The cold weather today had me wishing for warmer days and thinking of one in particular that I forgot to blog about.  On a sunny day about two weeks ago John was feeling antsy, so he swept me away from the office over to Bayfront Park, better known as Marina Jack.  We did two loops around the park and mostly talked about work anyway, but the conversation was made so much more interesting and upbeat with bay views in the background!  The next warm day, wherever you are, find a spot and enjoy the weather for at least 10 minutes.  It’s too good to pass up.  But that’s not the reason for this blog post, the restroom is.

That’s right, I want to talk bathrooms.  Why?  Because with a garden on the roof and a hand-painted octopus, Sarasota boasts the coolest public restroom around.  The garden is a green roof that reduces and cleans stormwater runoff and also helps keep the building cool.  Planted by Tecta America and funded by the Sarasota Bay Estuary Program, the flowers and greenery include weeping lantana, wallyberg and aloe. 

Two large cisterns collect the excess rainwater to irrigate the garden, but they’re not your purely functional, plain Jane cisterns.  In pure Sarasota style, the Bayfront Park cisterns were hand-painted by art students from the Ringling College of Art and Design. 

When I finally get a rain barrel, it must have a pink octopus.