The Best of Sarasota, Part II

Sarasota, FL       High:  81     Low:  64

Sparky blew it! Wouldn't be the first time....  :-)  (Glad she said that, and not me, says E.)  When she did the "Best of Sarasota" list, she forgot our favorite place to hear great music---Ocean Blues! Ocean Blues is on Hillview Street in Sarasota, near the hospital.  Great food, great music seven days a week, and the most hospitable and friendly wait staff....

It was Monday night, and you know by now, Monday night is Jazz Jam Night at Ocean Blues, so off we went with very special guests--Terry and Pat Walker, the couple that we met from the NAARVA rally here at Sun 'n' Fun. Pat and Terry have been following our blog since the first day we started full timing back in 2010! They are from Atlanta, GA. They love live music just as we do, and expressed an interest in going to hear the jazz jam at Ocean Blues....

Another great night spent in great company!

The music was wonderful! Steve Arvey, our favorite musician was there along with Brian Pope, our favorite drummer, Ed Kinder, a fantastic keyboard maestro, and Bruce Glassburg, an amazing trombonist. There were many more new players that kept coming up to the stage-- a guy with bongo drums, so that sparked a set of samba type music....A new base player by the name of John DeWitt joined the group. We had a wonderful night of jazz and toe tapping rhythm....

Sparky had her usual pizza which was terrific, Eldy had the great fresh pretzels, and Pat and Terry tried some sandwiches which were very good, they said. Sparky would have taken photos of Pat and Terry's food, but thought that might be a little extreme. (That was a blessing, that would have been a little embarrassing and a bit much! says E.)

Eldy talked trumpets with Steve Rolland, one of the trumpet players who regularly comes and plays on Monday nights...

It was another great night for music! We really love Ocean Blues....

Some more "Best of Sarasota" in Sparky and Eldo's opinion.....

Best Seafood Restaurant:  Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar, Eldy says EVERY time we've been there, "It's the BEST fish I have ever had, bar none!" We did mention this before, but having just ate there again, we decided to give it it's own special category!

Best Alternative Beach: When Siesta Key gets ridiculously crowded, head over to Coquina Beach. Anna Maria Island. It's huge, the shaded path/sidewalk walkway that runs along the beach is gorgeous, and there's a little market there every Sunday.

Best Moderately Priced Restaurant: The Lazy Lobster on Longboat Key...The Amelia burger...mushroom glace sauce over an Angus burger with a stacked, pressed cheesy potato bake on the side that is absolutely out of this world. They have two locations, but we have only been to the one on Longboat Key. Barnacle Bill's Seafood--Downtown Sarasota--We like this one for the "early dining special" for 11.99. Get served before 5:15 to get this price.

Best Kept Museum Secret: Museum of Art and Whimsy--a small quirky little museum with unusual art and sculpture with an outdoor sculpture garden across the street.

Best Mexican Restaurant--Mi Pueblo--really fast service, friendly wait staff, and excellent food. Closer to authentic Mexican food than your usual American Mexican restaurant.

Best Authentic Local Sarasota Experience--drum circles--Siesta Key Beach every Sunday, Nokomis Beach every Wednesday and Saturday about an hour before sunset....

OK, NOW Sparky thinks she's covered the best of Sarasota..... :-)

Gentleman, Start Your Engines!

Sarasota, FL      High:   79   Low:   64

We're in a cool down! Woo-hoo! (Don't get too excited, woman. It's only going to be for a couple of days! cautions Eldo.) Well, Sparky is going to really enjoy it while it lasts! Ride her bike, go exploring maybe, spend a lot of time outside....

Eldy has been worried about the coach engine starting...like for the past week. Should he start it? Should he not? Should he wait till the day we're ready to pull out? Should he start it now to see if there are going to be any problems?  He's talked to several Freightliner guys around the country, and at the Tampa RV show Freightliner crew in January. They said it's not necessary to start it, to "exercise" the engine when sitting for a long time. Tiffin has a battery miser that charges the chassis batteries while we are plugged into shore power. There are a lot of electronics in the coach that would run the batteries down if there wasn't some kind of extra charging going on. Then again, lots of people say they do start the engine and let it run for a little bit to get it warmed up.

