Day 12 - Monday, Gulf Coast - Sarasota

If we can just go back in time 12 months, we decided to plan our next trip to Florida. We wanted to do the gulf coast and possibly Miami, but when it came to making the bookings we both felt that we wanted to go back to Orlando one last time[msnscared]. There was so much we still wanted to do and see. So as a compromise we agreed to a week in Orlando, and a week on the gulf[msnsmile2]. After much research and many DM’s with my discussion group friends [msnsmile2]Phil and Peter (- superb advisors, and the info given was spot on - thanks guys[msnwink]) we decided to try Sanibel / Captiva Island. Bookings and deposits sorted and the count down began. Then 12 months later deposits became due. Within this time the value of the £ against the $ had crashed[msncry]. The accommodation on Captiva was through an American company and the price had risen by a third. The house we use on Regal Palms has a UK owner, so the price remained the same. (Plus he gives us a good discount because we are repeat bookings). After a lot of soul searching the decision was made -2 weeks in Orlando with a Trip to the Gulf with an overnight stay[clap]. This would give us the chance to have a good look around and then decide where to book next time. We may not like Captiva any way, and it was a lot of money to pay out if we didn’t like the location (Oh what a fool I was!!!).

Up early Monday morning, bag packed, Sat Nav programmed and off to Sarasota. Never having been here before we went to the town centre, parked up and went for a walk around. The place is beautiful, enticing, full of architectural oddities and well worth a visit.

The streets are named after fruits, so just off Orange Way, on to Main Street we found a delightful restaurant that served us ice cold water, warm blueberry muffins with butter and jelly, and smooth rich coffee[msntongue]. Suitably refreshed, we went and did a bit of window shopping - serious shops here, quite expensive but interesting to browse around. Then off down to the marina where we saw more evidence that this is a very wealthy area.




Local Police car??




Jumped back in the car and just around the corner got onto the Ringling Causeway, and drove over to the Sarasota beaches and I think Lido / Siesta Key? This area is well worth a day of anyone’s time if you want to just get away from the fast pace of life in Orlando and the “House of the Mouse”. But we didn’t hang around too long as we were heading down to the island, so made a note - must come back to stay and set off again.

Thanks for listening - will try to get more done soon - nearly there...

Diane x