Ahh the feeling of sweet sweet sunshine...
Nothing can provide it quite like the Sunshine state which is where me, my friend Brenna, and my mom and dad escaped to for a long weekend. At first we stayed in Sarasota at a cute little boutique hotel named
Hotel Indigo.
It was really a cool place. Instead of a pool it had a hot tub and a cold tub... which felt more like a bath tub because it must be hard to cool pools in Florida in the summertime. It had big lounge chairs in the lobby and bikes you could rent. The rooms also each have unique walls that are centered around anything indigo. Our room had blueberries.
In the middle of the night the blueberries kind of looked like big blue eyeballs looking down at you, but not in a bad way.
The first place we ate was Steak and Shake which had the best fries and shakes... EVER. I forgot to take before pictures of the food but it was presented deliciously I promise.
While we were in Sarasota we went kayaking in the bay, went to
Siesta Key and went to the beach (voted number one beach in America, it lives up to that), and we also went to eat at a place featured on Man vs. Food named
The Old Salty Dog.
Later that night after Brenna and I got all dressed up we went to St. Armands Circle which is has a bunch of boutiques and restaurants. We shopped a little, snapped pictures, and ate the best macaroons I've ever tasted. Caramel Salted Butter. (My mouths watering) They also had a bunch of pretty candies but unfortunately my sweet tooth could only handle one macaroon.
After a long, food filled day with kayaking and swimming - saying we were exhausted is an understatement. We quickly crashed after we got back to the hotel.
The next morning we woke up, packed, and headed to St. Pete Beach... but not without a few pit stops first.
First stop was Yoder's Amish Village, also a contender on Man vs. Food and famous for their peanut butter cream pie. This is where we had breakfast which was the most amazing breakfast I've ever eaten. It was dispersed but we all had either the Apple Fritter French Toast or the Raspberry and Cream Cheese stuffed French Toast. YUM.
They also had a couple buildings next door with the freshest produce I've ever seen. I've never called a tomato beautiful, but I have now. They also had fresh baked pies, breads, candies, and other assorted items.
Next we went to Anna Maria Island and had a pickle picnic on the beach before walking down the pier.
We checked in and started... the bar crawl. We shamelessly made our way through the six restaurants/bars and finished by watching the sunset on the beach with our last drinks. The rest of the night consisted of pizza, hot tubs, pools, and a random boy that Brenna met. I tried especially hard to be the most awkward third wheel ever. Muahaha. Sorry Brenna.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and hit the beach. We floated in the pool and played in the waves. However, it was ridiculously hot out and we all couldn't stand any more sun by 2:00. So we indulged in some Mimosa's and got dressed to explore!
We found a place called Treasure Island (a legit island for those Minnesota folk reading this, it's not a casino). We shopped a little before moving onto a cute board walk area. For the life of me I'm sad to say I can't remember the name, however it was wonderful. We shopped our little hearts out even more in little boutiques and smelled the mixture of sweet candy shops and a bunch of restaurants.
After that we were famished and were craving food that was not fried.
Dear God not fried.
So we just so happened to find a Steak and Seafood house across the street from our hotel. We moseyed our sun kissed exhausted bodies over there and ate... the. best. food. I've. ever. eaten.
I know people say that all the time, but I'm not joking. It started with pretzel bread with Cajun mustard butter and we then moved onto French Onion Soup.
Right about now I wish I could insert a wide eyed emoji into this blog.
IT WAS SO GOOD. If I could have canceled my order and just gotten 3 more bowls of soup I probably would. But I didn't, and I'm glad because I ordered prime rib.
I've always been a sucker for prime rib, it's probably the only kind of meat I can devour, and this one just happened to be crusted in Parmesan and garlic and the Au Jus sauce wasn't like normal. It must have been mixed with butter or something because it was decadent.
Not to mention that between the soup and main course they brought you sorbet to cleanse your pallet. But the presentation of the sorbet was the best part.
Sadly the sorbet is the only thing I took pictures of because, as you can probably tell, it was SO dark in the restaurant and I'm a hater on flash.
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and made our way to downtown St. Petersburg. They have this pier with an upside down triangle on it filled with restaurants, shops, and an aquarium. A trolley takes you to and from the parking lot and it's well worth the trip.
Sadly it will be torn down in May but I'm glad we got to see it while we did. Afterwards we finally made our way towards the airport but had a pit stop at the mall. They have a goooood mall.
Sigh. We then went to the airport and got to see a mob waiting for gold medalist track runner Tianna Madison. Her family and the news was there but we had to get to our plane before she showed. We picked up Starbucks and very good pizza before heading onto the plane. We read magazines for three hours and voila we were home sweet home.
All in all this trip was filled with the best food and shopping I've indulged on in a long time. It was also a fantastic way to kick off my last three weeks of summer that I don't have summer classes. So now I'm going to relax and do nothing but blog and pack for moving back to school in these next couple weeks.
Stay tuned!
xo