We hadn't done that because if we did start the engine, the diesel particulate system might go into REGEN (a process where the waste products from the engine are burned out through the exhaust at 1500 degrees) which happens at certain intervals and more so if you are idling or not up to highway speed to burn the exhaust emissions off. You can start a fire under the coach if sitting on dry grass. It's been really dry for a long time in Sarasota until recent rains, so we held off.

And here comes Freightliner to the rescue! They are in the park this week for the NAARVA rally. Eldy went down to talk to them and explained he wanted to try and start the coach. It's been such a long time, he went back and review the manuals to see what to do IF the coach didn't start and wanted to get advice from the guys who know, Freightliner, in case it didn't start. The Freightliner rep, Dwayne Wilkie, offered to come down when he had finished for the day today and help Eldy if there were problems. That was really nice of him! First things first, Eldy checked the oil. He usually does that several times during traveling long distances, and after sitting for long periods of time...it was low. Eldy couldn't find the funnel to fill it, so Dwayne suggested we use an empty water bottle with the bottom cut off. Eureka! Great solution for no funnel! Sparky might suggest that to her daughters to carry a water bottle in case you need to put emergency oil or coolant in the car.

Of course, when a guy opens up the hood of anything that runs, more guys come to check it out with him. Our neighbor stopped by to see what was going on, and all three of them, Eldy, Dwayne, and Brian were at it, checking things out. Do you see how LONG that dipstick is??? Unbelievable!

Dwayne even got down under the rig to see what engine we had so he could be certain how many quarts our engine takes...Our particular engine takes 23 quarts of oil...Holey molly! That's a LOT of oil!

OK, start 'er up, Eldy! The engine fired right up the first time he turned it on! Eldy let it run until the engine warmed up to 140 degrees on the gauge,  to get it warm enough and the fluids circulating enough to avoid condensation and then we shut it down...The fellas watched the gauges to make sure everything was working properly, and it was...

Eldy heaved a big sigh of relief knowing the rig was working the way it was supposed to in regard to the batteries...Mission accomplished! Thank you, Dwayne, for stopping by our site before heading home to your family after a busy day.

Those Freightliner guys are just terrific! Everywhere we've been, they have been SO helpful, so knowledgeable and ready to help us with answers to our questions. We've covered a LOT of territory in the past three years, and we can honestly say, Freightliner really has great customer service and knowledge to help you with your Freightliner chassis.

Until tomorrow.....

Cinco de Mayo Celebration Sarasota Style!

Sarasota, FL       High:  78       Low:   66

Sparky is lovin' this cooler weather!  We managed to whiz through the day today, not doing much but before we knew it the day was just about over. Before it got too far gone, we decided to see how Mi Pueblo, our favorite Mexican restaurant, does Cinco de Mayo. They started celebrating last night!

Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, and originated with the victory battle of Puebla where the Mexicans defeated the French in 1862.

Sparky loves a festival, and the Mexican people know how to throw a good party celebration! There was dancing.....

Great food....Sparky had her Mi Pueblo favorite--tacos camarones--shrimp tacos with mango salsa...Eldy had a shredded beef burrito...YUM! There were.....

Tequila tastings....."One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, FLOOR!"  Three small shots for five dollars. We are not tequila drinkers, so we passed on that....They were very popular, though!

Youthful singers.....

Colorful costumes...

A cool lady doing face painting for kids....Love the Carmen Miranda look! (Carmen Miranda was a Portugese born Brazilian samba singer/dancer/actress back in the '40's and '50's and she wore hats like this one.)

And lots of joy and happiness on this special day.....The kids that were demonstrating the dances were really enjoying themselves. The crowd was whooping and hollering and whistling their approval. We saw the traditional Mexican hat dance, too....Great fun!

Lots of smiles except for this little guy....He was all dressed up for the celebration and was in a dance with what appeared to be his older brother. He could have cared less that it was a special day. He was NOT happy to have to be in the performance, that's for sure!

