A Florida Birthday Roadtrip

Sunday was my birthday, and we decided to take a little overnight on Monday down the Florida Coast a few miles.  

Our first little stop was Sand Key, a park just south of Clearwater Beach.  We found some shells and enjoyed the sugar sand beach and gorgeous water.

We grabbed lunch at The Salty Rim on St. Pete Beach, not only was the view amazing but they have 2 for 1 Margaritas and some of the best fish tacos I've ever had.

Fort De Soto was next on our drive. The entire park area consists of four islands and was used for various reasons during the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.  They have an actual fort (obviously) and actual one of a kind weapons from the wars.  It is all set on a beautiful beach in the middle of the Gulf.

We drove over the Skyway Bridge which is the most massive bridge I've ever seen.

We drove through Bradenton and stopped for dinner and the sunset on Lido Key just outside of Sarasota.  How about that sunset?

We had dinner at the Daiquiri Deck on St. Armands.  I had an awesome Mahi Club Sandwich and they had a blended drink that tastes just like Peaches and Cream.  Yum!  Josh Grabbed some ice cream at Big Olaf Creamery, love the name!  We had an early night, as we usually do in a little hotel in Sarasota.

Tuesday morning we were up and out early, as we had made plans to meet up with Josh's step mom's family in Punta Gorda for lunch.  We made a quick stop at Myakka River State Park.  They have a ton of gators there, actually right after we were there Tampa ABC had a story on about hundreds of them that live in the sinkhole in the park.  We didn't have time for the sinkhole but we still saw quite a few.

We also did the canopy walk that Myakka is famous for.  It's a suspension bridge up in the tree canopy and then a viewing point 80 feet up above the trees with an amazing view.

We went to Punta Gorda and had a visit with Edwina, Pat and Barb and then went for lunch with them to the Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda.  I never took any pictures of us but Peace River Wildlife Rescue did have these adorable owls out promoting the rescue.  How cute are they?  The white one is an Albino Eastern Screech Owl.

 After this is was time to head home.  We did stop to pick up our cute new kitchen table at Lemon Tree Vintage in Westchase (see my Friday blog this week) and for one of the best burgers we have ever had, at Craft Street Kitchen in Oldsmar.  We had a nice little Drive and got to see some really cool things!  Hopefully next time we have a couple more days because there is so much to see!