Vacation Right In Your Own Backyard

By Phyllis Betz
Panache Magazine

My mother (wonderful, loving woman that she is) is always sending me clippings from her local paper on articles and advice for women entrepreneurs. One of her recent mailings was a Cathy Guisewite cartoon strip. It was so appropriate to my Iife that I immediately taped it above my computer where I am too often shackled by my attempts at being a “responsible” business owner.

The strip starts with Cathy saying to herself: “I m my own boss! I can take off whenever I want!” Reality soon sets in and then she s seen thinking: “Of course if I do no work wit I be done… No calls answered… No faxes responded to… No money collected… No bills paid… My clients will all dump me and I ll have to start over from zilch…” Then, waving a summer escape travel brochure she adds: “But I m my own boss! I can take off whenever I want!” She calls this “the self-employed person s vacation: a thirty second flight of fancy!”

I can relate! “Flights of fancy” are about all I can fit into my work schedule and vacation budget. But there s nothing I enjoy more than escaping to a beachside resort where I can justtotally unwind and be waited on by an attentive staff. Unfortunately the long, leisurely “paid vacations” of my past all went away (along with health insurance and regular paychecks) when I gave up the corporate world to ventured down the “always under construction” entrepreneurial road!

But all work and no play tends to make Phyllis very, very grumpy!

Suddenly it came to me that I live in a tropical paradise that others spend thousands of dollars just to briefly visit-and it s right here in my own backyard! I checked out sev- eral nearby hotels that would meet my needs. I went looking for a total resort, on the beach,with everything within walking distance as well as a place to give me a little extended time with my husband-with enough activities to keep his 12 year old son happily occu-pied. Sadly, George and I are separated, but we still see each other often and with love. What can I tell you-life in the 90s is abouttryingto learn a whole new set of ways to make all the complicated pieces fit.

I heard thatthe Holiday Inn on Longboat Key has just been completely remodeled, is billed as a total family resort, and has everything I was looking for a quick and easy weekend escape for the three of us. I called my husband and invited him to run away with me, and then took a few minutes from my busy day to book two gulf front rooms. It was so easy I was back working in a few minutes.

Then the big day came for our little adventure it took me less time to throw some shorts and sunscreen in an overnight bag and then for us to drive to the hotel, check into our rooms, change into our bathing suits and hit the beach than it used to take us just to drive to the airport in Tampa!

But what a change a few hours can make in your altitude!

I was no longer at home facing laundry, housework, and another boring weekend. Suddenly, it seemed, I was in the tropics-happily sipping on a margarita while stretched out languorously on a well-padded beach chair next to the man I love-while his son was off exploring the Holidome. And what a great invention that Holidome Indoor Recreation Center is!

Right in the center of this immaculate hotel was a large atrium filled with countless activities to meet a wide variety of needs and interests. There s a huge covered pool for those who don t want too much sun (it also came in handy when the afternoon rains briefly came!) plus an exercise room, sauna, massage/tanning salon, a large enclosed state-of-the-art video arcade for the young (cleverly designed to look like an indoor aquarium), a putting green, pool tables, ping pong tables, shuffle boards, and picnic tables!

The Holidome was a big hit with the families that were everywhere having their own version of a good time. Grandparents and/or babies were eating and/or napping in air conditioned comfort, teenagers were working out their youthful exuberance at the many games, little kids were swimming, and adults were in the hot tub-relaxing! Everyone was doing their own thing while still enjoying family togetherness. What a great concept. I m recommending it to my own family for our own next big reunion.

But then there are even more fun things to do outside at the Holiday Inn.

First are those delightful lounge chairs with their large canvas umbrellas for people like me who love to be at the beach but can t take much sun, a beach front grill (with juicy burgers and tropical drinks) plus a wide range of fun activities. Choose from volleyball, four lighted tennis courts, an outdoor pool and kiddy pool, and the always popular clear green waters of the Gulf of Mexico. George and I enjoyed just bobbing lazily in the calm warm water but for the more active there are kayaks, bikes (water and land types) and sailboats to rent-all very affordabIe! George s son, Greg, had a ball kayaking into the breaking waves while we enjoyed having some quiet time alone to walk along the beach.

Unlike many overdeveloped areas around here, the Longboat Key Holiday Inn is situat- ed next to a very quiet area with huge pine trees along the shoreline that makes for a wilder, more exotic look. It s a great combination of all the civilization and activities you could want in a very laid back environment. It felt like we were far far away indeed from our normal hectic lives-even though home was right across the bay!

After a day of too much sunning, swimming and sampling all the activities, we were really hungry. Suddenly we wanted food-and fast! The hotel again provided amply. For our dinner choices there was fresh pizza, sandwiches, and other fast food in the Hol iciome s Convenience Court; outdoor dining in the Beachcomber Beach Bar where we had gone for lunch; and the more upscale Gulfstrearri Dining Room was offering an “all you could eat” very extensive buffet with a large variety of seafood, beef, salads, and dozens of decadent desserts!

We went for the instant gratification of the buffet. Within five minutes of deciding where we were going to eat we were pigging out on some of the best snow crab clusters we ve had in years! It was succulent, tender, and very, very fresh. I kept going back for more until I coo Idn t eat another bite, and that doesn t usually happy when you just order crab. It was so good that I m going back there some night soon.