Siesta Key - What makes "The Best Beach in America"?

"The Best Beach In America"

That's what the sign says right outside of Siesta Key. Now, they didn't make this up like the "world's best famous authentic coffee". They actually were awarded this title by Tripadvisor.

Why did they get this award? The sand. It's this incredibly soft and cool to the touch powdered white quartz. I don't know where it came from or how it happened, but it's like nothing I've ever beneath my feet at a beach.

Normally it's more coarse, but most importantly it's usually blazing ass hot. But here, even in direct sunlight, it's nice and cool.

Siesta Key Beach
948 Beach Road
Siesta Key, Florida
February 26th, 2017

This is Regina's territory. She'd spent a lot of time here in her childhood. I had only been to Florida once, and I had a horrible, horrible experience and I never wanted to come back.

But the years passed and that changed!

Usually I do a lot of research on places to go, things to see, what to eat (most importantly). I didn't have to this time. I still did, out of habit, but it turns out Regina already knew the best beach around. She didn't tell me that, and I didn't tell her that I'd done research, it was more like we got up in a morning and she said "we're going to beach", and off we went to these amazing places.

Because we flew to Florida, we didn't have a car. We could have rented one, but Regina's family is there, so why would we when they were happy to lend us one?

Regina really wanted to drive her mom's car because it was so cute and sporty. It was a bright red Mazda Miata. It was a very fun to car see, but is SO SMALL. I could barely fit in it in the drivers seat, which goes back a little bit further than the passenger seat. But when Regina was driving, I was in the passenger seat and it was cramped. I love being in a convertible, It's the right car for driving to the beach. But this one was tiny.

Outside of the car, though, it was a really pretty drive. We drove through a lot of nice, green areas. Lots of really pretty neighborhoods and pretty houses that I wanted to get out and photograph, but there was no time for that. I remember driving across several bridges and through lots of pretty little cities. I even remember us shooting some videos in those places. Ah, here it is!

We were getting to the beach late. Regina's wisdom is to show up to the beach really early in the morning so you don't have to deal with parking and crowded beaches. But we were lazy this day and didn't get there until around 2 in the afternoon. A terrible time to arrive at a beach.

I drove up and down the road running along the beach, not even turning into the parking lot proper to start. I thought "surely if I just get far enough away from the beach, it won't be a problem." But that plan fizzled when the distance away from it just got to be too great to make sense. So around we swung and entered the slow churning fray of the parking lot. It was the stuff of nightmares.

Have you ever tried to find a parking spot in Park Slope? If you have, you may well know the pain of the hunt. In suburbia, your most likely parking nightmare would probably only be at the mall on Black Friday. But trust me, this was much worse.

After nearly an hour of hunting for parking, my typically calm and collected demeanor was falling to shambles. I couldn't take it anymore. So Regina came to the rescue. "Get out and go relax on the boardwalk, I'll park the car." I put up a fuss at first, trying to be tough, but when has 'trying to be tough' ever really been the right choice?

I was SO EXCITED to be out of the car, I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. I wandered around in awe of the vastness of space around me. I wasn't stuck in a tiny little box, I could me around freely! And oh, what's this? A concession stand? Sure!

What's on the menu?

Softserve ice cream and pina coladas.

The cure for what ails you.

It's important to get some snacks to help you cope with the parking nightmare.

Happily cooled and increasingly intoxicated, I waltz around the beachfront plaza taking it in. I read some little plaques about the history of the boardwalk and something about sea turtles and other marine life. Several other people sat or walked around about the place, some stopping to reach the same things, others noshing away at whatever they'd gotten from the concession. 

I felt great, at peace, relaxed, and I hadn't even gotten out on to the beach yet. In my quiet contemplation my eyes began to wander, and thats when they fell on this incredible structure.

There are simple beaches, where a gravel parking lot gives way to sand and maybe a few plants, and that just continues out into the beach in the ocean. But then there are beaches like Siesta Key, where there's a gorgeous work of modern architecture to welcome you.

As I walked around it to take a few pictures, I wondered what could be inside? I'd like to imagine all sorts of incredible things and that the room surrounded by all that glass is a gorgeous place to look out on the happenings of the plaza. And since I don't actually know what's in there, I am happy to preserve that fantasy.

