NEW FLORIDA RESIDENT BLOG

Welcome to Paradise. After our son was born and began crawling, my wife and I realized, living on an alligator-infested lake did not lend itself to toddler centric activities.   Like many new parents we wanted more space inside our home as well as our yard plus, we wanted to be by the beach.  We accomplished all of these seemingly competitive goals by buying a good sized home on the closest golf course to Siesta Key.  We can boat and surf very easily but, have what appears to be a 5 acre back yard (it's the out of bound area on 10).  It's a great life style and the golf club is a superb neighbor.  We can have all sorts of adventures in our back yard that spill over to some degree onto the golf course.  As long as we don't do anything too crazy the club doesn't bother us and we don't complain when they start mowing before six am.   However, there is a new activity of our son's that some members have suggested my not be the best idea for the cl...

Welcome to Paradise. Our five year old is destined to do something amazing, I think.  As long as he's a happy dude, his mom and I are cool with his choices but it's easy to say that now, he's only 5.  I was thinking that he was developing a great love for history because he likes to ask me about the Calusa People that were the native Americans that used to live in our area.  I think that their society is amazing in ways we can't understand even today and they lived here starting some 14,000 to 11,000 years ago.  My son and I would discuss them at length but, now I realize he was just trying to distract me to get my phone and play Roblox.  That's smart and Scary at the same time. Just like the Calusa (Fierce) People. When Ponce de Leon first got here and began the written history of the peninsula, he thought the Calusa People would be easy to work with (and rule) since they spoke Spanish like him.  The written records are a bit vague but, long story short, t...

Welcome to Paradise. Because of the climate here and the tax structure many high income or retired folks move to Florida.  In fact, for actors it makes a ton of sense, they come here for the climate, pay no state taxes and live by the best beaches in the world.  Fly off to Canada to work for a couple of months then back to Sarasota - it's a rock solid plan.   We joke in my Family that our 5 year old has never had a birthday party without a bunch of celebrities, even though he doesn't understand what that means.  I guess it makes sense, he talks to his grandparents on Facetime and the star from his favorite TV show (which he watches on an Iphone) comes over and entertains him by singing the theme song.  What a world. But I'm one to talk, on Fridays I meet Laura Linney for drinks and that seems normal to me.    Gulf Gate Food and Beer Website

Welcome to Paradise. Right after I purchased my first boat in Florida, I had my worst accident in a lifetime of being on the water.  Being raised in New England I was used to the granite ledges falling off quickly and going from the beach to 100 foot ocean depth in the length of a football field. It's not like that here. At all. I discovered this going 50 miles an hour in the middle of Sarasota Bay and having the depth drop to 8 inches with no warning.  Long story short, very unpleasant day and hats off to SEA TOW!  Lesson learned; now, you'll find our family playing on what the USCG refers to as a 'naturally occurring obstacle'.  It's a good time to be a mile offshore and run around in ankle deep water, as long as that was the plan! :-)   Our Website