Trip to Bradenton/Sarasota continued…
Monday: We started the day by going to Planet Fitness in Bradenton. Prior to our vacation dh had got a membership there since Healthtrax has crappy hours. It was worth it since I could go with him. It’s quite large and very clean. After our work out we went back to the house and then went out again around noon and started driving south. We went to Port Charlotte and looked at some houses. Then we went to Punta Gorda. We stopped at the Peace River beer company https://www.peaceriver.beer/. They don’t brew any of their own beer. They’re like a brew pub with a bunch of beers from local breweries and some from around the country. Dh had a flight. He liked the orange IPA. I had the beach blonde which was very good. The menu was interesting. It was mostly Asian food. We got the veggie roll ($6 for 8 pieces) and the laab gai todd which was fried chicken pieces blended with cilantro, red onion, scallion, roasted rice in a spicy citrus dressing served over a bed of lettuce. We had never had anything like that before. It was so delicious. Now I want to get it here all the time. The bartender was very friendly. There was one other couple at the bar from Oregon. They were doing the same as us, driving around and checking out places to move. After leaving there we continued driving and looked at a couple more houses. We stopped at Sarasota brewing company http://www.sarasotabrewing.com/. It was a bit dark inside. We could sit where we liked so grabbed a table near the bar. There were quite a few people there. Dh got a flight. He liked the Sarasota IPA. Their flight is all the beers they brew. I asked for the Sarasota gold but I think they gave me the Sequoia amber lager. It was okay. We also got an order of fried pickles which were good. They were spears rather than slices. It was so cheap b/c it was happy hour. Then we started driving back since it was a little after 5. When we got back to the house we went for a walk around the neighborhood as there was a lot of sitting around. I stopped a couple and asked where we could get a good burger. She suggested the Outback and he said 5 Guys. I said I wanted something local. He then said the Swordfish Grill https://www.swordfishgrillcortez.com/. What a great spot! It’s tucked away and right on the water in Cortez. We got a spot outside. The weather was beautiful and there was a live band playing covers. We had grabbed beers at the bar inside as waited for a table so our server came over and introduced herself. I got the crab cake sandwich. Dh got the fish tacos. Everything was very tasty. They were a little skimpy with the coleslaw and fries. Nothing came with the fish tacos other than a little coleslaw. We ended up getting a slice of key lime pie too. It was also tasty. Then dh had a manhattan.
Tuesday: We got up and went to Planet Fitness again. I had a banana and dh made an avocado shake for lunch. We stopped at the Fresh Market to get some steak tips for dinner. $34 later…Then we took a ride to Anna Maria Island just for the heck of it. Rode down to long boat key and St Armands circle. That had a super cute, very busy downtown area with lots of high end shops and restaurants. Then we drove back into Sarasota and went to Calusa Brewing https://www.calusabrewing.com/. This was like a throw back to when breweries first opened in MA. No food, just beer. I had their pilsner. Dh had a couple IPAs. No flights here. We met some other people from MA. One guy had on a Vitamin Sea t-shirt and his wife had a Tree House brewery t-shirt. A guy at another table was from Worcester. You could tell that this place was also popular with the locals as they were doing a lot of can sales. Then we headed back to the house. We made salad and steak tips for dinner. They were very disappointing. They didn’t taste like anything even though they were “marinated.” It was a total waste of money and I only cooked half of them. We should have only got one skewer. There was enough for another meal but dh refused to eat them again. Ended up going in the trash. After dinner we went to the liquor store so he could get some whiskey and then we went to Holy Cow Ice cream. I got a toasted coconut in a cone. Dh got a vanilla soft serve. It’s great that the house had a grill with gas so we could cook. Weird thing is there were no spices/condiments. Only had salt and pepper. We also took a walk around the neighborhood. I did some laundry. It’s nice that they had a washer and dryer available.
Wednesday: Dh got up early and went to Planet Fitness. I slept in. We left about 9:15 to go to the Tampa airport for our global entry interviews. We got there with a couple minutes to spare. I went in first and passed with flying colors. All in all it was worth it as dh also passed. We went into downtown Tampa for lunch as it was around 2pm at that point. We went to Pint and Brew https://www.thepintandbrew.com/. We sat at the bar. It was fairly quiet. They had a ton of beers on draft. I had a founders from Maine. Dh got a flight-surprise surprise. He asked the bartender to pick out all IPA’s. He liked them all. We got a Cuban sandwich to split. The guy making the sandwiches was so nice. He said he’d make it big for us since we were splitting it. Then he put it on two plates. It came with chips. The sandwich was good and plenty for us to split. Then we drove back to the house and spent some time at the pool and in the sun. One kind of gross Florida experience this morning. Found a cockroach in the guest bath. I had Matt come in and he flushed it down the toilet. We don’t see those at home. Went to dinner at the 3 Keys Brewing https://www.3keysbrewing.com/. We sat at the bar. The bartender was friendly. We asked him for recs on the beer. I had the blond which was good. They have 25 beers on tap which they brew. Dh had an IPA. We decided to split a burger. They had a special which was a $5 burger with a beer purchase-good deal. The fries were separate. I thought it was okay. Dh thought it was good. It was overcooked for me but can’t complain for the price. Then he got a flight of IPAs. They close at 9 so they did last call at 8:45.
Thursday: Last full day here, boo. We went and worked out at Planet Fitness again. Then we went for a walk along the river. Got home about noon and made lunch. Dh had an avocado shake and I had a salad. We spent the afternoon by the pool relaxing. It was a beautiful day. We both got a lot of sun. We had a couple beers. Went for an early dinner at Tide Tables http://www.tidetablescortez.com/. We put our name in. The hostess said it’d be about half an hour and to go to the Tiki bar for drinks. We got a couple beers and let them know our names. We were called about 10 minutes later and got 2 seats at the bar. I got the grouper sandwich blackened and subbed fries. Dh got the mahi mahi fish tacos. Everything was good. We both had another beer and I ordered a slice of key lime pie since it was homemade. That was good too. We came home and went for another walk around the neighborhood.
Friday: We got up and dh went for a run where we went for a walk along the river the other day. I cleaned up around the house and got our stuff ready. Took the sheets off the bed. Towels on the floor. Turned the dishwasher on. We had to check out by 10am. I think that was kind of ridiculous. A hotel allows you to check in by 3pm and check out by 11am. We were robbed of two hours. We paid good money for this place too. It was $2300 for the five days plus an extra $32 a day to heat the pool. I enjoyed staying at a house. I’m not sure I’d stay at a hotel again. Dropping off the car was easy. Going through security with TSA pre-check was awesome. It was so quick and easy. Glad we were already able to use it. Had lunch at the airport. I had a Cobb salad but it was premade. Not that appetizing. Dh had a turkey club. I think that was a much better idea. Flight was full on the way home. It was pretty good until the end where I wanted to puke. Got our luggage and walked back to the roof to get our car. Picked up the dogs from boarding and then off to get a pizza and salad at Angel Pizza on our way home. All in all a great trip and who knew that a few months later we’d be moving to Florida?