More Florida Sun and Sand

It has been a wild and wacky couple of days. We left Carrabelle on Sunday about 9 a.m. knowing we would have a 5 hour drive ahead of us before reaching our next destination (which was to be Ja-Mar RV Park in Port Richey. We made good time and the sun was shining so the drive went pretty quickly. But when we got to the RV park they directed us to a spot that in NO WAY would fit the BP much less allow for backing in with narrow streets further congested with other residents cars and crap. We returned to the office and were redirected to a new spot. Doable size wise but...no water or power! Third spot (and you can only imagine how testy I am by now), again, micro-mini. At this point we got a refund and left, thinking we'd have no problem finding a spot down the road. We drove by a few (crappy), called a few (full) and finally at about 5 p.m. pulled into a park that had a spot (one left!!!) we could fit into. Problem seems to be, as stated by many parks, a lot of these were built before RV's got to be jumbo size. And the BP is no little mini-winni, that is for sure. At any rate, took this spot despite the fact that it is a complete mess of a park, bitching every second of the set up about this "crappy place" and how "I can't wait to get the hell out of here". May have even shed a few tears of self pity for being stuck in "the ghetto". What a spoiled brat.... this park is fine. It may not be of the caliber of our place in Carrabelle, but few RV parks could compete with that. On the PLUS side, neighbors are wonderful, park is quiet, and it is approximately 2 blocks from a bike path we didn't even know existed (and wouldn't have known if we hadn't ended up here).  The Pinellas Trail is a rail-to-trail that starts in Tarpon Springs and ends in downtown St. Petersburg. Some 35 miles long, flat as a pancake and running through some of the cutest little beach towns you'll ever see. How lucky were we???
First thing Monday, we hit the trail and took a southern route that leads to a spur going off to Honeymoon Island and State Park. GORGEOUS... We even hiked a trail and saw one Eagle and too many Osprey to count. Beautiful beaches, of course, as well.

Osprey eating a fish

After completing our tour of this little Island we continued down the trail to a town called Dunedin. A Scottish town that was in the midst of quite the shindig when we pulled in....Mitt Romney was speaking (it was the day before the Florida primary). Big f'in deal as far as we were concerned. Just meant everyone was downtown so we got a seat on the deck of a Marina-side restaurant and had a great lunch basking in the sun , looking at big boats and watching the birds play and beg! We returned home after our late lunch for some down-time at the Caladesi RV Park.

Dunedin Marina

Yesterday we used the gas powered transportation (ie...the BB) and drove the entire length of the "island" from Clearwater Beach to Indian Rocks Beach to Madeira Beach (and John's Pass) to Fort Desoto (which also has a lovely beach) at the most southern tip of this particular barrier island. Anyway,you can certainly tell...it was "beach day". And what a great day it was. 80+ degrees and that gorgeous sunshine made for the perfect day to hop beach to beach with a stop in John's Pass to eat lunch (again, outside, harbor-side) and watch the birds AND dolphins in the bay.

 We also stopped at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary and saw a lot of rescued and mating seabirds. Some there rehabbing and some there by choice. These birds are smart, they know where to get free fish!

Baby seabird (???)

Freeloaders

We ended the drive at Fort Desoto State Park which was set up as a defense for Tampa Bay around the time of the Spanish-American War. The had huge bunkers and cannons that remain on site. The park also features beautiful beaches and bike trails (we wished we had our bikes there). They also have a beautiful view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which connects St. Pete to the gulf shore around Bradenton.

We left about 9 a.m. and didn't get home until about 8. Lots of beach to see around here! Also stopped at our first Publix Grocery Store for much needed food supply.

Jeff at lunch

Today we got back on the bikes and headed north to Tarpon Springs. At the other end of the cultural spectrum, this is a VERY Greek Village. Back in the 1800's when the Greeks immigrated here, it made sense to do what they did back in the homeland. Sponge dive. Today, Tarpon Springs still supplies 90% of the worlds sea sponge's. Personally, I think they stink.

 But we did have a great ride to town and Gyro and Spankopita  at an authentic Greek,  marine-side cafe. After which we furthered our ride by going out to Fred Howard Park, which is also on an island (over a causeway) of the coast. Once again, beautiful day, gorgeous beach (this one actually pretty full of people). Had a perfect ride home (20 miles today!) and came across this garage sign. Just another "sign", that Jeff and I did the right thing by doing this tour...

(In the last two days we have also seen a Lisa's Cafe and Jeff's Jeweler. The "signs" just keep coming)