Tourists, residents find plenty of sun to share at Bay Area beaches

SARASOTA (FOX 13) - On Lido Beach in Sarasota, people from all over were soaking up the sun.  That included Jessica Ceo, who was happy to be back home.

"It's 80 degrees and we were visiting family where it was cold and we wanted to come home and enjoy it," she explained.  "It's pretty amazing. Not everybody gets to do this."

Others out here are just happy to be visiting a much warmer place.

"Holiday season is winding down, but up in Chicago it's about 20 degrees, snowing.  And [we] just needed to get away from the crummy weather and get out here and get in the sun a little bit," said Kevin Hayhurst.

State officials said 85 million tourists came to Florida within the first nine months of 2016. Governor Rick Scott said that's the highest nine-month total ever. You can bet that number will grow. Many from all over the country came to spend the holidays in Florida, including Adam Herbert and his family.

"It's a beautiful day and we are getting some warm weather before we have to go home," he said.

Herbert and his family still have a few days left in Sarasota and plan on enjoying every moment of this tropical paradise before he heads back to cooler weather.

"We've been hanging out at the beach, we've been bringing the kids to some of the nice playgrounds you have in town, and we are gonna go to a museum the next couple of days," he added.