The first thing we did was headed over a BIG bridge over to St. Petersburg. Here is a picture of us getting to the bridge.
The bridge spans Tampa Bay and St. Pete’s is on the other side of Tampa Bay from the city of Tampa. It’s a big bridge, about 10 miles long. When you start seeing all of the warning signs to check your gas level before entering the bridge you should worry! But I went out of the box and agreed to go over the bridge!
Maura and I, aside from being friends, are also distant cousins. We have another cousin that lives in St. Pete’s. As soon as we crossed the bridge, Maura called Joe to see if he was working. Unfortunately, he was, but we didn’t let that stop us from stopping at his work to say hi! Luckily, he was able to spend a little time with us and we exchanged hugs and had a nice little chat. He was booked up for tonight, but we are going to try to hook up tomorrow for lunch.
Since Joe had to work, we went back to our adventure. After all, we were on vacation!
We stopped for lunch, then drove around and looked around town. We came across the beautiful park in the middle of town that was small but so quaint. There was a round pond in the middle of the park that had a gorgeous fountain in the center. For as many pictures as I've taken today, I didn't take any of the fountain. Duh. But, as we were looking at the water, we noticed things sticking up from the water. There was one thing that between the two of us we can’t decide what it was. But, we did see quite a few turtles in the water! Here is a picture of the turtles:
Maura and I, aside from being friends, are also distant cousins. We have another cousin that lives in St. Pete’s. As soon as we crossed the bridge, Maura called Joe to see if he was working. Unfortunately, he was, but we didn’t let that stop us from stopping at his work to say hi! Luckily, he was able to spend a little time with us and we exchanged hugs and had a nice little chat. He was booked up for tonight, but we are going to try to hook up tomorrow for lunch.
Since Joe had to work, we went back to our adventure. After all, we were on vacation!
We stopped for lunch, then drove around and looked around town. We came across the beautiful park in the middle of town that was small but so quaint. There was a round pond in the middle of the park that had a gorgeous fountain in the center. For as many pictures as I've taken today, I didn't take any of the fountain. Duh. But, as we were looking at the water, we noticed things sticking up from the water. There was one thing that between the two of us we can’t decide what it was. But, we did see quite a few turtles in the water! Here is a picture of the turtles:
You can see the both of them about in the middle of the picture, one right over the other. The lower one you can kinda see the outline of the body in the water, but the shadows hide the body of the upper one.
This park had a gorgeous tree on the one side. This tree had to be a good 30 feet around and 80 feet high. The top was full of green leaves but hanging from the branches were these rope like growths. Some of the “ropes” would twist themselves into knots and some would grow straight down. It was awe inspiring just to stand beneath this tree. Here are some pictures of the tree trunk and the ropes coming down. Unfortunately, I couldn’t back up far enough to get a picture of the whole tree.
This park had a gorgeous tree on the one side. This tree had to be a good 30 feet around and 80 feet high. The top was full of green leaves but hanging from the branches were these rope like growths. Some of the “ropes” would twist themselves into knots and some would grow straight down. It was awe inspiring just to stand beneath this tree. Here are some pictures of the tree trunk and the ropes coming down. Unfortunately, I couldn’t back up far enough to get a picture of the whole tree.
Here is a picture of a lizard on the tree! He is pretty much right smack dab in the middle of the shot. Anywhere there is ANY vegetation, you will find these lizards. They range from about three inches in length from nose to the tip of their tail to maybe six or seven inches. They are awesome! I keep catching movement out of the corners of my eyes which is scaring the crap out of me but they are still awesome little things!
When we walked to the back of the tree, we saw what I think was an Ibis. It was digging into the vegetation at the bottom of the tree for bugs. He wasn’t camera shy and he wasn’t too people shy. Here’s a couple of what I think is an Ibis.
From here we went to St. Pete’s Beach. It is hotter than Hades down here, but when you’re this close to the Gulf of Mexico, you HAVE to stop to look at it! Maura actually took her shoes off and went walking in the water a little but since I head sneakers on, I just left them on and passed on the dipping of the toes.
It was pretty overcast today but it was still gorgeous to be out on the white beaches watching the majesty of the water. Here are a couple of pictures of the Gulf, and on one of them you can even see the parasailers out over the water.
Coming back across the bridge after our day at the beach, you can sort of see downtown Tampa in the haze of the overcast day towards the left of the frame.
We took a rest at the hotel and got our legs back under us and got some air conditioning all around us. The hell with Al Gore, after a day at the beach in 90+ degree weather with HIGH humidity, we turned the A/C down to 65 and cooled off.
Before the day was over, we had another rousing round of Centipede then went out looking for dinner. We even found time to stop at Pier 1 and Wal Mart! Is this a great vacation or what?!
For now, that is it. I will be back to blogging when I get home and am able to write about our next adventure. And, believe me, there will be more adventures!
For now, that is it. I will be back to blogging when I get home and am able to write about our next adventure. And, believe me, there will be more adventures!
1 comment:
Party on Ree and Maura! Enjoy your vacation
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