I needed a break. February 2015 was a dark month for me. Between a breakup, my faithful 17-year-old cat’s death, frigid temperatures, and relentless snowstorms pummeling the city, I felt as if I was being buried under the enormous snow piles lining Boston’s sidewalks. I needed to escape this cold, claustrophobic hell and forget about life for a few days.

Thank God for friends who live in Florida!

My lifeline to warmth and sanity came in the form of a phone call from a college friend approximately 28 minutes after my boyfriend and I broke up. Her timing couldn’t have been more perfect (or horrible, depending on how you look at it).

She had moved to Florida with her retiree parents about two years prior and was calling to catch up. When she asked the inevitable “How is so-and-so” question, I managed to blubber into the phone that we had just broken up–“just” being an understatement. After some consoling on her part and more crying on mine, she proposed that I come down for a visit. I told her to name the soonest available weekend and I’d be there.

Within 3 weeks, I flew to Sarasota. I nearly kissed the ground as I walked out of the airport. The grass was so green, the temperature perfect. In Boston, I had felt cramped, both by the burdens I was carrying in my mind and by the physical space disappearing under more and more snow outside. In Sarasota, I had room to breathe.

I couldn’t get to the beach fast enough. As anyone from a region that has winter knows, it’s liberating to be able to peel off your layers and feel the warm breeze and sunlight on your pale, chapped skin. Luckily, Sarasota is home to a few gems. In fact, the beach I ended up going to, Siesta Beach, was named the Best Beach in the US by TripAdvisor in 2015.

Now, I haven’t been to every beach in the US, but Siesta Beach does deserve recognition. The water was a gorgeous clear blue, and the beach itself is very clean. There is plenty of free parking, although I’m sure it fills up fast. The parking lot was nearly deserted when we got there, but it was a “cool” 72 degrees that day, so it may have been a bit too chilly for Floridians/snow birds to be hitting the beach!

The best part of this beach, though, is noticeable as soon as you set foot on it. The sand is 99% quartz ,so it is extremely soft, like powder, and doesn’t absorb heat.  I had a great time burying my feet in it and squishing it between my toes. I highly recommend this if you go. You may also want to take a nap in it. No towel or anything, just lie directly on the sand. Seriously, I’d go back to this beach in a heartbeat just for the sand.

Alas, I couldn’t squish my feet into Siesta Beach’s powdery sand forever. I was to return to Boston the following Monday. Although my visit to Sarasota didn’t cure my heartache, it provided a temporary salve for my wounds. It’s not feasible for me to hop on a plane every time life gets tough, but I’m grateful I was able to escape when I felt the weight of my world getting too heavy.