Blogs from St Petersburg, Florida, United States, North America

On the road again Perjantai kello 17.00 – lauantai kello 12.00 matkustettiin New yorkista Atlantan lentokentälle vuokraan autoo. Bussimatkan välipysähdykset oli Washingtonissa, Charlotessa ja Atlantan keskustassa, josta otettiin metro lentoasemalle. Pisin matka Washingtonista Charlotteen tehtiin yöllä ja saatiin kohtuulliset unet seittemän tunnin bussimatkan aikana. Koettiin olevamme autovuokraamolla jo niin pirteitä, että uskallettiin hypätä rattiin. Oltiin etukäteen varattu economy –luokan auto. Paikanpäällä vuokraaja anto meidän kuitenkin valita vapaasti kaikista rivin autoista meille sopivan. Innostuttiin vähän ja päätettiin amerikkahengessä ottaa tilavampi amerikanrauta dodge vm. 2012. tiedettiin kyseessä olevan jonkun asteinen bensasyöppö, mutta iso koko (nukkumista varten) ja amerikkahenkisyys viehätti siinä hetkessä. Lisäks ajateltiin, että uude... read more

The NEW Dali Museum headed the to-do list for this trip to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area. It opened in January 2011. The Dali is located at 1 Dali Boulevard, St. Petersburg, Florida. The Michelin Guide calls it “among the ten buildings to see before you die.” It's worthy of the accolade! Salvador Dali, one of the fathers of the Surrealism art movement and arguably one of the most complex and controversial artists of the 20th century, was born in Spain. The US was his second home. He attributed much of his fame and fortune to America and American themes like exploration and discovery by Columbus crop up frequently in the art. We had experienced Dali’s work in St. Petersburg previously at the "old" Dali Museum. I say “experienced” because, while intriguing, it takes some time (and ... read more

St. Petersburg likes to call itself the Sunshine City. It gets quite a lot. In 1910, the St. Petersburg Evening Independent newspaper instituted a famous offer that the paper would be free if it rained that day. In their seventy six years of publishing, they had to make good on the offer 296 times, less than once every three months! For obvious reasons, this city has attracted tourists since it was founded. St. Petersburg is also known as an arts destination. It has a large number of galleries. It also has two of the better art museums in Florida. These museums were my first targets for the day. The St. Petersburg Museum Of Fine Art was found... read more

We enjoyed our time here and have to say environment wise it was one of our favorite campgrounds. There was a large enough pond for Bob and Chris to take out the Porta Bote and fish and they had BINGO at the recreation center where Chris won a round which he was very excited about and we were excited as well as it gave us laundry money for the week.We had a neighbor from Alaska and another neighbor gave us directions to a manatee viewing center at the Tampa Electric Power Plant I wish that the photos were clearer of the manatees as there were many in view but they only surfaced briefly, afterwards we went to Goodson's strawberry farm for some fantastic strawberry shortcake. While here we also went to Busch Gardens in Tampa we ... read more

This is a return trip to Fort Desoto - interestingly this destination has the highest stastitics on the blog by almost 3-1. We love the water front campsites, the great bird watching, the award-winning beach, and the proximity to restaurants and attractions. We made our requisite stop at Billy's Crab House in Tierra Verde, on the access road to Fort Desoto Pinnellas County Park, for stones crabs and scallops. Stone crabs have just come in to season. They take a little work; but are very good - especially when served hot with drawn butter. A birthday party of 40 something fun people joined us at the third floor open air bar for a drink ($1.99 Margaritas) and cool music by a guy our age named Jeff playing and singing songs from our era. The Gulf of ... read more