(Continued with Photos Below)
Summertime is here and so are the visitors to the Florida gulf coast. As of 10:00 a.m. today, there was plenty of room on the beach. As I walked on the mat towards my car, I heard someone say, "How could a person not smile when they come here?" Children attending Sarasota County Park and Recreation's summer camp were sand sculpting castles and other creations.
Last weekend, my granddaughter graduated from Riverview High School, one of three top-rated high schools in the area. There were family activities planned for five days and family came from New York to South Carolina. A friend and I decided to duck out a couple of days and explore downtown Tampa. We actually met another Sarasota family at the hotel who also came to Tampa for a weekend getaway. I was amazed at how much fun I had been missing by not understanding that Tampa is a bedroom community of Sarasota, not vise-versa.
We stayed at the Sheraton Riverwalk hotel--the heartbeat of downtown Tampa, with amazing amenities and large pool that overlooks the Riverwalk and the fresh-water Hillsborough River. From our balcony, we watched pontoons, boats, kayaks, walkers, and joggers out enjoying the Riverwalk. We caught a Uber to the Margarita Festival, enjoying a variety of drinks and the best handmade beef empanadas.
The Pirate Water Taxi is an inexpensive and easy way to see the many amenities around the Tampa Riverwalk. It is $30 per person but there is a senior discount. Coolest thing about this is that your one-day ticket can get you off and on at the various stops. We caught the taxi at about 6:30 p.m., and enjoyed the sunset, cooler temperature, a nice breeze coming off the water, and the Tampa skyline at night. There are 18 stops on the water taxi from the Convention Center, Tampa General Hospital, Sheraton/Hilton, Tampa Museum of Art, Glazer's Children Museum, Straz Performing Arts Center, Ulele's Restaurant, and Rick's on the River Bar and Restaurant--just to name a few! Now we know that we could have taken the water taxi to the Margarita Festival which was at Julian B. Lane Park.
Don't want to spend the night in Tampa? There is public parking 3 blocks from the Sheraton, so certainly this would be a fun day trip.
Sarasota's Bayfront 2020 project will offer similar venues as Tampa's Riverwalk. The Sarasota City Commissioners have embraced the project and the best of Sarasota is yet to come. In in the meantime...check out Tampa's Riverwalk. We all know that other parts of Florida--even Tampa--falls short of our Siesta Key Beach, THE #1 Beach in the USA. I'm at 941-914-4914 if I can help you with your Sarasota, Siesta Key, and Venice, Florida real estate questions and needs.
Most sincerely yours,
Linda Holley, Realtor, GRI WWW.LindaHrealtor.com and LindaHrealtor.com/blog
Siesta Key Young Sun Bunnies
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