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Published: December 7th 2007
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Fort DeSoto State Park, St. Petersburg, Fl
We have waterfront “property” amid palm trees and very natural surroundings at this lovely state park. Doing nothing; and doing it well was today’s theme. Wes cooked a memorable breakfast on the grill and then followed the advice of Rhys (Reese), the interesting young South African whom we met at the Enterprise car rental store and headed for North Beach. It’s a dream beach - softest white sand, good shelling (our favorites were miniature augers and “olives” and sand dollars). The sand dollars were the color of wet sand. We were surprised to learn that they are brownish and velvety when living; not at all like the chalky white specimens from the shell shop. There was hardly a soul in sight. However, a nervy flock of seagulls made their presence known by plucking Wes’s picnic sandwich right out of his hand.
On Wednesday evening we had great seafood at Hurricane’s in Pass-A-Grille (a great historic old Florida sort of place on St. Pete’s Beach). Hurricane’s has an upper verandah with a great sunset view; but we ate in the dining room (because of wind gusts); but the food was delish. Wes loved
the golden marguerittas, conch soup, and grouper Alfredo. I shared my Porto-Shrimp (garlic shrimp in a Portobello mushroom) appetizer and seafood patter with a huge portion of flounder with him. We brought plenty of left overs back to the motor home to be heated up next day.
On Thursday, we headed for Treasure Island and wound up at John’s Pass - we had gone through here by boat with Mitzie and Jack two years ago and it was fun to see it from land. It’s a fun, touristy spot with a board walk, nice looking restaurants, a few shops (Wes bought a new swim suit), and all sorts of boats for charter or themed rides (Pirates anyone?). We swooped into Madeira Beach across the way. Pretty built up with condos; but a very nice beach. Then we sampled Treasure Island - the beach is beautiful - a bit different as there are dunes interspersed throughout the very wide beach - like islands or an oasis. Treasure Island is also very developed a la condo! We continued on south through the St. Pete’s beach area back to Pass-A-Grille - which we LOVE. The residential community is low profile, high end
and very, very appealing. It’s a little funky and “old Florida” with restaurants on the inland waterway side as well as on the Gulf of Mexico. We had a pitcher of Sangria and shared grouper bites and smoked grouper spread on the deck of Sea Critters. Delish! Also took a look at the restaurant, Wharf, next door, and would stop here again. We returned the rental car to Enterprise (LOVE Enterprise as they do a cool pick up and delivery service) and got back to The Schooner at Fort DeSoto in time to catch a glorious sun set. Tomorrow it’s on to Silver Lakes, an RV/Golf resort between Naples and Marco Polo. Stay tuned.
More than ever, we are learning the importance of listening to locals for the best advice about attractions, etc. For example, in Charleston; we would never NEVER have tasted shrimp & grits without the recommendation of a couple we met on the shuttle ride from the camp gound. The same couple sent us to the WONDERFUL Saturday Farmer’s Market and directed us to the Crepe booth for an outstanding breakfast. Thank you, thank you, thank you! The ranger at Fort DeSoto steered us to Pass-A-Grille
- again we wouldn’t have turned that way without her suggestion. And if Rhys from Enterprise hadn’t recommended North Beach at Fort DeSoto, we might have settled for a nice, but not exceptional, beach! I also learned how to wade in the water and fish for crabs using two poles, a traverse line, and a long line to tie a chicken leg (bait) to; just by listening to a lady I met in the pool in St. Aug. Very cool! Can’t wait to try it! We did have a cab driver who shook his bible (leather bound with a zipper) at us as we huddled in the back seat while he went on and on. It was a VERY long trip!
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Sande
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Invasion
We loved Ft. DeSoto State Park also, although our motorhome was invaded by Argentine ants. You do have to be extremely careful that you don't park under tree limbs. While we had so many ants invade our RV, the tenters next to us had no trouble at all. Just watch where you park.