Leviathans in Paradise

On our way to our last getaway by ourselves (no kids), the GPS and Siri were leading the way.  I heard many times about the little paradise "close to home" but never had the chance to experince it.  Less than a week away of our last days alone, we wanted to have some relaxing, laid-back mini vacation. Beach, flip flops, drinks, nice simple restaurants, and few books, that's all we wanted. Because of lack of planning and a quick destination desicion, I did not researched much about it.  We made our conclusions  base on what we heard before. Thinking that Anna Maria Island was one whole beach we thought that our resort was just in front of Anna Maria Island beach. Later on, and learning my lesson for not investigating before going, we learned that the 7 mile island is divided in 3 cities; the noth part is Anna Maria, the middle is Holmes Beach where we stayed at the Longboat Key, in the Silver Sands Gulf Beach Resort and the south of the island is Brandenton Beach. Nevertheless it was a great location with a private beach.  Even the beach chairs, umbrellas and towels were included.  We didn't have to go anywhere for hours. Just what we wanted, books, cooler, sun... delightful.

After arrival, we went straight to the beach. We met my best friend Debbie and her boyfriend.  They stopped by on their way back to Orlando from Naples and visit us for a few hours. The afternoon, was sunny and breezy, the ocean wasn't calm, but it wasn't fiery either. The waves crashed constantly but with no particular rhythm, still was a pleasant, soothing sound. Jorge and me stayed on the beach until the sun left us alone, and our stomach demanded more things than snacks.

Ready to go and with no particular destination on mind, "Yelp" helped us find St. Armand's Circle, south of the Island more in the Sarasota area. St. Armand's Circle has restaurants, boutiques, galleries, shops and more. At the time that we got there, we just wanted to eat, it was late anyways, most of the shops were close. We eat pizza at Venecia... with outdoor eating! I love to sit outside, specially when the weather is good.  It was warm  and comfortable enough that I was able to wear a strapless summer dress and flip-flops. We had a pleasant night but after eating and walking a little bit to see the area we call the night out. Leaving our Saturday behind and getting ready to a fresh start on Sunday.

My favorite meal of the day is breakfast! I was looking forward to try something new, but this time we wanted a place on the little island. "Yelp" did it again! We found this peculiar local place, Ginny's & Jane E's Bakery Cafe. Jorge and me love coffee.  Is important for us having a good coffee to start our day; its almost like a "spiritual ritual" where we enjoy every sip that we take. So this peculiar place... I wasn't sure if it was a souvenir store or a bakery.  But as we walked in, we saw a line of people ordering, so we were in the right place. I looked around, and Yes! it was also a souvenir store with the most bizarre display of things. They had things hanging from the ceiling, and other things where randomly around the little place.   Even though some of those items looks like junk yard "stuff' they also had nice little gifts souvenirs; some made of shells, and so on. There were so many things that it was hard to look at something in particular. The tables and chairs where people sit were like a collage of different dining table sets, where nothing match with each other. Definitely this little treasure box is full of interesting things but what really, really blew my mind was the Creme Brûlée French Toast; it was extremely delicious and sweet, very filling too. Yummy! I almost forgot to tell you that the coffee was pretty good too.

After eating we head back to our hidden place at Silver Sand where we spent the whole day, between books, conversations, drinks, FaceBook the day went by. Hiding from the giant heater under our umbrellas all day, still we were melting away by the heat. I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran to the water like it was an oasis in the middle of the desert. Jorge was studying for a test and didn't want to come at  beginning, but when the puddle of sweat was bigger than his test, he jumped to the water too. Now is when it got interesting!
The water was so refreshing and clear, almost no waves at all.








We swam, played, talked, and sometimes just silence was enough for us to enjoy the moment. When out of the sudden, Jorge jumps and starts running/swimming out of the water saying that something bit him. When I saw him so hysterical, I also headed out of the water. We sat at the shore and he started explaining that "some monster bit him on his foot" and so on. I wanted to see his foot, to see if it was ok or had any injuries. Guess what? There was nothing, a little tiny of nothing!!
I start laughing so hard, probably was a tiny crab, but the way he described it, it sounded like it was something out of this world, like the marine Leviathans monsters from the book of Job. Oh men's... so dramatics.




Well, no matter what it was, it took us out of the water!
Next day we ended up our little getaway visiting Siesta Key Beach, rate it as #1 beach of the nation on 2012. It was nice, but too crowded for me. After being two days on a private lonely beach, beside the "Leviathans on the water", I preferred the quiet sounds of the waves.
xamlinnette