We Did Special Things in the Sarasota Area Today!

Ken and I were not in a hurry to get up, so we had a relaxing morning.  After breakfast I worked on my blog and Ken cleaned out the CRV so Martins and us could travel together today to the Sarasota area.  We picked up Fred and Doloris at 10:30 and our 1st stop was the Tervis Tumbler Store.  Doloris wanted to get a few more for home or their 5th wheel.  So many choices, but she picked beach theme ones.

So many choices at the Tervis Tumbler Store.  One of the
employees told Ken they have several hundred thousand there!

Check out time after some tough decisions!

Then it was on to Sarasota and lunch at Sweet Tomato, a delicious salad bar place!  Their salads are so fresh and all of their 7 soups are homemade.  They also have delicious muffins and ice cream and all at an extremely reasonable price.  It is a great stop if you are a salad eater!  Cindy and John met us there at noon and the 6 of us had a nice time together.  So glad they could join us!

Our plates arer full and we are excited to "dig in"!  Each of us
got a free bag of 2 chocolate chip cookies - they were "new
guests" and we brought them.  What a deal!

Cindy and John went their separate way and the 4 of us went to the Drum Circle Distillery where they make rum, their specialty being spiced rum.  We 1st had a rum tasting and then a large group of us were given a tour of the distillery.  It is such a small, but award winning place.  The owner gave us the very interesting and informative story of his rum making operation.  The distillery only has 3 employees - the owner, his wife to be, and his college buddy.  They can only fill 4 bottles at a time, cork them by hand, put on one label at a time, and then put the foil on by using a heating gun.  Talk about a hands on operation!!!!

This is the owner, Troy, and his fiancee!

Troy is giving us the informative tour and he is so knowledgeable
and has a very relaxed presentation!

These are the tanks that are used for the rum making process and
the still.  A very small operation, but they have won
so many awards!

He opened the lid to the next batch of coconut rum.  It smelled
wonderful.  There were 2 "cheesebags" filled with fresh
toasted coconut.  

The rectangular tubs in the back hold molasses used in
the making of rum!

They also make a spiced rum that is aged in specialty beer barrels. 

This is the small area where they bottle the rum!  Troy is
standing in front of the place where they fill 4 bottles at a time!

We left there at 3:45, took a drive through the waterfront of Sarasota and then stopped at Costco  for some food and "spirits".  Our last stop was Wal-Mart and then we took Fred and Doloris back to their hotel.  It was now going on 6:00 and we decided to "do our own thing" for the evening with plans to get together tomorrow morning around 11.  

We put away the groceries and it is difficult to put things in the refrigerator with the slide in!  The hallway is very narrow and makes moving around tough!  Unfortunately it will not be fixed until we take it to Lazydays at the end of our Florida winter stay.  Then we will leave Waldo there when we return to PA for 3 weeks, returning to get Waldo before heading out west.  We realize this is just an inconvenience and something we can certainly live with.  There are much bigger things that people are dealing with everyday!

I spent part of the evening working on this blog and downloading photos.  Ken was on his computer too.  We watched American Idol and I enjoyed another episode of "Nashville".  It was another successful day for this tour guide!