My Hermine Holiday
by Cindi Sutter, Founder of The Spirited Table®
Bob and I headed to Longboat Key, Florida for what promised to be a cozy, quiet, head on a beach pillow, play some golf, getaway. We had laid out the blueprint for our perfect vacation on the beaches of Longboat Key with it's soft, sugary, white powder sand, our favorite golf courses and some of the best food in Florida. Noteworthy are the days we booked over 3 months ago; August 27th - September 3rd.
Yes, of course we knew that tropical storm Hermine might head toward the west coast of Florida, but it might also do what it had done many times during my childhood; steal the show and make the "storm trackers" crazy by twisting and turning toward the gulf coast.
You see, I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, the hotbed of tropical storms and hurricanes. I'm no stranger to the "storm tracker map." Yes, long before the Weather Channel existed, some of us used push pins and coordinates and tracked the storms on the back of our closet doors. So statistically I knew the odds but you either embrace spirited living or you don't, so we packed our bags and headed to the airport.
August 27-28-29-30 were filled with sun, long walks and naps on the beach, hitting the white ball around our favorite courses, movie watching and enjoying great food all the while being as "unplugged" as I could possibly be.
Florida in the summer always includes an afternoon shower or storm...so these didn't deter us...
But then one perfect day for golf, turned into rain, wind, angry seas and the rest is well, stormily documented. We were grateful that we still had power, we could drive through a few largely flooded streets and go to our favorite restaurants. The silver lining for me is always the photos I can capture and share, but we were still starting to go a bit stir crazy; but not as crazy as the seas.
Tropical Storm Hermine from Longboat Key Florida! September 1, 2016
So time to venture out for lunch at Columbia Restaurant - St. Armands Circle.
Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone. Friday afternoon the sun peaked out and we took our last walk on the beach. The next morning when we were driving to the airport, the sun was out, the seas were calm, the giant Sunshine bridge to Tampa was opened...and we had to go home.
My thoughts and prayers go out to those who were severely impacted by the storm.