And just like that, it’s Tuesday! I hope you all had a lovely long weekend! Thanks to all who have served and are currently serving our county. Freedom isn’t free.
I thought I’d share some of the highlights from my weekend, which included two new (to me) places!
My weekend started out with (of course) a long bike ride! I met up with Meghan, Courtney, Heather, and Chris at the crack of dawn (7am) for a ride along the Suncoast.
We busted out almost 102 km – great way to kick off the weekend!
That afternoon I chilled by the pool before meeting up with Chris, Courtney, Heather, her hubby, and some of their friends at The Getaway.
This was my second time at the Getaway, and I think it’s a pretty sweet spot. It’s right off of Gandy on the St. Pete side, and the owner has really tried to make this bar on the water truly feel like “a Getaway”. You can pull up a boat at one of their docs, lounge on their home-made beach, or chillax under one of their thatched roof tiki bars. During the day they also rent stand up paddle boards.
When we arrived there was a musician playing and it definitely felt like I stepped into vacation. They don’t have a kitchen on site, but there’s always at least food trucks there (order from the bar). The Big Bang BBQ Food Truck and Renny’s Oki Doki Food Truck were there on Saturday. I ordered some of the pork nachos from Oki Dokie and they were awesome! The kimchi sauce on top definitely had a kick, but I would definitely order them again. Later, I shared some sliders from Big Bang, which were also quite tasty. It was a fun night with friends that ended with some dancing at Hula Bay :-)
On Sunday, I slept in (glorious!), went for a hot ride on Davis island, and then met up with some other friends at the Sandbar! So, if any of you have seen the (awful) movie Magic Mike, there’s a scene where they go out to the Sandbar to hang out. Yes, there actually is a sandbar in the middle of the bay where boats drive out, toss an anchor, and everyone just hangs out.
My friends took their boat out which only had room for 4, and despite an offer to come back and pick me up, I opted to rent a kayak and paddle out. Why not get an extra arm workout in? I really wish I had taken some photos while paddling, because it was so pretty going past the mangroves, and I spotted a fish or two jumping out of the water.
I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going (just go left around the point and then you’ll see everyone was my direction), but soon after I started paddling, I saw the crowds of other kayakers, and then TONS of boats off in the distance. After about a 20 minute paddle, I made it! And luckily I spotted my friends pretty quickly, because there were definitely over 100 boats out there.
(Yes, the dog, Scooter, has a life vest on)
I roped my kayak to their boat and cracked open my new favorite beer- Rivertowne’s pineapple beer. This is SO yummy- it’s light and refreshing with a hint of pineapple. It’s not actually made from pineapples, nor is it one of those super sweet, high alcoholic beers. The pineapple is added in the perfect proportion. I highly recommend it if you’re a light beer drinker. (And don’t worry, I kept myself hydrated with water/Skratch throughout the day- I wasn’t only drinking beer!)
The cool thing about the sandbar is that it’s not entirely exposed in that there’s dry sand (at least where I was), so you’re constantly in the water, which helps to cool you off. The water ranged from shin deep in some places, to waist deep in others, like where we were anchored. The tide was actually dropping, so by the time I left close to 5, it was thigh-deep. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon, listened to the band that was playing (a special event for the holiday weekend) and went for a walk to people watch. People/boat/animal watch we did! There was a boat that had a tiki bar built on it, people with floating coolers, lots of pups running around, people who had set up tents with a table and a grill, lots of fake boobs (this is Florida, y’all), and someone even brought their pet boar out there! I kid you not! I really wish I had my phone with me at that time, but there was a woman who was feeding her boar (ring in nose and everything) on her boat! And this was NOT a little 10-15lb thing. Oh no, it was a year and a half and I would guesstimate over 100lbs! So. Bizarre! Now that’s not something you see every day!
And of course, I had to photobomb this lovely selfie of my girlfriends. They were sitting in the boat and I was in the water, jumping up and down. I just so happened to perfectly time this jump with the click of the shutter. :-) (PS check out all the boats in the background!)
I had a great time at the sandbar, and I would definitely like to go back. I’m sure the water will be bathtub-like soon and not quite as refreshing, but if you’ve got an umbrella, a cooler, and some ice, it certainly makes for a relaxing afternoon!
That’s my weekend in a nutshell. How was your weekend friends?
