If you have decided upon a home in Harbor Acres in Sarasota and are new to the area, you might be wondering how you will fill your time. After all, living in a tropical paradise sounds like a dream come true to many of us, but you may be concerned about what happens when milling around in flipflops and your bathing suit gets old? Have no worries! When you live in this bustling city on the southwest coast of the Sunshine State, you will find more to occupy your time than you might think. Consider these options:
HIT THE BEACH
Living on the Sarasota Bay in your Harbor Acres home opens up a world of possibilities. Do you prefer sunbathing, swimming, surfing or seashell-hunting? The beaches in Sarasota offer all of that and more. Head to Siesta Public Beach on nearby Siesta Key to sink your toes in that cool and comfortable quartz sand. You can find shells at Turtle Beach, where the shore is a bit sloping. Go swimming at any of the area beaches; Lido Beach is a favorite for water-play. And even on the coolest days, you can gain great pleasure from just reading a book, writing a letter or daydreaming with your feet planted in the sand.
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MILL AROUND IN YOUR FLIPFLOPS AND BATHING SUIT
Forget what we said about it getting old; it doesn’t! If you are from the North, you might feel a tad under-dressed at first, wearing sandals everywhere from the beach to church, but the locals won’t mind! Tropical attire is the norm around here. While you won’t want to wear your bathing suit to Whole Foods, you can definitely get away with a tank top and shorts, or a long or short cotton sundress in most places, most of the time. One caveat: Don’t forget sunscreen! With UV indexes in the double digits much of the time, you’re just setting yourself up for a sunburn if you are out and about without the proper SPF protection!
GO ON A DAY TRIP
Don’t think that you have to stay in the city! Many area cities and attractions are within day-trip distance to Harbor Acres. For example, Tampa is just an hour or so north. Here, you can watch manatees frolic in the winter months at the Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric. On a Sunday, you can enjoy pad thai, pork noodle soup and other Thai favorites at the Wat Mongkolrata Temple, just a few miles up the road from the manatees. Visit MOSI to check out the science exhibits, or simply spend time enjoying the downtown area. Orlando is about two hours away, making it possible to explore Disney World, SeaWorld or Universal Studios on a whim.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FINE ARTS OFFERED
Sarasota is an artistic mecca, so if you like looking at art or watching performances, you’re in the perfect place to do so! Head over to the Ringling Museum of Art to check out the galleries and the grounds. There’s an art gallery on Palm Avenue, the Fine Arts Society of Sarasota on Ringling Boulevard, and the Artisans’ World Market to explore on Pineapple Avenue. Looking for performance arts? No problem! Check out the Sarasota Ballet, the Sarasota Opera or the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall.
GO TO A FESTIVAL OR CULTURAL EVENT
As a medium-sized city, the city of Sarasota offers a lot of festivals and events throughout the year. Did you enjoy playing with sidewalk chalk as a child? The annual Chalk Festival takes it to a whole new, grown-up level each fall in the downtown area. There’s the Sarasota Jazz Festival that takes place at the end of February each year, the Pumpkin Festival in October, a Folk Festival in March, and the Sarasota Music Festival in June.
LEARN SOMETHING AND HAVE FUN
From your home in Harbor Acres, you’ll be in close proximity to many different educational (and fun!) venues. Head south to Osprey, where you can walk through Historic Spanish Point. Here, you can see how the ancient Native Americans once lived here in the Sarasota region. There’s Mote Aquarium to the north, where you can spend the day exploring the marinelife that lives in the Gulf and other area waters. Got a gear-head in your family? You won’t want to miss Ideal Classic Cars, a free museum located south of Sarasota in the town of Venice. There’s also the Art Center in Sarasota, Around the Bend Nature Tours and Almost Heaven Kayak Adventures to round out your knowledge of the area!
As you can see, there is plenty to do in Sarasota. Please contact me about living in Harbor Acres, where your dreams of tropical living within a city can come true!