CLEARWATER, FLORIDA Jan 2-14, 2014

One thing we really really like about this area just west of Tampa is the beautiful Pinellas Bike Path and trail.  It runs for miles through parks and wooded areas rarely taking us on streets. Just across from our park we can jump on the trail and ride in just about every direction. 

 There are lakes and water everywhere we ride and always so many birds! The boardwalks are a great place to look for gators.

 Lovely oak groves usually are the setting for frisbee golf courses.  These Disk Courses are in many parks and we always see groups out playing.  They carry a shoulder satchel full of varying discs for all the challenges of the course, played much like golf.

 Its always fun to pull off the path and watch.

 Our ride that day took us to Safety Harbor for lunch at the Nantucket Bucket. Safety Harbor is a darling small town and Emily's new home. We sat on the deck for lunch and watched the sky change from clear and sunny to cloudy and windy...a true sign that a storm is coming soon. We finished lunch, got back on the bikes and made it home in 40 minutes just beating a downpour!

 Saturday, Jan 4, we drove over to USF, University of Southern Florida (not San Francisco), to watch the men's basketball team play.

 A fun game and great way to spend a gray Saturday afternoon. The game was played in the newly refurbished Sun Dome;  USF Bulls 58,  Houston 67.

 Sunday the weather warmed up and another perfect day to explore more of the bike trail. This time we drove the bikes up near Tarpon Springs to begin a new part of the trail.  The trail passes through lots of small towns and these decorated signs let you know where you are...this one is for Palm Harbor.

 Our plan was to meet up with Emily and Steve at a wonderful restaurant, Ozona Blue. The restaurant over looks a pool and jacuzzi and since it was such a warm afternoon we sat down by the pool. The food is great and happy hour goes all afternoon.

Emmy and Steve came in their VW bus just in case we needed a ride back to our car, so thoughtful.

 Paul and Steve moved up to the bar area to watch some football, Emmy and I stayed down in the shade by the pool.

 By 4:00 it was time for us to head back. Such a perfect afternoon and 16 miles of biking, YES!!!

 Another afternoon we did some errands and ended up at Molly Goodheads for lunch in the teenie town of Ozona.  Too cold for sitting out front but a great lunch at the bar.

 The weather during our month has been mostly cold, wet and windy which means long pants, scarves and boots for me...not quite like last year. And all the time I keep checking the weather in California and they're having a tremendous heat wave!!!!

 When we do get a warmish afternoon we try to get to the beach.  Just about 2 miles from us is a beach along a causeway where we can drive onto the small sandy road and put chairs up for a little time in the sun.  So far we haven't had very many warm afternoons for the beach, so disappointing.



 Then the weather changes and we are back to our blue skies and colder air, so we take walks along the waterfront.

 Emily works only 10 minutes from our favorite Olde Bay Cafe so we try to meet up with her for a sunset there when we can.  Otherwise she stops on her way home from work for a visit and glass of wine here at the RV Park.  So nice to see her almost every day, but our month is going by too quickly!

 Shrimp and drinks on the patio

 Sunset and dusk setting in.

 Near us in Oldsmar is a HUGE flea market. Paul went to check it out one Saturday morning and met a couple who make covers for outdoor furniture so he had them make a new cover for our bikes to protect them against the constant rain and salt air here. It turned out great!!!

 I used my AAA Guide book to see what other interesting places we could visit here in Tampa and this was listed: The Tampa Theater.  It was built in 1926 and has been an active theater through all these years.  It has an incredible interior, a must see for any Tampa visitor. It is used for all kinds of performances, not only movies. One I wish we'd be around for is coming up late February.  The Florida Orchestra will play while a Charlie Chaplin silent film is shown, that would be too fun!



 So, Monday night we drove into Tampa to enjoy the theater and see the movie Inside Lleywn Davis.  We got there a half hour early just to walk around the inside of the theater to see the amazing design. This is the lobby, original to 1926.

 And this is the entrance to the Men's restroom. So elaborate!

 I took some photos of interior from our seats in the balcony, it's hard to show the incredible architecture with my photo.  So glad we got to experience it all.

 But the most amazing part of the evening is when the Wurlitzer Organ comes up from the floor and the organist plays before the movie begins.  That night he played all Stephen Foster tunes, including Way Down Upon the Suwanee River which became Florida's state song.

Tuesday evening we had tickets to see the Broadway Musical, Porgy and Bess at the Straz Center in Tampa. We went over early so we could enjoy the fantastic happy hour selections at The Fly Bar only blocks from the theater. The atmosphere is very chic and trendy, open air tables out front and a rooftop bar area on an upper deck, just a fun place!  Our table was next to a large sculpture of Dali's Melting Clock, a favorite of mine. The show was excellent, (even with the very obnoxious women talking behind us)! Love finding great tickets on Craig's List and getting a chance to see live theater.


Another two weeks here then we leave the RV park and get back to our state park campgrounds. It's fun to be so close to Emily and also have the advantage of city life activities. While here we've had access to so many things, so we've had the body work done on the car from that flying experience I had on the car dolly, and we had our front chairs in the RV reupholstered and updated. They turned out beautifully. We love being able to live a city life AND a country life!

2013 COMES TO A CLOSE December 26-Jaunary 1, 2014

Our plan for the last week of 2013 was to drive across Florida leaving the Atlantic and going to the Gulf side near Clearwater, FL. We would spend the next month near my sister, Emily. It's a little less than 200 miles across the state and we stopped half way for an overnight at the Lake Louisa State Park, just 15 miles west of Orlando. The park has 3 different lakes amid rolling hills and beautiful landscape. I had reserved a perfect spot with wonderful views of the lake. I love the way Florida parks always have such large lovely campsites and usually raked and cleaned ready for our arrival.

