Best Western Plus Siesta Key Gateway

We stayed for four nights at the Best Western Plus Siesta Key Gateway, and it was definitely a good choice. They are located right before the bridge to Siesta Key, and are only a 5 minute drive to the main beach area. In addition, they are only 10 minutes from the downtown area of Sarasota and 15 minutes from St. Armand's Circle.

The room itself was pretty basic, but nice. The bed was very comfortable. The housekeeping staff did a good job each day of keeping our room clean. The front desk staff was friendly. Each morning, the breakfast served was plentiful and pretty good for a hotel continental breakfast. There was also free popcorn to take from the lobby throughout the day. The wifi also had great speeds that allowed for high quality streaming video.

The pool area was very nice and had its own bar, which was run by a friendly bartender. The parking lot had some strange double bumps in it, so be careful driving in it. You don't want to be holding coffee while driving over them!

The only negative we found was there was no clothesline in the bathroom for hanging wet bathing suits, towels, etc., which is unusual for a beach area hotel.

Address: 6600 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34231
Wifi: Free
Parking: Free
Restaurant: No
Bar/Lounge: Yes
Smoking: Non-smoking
Hidden Fees: None
Free Breakfast: Yes

Siesta Key Beach

Siesta Key Beach is considered by a few places to be the #1 beach in America (and boy does the town let you know it!). And after visiting for a few days, it is easy to see why. The sand is very soft and comfortable to walk on and lay down on. Even on a hot day, it is cool on your bare feet. The waves are very calm, making it nice to hang out in the ocean.

While you will find some cigarette butts and other trash in the sand (I don't understand how anyone can litter like this on a beach!), for the most part, the town keeps the beach area pretty clean.

There is a gigantic parking lot located at 909 Beach Road. On busy days, it can get full, so be aware of this. However, there are a few free shuttle options in the area to get you to the beach, where the only cost is the amount to tip the driver. If you plan on getting to the beach before 10 AM though, you should have no trouble getting a parking spot, even on the busiest of days.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens are located right on the bay in Sarasota. The gardens offers visitors a nice serenity when visiting. The plant life is gorgeous, and the views of the bay are wonderful. There are various tours offered each day, but this is something we skipped due to time constraints. If you have about 90 minutes to spare during your visit to Sarasota and enjoy walking through gardens, this would be a good choice for you.

Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary

The Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast Sanctuary is located outside of the main area of Sarasota. It is well worth the trip though if you're an animal lover. Here, you'll find various rescued animals, with tigers being the main focus, but also with bears, lions and others.

This isn't a very large facility, but they do great work in taking care of the animals. In addition, each day at 2 PM, they do a great show featuring some of the animals, but also explaining what individuals can do to help out.

FSU Ringling Center for the Cultural Arts

The FSU Ringling Center for the Cultural Arts is a gorgeous facility. The main attraction, for us at least, was to go into the Ringling Circus museum, which features an amazing model circus. Words can't even describe the amount of detail that went into this. In addition, you'll get to learn about the history of circuses and what it's like to do a tightrope walk and put on clown makeup.

We only had about 90 minutes here, so we couldn't explore everything. However, the grounds were gorgeous and you could easily spend all day here. One other highlight was the Ca' d'Zan, which is a Venetian style home. You can take tours of the inside (we weren't able to due to our own time limitations), but just seeing the outside is pretty breathtaking.

We highly recommend spending some time here when in the Sarasota area.

De Soto National Memorial

The De Soto National Memorial in Bradenton, FL, celebrates Hernando De Soto's army and their desire to conquer the area. This led to many years of resistance by the native people, and unfortunately, to the death of many in the 1500s. In addition to learning about De Soto's conquests, the actual hiking trails are quite nice around the bay, and even offer some swimming opportunities.

If you're a collector of the National Park Passport Stamps, you'll find a stamp at the Visitor's Center here. They also have a Junior Ranger program here to encourage children (and adults) to learn about De Soto.

Solomon's Castle

Located practically in the middle of nowhere (and about 1 hour from Sarasota), Solomon's Castle is quite the unique experience. Created by Howard Solomon, this castle is entirely made out of recycled material. Tours are offered on the hour, and are quite humorous, as your tour guide leads you through a museum inside, which mostly contains Solomon's art. The tour is pun-filled and very enjoyable. In addition, you'll even be led through a part of the residence, where Solomon and his wife still live today.

