Blogs from Sarasota, Florida, United States, North America - page 7

It is hard to beat Sarasota especially for its diverse cultural, urban, natural beauty and beach destination mix. We can't get enough! We saw Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at The Mertz Theatre at the Asolo Center for the Performing Arts near the Ringling complex. We enjoyed a play last year at the beautiful, intimate and Historic Asolo Theatre and decided to try the larger theatre this year. The Mertz Theatre is another gem. Expect perfect accoustics, great seating and a very talented repetory cast (it's Florida State University's Graduate School of Acting). The production was amazing. After a slow start with the business of getting the charactes introduced and getting accostomed to Shakespearian languge; we settled in for a treat. The stage effects are amazing as are the casting, costumes, lighting, music et al. The second ... read more

February 16, Monday We'd spent enough time in the Everglades, so we packed up and headed north along the Tamiami Trail, and then through a bit of central Florida on the way to Sarasota. We got into town around 8:00 pm and checked into the Day's Inn, which is along the Tamiami Trail, route 19, just north of the Ringling Museum. I called Kay again at Quest Outfitters, and asked if I could take advantage of their hospitality in order to make a bike cover for Bear. She told me I could pick up the machine and the material and work at the hotel. February 17, Tuesday I took off for Quest Outfitters, picked up the sewing machine and the material and notions, and returned to the Day's Inn. I also bought lightweight plastic at Ace ... read more

Leaving Turtle Beach would have been hard if we hadn't know how wonderful our next stop - Sun n Fun - a few miles to the east of Sarsota would be. Our neighbors at Turtle Beach tooted (blared) as the sun went down each evening by blowing conchs. We drove the jeep down to Venice to see friends and friends of friends for lunch and came away with impressive insights about low rise condo communities (Bird Bay) a bit away from the beach with tons of ammenities - par 3 golf, pools, tennis, etc. We also were directed to the Jette, a picturesque (even on this foggy day) area we hadn't know about prior. Venice has some awesome thrift shops; I came away with a great pair of purple suede pumps for $3. We had a ... read more

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!! Please paste the link below into your address bar to view our Scrapblog Christmas card. Have a wonderful holiday season and we'll be in touch, via the blog, throughout our journey. Best Wishes, Pam and Ron http://www.scrapblog.com/0E2E7659-0C75/662ACB9B-9368... read more

Sarasota, Florida - Feb. 5, 2008 Tuesday, Feb. 5 - Our flight into Fort Myers was uneventful. The Schooner was right where we left it in the long term lot at the airport. Nice not to have to take a cab to an RV storage area. We headed for Sarasota. Sun ‘n Fun is just that - bright sunshine and a fun Mardi Gras atmosphere! Wednesday / Thursday - Pool, hot tubs and lots of reading on Wednesday until we drove into Sarasota to catch a sunset at Bayfront Park and snacks at O’Leary’s Tikki Bar (we had learned about O’Leary’s from a New York Times Travel article on Sarasota). More pool and books on Thursday and then a Big Band Concert in the courtyard at the Ringley Art Museum in the evening. It was so ... read more