Florida's (wet) Gulf Coast - the final day

The OWTK 3 ate a little breakfast in the room again before heading over to the G. Wiz Science Center. While most of the exhibits were probably a bit over our 2 year old daughter's head (both literally and figuratively) she had a great time running around and playing indoors while it poured rain outside. She loved the echo tube which she talked and screamed into and the magnet "farm" where hundreds of bolts, washers, and other metal objects await a young architect's hands to mold them into a tower or silly shape. The G. Wiz had a modest animal habitat with turtles, fish, a tarantula, and a snake to go along with the dozens of science experiments/exhibits spanning two floors. Admission was the cheapest of all the "tourist" destinations we visited and it was a decent value for our dollar (full report coming Tuesday). We stopped and picked up lunch at a wonderful little cafe called Citrus on (appropriately enough) Orange Ave. in downtown Sarasota. We took with us back to the hotel, their soup special, Cream of Chicken and Mushroom (excellent), and the Garden Combo Platter of mixed greens, vegetables, roma tomatoes, & balsalmic dressing with a trio of chicken, tuna, and shrimp salads. This was a perfect lite lunch. The plan for the remainder of the afternoon is the 20 minutes drive down to Venice Beach, and hopefully a nice nap in the car for the smallest passenger before an early bird dinner (when in Rome!) at the Hillview Grill, one of The Sarasota Originals (a group of independently owned and operated restaurants striving to use local ingredients and provide and preserve a passionate take on Gulf Coast cuisine). Saturday evening's dining destination Mattison's City Grille is also a member of this fine organization. After dinner we drive up to Tampa for our evening flight home (which hopefully is allowed to depart in this weather).

This will most likely be the final post on destination in Sarasota.

Again, look for a full destination report with in depth coverage of the restaurants, hotels, and places we visited as well as some tips on traveling down to this great little spot.


Jeff
http://www.outwiththekids.com