Day 9 and 10 Sarasota

Hotel room bartender

It was time to leave Naples and do the short two hour drive up to my most favorite city in Florida, Sarasota. Sylvia had never been there and wanted to see why I liked it. We went up Interstate 75 and cut in towards the Gulf at Punta Gorda and drove the rest of the way up the Tamiami Trail (41). Although it's off the interstate, I wouldn't recommend it since there's not much to see except traffic lights. Once in Sarasota we checked into the Hotel Ranola in the old downtown area. I had stayed there five years ago and liked it a lot. It's a small 8 unit boutique hotel that Sylvia immediately loved and asked the owner if we could stay three days instead of the originally planned two. Of course we could. Main Street Sarasota is an old throwback kind of street with shops, restaurants, and businesses that seem as though they've been there for 50 years...and most of them probably have. There's a diversity there that you don't see much anymore. Since we were spending three days here, and we had wanted to see Siesta Key, we decided to drive over there and get that out of the way. It's a nice place, but there's not much to see. We did manage to stop in Turtle Beach Pub for a drink and meet the bartender who was from Nantucket. At three o'clock people came out of the woodwork to take advantage of the Happy Hour. We may have been the youngest people there. We didn't stay long as we were anxious to get back to Sarasota and some interesting restaurants. After wandering around downtown, we stopped at a little shack next door to our hotel called Star Keeper Cafe. It's normally only open from 9:30 to 3:30 except for Thursday night when the owner cooks burgers and corn on the cob on the grill on the patio in the alley out back. We ate there and listened to two guys play some pretty good music. It was about 20 steps back to the hotel. Neat place.

On Thursday I went up the street to a little French pastry shop and brought back some coffee and an excellent mixed fruit tart. Around 10 we went for a walk over to St. Armands Key. It's a long walk, but it's along the water and over a lengthy bridge to a village with high end shops and restaurants. Sylvia really liked the shops. The only thing I bought was a Bloody Mary. On the way back we stopped for lunch at Marina Jacks outside bar for a little lunch. The Veggie Quesidilla was terrific, as I suspect most of the food there is. It's a beautiful, but large place on the water, and I would recommend it for a pleasant lunch. That evening we skipped dinner (yeah!) and went to the movies. Saw The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep and she was as good as she always is, but neither of us thought very much of the movie.