We stayed in a 55+ community in a small town outside of Tampa. We've had more than one resident stop by to after seeing 6 of us (well outside of the 55+ age group) coming and going throughout the week and at all hours of the day and night. Things weren't entirely what we had expected, but that hasn't stopped us from enjoying the week.
On Monday, we flew out of Philadelphia around 9pm (after several delays for our 5:45 flight). That put us down here much later (around 11:00) than we had originally planned. Molly and Joe picked us up at the airport and we stopped at Checkers/Rallys for "dinner" before heading back to the house.
Tuesday [late] morning, we picked up our rental car, then stopped at Starbucks and went up to Clearwater beach. Parking in town was nuts - We drove around and around but couldn't find anywhere to park. Bethany and I were in the right spot at the right time, as someone left a parking lot and the policewoman waved us in. Molly, Joe, Jonathan, and Tiffany had to drive around for a while longer, but they eventually got into the same lot.
I slept at the beach and did a little bit of reading. Bethany walked along the beach hunting for seashells. Between my naps, I took a walk with her until I realized I hadn't yet put sunscreen on my back and we had to turn around.
Tuesday was Molly's birthday, so we went to the Bonefish Grill. Bethany and I loved our steak [being non-seafood people]. Afterwards, we ran to the drugstore to get a prescription but because the insurance company has crazy rules, they couldn't fill it until midnight. We raced back to Coldstone so we could get ice cream before they closed. From there, we went back to the house and watched movies late into the night.
Wednesday I woke up around noon. Molly had taken Joe to the airport earlier (he had to be back in Illinois for work) in the morning. Bethany got out of bed early and went for a walk (opening the door and letting the bright sun make me blind) and took some pictures, then went for another walk when Molly got back. Once everybody was up and awake, we left for Indian Shores beach. We got there and the wind was crazy (on the news, they said it was 40-45mph winds). We tried laying our stuff down on the beach but the wind blasted us in the face. There were some covered bed sunchair beach things:
We moved three of them in place for us to hide out from the wind for a while. We all fell asleep and were woken up when the family that had paid for them showed up and wanted their turn. We all got up and moved a few yards up the beach, where we laid for a while until we gave up.
Bethany can tell you later about the "windy beach camera incident".
We went back to the house, showered, and Bethany and I went out to explore Tampa. We drove up I-275 a bit and got off at several exits just to see what was around. We ended up eating dinner at the Macaroni Grill (excellent - I felt over-stuffed when we left). After dinner, we decided to explore the 2-story Target that was next door. It turns out Target is on floor #2, other stuff is on floor #1, so it's basically just like every other Target in the world.
Thursday was supposed to be rainy and cold, so we all planned to go down to St. Pete's to explore for the day. We took our time getting up and got down to St. Pete's around 2.
Bethany is going to take over for a little while.............
So far, we had spent most of our days hanging out at various beaches and nights eating like kings at interesting restaurants. Spending the day in St. Petersburg was a great change. As we were driving in, we kept saying, "Oh, I would like to see that" or "Let's walk over there". Unfortunately, we only made it to the aquarium and some shops out on the pier before Steve and I had to leave. We both agreed to come back sometime during the week.
We headed out to visit Jack and Joe in Orlando where they were staying for their vacation. It was a pleasant 2 hour drive and it wasn't long before we started seeing Disney signs and a Mickey Mouse electrical wire support thing. It is so cool how each Disney park has its own entrance. Jack and Joe were staying in the Old Key West area. It was beautiful! My favorite part about Florida (besides the sunshine) is all the palm trees. There are so many different kinds...it's just amazing.
By the time we arrived in Downtown Disney, it was freezing. I was wearing capri's and a short sleeve shirt and decided to get a sweatshirt (besides, how many times are you down in Disney anyway?). It was a longer and more complicated hunt than I had anticipated. I dragged everyone around until Jack pointed me to one in the men's section that she had just purchased. Neither of us were looking for anything with Disney characters on it or anything, so this one was perfect. Warm (and now very hungry) we headed out to find someplace to eat.
