It's the dead of winter so lets think Spring right? It's hard to believe I forgot to add pictures from last May's summer vacation, but then again when your chasing storms up and down Tornado Alley for months...sometimes you forget things. Anyhow, I thought I'd FINALLY add some photos from beautiful Sarasota, FL last summer. We ended up spending about a week in the sunshine state. Myself and Northern Illinois University graduates Chris Czapla and Jim Anderson were the group that made the trip. Our many stops included a trip to Orlando, FL to Universal Studios, Disney Land, and of course a couple beaches along the way after a long 2008 northern Illinois winter. One of the 2 beaches we visited was Siesta Key. It was ranked as one of the best beaches in the U.S. last year. Hopefully, this post will help with our winter doldrums in northern Illinois!
Beautiful bridge connecting the keys near Sarasota, FL to the peninsula
Palm tree in one of the parks we visited
Universal Studios in Orlando, FL
The "Twister" ride at Universal Studios
I wasn't in Tornado Alley and I still got a tornado ;) (Click this link to see the show)
A prop from the movie "Twister"
This is about as close as you ever want to be to a crocodile?
Magic Mountain
Lido Beach on Lido Key a few miles outside Sarasota, FL
Everyday we had classic sea-breeze thunderstorms around mid morning, yet to clear out by evening with many dry hours as well (Weather a little different on a peninsula)
More convection over downtown Sarasota, FL
Midway Airport with Chicago's magnificent sky-line in view
This was a great vacation and area to visit. It actually was the first beach I've seen...hard to believe right? I'll probably revisit this area in the near future. After chatting with some locals from Sarasota they brought to my attention that Sarasota and the Tampa, FL area have not been directly hit by a major hurricane in a long time. Locals however, fear that their "luck" will eventually run out. Hopefully it won't since this is a beautiful part of Florida to visit and live.
