Remember playing tag when you were a kid? Slapping someone on the back and yelling, “Tag, you’re it!” Well, I’ve just been been ‘virtually tagged.’ My friend and fellow travel blogger, Shannon Lane, was ‘tagged’ to participate in the meme known as My Three Best Travel Secrets (a meme, which rhymes with cream, is a catchphrase or concept that spreads rapidly from person to person via the Internet). From what I understand, the game was started by Katie of Tripbase.com, the lovely folks who awarded me second place in the category of best North/South American blog of 2009 in their annual Travel Blog Awards.

After sharing three great secrets about her home state of Louisiana, Shannon ‘tagged’ me to be next in line to divulge my best travel secrets. My first reaction was, “Only three?” How could I possibly narrow it down to only three. Should I talk about little known secrets in Sarasota, Florida, such as the $40 annual membership to GWiz Science Museum that provides FREE admission to over 300 other science centers throughout the U.S. as well as other attractions around the State of Florida? Or about my list of little-known coffee shops around the country that let me work on my laptop all day for the price of a cup of coffee, like Sippin’ Internet Cafe in Key West, Pastry Art in Sarasota, or Rev Coffee in the Atlanta area?

In the end, I decided to reveal my secrets for booking last minute accommodations and transportation around the world without breaking the bank. Frankly, I detest being locked into definite travel plans. My preference is to book the first night at a destination (two nights at most), and then wing it from there. Fellow travelers are always eager to share secrets about spectacular, little-known towns or sites they have visited and not being locked into reservations allows me to take advantage of these tips, but it also means I am often looking for last minute bookings, which can be frustrating as well as expensive. However I do have a few tricks to help with this process, which I’ve detailed below: Read the rest of this entry »

Sarasota’s split personality has always intrigued me. As a retirement community, the average age of its residents is well above the national average and even significantly above the Florida average. On the other hand, several universities and community colleges located in Sarasota County, including the renowned Ringling College of Art and Design, infuse the community with vibrant, creative young people. This youthful energy translates into quirky fashion; unique art; and always, music, music, music.

Most any day of the week I can find live music in downtown Sarasota, but my favorite event is open mic night every Wednesday from 7 to 10 p.m. at Pastry Art on Main. Some weeks feature fiddlers and dobro players; other times, acoustic guitars dominate. Last week, the organizers of this free event, David Brain and Carmela Pedicini (a fabulous musician and vocalist known locally as “Radio-Free-Carmela) outdid themselves. They spread the word that Comcast would be on hand to film the event for their on-demand channel and local talent flocked to the cafe like never before.

For nearly four hours I sipped Americano coffee and nibbled ginger shortbread cookies while a remarkable lineup of artists performed original folk, blues, rock, and indie material. Long-time favorites Michael Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve lived in downtown Sarasota for nearly three years and thought I’d seen everything the city center had to offer until the other day, when I took a walk along Sarasota Bay. Just two blocks from the heart of downtown I discovered an arched entryway leading to Bayfront Park, a half-mile long peninsula jutting into the bay. Intrigued, I stepped through the archway and into an alternate reality of grass-roofed shacks, brightly colored water sport equipment, tiki bars, multi-million dollar yachts at anchor, outdoor sculpture, elaborate playground equipment, and a circular recessed fountain where children romped in columns of water burbling from the ground.

Gateway to Sarasota's Bayfront Park

Rent paddle boats, kayaks, and jet skis at the little grass shack

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In the world of museums it would seem unlikely if not downright preposterous to find circus artifacts mingled with fine art, yet that is precisely what visitors find at the John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. With a name like Ringling, the circus connection is not surprising – the benefactors of the museum are the famed couple who owned and operated the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for many years. What does surprise is the impressive collection of European, Asian and American paintings and sculptures.

One of numerous galleries displaying the impressive collection of Baroque paintings amassed by John and Mabel Ringling

With the great fortune amassed through their circus, John and Mabel Ringling traveled extensively throughout Europe. In Italy, especially, they developed a passion for fine art, which led to John becoming a regular at New York and London art auctions during the 1920′s. He purchased masterpieces by Rubens, Titian, Velazquez, Hals, Van Dyck, and Gainesborough, as well as a collection of Cypriot, Greek and Roman antiquities from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. By 1931, Ringling had built a museum designed after the Renaissance and Baroque palaces and museums of Italy to house their ever-growing collection.

"The Triumph of Divine Love," one of eleven enormous canvases painted by Peter Paul Rubens for his series "The Triumph of the Eucharist"

Immediately inside the front doors of the museum hang five enormous paintings by Peter Paul Rubens from the series titled The Triumph of the Eucharist. At a time when the Catholic Church was losing membership to the newer Protestant denomination, Isabella Clara Eugenia, a devout Catholic and daughter of King Philip II of Spain, commissioned Rubens to paint a set of 11 scenes depicting the Catholic celebration of Eucharist or Mass. The paintings were produced for weavers of the day, who used them as templates to create tapestries that hung on the walls of royal palaces and homes of the wealthy. After Eugenia’s death in 1633, the paintings were dispersed throughout Europe. Four of the originals were destroyed in a fire, two eventually landed in the Louvre Museum in Paris; the remaining five were purchased by the Ringlings in 1926, becoming the only large-scale painting cycle by Rubens outside of Europe. Read the rest of this entry »

Gorgeous starburst fireworks. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneschoon/3389256448.

