Road Trip to Clearwater

Day 243  |  St. Petersburg  

Now this is the kind of day we've been waiting for. We loaded our tote bags into the rental Mustang convertible and headed out for provisioning, with a side trip to the beach. Our starting point was the southern-most point of the Gulf Beaches in Pass-A-Grille at the Gulf Beaches Historical Museum. It was free and gave us a quick overview of the area. The museum building is the former Pass-A-Grille Community Church, built in 1917. The congregation outgrew the building and moved. A Washington, DC, socialite made it her home and when she passed she left it to the county to be used as a museum. When we left the museum we walked across the street to the beach for a quick peak.

We could see the increased development to the north, and that's where we headed. It was sunny and still a bit chilly, but the top went down on the car because its no fun to ride around in a convertible with the top up. I had my heat turned all the way to HI, trying to simulate warmth. In St. Pete Beach, we passed The Don CeSar which looks a lot like the Vinoy (pictured yesterday) and has a similar story having opened in 1928, was taken over by the Army post-WWII, fell into disrepair, and finally rehabilitated to today's luxury hotel. We crossed over a section of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway which we traveled way back on December 11. As soon as we crossed over Clearwater Pass, the traffic got crazy heavy. Our destination was a public beach access lot, but when we arrived all spaces were full. As we made our final turn to exit, we spotted a space reserved for restaurant patrons. It was noon and we quickly pulled in and went in for a bite of lunch. Their menu bragged on the She-Crab Soup and Grouper Sandwiches. Nice choices.

Following lunch we took a stroll along the expansive beach. The soft, white sand stretched on forever and there were enough sand dunes to keep it from looking sterile. I would have been content to walk in the lapping surf for the remainder of the afternoon.

On this day, however, we had to be happy with just a few minutes. The afternoon portion of our day had to be spent at the big boxes. I (yes, I) had to go to West Marine to pick up some more boat wax. We then headed to Costco and picked up a new supply of chicken and fish. Finally a stop at Walmart for milk, fruits, and veggies. We pulled into Enterprise to return the car just before our 5:00 deadline. With a full trunk, we offloaded everything to the shuttle that took us back to the marina. Almost everything has been put away, but we'll get all the meat portioned out and into the drop-in freezer tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be our last really nice day before a front rolls through in the evening. Sunday will be stormy with high winds stirring up the waves in the Gulf. Our plan (as of tonight) is to leave here Tuesday morning and head south to the Keys ... in search of more great beach days, just like today.