Exploring St Armand's Circle and Siesta Key

St Armand's Circle is a shopping and restaurant mecca by the coast in Sarasota. We went there to eat at Columbia's, a Cuban restaurant that has been in the area for 104 years. This was our first experience with Cuban food and we really liked it. --Salad prepared tableside with their famous garlic dressing, Cuban bread, criollo for Fred (shrimp sauteed with garlic, peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes served over rice), and palomilla for me (thin grilled sirloin topped with onion, parsley, and lime juice over rice). Their yellow rice was really delicious with tomatoes and green peas in it. Thanks, James, for telling us about Cuban food. We hope to try more in Marathon.



Down by the waterfront, we saw this aluminum sculpture "Unconditional Surrender" based on a famous photo from WW II. It was 25 feet tall.



Then on to Siesta Beach --absolutely beautiful!! We had heard so much about the quartz sand, and it was amazing--just like Destin and the beaches around it up in the Panhandle.


Everyone just relaxing and flying kites on Siesta Beach.

Myakka River and Venice Beach

Yesterday, we took an airboat ride on the Myakka River to see alligators and birds. Supposedly there are 1,000 alligators in this lake---we saw several large ones and a baby.



Lots of unusual birds. Also lots of Amish families from New York and Pennsylvania who are here on vacation.


Then we drove to Venice Beach where they allow dogs on the beach. (Not many beaches in Florida do.) Tex really enjoyed it--we let him off the lease and he found a young Lab to play with.


He was really tired and dirty after his trip to the beach!

Ringling and the Circus Sarasota FL

Today, we visited the John and Mable Ringling Museums. This is set on their 66 acre estate on the bay in Sarasota and was their winter home. The Ringling Bros. started their circus in WI in the late 1800's and gradually bought out other circuses, one of which was Barnum and Bailey. The Ringling, Barnum, and Bailey Circus made Sarasota their winter home in the early 1900's. The Ringlings built a mansion here and an art museum to hold their collection. Later circus museums were added. One houses a miniature replica of the circus in 1920's. Very detailed. I never knew the circus was so large--- 1500 people, 59 train cars, 8 main tents, 152 wagons.



Some of the restored wagons. Also a large collection of costumes and the private train car of the Ringlings.


Ca' D Zan (the mansion) I never knew there was so much money in the circus. They even toured Europe with it.

Main drawing room of the mansion

Visit with Kathy and James

We spent the weekend with Fred's sister, Kathy and her husband, James. On Sunday, we drove to Daytona Beach and actually drove on the beach. Went on down to Ponce Inlet and had lunch at Down the Hatch overlooking the water. Great seafood and live music on such a beautiful day.



We always enjoy our visit with them each year.


Kathy and James live in the country and have dogs and horses. (3 Jack Russells) Tex had so much fun with his cousin dogs.

On the way to Florida

On the way to Florida, we found a Whataburger--how excited--our favorite burger joint!! On Tex's birthday, we give him a Justaburger. He usually has to wait until we get home in April, but we found them in Alabama so he got his treat 2 days early. Happy Birthday Tex! (5 years old on February 22)


Upon arriving in Seville, Florida to visit Fred's sister, we got the motorhome stuck---really buried in the sand out back of her house. (This happened last year, too, only in the front yard--looks like we would learn about that sand.) Fred dug around the wheels, took a beer break, and then placed the boards to drive up on. He got it out and backed very carefully back to the gravel and concrete where we parked in their drive. We have both said that next year, we will NOT DRIVE ON THE SAND AGAIN!!! (if we can only remember that next year)

Day 3 in Bay 29

Today we were back in the bay to finish last minute repairs. Breakfast at McDonalds, play at the park, shower, do laundry, lunch at a local diner, and then we toured the paint factory. They do some fantastic work here. This coach has the silver base coat and they are taping off the stripes. It takes 6 people over 2 hours to do this.


Then they do the dark stripes and paint the 3rd and 4th colors. This guy is sanding the lines off all the paint coats.

Then they clear coat, sand, wipe clean, and clear coat again. This is the final buffing.

The finished product.

