota for the week starting on Valentine's Day. So we all went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Columbia in St Armand's Circle. Some of you might know that we love their 1905 Salad so much we buy bottles of dressing every time we go there. My cousin Linda was coming to Sarasota to stay with a friend the following day. I told her to join us for Valentine's Day. It was a great time and Linda stayed with us in the RV which was a nice family visit.

The Patterson's and Kopazna's rented an awesome condo on the beach on Siesta Key. We had a great beach day but JP forgot to take off his hat. He said that meant he was only 95% full, so we went out eating, drinking and smoking cigars.

Another great beach day but Deb wasn't feeling well so we went with just Cindy and Jerry down to the Siesta Key Village for happy hour. Started at the Hub. Strolled over to MVP Pub and finished at SKOB (Siesta Key Oyster Bar). Check out the guy who photo bombed us. He was fun. He had on a Hawaiian shirt with his friends photo all over it. He said he's on a lot of cellphones. When people ask him to take a photo, he said he flips the first shot and takes a pic of himself. Haha...Great idea!

We can't party everyday because we are not on vacation, but the Patterson's and Kopazna's are. So after we hit the gym and did our food shopping we met them for a cocktail at Marina Jacks before the 36 hours of rain started.

What do you do when it rains in Florida? According to this group of vacationers, you party inside. I guess this week me and Brad are on vacation too. Rum bar, cigar bar and lots of good food.

Siesta Key Rum bar. They sell it in Connecticut too.

Corona Cigar Bar. We stunk when we left🥴.

The others patiently waited for me and Brad to finish our seafood boil at Phillippi Creek.

We started the day healthy at the gym and ended up partying with the crew. They continued on but we needed a break and went home for dinner.

The Patterson's and Kopazna's went back to Connecticut, but not before spending the day with us at our RV. We had an outdoor picnic in February with them and Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy. We thoroughly enjoyed spending the week with them all.

It took us a couple days to unwind after a week of partying. We didn't do much more than the usual gym, sit by the pool and necessity shopping. Our first excursion was 8 minutes away to watch the sun go down at Indian Beach. There wasn't any sun to go down but it was a beautiful area. A handmade ship washed ashore. Would love to know the story of that Shipwreck. Oh, and check out that picture of me and Brad. No, I didn't forget or skip a hair color. It's intentional. Just added a little something else you could follow in our blog.

We went to a spring training game in Clearwater. Phillies and Yankees. Brad's sister Marci and her husband J and our friends JG and Jeanne Goroff met us there. We had a good time sitting in the Berm section. It was on the grass like a picnic. I'm not sure how much game watching we did, but it was fun. After the game we had dinner at the Whistle Stop. Food was fair but the company was great.

The Monday before we leave on Friday and we packed the day with fun. We brought our bikes to Siesta Key beach. The #1 beach in the USA and #9 beach in the world according to TripAdvisor is a little crowded to ride our ebikes, besides the fact that we got whistled off our bikes by the lifeguard. He told us we can start riding after the yellow lifeguard chair.

We drove our bikes to the village for some wings and a refreshing beverage at one of our favorites. SKOB restaurant has live music on a Monday afternoon. That's one of the reasons it's on our list of faves

We visited my friend Steve from my working days at his house in Sarasota. What an amazing place he and his wife Amy have. We had great conversation, wine and charcuterie while watching the sun go down.

Then we stopped at Brad's mom's favorite Chinese food restaurant Yummy House for dinner. What a fun filled day.

Our last 2 days we spent with family and friends before heading to Myrtle Beach for the month of March. We went to lunch at our favorite restaurant Columbia with Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy. Aunt Judy brought us to another hidden gem in Sarasota. We loved spending time with them this month.

Val and Marty stopped by to check out our RV and have a cocktail before we went to dinner at mi Pueblo.

On our last day, we had a wonderful lunch with Marci at Woody's, stopped over uncle Mel and Aunt Judy's to say goodbye and made a pitstop at Calusa Brewery. Holy cow Sarasota kept us busy.

Thanks for following us. Hopefully my blog was entertaining enough that Brad will give me blessings to write our Myrtle Beach blog next. Last thing... please take note how much prompter my blog was than Brad's. We left Sarasota March 1st. Yay Me!