Every restaurant we tried in Downtown Disney had at least a 2 hour wait. Someone pointed us in the direction of the Wolfgang Puck restaurant with only a 45 minute wait. When we got their, they said that if we wanted to go to the cocktail lounge and push two small tables together, we wouldn't have to wait at all- sweet!
There was a wedding reception in the area we were seated in. It was neat to see the bride and groom all happy and excited. I definitely felt a little under dressed.... :) Jack and I both ordered different salads for dinner. I ordered a Chinese chicken salad with crispy things and veggies. It was topped with an amazing Asian/mustard sauce. Extremely tasty! The guys each ordered Fillet Mignon. I was a little jealous because it smelled so good.
We considered going to a comedy club after dinner, but I was too excited about seeing the rest of the area. I vaguely remembered it from when I was there as a kid.
We weren't even in any Disney park and I am sure we could have stayed there for days. It felt like its own city...its own entity. I am sure that in some way the "powers that be" made it that way so that they can suck you in. It works. :)
We left around 12 and got back to Largo somewhere around 2 am. Considering our late night, it was no surprise that the clock hit 12 pm before we even opened our eyes on Friday. We met everyone at the beach for a couple hours and then we headed home to watch some rented movies and make pizza with English Muffins. We watched "Atonement", "Enchanted" and "Dan in Real Life". They were all pretty good. We laughed hysterically during "Enchanted". It was corny, but cute. We ended the night late again and prepared to head out for St. Petersburg the next day since weather.com predicted rain.
By the time everyone woke up and showered, it was 12 before we reached St. Pete's. It was pouring outside, but we decided to be brave and run over to the Art Museum, which was having a free admission day in honor of a new wing being unveiled. It was pretty interesting. I had a couple favorite works. I am not as interested in painting, etching, drawing, etc. as much as I am in photography. There were several phenomenal pictures.
Molly, Steve and I had had our fill and ran over to a hot dog vendor for a quick lunch. We ate it under store awnings to keep ourselves and our hot dogs dry. Since Tiffany and Jonathan wanted to stay longer at the museum, we decided to split up. We read about a downtown trolley that for $0.25 would take you on a tour of the town driver narrated the history. Sadly, after jogging down the street waving our arms, we missed the trolley. With water streaming down our hair and into our eyes, we decided it was time to come up with plan B.
We waddled (we couldn't run correctly for the book bags/purses strapped to us) to a shelter to wait for the free trolley up to the pier. Since we hadn't finished our tour earlier that week (and especially since we could dry off) we decided to walk around the pier shops and such. Tiffany and Jonathan met us there and we listened to a live jazz band for a while. We also got to see a guy eat fire and do juggling tricks. As we watched someone quoted, "Make me a bicycle, clown!" from Wedding Crashers. It was pretty funny :)
We did find a town trolley stop right outside of the pier building and for $0.25 took our tour. The guide was hilarious.
We stopped at Sonic for a very fattening and very delicious dinner of burgers and fries (or tots for some of us). After ending the night with a movie and ice cream, we made final decisions about Easter Sunday and were off to bed.
Sunday was relaxing. We went to church at 11 and the beach after that. We had packed lunches the night before, so after eating those, everyone fell asleep for a while. Steve had dropped us off and had gone to Panera to do some work at a table ourside. I am glad he was able to get some of that stuff out of the way, so he didn't feel overwhelmed when we got back. We left the beach around 4:30 and headed back to clean and pack. I had fallen asleep, face up, and had burnt my eyes badly. I iced them that night, but nothing seemed to help.
The next morning, I woke up, but they were swollen shut! After splashing cold water on them for a while, I was able to see, but wish I couldn't have. :) I looked pretty silly...all puffy and red. We had assigned different cleaning chores the night before, so things were done pretty quickly. Molly, Tiffany and Jonathan headed out at 11 and Steve and I returned the rental car.
Steve and I are now sitting on a bench outside of the hotel waiting for our check in time. We got here around 1 and check-in isn't until 4, so we've been blogging, reading and taking walks. There is still an hour to go, and I am anxious to get a shower and get something to eat, but it is so relaxing sitting in amongst the tropical plants and warm weather.
Peace out for now.
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