While this is far off the beaten path, it is well worth the trek and we'd highly recommend it!

Bleachers at Disney's Vero Beach Resort

Written by Leann Pettit
Bleachers is the quick serve restaurant by the pool at Disney's Vero Beach Resort. Unlike most quick serve restaurants, food is cooked to order and diners are given a pager (the kind you would be handed for a table at a restaurant) which will notify you when you order is ready.

We ate here a couple of times during our stay, both times at lunch. We ordered the mahi fish tacos, pepperoni pizza, chicken nuggets, and onion rings.

The pizza and chicken nuggets are of the variety that you would find at any Disney restaurant, but definitely hot and didn't taste like they had been sitting under a heat lamp.

The fish tacos, two to an order, had very large pieces of Mahi Mahi on them, almost bigger than the tortillas they were wrapped in. The tacos had two different creamy sauces on them, and had a layer of coleslaw underneath. They were delicious, and the two wasn't quite enough of an order.

The coleslaw was vinegar based and was on the sweeter side, and had a nice bite to it. On the tacos, it was a nice counterpart to the creamy sauces and the moist fish.

The onion rings tasted hand dipped and were super crispy and were served with a dipping sauce.

We chose to purchase a regular soda, versus the Disney refillable mug. With the refillable mug guests pay for unlimited refills by number of days. One day is $8.99, 3 days is $14.99. If you're spending a decent amount of your trip at the resort, this might be a good cost saving option for you. Soda and water is available all day and coffee is available in the morning.

The regular cups, you can refill them 4 times in 2 hours. The two of us sharing one soda, we were able to refill the cup 3 times in that 2 hour period while lounging on the pool deck.

Character Breakfast at Shutters

Written by Leann Pettit
On Saturday mornings year round at Shutters they offer a character breakfast with Goofy and Donald. Breakfast is served "family style," with a large portion of everything coming out to the table, and any or all of it can be refilled.

Breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, Mickey waffles, bacon, sausage links, breakfast potatoes, fresh fruits and baked goods. The fresh fruit served included pineapple, red grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew. The bakers basket had cinnamon rolls, raspberry danishes and cheese danishes.

The waffles were on the small side of Mickey waffles, but your server will bring more if you ask for it. The waffles are crispy on the outside, with nice deep waffle grooves where the syrup soaks into it. While they are crispy on the outside, they are perfectly fluffy on the inside.

The eggs were very good, and very plentiful. The bacon was served very crispy (just the way I like it) and the potatoes were soft and tasty.

As you are seated, each person in your group is handed an autograph sheet and a coloring paper. The coloring paper, with a picture of pirate Mickey on it, is part of a weekly coloring contest held by Shutters, and Goofy and Donald decide who wins.

Character aides with Goofy and Donald are more than willing to take your camera for a family photo with the characters. And servers will also take full family photos if you ask.

Definitely make reservations in advance, either by calling in advance or stopping down to concierge or the hostess stand during your stay.

Mel Fisher's Treasures - Sebastian, FL

Written by Matt Rosenfeld
Mel Fisher, the man who led the expedition to discover the Spanish Treasure Ship The Atocha, in the 1980s has created two museums to show off his discoveries.  The main one is located in Key West, FL.  The secondary one is in Sebastian, FL.  While not as large as it's sister museum in Key West, the Sebastian location is still full of good artifacts, treasures and information.  You can even buy pieces of treasure found in the Atocha!  For anyone who loves a good treasure hunting story, this is a great place to visit while on the Treasure Coast in Florida.

The Elliott Museum

Written by Matt Rosenfeld
The Elliott Museum in Stuart, FL is a very unique collection of varying pieces.  One section has antique cars such as a Ford Model T.  Another has a collection of baseball cards of every Hall of Fame inductee, as well as various signed baseballs and other memorabilia.  There's also a section of art.  While these are quite disparate categories, it does all flow for an interesting hour or two in the museum.  In each section, there is also a docent who is willing to help explain any of the exhibits to guests.  This museum is definitely worth a visit to anyone staying in this Treasure Coast area.

Florida Oceanographic Society

In Stuart, FL, the Florida Oceanographic Society is a small facility that takes about an hour or so to explore. The staff is very helpful in explaining various exhibits to visitors.  You'll have the opportunity to see turtles, rays, and other ocean life.  While the staff makes a great effort here, there are other places in Florida that offer much more for Ocean Life exploring, especially in the Florida Keys.