And the public, even if they were not Hispanic, enjoyed celebrating the day with the restaurant's many prizes, games, great food, burro rides, even a bronco riding ride....and with their own costumes of sorts...

Sparky liked the pink sombrero this gal had on...

And Sparky loves seeing the characters that show up at festivals...Take a look at this guy!

We sure enjoyed ourselves at Cinco de Mayo today, at Mi Pueblo, on Tuttle and University in Sarasota. We highly recommend this restaurant!

There's More Than Just Fun at Sun 'n' Fun

Sarasota, FL       High:      83    Low:   66

There's a butterfly garden at Sun 'n' Fun!  It's very small but very beautiful....Sparky experimented with her iPhone 4S camera phone today...

The focus kept going in and out so it was hard to get close ups of the blossoms...But Sparky found out if you tap your finger on the object you are trying to get focused, the camera will refocus on where you pointed on the screen...

Lots of beautiful pink and red flowers, plenty to tempt butterflies and bees and hummingbirds, you would think. Sparky just saw lots of busy bees today....Sparky doesn't know her Florida flowers very well, but think these are fuchsia?

There are a couple of little statues.....

There are benches to sit on, and a little high top patio table set with umbrella for your pleasure....

Sparky wasn't the only one there....Tons of these little guys running around, and puffing up their throats menacingly to let her know she was encroaching on their space!

But no butterflies anywhere to be seen....  :-/  Sparky was surprised that the camera managed to capture the raindrops on the petals with a decent amount of detail....

A lovely way to spend part of the day today......

Come and sit sometime in the butterfly garden...It smells wonderful, too!

Until tomorrow......

Rain, Rain...and More Rain....

Sarasota, FL      High:   83       Low:   67

It rained all day today...So Sparky decided to do a blog on the "Best of Sarasota".....There's a great monthly magazine published that's all about Sarasota, it's called SRQ. It's a terrific magazine. The April issues had a feature "the Best of SRQ Local".  ("SRQ" is the airport abbreviation for Sarasota)....Sparky thought she'd share what the magazine had to say. We have tried some of these but not all of them, so here's the majority of opinion from the residents of Sarasota themselves...Here goes.....

Best Breakfast: Station 400, second place Word of Mouth, third place and our favorite--Broken Egg. Station 400 (we're gonna have to try it) has the "Fry Up"..scrambled eggs with marinated mushrooms and tomatoes. Their French toast is stuffed with apples, cranberries and almonds. Sounds delicious! And they have a great story behind their restaurant...Bet it's got some great atmosphere!

Our Story

In 1852, a quaint railroad depot was built in Kentland, Indiana, when railroads were essential for long distance travel. Passengers took pride in each trip and made time to explore the station while waiting for their departure. It was a period in time when a slower speed of life was appreciated. In order to recreate this feeling, the old depot was painstakingly pieced apart and reassembled in the Rosemary District of Sarasota, Florida. After much attention the building is now reminiscent of how it looked over 150 years ago, rich with old character and traditional charm.

Best Salon: Nuovo   Runner up--Yellow Strawberry, and Cutting Loose... Nuovo gives soothing scalp massages when you get your hair shampooed. Haircuts start at 25.00...Sparky goes cheap on haircuts, but sometimes will splurge to get a better one. You get what you pay for. A great haircut grows out nicely, a super cheap one doesn't! Thank goodness, hair grows back fast!

Best Fashion Boutique--L. Boutique--runnersup--Foxy Lady, Lotus, and GOODWILL! Sparky has heard Goodwill has some really great stuff in the Sarasota locations. The best one in the bunch is the one on Clark Street, everybody says. She heard that Goodwill is really great down here in Sarasota. She's heard that over and over from the people at the park, so a Goodwill stop is in order in the next few days....

Best Burger--Patrick's..First runner-up, Square One Burgers

Best Seafood--Walt's Fish Market and Restaurant  We really liked Anna Maria Oyster Bar/Restaurant on Cortez Blvd, and a second one is on Tamiami Trail.