SNOW

We are up and have the motorhome at the bay at 7:00AM. We get it back at 3:00. Tex lives in the Jeep with a couple of trips to the park each day. We eat, hang out at the customer lounge, shop at the Dollar stores in town, and eat again. Had some great chicken and dumplings just like Mama used to make at the Piggly Wiggly deli today. The ladies there are such good cooks.

Today we had snow flurries that turned to drizzle. It is so cold here!! Two years ago when we were here it snowed more. It brought back memories of when we lived in Indianapolis in 1992.

Our first snow was on November 1. Most of the heavy was in Jan and Feb but cold until May.

Here is our house with snow--Fred's truck in the drive has lots of snow. We had to shovel the drive and sidewalk with a big shovel. Those of you from up north probably remember those days.


Here I am rolling a snowman ball in the street in front of our house. Their snow just sticks together so well, but that ball gets sooo heavy to push.






Here John and I are finishing up the snowman! What fun we had that year but we were so glad to get transferred back to TEXAS!!!!

Tiffin Factory Tour

Yesterday, we took a tour of the factory to see what is new in the motorhomes. Lots of new changes--always fun to see them put them together and they always give us a new gift with the Tiffin logo on it--Fred got a tape measure and I got a sewing kit.

Here they are building the inside of the MH before they put the walls on.



The one in the back has the side walls and roof and they are adding the slides.



The end cap is going on and then it goes to the paint shop in the next town.



The painted and finished product is inspected and little things corrected in the final line. We got to tour 4 of these at the end.

In Line at Red Bay

Today we drove to Red Bay, Alabama, the home of Tiffin Motorhomes. It is a small town of about 5,000 in the NW corner of AL. They are famous for making motorhomes and dog food. This is our second trip here for repairs since we bought our coach. All Tiffin products, (Allegro Bus, Allegro Bay, Phaeton, Zephyr are manufactured here) They have a campground and repair facility for owners. All the parts are here so it is a great place to swing by and get everything done at one time. They have taken an old airstrip and turned it into a campground where you stay while you wait your turn. Hence the picture.



There are 3 rows of motorhomes, all hooked up and waiting to get into the bays to be worked on. We have an appt this time so we go in at 7:00AM in the morning, but last time, we waited 3 weeks because we did not have an appt. Poor folks around us---so many do not have appts.

We are second on the right--oh, this is not the whole row--I took this in the middle of the row looking toward the office. It is amazing to see so many MH of one brand all together. We meet such nice people here and learn so much from each other about the coaches and travel.

Valentine's Day on the Road

When I got up on Valentine's Day, was I ever surprised!! I had presents, flowers, and a balloon on the table. My friend, Stacey, and her daughter, Meredith had gotten me something for Fred to hide in the coach and he had been to a florist at 7:00AM. What fun--what great friends I have. Thanks Stacey, Meredith, Cade, and Kenslea and, of course, thanks to Fred, too.



Fred got a German chocolate cake.


For lunch, we went to the Hollywood Cafe (a place I had heard about on the Travel Channel--a show about great southern restaurants) It is known as the place where they first had fried dill pickles. We had some as an appetizer and then had hamburgers and fries. Can't say that I would ever order fried dill pickles again or that I would have agreed on this being a great southern restaurant, but it was an adventure to find it (thank goodness for gps).


Fred is eying that fried dill pickle!!


Afterward, we headed to the casinos and planned to make an early night of it by leaving at 8. Just a few minutes before we were meeting each other at the door to leave, they called "Fred Beall of Quinlan TX, you have just won $1,000 of slot play and you have 3 minutes to claim your prize." I was on the cell trying to call Fred (he sometimes doesn't hear announcements) and he was at a blackjack table. He jumped up and the dealer said just leave your chips and come back later. He got the prize and we had so much fun using it. He let me play some of it--we did dollar, quarter and electronic slots at full bets. You could keep your winnings from the play. Fred walked out with $675 of winnings!!!!

Tunica Riverpark Museum

Today we went to the Riverpark Museum located down here on the MS River by the casinos. What a fantastic museum---had displays on the people who have lived here, the types of boats used through the years, the floods that have changed the area of the MS, and the things that are done to control the damage done by possible flooding in the future. Also a nature walk and overlooks on the river where you can watch the barges being pushed along.





Afterwards, it was back to the casinos where I found a Paula Deen store at Harrah's. What fun!!