Disney's Vero Beach Resort

Do you want a Disney themed trip without the theme parks?  Well, then Disney's Vero Beach Resort might be the perfect choice for you.  Located about 1.5 hours away from Walt Disney World on Flordia's Treasure Coast, this resort has a good amount of Disney flair to it, without it being too "over the top".

The rooms and facilities are both kept very clean.  All of the staff we interacted with (front desk, lifeguards, housekeeping and restaurant staff) were all extremely friendly and helpful.

The location is right on the beach and also has a very large pool with a great water slide (for adults and kids!) and a hot tub.  There are constantly at least 3 lifeguards on duty at all times, so this will help make parents feel better about letting their kids go into the pool without needing to constantly watch them. The pool also has a restaurant there, Bleachers, that has pretty good quality food and drinks (including alcohol) that are made fresh to order. Also, if you order a soft drink, you get 4 free refills within a 2 hour period. One thing we did note though is that some days this restaurant closes at 5 PM, which we thought was a bit early.

There are various activities offered (some with an additional cost) such as mini golf, shuffleboard, tennis, volleyball, etc.  One free activity they had nightly on the weekends was a campfire sing-along with s'mores.

The room itself (we had a studio) comes stocked with plates, bowls, cups, mugs and utensils.  It also has a microwave, mini-fridge, toaster, and a large coffeepot.  One thing to note about these rooms is that regular guests get daily housekeeping service.  However, people that book with Disney Vacation Club points only get housekeeping service for free once every 4 days (although you can pay extra for more service).  There is also a parking garage located under the villas, giving you easy access to an elevator to get your belongings from your car to your room.

Two cons we saw at the hotel was that the TV in the room is a bit small and the vending machine in our building was sold out for our entire stay.  Other than that though, this was an excellent place to get away for a long weekend and one we'd recommend to anyone looking for some Disney fun without the fatigue of the theme parks.

Sonya's at Disney's Vero Beach Resort

Written by Leann Pettit
We ate at Sonya's at Disney's Vero Beach Resort on Valentine's Day. While the restaurant had a special surf and turf for two entree, they also served their entire regular menu as well.

We both ordered the Oak Grilled Beef Tenderloin Filet, which is served with truffle mac and cheese and a red wine sauce. The filet was cooked perfectly to just before medium well and was incredibly tender. The red wine sauce was peppery and the cheese from the mac and cheese mixed with the red wine sauce, which made it heavenly for both the mac and cheese and the steak.

We also ordered the special dessert duo, which was a passion fruit cream puff and a chocolate bomb cake. The cream puff was made with a delicate, buttery, flaky pastry on the top and bottom and filled in the center with a light and fluffy cream that definitely let the passion fruit flavor shine through.

The chocolate bomb was in the style of a lava cake - a moist cake which surrounds a moister, oozing center. The duo was designed for Valentine's Day as a dessert for two.

The night we went, the restaurant was booked solid, so definitely make reservations in advance.

Tin Fish, Port St. Lucie

Written by Leann Pettit
While driving around Central Florida, we stopped at Tin Fish Restaurant in Port St. Lucie. The place was located in a strip mall and looked very unassuming from the outside. Inside, the place felt like the local hang out, everyone knew each other, and the waitstaff was friendly.

We ordered the the Mahi-Mahi fish sandwich and the Tin Fish's Famous Fish Sandwich. Both were served fried and with a side of slaw. The Famous sandwich was served on a long hoagie roll and and the Mahi-Mahi sandwich served on a bun, both very fresh and soft.

The slaw was vinegar based - no mayonnaise here! - and heavily seasoned with fresh herbs. Both sandwiches also came with a side of fries or onion rings, we ordered one of each. The waffle cut fries were seasoned with Old Bay and well cooked, and the onion rings definitely tasted like they are house breaded and fried, and very, very good, and served with a tangy dipping sauce (also delicious on the fishes).

The famous sandwich was made with cod, there was a lot of of fish on the sandwich and the fish was juicy and tender and the breading was crispy and tasty. The mahi-mahi was perfectly cooked to my tastes - juicy with a nice large flake, and a similarly tasting breading. The mahi-mahi sandwich is ordered to your specifications, with whatever you want on it. We ordered it with lettuce and tomato, but they would have put just about anything on it.