The presence of this fantastic building let me to do some research into how this plaza came to be what it is. Turns out in all my wondering around it while waiting for Regina to park the car, I only saw a tiny portion of it. Turn out it has just undergone a massive overhaul in the past year. I had no idea going in. 

Not my picture, but oh boy do I love this aesthetic. I plan to take some photos like it next time I'm down there.

After I wandered around taking photos and getting tipsy on pina colada (aka living in my natural state), Regina finally parked the car and showed up at the beach. At this point she was experiencing a little bit of frustration, too, and was giving me the "must be nice to be wandering around having a good time" face, which I quickly dispelled by passing her the remaining booze and ice cream. Few things can cause so instant a shift in mood as that combo.

With that, we were finally ready to make our way out on to the beach proper, and what a beach it is.

We stepped past the plaza, dreading the feeling of burning hot sand sneaking into our sandals... but it never came. The sand was cool, even during the hottest part of the day. I was filled with wonder. I took of my sandals and dug my feet into the sand. It was soft, finer than any I’d ever encountered, and just as it was brilliantly white, it was also gloriously cold. What more could you ask for than a beach on a warm day that doesn't sizzle your feet? It felt wonderful.

Being February, though, the water wasn't exactly warm. I wasn't going to let that stop me, though, so I quickly made my way out. Regina reluctantly followed, vocally unhappy with how the chill was seeping into her toes, but we pressed through. I saw a line of people standing on a bank quite a ways from the shore and that struck me as an exciting point to reach. So we moved forward and the water got deeper and chillier, but then it sloped back and and shockingly we ascended to ankle deep water and a great view back toward the beach.

Time for a selfie, right?

I don't often do selfies, but when I do, they're with Regina. A beautiful beach backdrop is a plus.

Regina often shoves the camera away when I try to take pictures of her, but she was enjoying some posing this time.

I can't really say enough great things about this place. Sure, it was crowded and it took forever to find a parking spot. There is a reason. The water is clear and gorgeous and the sand is just unbeatable. There's no beach I'd rather walk on. You owe it to yourself to check this out as soon as you can.

Just, y'know, try to get there early.

And then after the beach, if you're anything like me, you might just have tiki cocktails on the brain. Next stop:

Sunset tiki cocktails at the hidden Lido Key Tiki Bar at the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota.

Boatyard Restaurant - How to be in the moment and enjoy the little things

Don't take pictures. That's what Regina often stresses to me when we're on vacation. She wants me to be in the moment and more importantly to be present with her, rather than wrapped up in creating pictures.

But when you walk me in to a place like this, what do you expect? You can't just take me somewhere beautiful and ask me to ignore it.

Can't. Be. Done.

So let's talk about this place I can't resist. Boatyard is what I like to call 'upscale nautical.' Let me paint the picture:

• Super yachts parked in the canal out back

• Thick wooden beams

• White beadboard walls

• Navy blue accents

• A chandelier made of oars

• A canoe-turned-light-fixture 

• A furled sail hanging from the ceiling

• Ropes. Ropes everywhere!

There's even a bar cabana among the palms on the back patio along the canal.

Excellent space by Miami's Big Time Design.

The food, by the way, is excellent. Not to be missed.

Boatyard Restaurant
1555 SE 17th Street
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
$$$
★★★★☆
February 23rd, 2017

We flew into Ft. Launderdale because the tickets were way cheaper than flying into Tampa, which was much closer to where Regina's parents live. We'd need to cross the state by car, but that was a problem we'd be dealing with the next day.

We came in a day early and stayed at a hotel. We enjoyed a morning in the town while we awaited Regina's father to come pick us up. It was really nice having some alone vacation time together before visiting the family. I learned later this year a massive difference exists between "a trip to see the family" and "a real vacation". And while the later days of this trip fall more on the former side, I'm going to keep calling it a vacation none the less.

I digress.

Not being one to go hunting for food willy-nilly, I looked up places to go on the Eater's "10 Hottest Resturants in Fort Lauderdale". There I discovered Boatyard, which we loved so much we made a second stop here before we flew out.

