Day 3, Sarasota

Again we slept in late. The dogs were already up and about. Slowly, Ash and I got up and made our way into the living room. Tony, who had finished his errands that morning was in the kitchen making spaghetti sauce. He then had a meeting with a man about hurricane-proofing his house. Sometime afterwards, Ash decided that she wanted to show me a shopping center in Sarasota. But first we drove around the area, and I saw the beach-side, but not after seeing a draw bridge lift for a boat that really could have made it under without help. After a while, we arrived at Saint Armand's Circle. There we spent the afternoon wandering around the circle, peering into a few shops and deciding where to eat.
It was in the afternoon and we hadn't eaten anything that day. While making a few laps around the circle, Ash decided that she wanted to eat at Columbia - a Spanish Restaurant. The food was great, and the ambiance was amazing, it opened up to the sidewalk and was very colorful inside. Very Spanish. I'm not sure whether it qualifies as a Spanish Restaurant though, because it had foods from all of the Spanish Colonies in the Caribbean and South America; including Brasil (which is not a Spanish Colony, but a Portugese one) It even had a fusion dish that was a mixture between Latin American food and Chinese food - which was tasty. After we ate I had a Caipirinha, and Ash had a sip. She didn't like it, but I love it. Caipirinha (Kai-pee-reen-ya) is the national drink of Brasil. It is made of Cacaca which is a type of rum made from sugar cane, rather than molasses; and crushed lime and sugar in ice. It is delicious!
With yummy food in our bellies, we decided to return to Cortez. On our way back to the car we stopped in a store selling tea and spices. There we got some Tuscan seasoning, Bloody Mary mix, and Pirate seasoning. We got lost on the way back and wound up going through down town Sarasota. We passed by that big statue based on the photograph "The Kiss" You know, the one with the sailor and the nurse after the end of WWII. It is huge. The rest of the trip was uneventful. That night, we had "spaghetti" I put it in quotes because, it has not spaghetti, but fetteccini noodles. Which were made with Mushrooms. The sauce, also had mushrooms. I HATE mushrooms. But I tried to be nice and eat it. I did not succeed. I waited until everyone else had eaten, then I dumped it in the trash. I'm sorry, I just can't stand mushrooms. Eventually, It was bed time. Tomorrow would be a big day.