Saving Sarasota

There is one thing I look forward to more then anything else all year. It's the thing that gets me out of bed at 4:30 am on a freezing cold Tuesday in February. It's better even than Christmas, which I love.

It's my summer beach trip.

Growing up, my family took a two-week long vacation to Daytona. So, in my mind, no summer is complete without a substantial amount of time spent in the sand and surf. I am and always will be a Daytona Beach girl, but any beach will do. Just give me the sun, an umbrella, a decent book, and a bottled water and leave me in the sand until the sun goes down.

This year, we weren't going to the beach. Even with our teachers' salaries and massive coaching supplements (ha), money is tight. So we'd decided to put vacation money to other uses this year. A plan that lasted about two months before Coach decided to take his beach bum wife to the water. We discussed a weekend trip to Alabama's beautiful Gulf Coast. Then we talked about going to Daytona for a few days. Then, one of Coach's friends offered him his week at a time share in Sarasota. It was a great offer, but it was the week of biology workshop for me. So instead, we rented the next week at the same time share.

We were excited about going somewhere new and looking forward to a full week at the beach. We packed up and rolled out of Woodland at midnight on Friday night, planning to arrive in Sarasota by early afternoon. Coach's friend has two weeks there, so we could change in his room and start enjoying the beach long before check-in time. It was a great game plan. However, Debby had a different plan for us.

Little did we know that while we'd been busy packing and driving, a little tropical storm named Debby had decided to make the Gulf of Mexico her home. And, apparently she really liked it there. Moving at a top speed of 3 miles per hour, she was in no hurry to leave. As we arrived in Sarasota, so did the rain and winds.

Now, everyone anticipates a little rain at the beach, but the forecast was calling for a complete washout for the week. It rained and rained, Saturday and all day Sunday. I went from beach bum to just bummed. Despite the torrential rains and forty mph winds, Debby didn't really do much. So as the parking lot filled with water, the people at Suntide Beach Club got tired of being stuck in their rooms. They did what any one who refused to give up their week at the beach would do. They swam in the rain. Even me. By Tuesday, the sun peaked thought the clouds for an hour or so. And when the rains came back, we sought refuge, not inside but in the hot tub.

The it's-going-to-rain-all-stinking-week forecast turned out to be a worst-case scenario. The rest of the week was beautiful. The beach had been completely washed away, but we weren't too upset to spend time at the pool. And, while the sun has been fabulous, the highlight of the trip may have been the tropical storm hot tub party. You know what they say, when life gives you lemons... In Sarasota, you put them in a big jar and pass it around. And when life give you tropical storm Debby, you swim anyway!