DRIVE DOWN GULF BLVD

Sunday, October 18 – Even though it was overcast this morning, we wanted to checkout Clearwater Beach, Florida, today. What a beautiful beach! Sand like sugar, plenty of parking (Although it was $2/hour.), girls playing beach volleyball, cabanas for rent, and the beautiful Gulf of Mexico to swim in. We only stayed for about an hour. Long enough to walk out onto the pier and squish our feet in the sand.

We then drove down the beach highway through all the small tourist towns to view the high rise hotels that will soon be packed with snowbirds. There's plenty of places to stay, a never ending supply of restaurants, some neat looking bars, and miles of beautiful beach to soak up the sun. You could almost hear the cash registers ringing up the sales.

We stopped in Madeira. This seaport town is the destination for many tourists looking for a place to do some shopping.

Tons of souvenir shops, restaurants, and boats to hire for fishing or parasailing. We had a couple destinations in mind.

They have a really nice boardwalk.

First was the Florida winery and tasting room. We are looking to stock up on Florida wine for our summer wine tasting party. We tasted several samples and purchased one bottle.  Most Florida wine is made from fruit juices and not grapes. Most are just too sweet for our gang of tasters.

Our second destination was the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. We enjoyed a scrumptious lunch of Cajun shrimp and a couple skewers of grilled shrimp. Man-O-Man where they delicious! We hope to find a couple more nice seafood restaurants before leaving Florida.

Is that Forest in his running shoes or an imposter? Run Forrest Run!

Marsha finally got to see several pelicans. They were hanging around the docks and diving into the water for their own seafood lunch. She was a little disappointed she hadn't seen any yet. There were also several dolphins jumping around off-shore putting on a show for the visitors.

There is a huge draw bridge in Madeira. When it went up, everyone stopped to watch.

Another wonderful way to spend the day. We recommend this drive to anyone visiting the area.

We have moved on to Cedar Key for two days. We have one additional post for St. Petersburg to get current with our blog posts. 

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!