Blogs from St Petersburg, Florida, United States, North America - page 4

Well, I'm just about packed now, and I'm ready to get up bright and early tomorrow morning to head to Tampa International Airport, then it's off to Miami, and then finally San Jose, Costa Rica. The past few days have been spent busily running around getting everything packed, as well as getting all the necessary preparations done. Today I had to go to the local FedEx Kinkos. I don't have a printer, so I needed to print out all the travel documents. Unfortunately, it's 80 cents a page to print, and I printed out my 20-page travel insurance policy... grr... Needless to say, I got everything done for about 30 bucks. You know, with that kind of money, I could have bought a printer myself! So then it was on to making sure everything fit in ... read more

Well, this will be the last entry. We took turns staying up all night and standing watch, and here we are, less than an hour from home. It seems like just yesterday we were packing up and heading out. Hard to believe that 16 days have passed! We had a great time, and hope all of our friends enjoyed viewing our blog! ... read more

The city had ceased to move. All was silent as the little silver sedan buzzed down the lamppost lit road. I looked upon my mother in law. A single gray strand stood out against her silky black hair as the street lights danced across us. She said nothing. There wasn't much to say at two am, and it was a simple silence, interrupted only by the switching of gears. She turned into the gas station. The little gray car would need to be filled in order to make the trip to the Orlando airport. My heart was beating rapidly as I got out of the car to do the job. A thick cloud of mosquitoes hung over my head, buzzing in sync with the droning hum of the yellowish halogen lights. I cringed and smacked and ... read more

We drove down to St. Pete's Beach from Tallahassee yesterday and found a good place right on the beach with a kitchen. The highway down here has about 50 miles of strip mall like Surrey as you pass by Tampa. Farther north, there are many miles of 50's style towns, almost ghost towns. Kind of strange to see the contrast. St Pete's beach is brilliant white and we are on the Gulf side. Our place has two pools, hot tub and it seems to be set up for 'long stays'- it is called Alden Resort'. We plan to stay until at least Wednesday.... read more

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 ... read more