We walked out on the boardwalk for sunset and a great view of the lake.

The water level was down but still had lots of families fishing

A nice evening's stay and then up early Friday morning to pack up and get on the road again. While Paul finishes the last of the clean up, I like to ride my bike to the front gate and meet up with him there. This time it was about a 2 mile ride a little chilly but so beautiful. He hooked my bike onto the back and off we went.

We arrived at Clearwater Travel Resort mid afternoon after a slow drive on all back roads. When we're not pressed for time or long distance drives we love to find the two lane back roads rather than driving the interstates or freeways, so we meandered our way west and had a wonderful drive. We checked in for the month at site 129A on a grassy field.  As soon as we had our site set up PK was busy giving the RV a good washing.  With all the rain and dirt on the roads it really needed it, and this park allows you to clean your rig at your campsite which isn't always the case.

New Year's Eve we spent with Emily and Steve in the darling town of Dunedin. As we did last year, we started with sunset at the Olde Bay Cafe overlooking the harbor. Dinner was at the Pan and Vino Restaurant, drinks and fun New Year's traditions outside at Casa Tina and music at Rosie's before calling it a night. A great way to end another wonderful year!

New Year's Day was time to watch the Rose Parade and football games and just relax! Nice to know we wouldn't be moving for the next four weeks.

CHRISTMAS IN ST. AUGUSTINE December 18-25, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS, FLORIDA STYLE!!!

I saw this little guy at the Home Depot, the cutest little Christmas alligator ever; it just makes me smile every time I see him. So, he'll be my Merry Christmas Greeter this year.

Our third traveling Christmas was spent near St Augustine, Fl. A darling city, America's oldest town, and one we keep coming back to visit. The city is all decked out for Christmas with lights EVERYWHERE! 

We walked around the first evening we were there, just to enjoy the Christmas spirit  The city was crowded and one of it's trademark tourist attractions, the open air train tours, were running all over town with very happy revelers singing along the way. It was a fun way to get in the holiday spirit for sure.

We camped for five nights at the Elks Lodge near St. Augustine Beach.  A fantastic lodge with wonderful people and a great wooded camping area behind the lodge.  We had the whole place to ourselves! Quiet, peaceful and a super location for going to the beach on our bikes and enjoying events at the Amphitheater right next door. The city had two big events planned for the weekend before Christmas and that was one reason we decided to spend a few days there.

The Elks Lodge backs up to the beautiful Anastasia State Park. With a short ride through the back gate we were in the park and had the afternoon at the beach.

 It was a little chilly at the beach but so pretty! Even though there was a strong wind blowing several people were out in kayaks and canoes.  The Matanzas River winds through the park and beyond the sand dunes is the Atlantic.

We rode our bikes on over to the beach where the white sand goes on forever!!

I wanted Paul to show me his new beard, but all I got was this funny guy in funny positions!

The beach was pretty deserted, too windy and cold for any sun bathers. We hung out for a while out of the wind, then headed back to our campsite and a wonderful prime rib dinner at the lodge later that evening.

Saturday morning I went to the fantastic Farmer's Market held each Saturday in the parking lot of the amphitheater and right next door to us, so very convenient. I filled the refrigerator with all kinds of fruits and vegetables then went back to the market to listen to some music and buy a couple little Christmas gifts. I LOVE this market!

That evening we went back to the amphitheater to watch one of our favorite Christmas movies, It's A Wonderful Life on the big screen.  Again, beautiful lights everywhere! 

Sunday we took a little bike ride in the neighborhood and came upon this historical site of the remains of an old Spanish chimney and well, probably from a Spanish barracks built for the master masons who  were involved in the construction of Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

Sunday night we returned to the St. Augustine Amphitheater to enjoy a holiday program, A Celtic Christmas.  It was performed by the Community Choir and Youth Chorus with some very different pieces.

We lit up our little motorhome too, though it's hard to see much in this photo.

Our gift to ourselves this Christmas was a kayak to use in the warm waters of Florida. It's unique...a tandem snap together kayak so that it fits easily on the back of the motorhome for traveling. It makes either a tandem or a single kayak depending on how many pieces you snap together, pretty cool.

One of Paul's 'fix it" items was to power wash the underside of the motorhome to get rid of a layer of rust before respraying with new paint. He got up early Monday morning and rented a super power washer, donned his yellow rain suit and had fun!

He was soaking wet with dirt all over, but so happy.

It was our last night at the lodge so after all the power washing was done and PK was cleaned up, we went over for drinks and stayed for a tasty spaghetti dinner.

Tuesday morning, Dec. 24th, we packed up and drove a short 50 miles back to Gamble Rogers State Park for the next two nights. I was so happy we would be waking up at the beach on Christmas morning!!  This was our first Christmas to be so be so far away from all friends and family, but we had so many fantastic memories of past Christmas times and a fun new experience for us this year.

Wednesday was Christmas morning and Santa had found us!!! What fun surprises!

After presents and breakfast we rode our bikes on the bike path from the campground to Highbridge Park a couple of miles south. There was a lovely hike through the oak woods along the Smith Creek. Again...alligator warning signs along the route.

Came across this amazing mushroom, or I think that's what it is...

and once again, the Matanzas River/Inter-coastal Waterway.  Always beautiful to see.

We spent the rest of Christmas Day at the beach then as the wind came up and the temps started to drop we went inside for dinner. Our weather was changing, a good time to head west the next morning.