We generally like to visit Florida sometime in the winter, and this year we stayed at a friend’s house to pet sit for part of our time. The weather was up-and-down, but it was always better than the cold January we would have had in NC! In fact, we ended up staying an extra 5 days because of an ice storm back home. In the end our trip had 7 days near Bradenton, 4 days in Gainesville, then 5 days back near Bradenton before we drove home over two afternoons.
Through our travels we were able to check out several wetland preserves, seeing a wide variety of birds, alligators, bats, manatees and other wildlife. We also got to check out a few botanical gardens, a museum, an art fair, and in between, several breweries.
Sherwood, the assistant manager of non-productivity
Al going for a ride in the convertible!
Where We Stayed in Gainesville
Overall we had a great stay in the “The Royal Crane Suite,” a three bedroom duplex a few blocks from downtown. The photos were accurate and we really appreciated that the switches and drawers were labeled, so we could easily find things. Kitchen had everything we needed, including the multi-use coffee maker (Leandra was a fan) and complimentary coffee.
We also appreciated the pods for the washing machine and enjoyed relaxing on the front porch.
Proximity to downtown restaurants was good but we would recommend a car as some streets don’t have sidewalks and it was a dark walk at night. Car traffic could be a bit noisy at night and we could hear the people in the unit above us walking around. The main bedroom is right by the designated parking and the other couple locked (beeped) their car at 4:00am and woke us up.
I think this place is a great value if you are splitting the costs between a few couples – plenty of room to relax and spread out. Huge plus that the owners were friendly and very responsive.
Pooler, GA pit stop on way home
We stopped in to The Crown and Anchor Pub in Pooler, GA for dinner on the drive back to NC. Leandra’s first option for both beer and savory pie were out but she settled on a black velvet (mix of Guinness and Magner’s cider) and the Sgt Pepper burger (cheese, caramelized onions and mushrooms) and both hit the spot. I ordered the Pub Burger and a Snakebite (lager and cider). Both of the burgers were enormous and came with a generous amount of fries. Service was efficient and friendly and this place seems really popular.
