Day 4 - Things go a little flat.

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How the time is flying but there are so many trails left to ride! The plan for the day was to visit a local donut shop, ride at Robinson’s Preserve and then hit some more of the antique malls and the Prime Outlets.

Arrival to the donut shop revealed a hole in the wall with no seating, just the aroma of fresh good looking donuts. We grabbed a mixed dozen and asked the handy dandy GPS for a near by Starbucks, where we took over one of their outdoor tables and dug in.

In the glazed category, Gold Star Donuts put Krispy Kreme to shame, however their jelly filling left myself, a jelly fan, hanging out to dry. The benefit was we got two breakfasts out of this trip, saving half of the donuts for Day 5.

We then headed over to Robinsons Preserve which all I knew about was that it was 487 acres of salt coastal marshes along the Gulf Bay and there has an observation tower that you can view the Skyway Bridge to Tampa.

The preserve is beautiful; the entrance has a playground, bathrooms, a blue and white clap board Victorian style house, kayak launching zone and entrance to the trails, complete with a shelter with an air pump in the event you need air in your tires. Perhaps we should of taken that as a sign. We did in fact top off our tires before heading out. We went straight to the observation tower which offered beautiful views of the park and the gulf.

Not three minutes after getting back on our bikes we heard fzzzzzzzzzzz and Jay had a flat tire in the middle of a salt marsh. Fortunately once a boy scout, always a boy scout, and Jay had packed our various bags with tools and emergency supplies so we were able to switch out of the tube and get enough air in the new tube to make it back to the car. We filled the new tube, re-applied sunscreen and finally got on the road for some true trail riding. The trails are hard packed gravel, so friendly to any fat tire bike. There is a shorter trail that runs along the gulf and have lots of little paths with picnic tables to the water, had I known this, I might of brought a picnic lunch.

Saw some really pretty flowers that are native to salt water coastal areas. (photos to be posted) Lots of birds like osprey, herons and we didn’t get to see it but some other visitors saw an orange snake, making the preserve a great place to go for some outdoor nature spotting.

Once were done with riding we were hungry but really hadn’t mapped out a plan for a place to go and eat. Jay recommended BBQ and we did some searches and found a place called Smack Daddy’s , we figured we would give it a shot and it was a great decision. The owner was a wacky guy, boat load of jokes and happy to talk about his food. It was funny because he could tell we were first timers so he brought over a sandwich he was about to serve and said we needed to see it to know we would want it and then he brought over a rib for us to try and we were sold.

All of the food was great and perfectly prepared and since it was late in the afternoon business was slow and we got to talk to him about how long he smokes his meat and he told us some stories about catering. It was honestly just a great experience because we were able to relax, kick back and enjoy the meal somewhere that we felt valued as a customer.

We then headed back to the Ellenton area to see if we could manage to get into any of the other antique malls in the area. The first one we went into was in the middle of mechanic shops and I didn’t know if it was worth the stop, however I was able to get five blue mason jars for my sister Elena for an amazing deal, I am still not sure if the guy realizes how much of a discount he gave us. Each jar was said to be $9 or $8 each and I got all five for $20 – I didn’t hesitate and jumped on the price.

The next stop was an interesting place, it was a large area that was part of a storage unit facility. Jay enjoyed looking at the all of the star wars memorabilia that this place had. We tried for one more but they were already closed so we decided to head over to the Prime Outlets instead.

After walking around the outlets we realized it was 8pm and probably time to grab some dinner. Believe it or not we discovered it is hard to find a place to eat that doesn’t close at 9pm. We thought we had noticed early shut down over in Siesta but thought it was a fluke but as we looked on yelp and google for places to eat a lot of spots were not options for us because by the time we would go over there they would have been close to closing.

We got lucky though and found this awesome spot on the river in Bradenton called the Tarpon Pointe. The reviews claimed this place was iffy, but everything we ordered was super fresh, flavorful and we thoroughly enjoyed. In particular their shrimp hush puppies and crab dip were really good and the waitress was sweet.

We got a table on the water and the cool breeze and the quiet neighborhood made for a very relaxing location to have dinner.

We just couldn’t believe this trip was almost over already.

Day 5 will bring biking along either the Legacy or Venetian Trail in the morning and then in the evening Drag Queen Bingo which sounds like it is going to be a very colorful experience.

Day 6 we will be going back over to the Amish area of town to stock up on Amish goods like fresh butter, produce, baked goods and then we plan on driving to Sanibel to have a little bike and visit The Island Cow for Lunch and then we drive home.

Part of me is ready to go home, I miss Mojo and Lola and I miss my own bed. But I don’t miss the responsibility and getting back into the work grind.

Places we visited today:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/gold-star-donut-sarasota



http://www.robinsonpreserve.com/



http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/30/1681901/restaurant/Tampa-Bay/SmackDaddy-BBQ-Bradenton



http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=92



http://tarponpointegrill.com/

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