We drove out to St Pete’s Beach lined with lovely resorts, beach volleyball and shade umbrellas before driving out to the end of a narrow horseshoe peninsula and Fort De Soto County Park. When we walked out onto the pier, we saw dolphin lazily swimming along side the pier. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, a walk on the beach and an ice cream cone. Edy’s ice cream is a new favorite! There is a sign warning swimmers to shuffle their feet when standing in the water to scare off the sting rays! These white sand beaches are beautiful!!!
 |
| Pier at Fort De Soto |
 |
| St Pete's Beach Check out the Tee Groins |
We headed north today along the Gulf stopping in Largo to visit the Heritage Village. There were a number of historical buildings including the oldest log cabin in the area, a well stocked general store, sugar mill and sponge storage house (they dove for sponges in the area). A docent took us through a pre turn of the century home and we were introduced to some things household items we had never seen before. These tours are always interesting. It was well designed with airflow, heart pine interior (resistant to all bugs), and had electric lights as well as gas since electricity couldn’t be counted on yet. There was also a botanical garden. It was all free! We walked out on the pier at Clearwater Beach with lots of people in the water and sitting on the sand with colorful beach umbrellas. This is one of my favorite communities. Most of these beach towns have nice downtowns, mostly small, plain 1950’s homes and gorgeous beaches with really nice cement fishing piers. They all have harbors and lots of boats; this one was lined with charter boats for rent. The fancy newer homes and hotels line the water and are on the barrier islands. Strip malls line the highways. We had enough time to stop a Honeymoon Island State Park, said to have the prettiest beaches. We didn’t have our suits but we walked in the warm water looking for shells. No sting ray signs here! In 1939, a New York developer was trying to drum up interest in the area and together with Life Magazine held a contest for newly weds. The winners would stay in thatched bungalows in sunny Florida for two weeks giving the island its name. It really was beautiful with white sand and blue green water. The state park had really nice facilities for day use and camping; showers, umbrellas and chairs for rent, hamburgers, wooden swings looking out to the water, and a nature center. We planned our day to end up in Weeki Watche to have dinner with a friend Norms, Dick Kilburg. They had worked together in the computer business. He and his wife live in the middle of 80 acres shared with her sister and husband. We all had a great time and Norm really enjoyed reconnecting. We sat out in their caged yard by the pool. Yes, they build large screen cages covering their backyards to keep the bugs out! They sent us off with a bottle of red wine imported from the Kilburg winery, a German winery said to be the oldest in Europe still in operation and still in his family! It dates back to the 1450’s. We will save it for a yummy steak dinner.
 |
| Clearwater Beach |
 |
| Watch Out for Sting Rays! Tee Groins are giant yellow pillow looking things used for erosion. |
 |
| House of Seven Gables at Heritage Park |
On the 9th, we drove north to Silver Springs to the Wilderness RV Resort east of Ocala for our last week in Florida. We will be here for a week to see the north central part of Florida. We plan to drive west to Rainbow Springs and one more look at the Gulf, drive north to the area in and around Gainesville, and over to the Atlantic coast to St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. We are going to meet up with Sandy and Glen, Norm’s sister and husband, for a quick visit in Port Canaveral. We made it here and got set up just in time for a real down pour. The interior is really pretty and really green. They have had a lot of rain. The trees are all coming out with their bright green leaves. The huge oaks look so stately with their green leaves and contrasting Spanish moss.
 |
| Waiting Out the Down Pour |
No comments:
Post a Comment