Tag Archives: lido beach

Suncoast Grand Prix

Posted by Lesley on July 1, 2012 None comments

It was a good weekend to work for the newspaper because in Sarasota the 4th of July is as synonymous with super boats as it is with fireworks, and my weekend assignment was the Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a motor-head.  But I do love a good time, and to live in Sarasota, Florida over the 4th of July weekend is always a good time.

Lido beach was packed practically shoulder-to-shoulder with people, and the set-ups were incredible.  Partying people, before they’re drunk yelling “Hi, Mom” to a reporter carrying a notebook and not a camera, are incredibly inventive.

There was a bar made of a corrugated plastic complete with a generator and blender!  I would have preferred to drink the top-secret, special-Colorado-recipe, pineapple-infused margarita, but the virgin peach daiquiri was as refreshing and delicious as a dip in the gulf on such a hot, sunny day.

Beyond inventive, people are a little nuts.  They camped out overnight and brought furniture to the beach.  One guy brought a pull-out couch he bought at Goodwill for ten bucks, and the group of kids that pulled the seats out of their van and brought a coffee table with them slept on it Saturday night.

These are the weird little tidbits that just don’t work for the newspaper, but if the kid emails me the picture like he said he would, I’ll be posting that here too—about 10 kids piled onto a pull-out couch sleeping on Lido Beach.  Not necessarily news-worthy but a funny photo.  They said they were trying to break the world’s record for the most people to sleep on a pull-out couch.

It was an interesting, fun, sandy weekend…glad to walk away with so many stories…wish I had more pictures.  I took this one on my way home just because it dawned on me what a great day it’s been when you’re driving home from work with sand on your feet.Boats by the Bay draws a big crowd

Fans flock to the shore for Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix

 

Squirrel Crime Heads South

Posted by Lesley on April 17, 2011 None comments

We celebrated Cooper’s 13th birthday on Lido Beach yesterday.  It was a great day filled with boating, tubing, swimming, and eating.

But thanks to a couple of party-crashing squirrels, hanging on to our lunch proved more difficult than hanging on to a tube traveling at 30 mph.  Luke’s begging has nothing on these squirrels.  This one was trying to jump into my car as I unloaded the coolers and bags. 

We can all use our imaginations to form the picture of how that ride home would’ve gone.  Moths flew out of my air conditioning vents once, and I nearly crashed my car.  It’s extremely difficult to steer while swatting.  And it’s hard to unpack a car with stalking squirrels around every tree.  First, I found the bag with all the hamburger and hot dog buns on its side with one package on the ground.  I didn’t think much of it at the time, so I picked the package up off the ground, tossed it onto one of the picnic tables and went to get another load from the car.  Two minutes later, three tops, and this is what I came back to.

I put the package away again, took one more trip to the car, and then this…

There’s no disputing it. Remember my last squirrel post, Squirrel Crime on the Rise? I’m now a full-blown victim. Thank God it was only after the buns! Because, of course, I did nothing beyond stomping my feet. After reading about Kevin McDonald’s squirrel attack, one of my latest irrational fears is having a squirrel “go ballistic” on me. I say one of my latest because the last one came about Friday while kayaking. I was scared a mullet was going to jump into my kayak. I find it best to acknowledge these thoughts and move on…also to keep a respectable distance from squirrels.