Clearwater Beach

Our friend, Mary, invited Carol and me to visit her home in Clearwater Beach, Florida. She mentioned that Allegiant Air usually had some good flights out of GSP airport in Greenville, SC. That was an understatement. A one-way flight to St Petersburg, Florida was $27.99! They did add some fees for things I could have declined, but we still got a great rate for a very convenient way to get to Florida.

Mary is an avid scrapbooker and we have known each other a really long time. A big part of the fun of this trip was going thru her scrapbooks of our childhood and then watching videos of past trips and reunions. Our lives were literally flashing before our eyes and we both realized how much fun we had growing up in Shelby. She had a scrapbook page with the invitation to a party that my parents had at their house in Lattimore when we were in high school. It included a picture of me dancing with my dad. And she had a get well card that I had given her with little kittens on it. The funny part was that I had written on the card that I knew she wasn't sick, but I thought she'd like the card because she liked kittens! We were always kind of silly like that and had alot of laughs over the years.

That part had NOT changed. We had a ton of big laughs during this trip.

The first thing you notice about the Tampa Bay area is that there is alot of water - bays, rivers, the Gulf of Mexico - and there are alot of bridges connecting everything together. The second thing you notice is that there is a tremendous cultural diversity in and around Tampa. By the end of the trip, we felt like we had visited alot of different countries.

We started out visiting Tarpon Springs which was originally settled by Greek sponge divers. We had lunch at a restaurant called Hellas. We sampled spanakopita, then hummus, tzatziki and feta dips. We tried something called sagnaki which is a baked cheese that you spread over bread. They recommend that you wash sagnaki down with a summertime greek white wine from a grape called Moschofilera. All I can say is "Oopaaa!"

Then we had a great American/Irish hamburger at the Fitzpatrick's home with really good homemade potato salad and deviled eggs.

David had encouraged me to try and find a Cuban restaurant that his father loved in Tampa, so Friday for lunch we headed to the Cuban district called Ybor, and found The Columbia Restaurant. The Columbia opened in 1905 and is the oldest Spanish restaurant in Florida. It is beautiful with old dark wood, lots of great photographs, beautiful spanish tiles and furniture. There is alot of history at The Columbia and the food was outstanding. It's no wonder 'D' loved this place. Carol discovered that she did like Cuban food after all.

We wandered around Ybor where the Tampa cigar factories were headquartered. The old Tampa cigar factories have been redeveloped and there was a cuban coffee shop roasting coffee beans. The smell in the air was wonderful.

Next, we drove around Tampa, sometimes knowing where we were and sometimes not, but we eventually got to the University of Tampa which was originally an old Russian style hotel. We felt like we had been from Greece to Cuba to Russia all in one day!

But it didn't stop there. Saturday we headed to a Florida state park called Honeymoon Beach which is a wild undeveloped area with palm trees, sea grapes, and with signs that say 'watch out for rattlesnakes'. When you get to the beach, you see beautiful turquoise blue water and white sandy beaches and no development. We could have been on an island in the Bahamas. The beach was fun and we had a picnic, watched kite surfers and enjoyed good conversation. Then we headed to Clearwater Beach to watch the sun set over the Gulf of Mexico. For North Carolina natives, we are used to seeing the sun RISE over the ocean. To see the sun SET is an unusual sight and, in Clearwater, they have made this into a party. Every night at sunset, they have live music, good food, lots of people all waiting for the big event. The sun did not disappoint us.

We headed to an Asian Seafood restaurant (Islandway Grill) for a late dinner and definitely the best Sushi I have ever had. It had really fresh ingredients and it was wrapped in soy paper so it wasn't slimy and tough to chew. Mary discovered that she did like sushi after all.

We all learned that we like jicama and gobo. But the day was still not done, because Mary wanted to take us to Dunedin which was originally settled by Scottish people. They have alot of Scottish restaurants and traditions, but we were on a mission to see the Peacocks in the Scottish cemetery. Never mind that we were running out of steam and it was close to midnight. We drove slowly around the cemetery and then Carol started talking about 'haints' and the hackles started rising on our necks. We saw a rabbit and a 'possum, but no peacocks or haints. We made a quick and hilarious exit from the Scottish cemetery.

Recapping the trip, we realized we had experienced the cultures of Greece, Cuba, Tampa Bay, Russia, the Bahamas, Japan, Scotland and the Fitzpatricks Irish home!

We had an early Sunday morning flight and while talking with another passenger, we learned he had booked his flight for $9.95. I don't know how they do this, but it's like you can't hardly afford NOT to go. I'm just saying.