Oysters with Joel and Cesily

Six Very Large Gulf Oysters, originally uploaded by zuctronic.

Whenever I start planning a trip anywhere, I use tripit to keep track of my itinerary. I can check on addresses, phone numbers, directions, and other information from my mobile phone and it keeps everything in one convenient place. It also tracks how many miles I've traveled and can easily parse the emails from travel websites for details. All I have to do is email my itineraries to them, and they automatically turn them into TripIt itineraries.

When I booked my trip to Sarasota, TripIt informed me that my friend Joel would be on the Gulf Coast in Florida that very same week! This was an amazing and fortuitous coincidence because it had been ages since I'd been able to grab lunch with Joel. He just happened to be there enjoying "spring break" with his family. I've known Joel and his wife Cesily since 1996 when I worked at Office Depot in Milwaukee!

I've been pestering Joel for ages to give raw oysters a try. He respectfully waited until he had a chance to try them with me, so we chose a place in Venice, Florida named Markers IV, an oyster bar. The place was a pretty standard beer and oysters sort of place, not too fancy. It was perfect and the weather was again extremely pleasant for us.

We ordered a half dozen and when they came out I was shocked to see the size of these monsters. Two of them were the size of my fist! They were VERY tasty! I got a video of Joel sucking down his very first oyster. Immediately after he ate it he declared, "Actually, that's not bad!" and proceeded to have seconds and thirds.



During our lunch, Cesily mentioned that she had been watching Cash & Treasure on the Travel Channel earlier that day. They were talking about finding shark teeth in Sarasota Bay right off the coast from Venice. Then she recognized that we were coincidentally sitting right next to the boat that was used in the episode she was watching. When we left the restaurant, we noticed a shop next door selling shark teeth. The very same woman who was featured in the episode of Cash and Treasure was running the shop! Cesily mentioned to her that she was on TV that morning and she said, "Oh they're still showing that?"



Joel and Ces recommended that I check out Siesta Key on my way back, especially to see Siesta Beach. So I punched it into the GPS and started to head back.