Running away from home

Recently the Hubby and I ran away from home for two weeks.  We drove all the way from Minnesota to Florida.  Stopping in Loretto, Kentucky to visit Maker's Mark distillery and Nashville, Tennessee to visit the George Jones museum (Hubby's a fan).  And finally after four days of driving and getting a little lost we arrived in Bradenton, Florida. 

The weather was beautiful.  It was hard to believe just a few days earlier it was middle of February and we were in winter coats.  Here it was 70 and sunny and felt like late May.

We got into town about 3 pm and spent the afternoon just setting in; we had 3 full days to spend sightseeing.  

Sarasota Farmer's Market

In the morning we got up and headed to the Sarasota Farmers Market.  Because we work all summer we don't get to go to the farmers markets around home so it was really neat to see all the fruits and vegetables and other things for sale.  We ran across some items that we weren't quite sure what they were as they weren't something found up North.  I came across one booth that was selling fresh pineapples and coconuts with straws.  I love pineapple but have never had a fresh one before (only canned) so I bought one, they peeled it for me and I had breakfast for the next couple days.  I also bought a coconut thinking I'd take it home whole; but before I knew it the gal behind the table had punched a hole in it and inserted a straw.  So I walked around the market drinking coconut water right from the coconut.  I didn't have any way to crack it open afterwards and tried to keep it from spoiling by keeping it in our room mini fridge.  But after doing a little research I found that coconuts will only last about a week after they've been tapped and since we would be on the road for at least 2 weeks it just wasn't to possible to keep it fresh for that long and I had to throw it away.  

There were also prepared  food vendors at the market.  We tried empanadas, some German pasties, a pulled pork sandwich and a turducken sandwich.  They were all good except the turducken; yuck.  Hubby liked it though.

Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium

After the farmer's market we headed to Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium where we saw all kinds of sea life from the tiniest seahorses to manatees and sharks. My favorites were the sea turtles and manatees.  Before we left home the plan was to spend a night in Crystal River so I could swim with the manatees but once I saw how big they really were; I got a little scared and decided to skip that part our trip.  Maybe someday.

After leaving the aquarium we headed to a little seaside bar called the the Old Salty Dog and tried conch fritters.  It's kind of like a hush puppy with little pieces of conch.  We couldn't really taste the conch other than a slight seafood taste to the fritter.  Which was fine, I think if I could see or taste to much of it I probably wouldn't of eaten it. It's one of those things you're better off not thinking too much about.

Big Cat Habitat

Before we left home I had heard about Big Cat Habitat and Sanctuary, but after reading a few reviews I was a little reluctant to go.  The negative reviews mentioned small cages, not much of a natural habitat for the animals and the fact that they do circus like shows kind of turned me off, but I wanted to go see it for myself.  When we got there it was explained that all of these these animals were rescue animals who otherwise would've been put down.  I felt much better and could see for myself that they really were loved by their caretakers.  I was able to get some good photos of these gorgeous cats.  The other animals there included monkeys, parrots, bears, camels, and farm animals.

After all the walking we did the day before we decided to take it easy the next morning and headed to the beach. From our hotel, it was a straight shot to the beach on Anna Marie Island.  It was a Sunday morning and the beach was pretty quiet.  There were two large groups sitting in a circle for what I assume was some kind of Sunday service. How cool to be able to attend church on the beach.  We pretty much had the beach to ourselves except for a few people walking.   As we approached the water I saw 3 dolphin swimming by.  That was a treat to see; as I had never seen a dolphin in the wild before. 

Anna Marie Island, Manatee Beach

We planted our camp chairs in the sand and just watched the gentle waves lap at the sand while we soaked up the sun.  I took my shoes off and dug my toes in the cool sand and after a while dipped them in the water.  The water was colder that I was expecting but it felt good.  Around lunch time the beach was starting to fill up; we decided it have lunch at the beach cafe and see the rest of Anna Marie Island. Somehow we found ourselves at a pier where we found the pelicans watching people fish and trying to steal their bait.

Sunset over Longboat Key

It was Valentine's Day, and I had booked us a sunset cruise on a catamaran.  So later that afternoon we went to go meet our captain.  We had a great cruise.  It was just us and two other couples.  We all sat at the front of the boat as the captain hoisted the sails and we sailed with the wind.  Watching the sun go down over the water was a great way to end our valentine's day at the beach.  

The next morning we hung around the hotel doing some laundry and resting up and later decided to take a drive to Siesta Key.  The only island in the area we hadn't seen yet. We stopped at a few wine places and tried some tropical fruit wines and just drove around looking at the beach houses.  Later we watched the sun set as we sat on the beach again and had dinner at a beach side restaurant.

The next morning was our checkout day, so we packed up and headed for St. Augustine. We got to St. Augustine late in the afternoon.  Everything closes around 5 in town so that afternoon we were only able to do the distillery tour at St. Augustine Distillery and a wine tasting at San Sebastian winery.  