Best New Restaurant--State Street Eating House, runner up--Darwin's with home brewed beer....

Best Place to Take Visitors--Siesta Key Beach...No surprise there....runners-up--The Ringling Museum, Marie Selby Gardens, and Mote Marine....All of which Sparky has visited and just loved!

Best Grouper Sandwich--The Old Salty Dog at Lido Key....runner-up--Phillippi Creek

Best Farmer's Market--Sarasota Farmer's Market...It's wildly popular with the locals...distinct stands and the weekly "doggie parade"...everybody just brings their dogs to stroll and browse the stands. Live entertainment on almost every corner...We've visited the Farmer's Market several times and it's always different and fun!

Best Coffee--Pastry Art...Sparky doesn't drink coffee, she drinks Coke in the morning, but she does love the smell of good coffee...First runner-up is Java Dog which has the Java bus at the Farmer's Market every Saturday.

Best Pizza--Il Panificio, gonna try this one. We've had Main Street Trattoria Pizza, excellent! We also like SRQ Pizza which is not too far from Sun 'n' Fun and if you sign up for their texts, you'll get a different special every day of the week.

Best Sandwich--Anna's Deli..we'll have to try their "World Famous Surfer Sandwich" sometime..

Best Sweet...Lollicake Queen...queen of cakes on a stick...It's a sweet, sister owned boutique, they have house made butter cream icing and gourmet chocolate. Now, of course, we have to know that Sparky can't just blindly make food recommendations, she has to check out as many of these as she can before we go. We tried to check out the bakery/sweet shoppe/boutique today, but they closed at 4:00 PM.  Phooey! The closest Sparky got to a sugar fix was taking a photo through the window. Back we go another day....Sparky LOVES buttercream icing on anything! (ANYTHING??? She means on cake, muffins, cinnamon rolls, etc. explains Eldo)

Best Outdoor Dining: Ophelia's on the Bay....First runner-up is Mattison's City Grill...We also like Woody's River Roo near Ellenton...It's got live, outdoor music on a regular basis, too.

Best Place to Find A Unique Gift--Elysian Fields..meditation CD's, unique gifts, books, this is the place to find something thoughtful and different. Sparky hasn't checked it out, but it sounds really great.

AND----Sparky's own suggested categories.....

Best State Park--Myakka River State Park--gators, airboats, kayaking, canoeing, camping, the Deep Hole for gator watching, hiking, the Canopy Walk, wow....what a place!

Best Family Physical Activity---Tree Umph! Sparky hasn't been there, but there is all kinds of stuff to climb, jump, hang and do--zip line, included.....not cheap, but guaranteed to wear the whole family out. Mote Marine is another wonderful place for the whole family.

BEST RV Park--Sun 'n' Fun...But of course! We've been here five months, it's gotta be good to keep Sparky's attention all this time, haha.....See all our previous blogs all about Sun 'n Fun!

And that about wraps it up......Lots and lots of wonderful places in Sarasota to eat, shop and enjoy all kinds of nature.....It's our favorite destination of all......

More Fun at Sun 'n' Fun

Sarasota, FL        High:  80      Low:  67

There's always lots going on at Sun 'n' Fun...Even with the park having emptied out their snowbirds this past week, they are gearing up for their summer camp programs...The big 12th annual southern region NAARVA rally is in the park, over 250 rigs or more. The Northeast Florida Campers are here as part of that group, and boy, do they know how to have fun! They had a parade today and we just happened to catch it.

It's too bad the park is so empty... They were throwing out the best beads and candy, too! The Louisiana delegation had MUSIC and dancing, too! Their radio broke down just as they came around the corner, or Sparky might have been dancing, too!

Hope next year they can come back earlier so we can have some more people lining the streets! Looks like a fun bunch!

