Sarasota Stingray Shuffle

We're taking a lot of trips this summer. This was a great start to them. Followers know we just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. Elizabeth usually plans and books our trips so to surprise her for the anniversary I wanted to select a place and plan a trip for us. I first started looking along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts but everything was booked or too expensive. I then checked out the Panhandle and Alabama coasts. Everything seemed a little too family oriented. Then I thought about moving further south. Our good friends the Lawson's live near Tampa so I contacted them and asked for advice. Susan suggested several places near Tampa. I had in mind two requirements, a beach bar and room service. I got far more than that. The place I picked was Lido Beach Resort in Sarasota. It was perfect. So once again a huge thank you to Susan!

Our view!

We flew down on Delta, having sprung for Economy Comfort seats, and landed in Tampa. Being me, I had neglected to determine how we were going to get from the airport to the hotel until a few days before the trip. I called up the hotel and they told me it would be about a $100 cab ride from the airport. Each way! Ah El, you're such a good planner! We figured out we could rent a cheap car from Dollar for less than that so we left the airport in a crappy little Dodge minivan.

The drive from Tampa to Sarasota takes you over the Sunshine Skyway bridge, rated number 3 in the world by the Travel Channel! It really is a cool bridge with a great view from the top. Sarasota itself is really beautiful to drive through. The water is amazing. It reminded me of the Caribbean. We went through Armand Circle on the way, more on that later.

Originally I had booked an Ocean View room with 2 queens because that was available. When we got to the resort they had upgraded us to an Ocean Front King suite! Oh yeah! Sometimes I forget to book a car, sometimes I get awesome upgrades. It's all the joy of travel! The resort has two buildings, a shorter building and a tower. We were on the 6th floor of the tower with an awesome view. We checked in, checked out the room and hit the bar! The Tiki Bar was just what you'd expect a Tiki Bar to be. Right between the pools and the beach entrance it is a typical wrap around bar with additional table seating. Susan had told us about the Rum Runners so that's what I got. Elizabeth went with the Pina Colada. Both were good but I stuck with the Rum Runner all weekend. A couple of those and a shrimp cocktail and we were ready for the beach!

As I said before, the water was amazingly clear. We're used to the Atlantic and lots of waves and murky water. The Gulf was crystal clear and there weren't any real waves. The beach area is nice with lounge chairs for use and umbrellas for rent for $15. They do have warning signs posted telling you to beware the stingrays and shuffle your feet. Apparently if you shuffle your feet the stingrays will hear you coming and leave you alone. If not, you could get stung. While not deadly, unless you get hit in the heart like the Crocodile Hunter, it is very painful. I read that when they sting you they keep pumping the neurotoxin until the stinger is removed! Yikes!

Before the wedding crashers

The water was amazing

Keep on shufflen

That night we wanted some fried shrimp, because hey, we were at the beach! The concierge and TripAdvisor both recommended Dockside on Longboat Key. So we hopped in the trusty minivan and off we went. There is something vaguely satisfying about circling Armand Circle with it's fancy shops while in a beater minivan.

We nearly missed the place, it's tucked behind a service station and is in a small marina. The kind with dry storage for boats but only a couple slips for short term use. We wanted to sit outside and it was going to be a 45 minute wait so we ordered a couple drinks. Since it was going to be awhile I opened a tab. The bartender then told us about a place to wait down by the dock where there were a few tables. Travel/bar tip: bartenders would rather have you open a tab and only have to close out one ticket for you rather than a ticket for every drink. So help them out and open a tab, sometimes you'll get told about a nice place to enjoy your drink! It was a really nice view across Sarasota Bay looking towards the Ringling Museum. The meal was terrific. We started with a seafood chowder and then both got the fried shrimp. They were done right and we were sitting right by the dock.

Fried shrimp by the bay.

Sunsets were beautiful.

The next morning we ordered in room service, because hey, this was our anniversary trip! Then we headed down to the beach and got a couple chairs and an umbrella. Unfortunately there were several weddings going on and one of the wedding parties decided to camp out right in front of us. But we were still at the beach so who's complaining? We split a shrimp po boy for lunch and had a few more Rum Runners and suddenly it didn't matter that much.

That evening we decided to take advantage of Happy Hour. I had found a bar on the 8th floor of the tower while trying to get ice earlier in the day. We headed up there for the view and the 2 for 1 Happy Hour. It was great! Mostly locals by the looks of it there was a fun crowd. The bartenders were great. They had a half price appetizer menu as well so we ordered the lobster sliders. Wow! That was good. Just lobster, mayo, some lettuce, on a great little bun. We were supposed to have gone to a nice restaurant for dinner but after Happy Hour I really didn't need to be driving so we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. It was really good! I got snapper and Elizabeth had the filet. The seafood chowder we started with was also really good, I think. I'm not really sure since I was still under the effect of Happy Hour Rum Runners.

Lobster sliders and Rum Runners for Happy Hour!

Snapper

The next day I went down first thing and reserved an umbrella and four chairs up as close as I could get so our view wouldn't be blocked. We liked the po boy so much we had it again after hitting the beach. Susan and Frank showed up in the early afternoon and we had a quick drink before hitting the beach again. It's always great to see old friends and we enjoyed the afternoon. Saw a few stingrays, had a few drinks and then headed in to change for dinner.

Susan had suggested and made reservations at Shore restaurant in Armand Circle. The resort has a shuttle that drops you off and picks you up at the Tommy Bahama restaurant. Convenient and great if you plan to imbibe. Armand Circle is a pretty big place. There's a large park in the center of a roundabout with shops and restaurants along the outside circle and down streets at the four compass points. It took us a few minutes to find the restaurant but we did. It's located upstairs above a retail store by the same name and is open to the front. It has that modern, surfer, deck vibe with faux teak decking and stainless steel. We ordered some drinks and an appetizer. I don't remember what we all ordered because we were having too good a time talking and laughing. So no food porn pics from Shore. There was one memorable thing. After the sun went down the roof over our section was slowly retracted providing a great view of the sky. Very cool.

After the meal we headed back towards the pick up point and very nearly missed our ride! We had to hustle but we made the last shuttle of the evening. The rest of the night we spent enjoying each others company and a few more drinks. It was one of the funnest evenings we've ever had thanks to the Lawsons.

So Sarasota was great. No Stingray stings. Awesome Rum Runners. Good food. And great friends! Can't wait to go back! And don't forget to shuffle.

Good friends, good food, good wine!

P.S. If you're looking for some good fiction set in the area I suggest Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford series and Tim Dorsey's Serge books. Two radically different authors who both love the area.