DAY 12 or so: Sarasota and Longboat Key

I need a Vacation from My Vacation...... :-)

Boy, this vacationing can really tire you out. When I think back at all that I did in the first ten days or so I get exhausted. So it was with serene anticipation that I looked forward to my few days on Longboat Key, a 15 mile sand bar just next to Sarasota. When you come across the John Ringling Bridge (think Ringling Bros Circus) you empty out into St Armand's Circle, a true circle lined with restaurants and some lovely shops. Just beyond the circle is Lido Key. To the south is Siesta Key...and to the north runs Longboat Key which eventually takes you up to Bradenton Beach. Longboat Key is one of my favorite places, pristine and clean, beautiful beaches, amazing seafood and everything form golfing to tennis to boating to jet skiing. I usually stay at the Longboat Key Club, a relatively small hotel right on the Gulf of Mexico beach. My only problem this time was arriving on the weekend as I know that it can be quite crowded on the weekends and yes it was. But I still made my way to the beach, asked the Beach Boys (Good Good Good...Good Vibrations!!) to set me up someplace private....and began to relax.

I had dinner in Sarasota at a lovely little restaurant in the historical section. There is a very quaint downtown area. Street rumor has it that there is a portion of Sarasota that John Ringling had developed for his circus workers, complete with high wires for the Wallendas and tiny homes for the midgets and short people who worked in his circus, but try as I might I did not stumble upon it. I did however stumble upon a statue entitled "Unconditional Surrender" which most of you though you might not recognize the moniker, will certainly recognize the statue a replica of The Magazine Cover of the sailor kissing the nurse in Times Square at the end of WWII..

It remained from an art show a few years back and a squabble had developed among the locals as to  whether it really was art or not and whether money should thus be spent to maintain it. Eventually some well heeled gentleman stepped up and established a trust to pay for its continuing maintenance. And as I arrived to photo this statue a man was standing under it taking a picture up the dress.  Go figure.

My second day in Longboat Key I spent a portion of it surveying the local real estate market with a friendly realtor. This housing slump has created some real "deals" down here, that is if you consider only paying a couple million versus several million a deal. But there are some beautiful properties to be had. Having driven to the northern end of Longboat where the village of Longboat is (home to a flock of wild peacocks that just stroll the neighborhoods and yards) I found myself sitting on the patio of the Mar-Vista (Spanish for "Styrofoam Plates") Restaurant overlooking the harbor. Suddenly my lunch was interrupted by a LOUD BOOM!! ....and I looked up to see a man 12 feet in the air, coming off of a jet ski in the harbor. It looked like a cartoon or some Japanese reality show with a trampoline. I couldn't believe my eyes nor could anyone else. Everyone got up (well, almost everyone. I continued to eat my club sandwich) and ran down to the dock to see what had happened. It appears that a man (and no small man being all of 250lbs) and his girlfriend had finished eating and had gotten back on their jet ski to head back out in the bay, when some fumes caught in the carburetor ignited and blew up the jet ski right under the seat where they both were sitting. The woman was launched backwards into the bay behind her, but the guy was shot up into the air. The saving grace is that no one was hurt as the woman went right into the water and the man up over and down into the water between the now smoking jet ski and several boats. Crawling up on shore he lay there for several minutes as rescue workers came, but in the end they refused treatment. As they walked up the walkway I went over and offered to buy them each a drink......the man accepted my offer, but just then their ride came to pick them up.

Well the next day was Monday and the weekend crowd was now gone. This is what I had been waiting for. Heading to the beach I literally had it to myself.

A two mile walk up the beach and back and a swim in the warm and clear gulf waters and my batteries recharged it was time to head out of Longboat Key and begin the trip around the bend of Florida's gulf coast and head to my weekend in New Orleans with my kids......Knowing what is lying ahead for me in New Orleans, I am glad that I am now rested.