Arriving in Tampa

Thursday and Friday, May 9 & 10, 2013--Tampa, Clearwater, and Clearwater Beach

It was an early day on Thursday.  Our flight left San Antonio at 5:30, so we were up at 3:30, on our way to the airport at 3:45, at the parking lot waiting for the shuttle at 4:00, and going through security at 4:15.  The flight left on time, and we made our connection in Houston fine.  We arrived at Tampa around 11:30.

About 4 weeks ago, I requested a map of Florida and a guidebook from the Florida Tourism Office via their website.  I had lots of trouble with the site, but it seemed that it eventually took my request.  However, the guide and map never arrived in my mail.  Unfortunately, no one at the information counter or at the traveler's aid counter could help us.  No one knew of any tourist office in the area that would have either of them.  The map was what we needed most, since we plan to drive throughout the western coastal area of Florida for the next 2 1/2 weeks.  Therefore, we spent much of the day looking for tourist offices while exploring.

After getting the car, we drove to Clearwater where we checked in at the Travelodge.  We ate at a nearby Costco and headed downtown to explore.  Clearwater is an attractive town with lush greenery, lots of new development, and lots of major redevelopment happening downtown.  We parked by the waterfront and walked for blocks exploring.  No one knew where a tourist office could be located, although they said that the Capitol Theater undergoing restoration had included one until it closed in the spring.  We not only saw the theater, but also the Cleveland Street District, the exterior of the old Fort Harrison Hotel (now owned by Scientology), the old post office, etc.

From Clearwater, we drove up the coast to Dunedin, a Scottish community, just to take a different route back toward the motel.  It's a quaint town.  As we drove through, we finally saw a tourist office.  We parked, and the lady there fortunately had a state map for us!!  What a relief.  We walked around the town, but it was getting late and we were tired.

Unfortunately, Wes has a cold which developed on Tuesday.  We returned to the room and stayed there for the evening with him having a drippy nose and a cough.
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Friday morning, we drove to Clearwater Beach.  It's a town on a barrier island just across the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater.  What is amazing is the amount of development there.  It is lined with huge hotels and apartment buildings.  We parked the car and walked out to the wide beach which consists of beautiful white sand and has very clear (I see where the town got its name), turquoise-colored water.   We walked maybe a mile down the beach watching swimmers and sunbathers,.  It was funny to see a woman surprised by a stingray we had seen that swam by her before continuing through the clear waters.  At the end of the beach, we returned to the car by walking down the main street.

We continued driving down the island and across to Sand Key Island south of it.  Eventually, we to the mainland and spent much of the afternoon at Heritage Park.  We hiked a trail through the mostly pine forests with trees often draped with Spanish moss.  One interesting sight was a big turtle lying just at the entrance to his hole in the ground watching the walkers and joggers go by on the trail.  We then toured Heritage Village, an open-air museum of historical buildings from around the area.  The houses were mostly furnished with antiques from the time of their construction.  There was an old store stocked with items it would have sold years ago.  The store building actually was a combination of a store, a barber shop, a post office, and a garage.  Parked in front was a beautifully restored Ford Thunderbird from years ago, and in the garage were a Model T car and a Model TT delivery truck.  We also saw a railroad station, a church, a school, etc.

After Heritage Village, we toured the nearby Florida Botanical Gardens.  Although not very large, they had very nice sections.  One interesting one was of climbing vines.  I don't think I've ever noticed such a section in a botanical garden before.  We sat on a bench inside a special wedding garden and watched the butterflies and a bumble bee enjoying the nectar from the flowering plants there.

Since Wes was still ill and it was after 16:00, we returned to the room for the rest of the evening.  It seemed that his cold was beginning to improve some.  His nose wasn't running as much, so we are hoping he will feel better tomorrow.  In the meantime, I am washing my hands a lot, trying to keep him from touching too many things, doing anything I can do for him to keep him from spreading germs (I made his waffle at breakfast this morning and got him his cereal and yogurt), etc.