Siesta Key Beach Vacation

Hello, after Chris and Taunya's wedding in Tampa, Geri and I headed to the beach to relax for a few days before heading back to Colorado.
Geri did her research and booked a room in a 1950's vintage motel in Siesta Key. It was the most relaxing time we've had in years! The white sand was like powdered sugar. The sand is basically powdered coral and it squeaked when we walked down the beach.
We took a couple of day trips around the area to places such as Myakka River State Park where we boarded a guided boat on the upper Myakka Lake. Myakka Lake is very shallow with thousands of alligators.
Another day we visited the Ringling complex and Ringling Museum of Art. This 66-acre estate was the winter home of the Ringling Brothers Circus back in the early 1900's. Now it is a series of buildings which house the world's largest miniature circus and memorabilia from the American Circus, also a Venetian Palace called Ca d'zan which was the winter home of John and Mable Ringling. The 22,000 square-foot palatial mansion reflected their love of Italy. The world-class art museum features many paintings, sculptures and treasures collected by the Ringling's.
We walked many miles along Siesta Key and Crescent beaches every day before going for an ocean swim. Meanwhile back in Denver, it was snowing! If you would like to see a slideshow of our mini-vacation click here. Siesta Key. Oh, and just in case you were wondering about the travel gnome - his name is Jerome. I liked his size in proportion to the sand castle.
Cheers, Kent