So, my pictures are in backwards order here, and I don't want to have to redo them all- because I'm already a month behind on the blog, so we're just going to make this work. This picture is from the day Asa and I got home from our quick getaway to Sarasota- and it just so happened to be the NFL Kickoff on Thursday night! In honor of the event, I made two NFL inspired pizzas for the teams getting that first Thursday night game: Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Pizza and Kansas City's BBQ Chicken Pizza.
We had swung by Costco on our way home for all the ingredients, and Asa was so hungry he grabbed himself a chicken bake.
But Costco wasn't the only store we had been at- since we were south of the bay area, we were able to go to Detwilers a fun grocery store that has four locations in and around Sarasota. They also have ice cream and milk from the local Dakin Dairy, that we had just toured a few weeks prior.
If you're south of Tampa, too, you can find one of my favorite places: Wow Wow Lemonade. Originally these started in Hawaii, and it's where I first had it, but it's nice to be able to have one much closer. I was even able to replace my mason jar glass that had seen better days since I brought it home from Hawaii way back in 2017.
A trip to Sarasota isn't complete with strolling St. Armands Circle, and we scored ourselves some yummy mini donuts there.
We visited the Aquarium- you'll see those pictures soon, but near there is a bird sanctuary which is free but takes donations. This was a fun stop because the wonderful volunteer at the door gave us a list of the birds, including their names, and their stories- about why they had been brought in, or something about their personalities (apparently the crows made friends with wild crows and the wild ones come bring gifts to exchange with the rescued crows). My favorite though, was a parrot named Gabby- she even talked to us, which we knew from her info sheet.
Over at the Mote Marine Labratory, which we got into half off thanks to our FL Aquarium membership, was visited with the manatees, otters, and alligators.
I personally LOVED the sea turtle display. You could get right up to their enclosure. One of the turtles was swimming around, and when he came up for air he blew water out of his nose. I was so excited when I got sea turtle snot all over me. It was a highlight of my day, because I'm a nerd like that. Seriously, these sea turtles were just awesome.
There are a couple of touch tanks. This one fish in with the sting rays reminded me of Zero from nightmare before christmas- not just because of his shape, but because he loved pets and would swim right up to you asking for them.
The shark tank was also very cool- I'm not entirely I'd ever seen a shark swimming in their sterotypical ways with their fin out of water. It was super cool to see.
I also enjoyed the mix of indoor and outdoor areas at this specific aquarium.
In another touch pool, some of the sealife would squeeze your fingers and hold right on to you!
Of course, you had all the usual aquarium suspects as well. Although I particularily enjoyed the seahorses.
Overall, a great aquarium I totally recommend (man, aquariums have kind of been my jam lately, haven't they?)
Before we headed over to the aquarium we had ultra breakfast at the hotel. Thanks for hooking us up, Embassy Suites.
Plus we had a nice room for Asa to do some work the night before.
They also make you pay a $25 'resort fee' but with that, you get a $25 credit you can use at the bar- so we got a drink and them tipped our bartender handsomely! A plus for presentation on my raspberry lemon drop.
That evening we had spent wandering around downtown Sarasota- hitting all the usual places, though the park had a lot of areas under construction. Still, we had a lovely evening out walking around.
Dinner was also a fun experience, maybe a little fancy for me- but awesome!
We visited the cat depot, but were sad to find out you couldn't go in the little cat pods post-covid the way you could before hand (Pinterest is a little behind the times that way).
The Siesta Key Rum Distillery was a fun (and free) stop too. We got some samples, a tour, and tons of information.
The hotel was nice too, we were on the 11th floor in an easy to remember room (I love when we get anything with '17' in it, since thats our anniversary).
The pool up on the 8th floor was fun as well.
thanks to our friends and family hilton discount, we were able to get a nice room for a great price, too. Thanks, Jake.
Before we made it down to Sarasota though, we did swing through Medira Beach so I could use my free $25 Birthday giftcard. We headed up to John's pass for some Bubba Gumps
And, that's our two day trip in reverse. Not the most detailed blog ever- but if I take too long on these blogs, I will never get caught up!!
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