I don't know if I've always had such a love for the nautical, but it certainly feels like it's always been there. I'm a calm person and I like to relax, some might even refer to me as "chill." I get the feeling most folks who like to drift on the waves feel the same way. That's the life in Florida, right? 

Possible Florida Life Priorities:

• Take it easy.

• Lounge in the sun.

• Put your feet in the sand. 

• Enjoy life.

Sounds about right.

When we stepped into Boatyard and saw these ropes dividing the rooms, a canoe light fixture, and a chandelier made out of painted oars, I immediately knew I loved this place. The entrance is dark and the other rooms have bright skylights and open up onto the canal beyond. It's a fantastic use of framing and hide-and-reveal design.

We asked for a table and were lead out to the patio along the canal, which is exactly where we wanted the to be. We only sat down for a moment before I sprung out of my seat to roam around the restaurant taking pictures.

Fortunately it wasn't busy on this particular day and I was able to get some nice shots of the space itself without a crowd.

The beams, the ropes, the tile, the beautiful wooden floor, the sail, the white beadboard... what more could you ask for?

I don't often do a lot of extensive editing / photoshopping on images like this where I'm just roaming around taking photos. But this one below compelled me to work on it.

Can you spot all 7 of the changes?

In spite of all the work I did on this, including the nightmare of photoshopping out the vent duct, I still prefer the previous image from the other side of the bar.

There's a lesson in there about not trying to force it. Just seek out the best compositions that already sing on their own.

Still, it was a fun exercise and I learned a lot of good techniques doing it.

This was our first day in Florida, our first day of escape from the harsh and crippling northern winter, and it couldn't get any better. Is there any better departure from cold weather driving you indoors than to lounge in the sun and have a meal outside in a t-shirt? I think not.

While I absolutely loved the design and detail of the place inside, I was most happy to be sitting out here and soaking up the atmosphere. Contrast gives us clarity, and I'd never felt anything so nice as escaping winter and coming to this.

Let's talk about the food! 

I didn't take many food photos here, in fact the only one I have to show you is this singular image below. In the spirit of truly enjoying the vacation, I was not going to risk letting my food get cold. So when this dish came out I moved quickly and made this image with the bubbly Regina had ordered.

I've mentioned before how much I love grilled octopus, and they do it exceptionally well here. The sautéed greens, chili oil, and crispy fried chickpeas made for a flavor and texture explosion I was in no way ready for. Would I say it was among the best octopus dishes I've had in my entire life?

I would.

'Oh hey, I heard you like pictures so I'm going to take a picture of you taking a picture.'

After this amazing lunch an excellent introduction to Florida, Regina's father came to pick us up and drive us back to his side of the state. In a convertible, naturally! Could you live in Florida and not have an open air car? That would just be silly.

Once we arrived on the gulf side, we settled in to relaxing slow days in the sun, and planned out our upcoming beach excursions. Check in next time to see our first stop.

By the way, if you'd like to know more about this trip, you can get the introduction here, or take a look at the February Retrospective for an overview of the whole trip!

2017 Retrospective - February

Feb 1st - Another Met Trip, this time with folks from the Seanwes Community

Of course I spent half the time just enamored with the architecture in this one section. All this ancient art, and I wanna look at the building it's housed in.

This piece caught my eye. Such intense colors and the range between the brightest and darkest parts is incredible. I should go back and look at this one for a few more hours. Love it.

There are a few members of the Seanwes community that live in the tristate area and they sometimes come to NYC to meet up. One such visit included a trip to the Met. What better to do on a cold winter day than wander around indoors? Speaking of which, it's getting about time for me to visit again.

Feb 8th - Blue Bottle Bushwick

Pour-over action at blue bottle coffee

While I was at Blue Bottle I decided to do one of these popular "what in my bag" Images. It's a little bit of a mess, haha. I no longer have the big Tokina lens on the left. The aperature started to jam up all the time. It had to go.