Oh yes, it’s HOT in Florida right now. Most days you could probably fry that proverbial egg on our sun-baked sidewalks. But that’s not the kind of sizzle I’m talking about. It’s the smokin’ hot lineup of events planned for Independence Day that I’m talkin’ about!

A weekend of festivities kicks off with “Powerboats By The Bay,” a collection of souped-up racing boats on display at downtown’s Centennial Park on July 3rd & 4th, followed by a spectacular fireworks show over Sarasota Bay at 9 p.m. on the 4th. Although the fireworks can be seen from almost anywhere in the downtown area, in-the-know Sarasotans head for the Bayfront near Island Park, where the the dazzling pyrotechnics create mirror images in the calm waters of the Bay.

Mosaic of pyrotechnics, as seen from Sarasota's Bayfront Park. Photos courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/markus941/729113535.

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Environmentalists constantly charge that development has deprived plants and animals of their natural habitat. While I would normally agree, a few thing have happened over the past few weeks that make me wonder whether this is true, or if plants and animals are adapting just fine to cityscapes.

Last week, I was walking along Main Street in downtown Sarasota. It was early evening, perhaps 7 p.m., and still light. As I passed the building housing the offices of First Baptist Church, I glanced down at the sidewalk. Lying on the concrete, at the junction where the church building butted up against the locksmith shop, was a length of rubber tubing. I took a few more steps before it registered. “What on earth was that?” I wondered aloud. I backed up and bent down for a second look. Just a two-foot length of black rubber hose, sticking out of a hole in the mortar between the buildings. Then it moved. Slowly it backed away from me, sliding back into the circular hole a few inches. Thinking I was imagining things, I inched closer, cautiously. Again the snake retreated, this time until only its head was visible at the entrance of the hole. I blinked and it was gone. I have no idea what type of snake it was; I was so astounded to see it in the midst of an urban environment that I never thought to identify it.

Night Blooming Cereus flowers adorn the scraggly cactus just one night each year. Photo courtesy of http://skiplombardi.org.

Later that same night, I was leaving my favorite coffee shop following a performance by guitarist/vocalist Michael Miller, when his wife, Laura, told me about the Night Blooming Cereus, a cactus flower that only opens after dark, and only blooms for a single night each year. This being the long-awaited night, I drove to the Towles Court neighborhood in search of the elusive flower. As Laura had promised, it was a Read the rest of this entry »

After a few weeks on the road, I returned to Sarasota for a few days of R&R before heading out again. As usual, on my first day back I stopped by my favorite coffee shop, Pastry Art On Main, for a cup of java. Instead, on this particular day the owners of the shop, Forrest and Alex Shaw, invited me to sample a cup of Samboya Tea, a new brand they would soon be serving.

I am no stranger to tea – my kitchen shelf is lined with many flavors and several different brands. But though I keep trying to find one I like, every brand comes up short. Some are too bitter. Most don’t even taste like the flavors they represent. So I was game to sample a new brand, especially since Forrest insisted that once I tried Samboya, I would never again want to drink tea bought at the grocery store.

A delicious fragrance immediately suffused the air when the Earl Grey tea was set before me. Raising the cup, I inhaled deeply, enjoying the musky scent reminiscent of exotic Indian cardamom and turmeric spices. I sipped and rolled Read the rest of this entry »

Most days, people begin leaving the beach when daylight fades. But on Saturdays at Siesta Key Beach, things are just getting underway as the sun sinks toward the horizon. At first, the gathering is small. People trickle in from the parking lot and, kicking their shoes off in the sugar-fine white sand, head toward the sound of drumming.

Every Saturday evening, just before sunset, hundreds of spectators flock to Siesta Key Beach to witness the drumming ritual

A short distance down the beach, half a dozen rag-tag hippie musicians beat out a rhythm on a collection of percussion instruments. Some are hand held tambourines; others are carried underarm and played with one hand; still others are squeezed between the musician’s knees and played like a bongo. One young man has even hauled a traditional drum set down to the beach, complete with bass and cymbals. Read the rest of this entry »

Red-Shouldered Hawk in Sarasota, Florida

We had a big blow today. As I pulled into the parking lot at my apartment, tropical storm strength winds were kicking up dust and sending debris flying through the air. I don’t know what made me look up into the tree limbs hanging just beyond my windshield, or how I even spotted him. Sitting in the nook of a tree limb, perfectly camouflaged, was a Red Shouldered Hawk. Other than blinking at me, he sat perfectly still, even when I opened the rear cargo door, gathered up my groceries, and walked to my front door. I can only assume he was disorientd by the high winds. I never expected him to still be there by the time I returned with my camera, but he posed for a half-dozen photos before disappearing in a flutter of feathers. We don’t always need to travel to exotic places to experience nature. Beauty is all around us – if only we are open to seeing it.