Just a few minutes before the parade, Sparky was sitting outside, when she heard a lady call out, "Hey, Sparky!" She looked up and here comes a gal with a big smile, Pat Walker. Sparky didn't know it, but Pat has been following our blog since the day we started full timing! Up she came with her husband, Terry, and we chitchatted a bit...She knew EVERYTHING about us, and we mean EVERYTHING! She rattled off a BUNCH of stuff. It was great! It always makes you feel really great when you can help someone else get to know the area through your blog. And Pat had a big ole list of what they were going to do while in Sarasota, because she's been reading us all along.....They are not full timers, but Pat would really like to be! She follows quite a few blogs of you folks out there.....It was great to meet one of our followers, and that's how we found out about the parade today....

We enjoyed chatting with them and hope to meet up with them Monday night for Ocean Blues Jazz Jam.

See you later!

Waiting and Watching.....for LOVEbugs?

Sarasota, FL       High:   84     Low:   68

We are watching everybody leave....We're not quite ready yet to head to HOT Houston....So we decided to stay another week...Rates at Sun 'n' Fun for the first week in May are 170.00. We're under our campground budget for the first time since November of last year! But it's really been a fun time and well worth the extra cost to stay in a place with so many wonderful amenities....

We're waiting to see if an influx of LOVEBUGS comes to Sun 'n' Fun...Yesterday when we were out and about in the Sarasota area we were in a residential neighborhood north of Sarasota and the lovebugs were swarming all over the place. We mean, BIG, HEAVY swarms of them! We were batting them away from us, and every time we opened the car doors, we had to hurry up and shut them, the lovebugs were terrible!

Our last experience of lovebugs was when we were traveling on I-75 in Alligator Alley, two years ago. All of sudden a BUNCH of them hit the windshield, RAT-A-TAT-TAT--SPLAT!  It sounded like gunshot pellets hit the windshield glass. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT???!!!" We both turned to each other and said those exact words at the same time. Later we found out it was the infamous Florida LOVEBUGS, also known as the March fly, the "doubleheaded bug", or the honeymoon fly. They cause the most annoyance with traffic and drivers getting splatted on windshields causing vision problems, and into radiators causing overheating problems while driving. Here's a sample of how bad they COULD be! (not our rig!)

There are two "flights" or swarms in Florida every year. One is in the spring--April-May, the other in August and September. The females live 2-3 days but generate 100-150 eggs a day. When they reach maturity, they spend their entire lives copulating with their mates, attached at the rear of the abdomen.They remain that way even while they are flying! After mating the male dies and is dragged around by the female until she lays her eggs. It's a good thing they don't bite or sting! We asked somebody if we might be seeing them soon in Sarasota, and they just smiled and said, "Oh, yeah..." We're on the watch! We've seen a couple of them so far around our rig, but NOTHING like what we saw a few miles north!

This morning we both played pickle ball, and met some new people from the rally that are here in the park. They came down and played pickleball with us. Sparky is going to roll Eldo back down to the courts tomorrow morning for another game or two--or three or four. ("Sparky, where's the Aleve?" hollers E.)

We had our first example of a summer rain shower here in the park. We know, it's not summer yet. But it's hot like summer! The clouds came rolling in, yet there were patches of blue sky. All of a sudden, all hell broke loose and we had a torrential downpour. It lasted less than ten minutes and then it was a gentle rain for another few, and it was done!

Eldy was out grilling under the awning....since there wasn't wind, we managed to get our pork chops cooked on the grill. Sparky made salad, (holy moley! That's right---Sparky made something in the kitchen! says a shocked E. I'm so glad I didn't have to figure out where to take her for a cheap dinner tonight! LOL!)

Sparky watched the movie, "Life of Pi"....interesting movie-- A live action/computer animated adventure drama with elements of religion, spirituality and a young man's coming of age.

A 16 year-old Indian boy's passage to a new life in America aboard a freighter ends in a shipwreck in the Pacific. He is left to fend for himself on a life raft with an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena and a Bengal tiger.

The movie is based the book by Yann Martel, Life of Pi, published in 2001, the director being Ang Lee. If you like movies with fantasy elements and marvel at the latest computer technology being used in cinema, you might like this movie...

Time to put the blog to bed for the night.......We'll see what tomorrow brings.....