It was really exciting that Blue Bottle opened an outpost in Bushwick. There aren't nearly enough excellent coffee shops in the neighborhood. It also had a clean white modern look that few other coffee shops around have. Moiz, too, was pumped about it coming around, so he asked me to meet up with him there. We talked about restructuring the photo team and moving away from the retainer system, so February was my last month of retainer work for them. It's been all project-based since then, which has been fantastic. It has freed me up to take on a lot more client work elsewhere since they no longer need me to produce content constantly.

Also Feb 8th - Galen Gatzke's F*ck Cancer Benefit

I realized a few years ago that I really don't enjoy event photography, so I stopped doing it professionally. But, when a friend from Nooklyn got cancer and his sister was hosting a benefit for him, I was very happy to do my part to help out. There was a raffle and some really cool art and really amazing prizes, including something like $900 of advertising and a fancy Yeti cooler. I should have bought more raffle tickets, haha.

Feb 10th - Snowy photos in Forest Park

I see all these wonderful photos of snowy places on Instagram and it makes me jealous. So I tend to stroll out and look for fun things to photograph when it snows. But I still haven't taken one that I'm really proud of. So the quest continues.

Regina and I started working on Save the Dates for our wedding later in the year. Or at least I have some samples in Photos on this day.

Feb 12th - Dinner at Kyo-Ya with Jacob

I only took one photo at Kyo-Ya, but it's of Jacob being Jacob, and therefor not suitable for this blog. Instead, here's a rainy sidewalk near the restaurant. I really wanted to reflection, but I wish now that I'd waited one more second to get this person stepping into the puddle and creating ripples.

I'm well known for taking tons of photos every time I go out to eat. It's the curse of being a food photographer and takes quite a bit of fortitude to overcome. But I did in this case. I was incredibly excited to try out Kyo-Ya. It's a French-influenced Japanese Kaiseki restaurant with an incredible prix-fixe menu. And with that, I've got another Michelin Star dining experience under my belt.

Feb 16th - Bun-ker Vietnamese

Lil' fried meat rolls by the bamboo.

Harley is buds with the owner of Bunker, so when they opened in the new location Harley set it up for me to photograph some items from the menu.

This is when I first started to play with food styling and including ingredients in the photos. The spring roll had the most transformation, going from just the rolls and sauce to including all the mint, peanuts, and peppers. It's a much more exciting image than what we had before.

Bunker is a fun and pretty place. I definitely recommend you try it out.

Feb 21st - Harley's House

Meow!

Harley's house is beautiful and a very comfortable place to be, so I always enjoy when he invites me over to photograph it. He and Tristin (now his wife!) had done some redecorating with a bunch of flea market finds, so he wanted to get some new photos to show the place off. I'm very happy with these images and a few of them are still in my portfolio. I love the vibe they've got going here and would be excited to snap more places like it.

We took Harley's son to the park afterward so he could burn some energy. The kid is an atomic bomb.

Feb 22nd - Winter in Florida

Regina and I went to Florida to visit her parents and also to escape from the brutal NYC winter. I've heard of this 'snowbird' concept of people leaving the frozen north to enjoy a winter in the tropics. I always assumed it was just an activity for the rich and not something achievable by mere mortals. But thanks to having family down there to visit, we were able to have a fairly cheap trip out of it, and it really affected me. I want to do it every year from now on. And since I'm writing this blog post in January of 2018, that means it's time to get cracking on planning it. Especially since this year's winter has already been so rough.

I intended to make some vlogs from this trip but only ever got around to making one., which is linked above. I've got lots of footage left to make the additional videos, but it will probably never see the light of day, in lieu of spending time on better things I can produce now. You can check it out here.

Below are a couple of highlights from the trip that I never posted about. I also recorded some video that I intended to make vlogs with, but that hasn't happened. I did, however, write posts for all of these upcoming things, so I'll link those when they're up.

Stay tuned. There's a e-mail sign up at the bottom of this post if you want notifications when they're up!

23rd - Boatyard Restaurant, Fort Lauderdale

She snappin' me snappin' her.

Feb 24th - Casey Key

I fell in love with the beach.

Feb 26th - Siesta Key

More beach love, this time with a side of architecture.

Also Feb 26th - Lido Key Tiki Bar

The Speakeasy of beachside tiki bars

A Fond Farewell to Florida Fronds