St. Augustine Distillery

I had done a little research on St. Augustine before we left and I'm glad I did.  I found out the best way to see the city was to buy trolley tickets and you could park your car and hop on and off the trolley all day long to get from one place to another.   Parking and driving in St. Augustine can be kind of a nightmare, very narrow streets.  We bought the 3 day trolley pass and rode the whole route once listening to the history and points of interest, then decided where we wanted to get off.  We spent a good deal of time walking along St George St. where there were shops and restaurants. About mid-day we found ourselves in front of Flagler College.  I would've liked to take a tour but we were there at the wrong time.   The architecture in town is beautiful and we spent most of our time walking around taking pictures of the old buildings.  Eventually we ended up along the bay front and visited the Castello de San Marco; the Spanish fort built in the 1600's.  It was interesting to see the old canons and to walk along the top fort walls looking over the water.  While we were there we watched a mock pirate attack, some of the young kids there thought it was real and kept saying "We have to fire the canons and stop the pirates!"

That night we had tickets for a ghost tour.  Hubby isn't into that kind of thing,  but he humored me.  I'm a fan of Ghost Hunters and remember watching an episode where they investigated a few places in St. Augustine, and I was hoping this tour would take us to those places.  The only place on our tour that was featured on Ghost Hunters was the Old Jail.  It was interesting that we had toured the jail that morning.  The day time tour doesn't talk about it being haunted and while our group was standing in one room on the first floor I clearly heard the slam of a cell door from upstairs.  We were the first tour of the day, and nobody else was in the building, so who slammed the cell door?  Nobody else reacted so I'm not sure if I was the only one who heard it.   

Unexplained light streaks.  Ghosts?

After my experience earlier in the day, I was very excited to tour the jail on the ghost tour.   I had overheard an employee telling another tourist that he wouldn't go into the jail alone day or night,  so I was expecting something to happen.  The actual tour was more listening to actors tell local folklore, much like the the daytime tour, but with a spooky twist.  It wasn't really what I was looking for, but it was fun.  There was a family with two preteens who were getting a little freaked out though.  As we toured the jail that night I waited to see if I would hear the slamming cell door again but never did.  I had my cell phone to take pictures and I caught some streaks of light but I'm not sure what to make of them.  Might be a bug, might be light reflecting from somewhere.  I'm not so sure it's a ghost.   

Before we left the South to go home I decided I wanted to try chicken and waffles.  I searched up the best place to get chicken and waffles in St. Augustine and found the Metro Dinner.    The Metro has been featured on Diners Drive ins & Dives so I figured it had to be good.  Never having had chicken and waffles before I wasn't sure what to expect.  When the waitresses brought me a small bowl with pancake syrup and hot sauce I began to wonder what I was getting myself into.  Being of Scandinavian descent I don't eat too many spicy foods and Hubby likes to joke that parsley is about as spicy as we Swedes get.  Hot sauce in my pancake syrup was way out of my Scandinavian taste palate.  I must of made a face or something because the waitresses said “I know.  It sounds crazy but somehow it works with the chicken waffles.”  And she was right, it was crazy but somehow it worked.  Although I only used it to dip my chicken into, there was no way I was dumping it on the waffle.

After lunch we headed over to Anastasia Island where the St. Augustine lighthouse stands.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

164 feet tall; 219 steps to the top or 14 stories and we climbed them all.  Let me tell you, it wasn't easy.  It's a very narrow spiral staircase and people are trying to go down while others are coming up.  Luckily there's a landing in between each set of stairs to stop and rest if you need to or to let others by.  Since we're both overweight and I have a bad knee it took us awhile but we took our time and eventually made it to the top.  It was windy that day on the ground, and it was super windy at the top.  So windy that Hubby didn't stay out on the observation deck with me.  I was determined that since I made it this far I was going to get the full view.  Hugging the wall, I inched my way around the top of the lighthouse taking a few pictures for a full 360 view.  If going up was hard; going down was harder.  My bad knee was tired from the climb and hurt to bend it and on top of that I was starting to get vertigo.  I really had to concentrate on one flight at a time; stopping on each landing to get my head straight before proceeding.  I was very happy to be on the ground when we finally got to the bottom.

On our way back to the hotel that night I told Hubby I was ready to go home.  We had been on the road for almost two weeks and we still had the drive home.  This morning we got up, packed our stuff  and checked out of the hotel.  Before leaving town we made one more stop at the beach and spend a little time looking for seashells before saying goodbye to Florida.  When we started this trip I suggested we buy a RV when we retire and travel across the country.  I still want to do that but to a lesser extent, I realized I missed the kids and our animals.  With every mile Florida gets farther behind us and I realize how much I appreciate home.

Next year, we're heading West.  Following Route 66 to Arizona.  We took that trip 20 years ago as newlyweds, so it will be sort of a second honeymoon.