Good-bye Florida Sun, Hello Austin Ice

My time in Florida comes to an end tomorrow. We left the condo in Cedar Key and did a little shopping in Ocala (bead store and quilt store), before splitting up and heading back to our respective lives. I drove to Sarasota to deliver J's car to her, and to meet the boyfriend and have dinner with the two of them. It has been a bittersweet day: I miss Dave, Rémy, and the cats, but the weather here has been particularly fine and my only responsibilities have been to sleep, eat, craft, meditate, do yoga, and be somewhat social. Of course, now that I am not gainfully employed, most of my days may end up being like that! 

Cedar Key had a lovely small-town vibe, and  was relatively empty of tourists. Maybe the majority of the "locals" were snowbirds, but at this time of year there weren't gaggles of families with whiny, sticky, sunburned children clogging everything up. It was refreshing to see a median age of (I'd guess) 65. Or maybe I mean average age... Bah. It's math, and Dave's not here so it'll just be whatever I want it to be. Anyway, they were comfortably rowdy, rumpled, grizzled and grey-haired--and that was just the women! The sunsets could not be beat, and the stillness refreshed my soul.

It was good to spend time with my friends on the annual trip--and I picked a particularly auspicious time to be gone as it's in the 70's and sunny here, while it's freezing ice, downed tree limbs, and electrical outages in Austin! I'm glad my flight tomorrow isn't due in till late--hopefully everything will have had a chance to melt and Dave will have been able to clear the driveway of downed tree limbs. Last night for our farewell dinner we went to the Big Deck Raw Bar & Grill for dinner and some stompin' good live  music (really. everyone was stomping). They had an amaaaazing selection of bourbon, and I ended dinner with a shot of Blanton's, ice on the side. There were only two women working the front of the house and one cook in the back, and it was PACKED). The one who waited on us as we sat at the bar--the only available seats in the place--was VERY generous with her pour... I ended up carrying some of it home there was so much.

In line with being a newly poor, unemployed person, I am staying at a motel called the "Golden Host Resort" in Sarasota. It is also close to Ringling so will be easy to have lunch with J before heading to the airport.

It is cutie-patootie and claims to house Florida's oldest Tiki Bar, the Bahi Hut. It also has a saltwater pool, drag bingo on Sunday, and other scintillating activities throughout the week. It looks to be a 1950's/60's originally side-of-the-highway-now-in-town motel, with a really spiffy remodel. The shower floor is a beautiful pebble mosaic, the fridge and microwave are 1960's baby blue replicas, and the furniture (chair and tables) is Jetson's chic. Seems clean, and has a comfortable bed--what more could I ask? And I might need to stay an extra day if the weather in Austin continues to suck. 

Okay, off to meditate before heading to dinner. Cute as the room is, I don't think I'll get down on the floor--even with my mat--to do yoga.