Day 4 (February 15, 2016): Alas, the weekend is done...

One can't expect a getaway weekend to last forever.  Such is life!  We woke to cloudy skies and felt blessed to have had three totally sunny days for our short holiday.  We left the Holiday Inn at 9:30AM, stopped for a breakfast croissant at Burger King, and then set off find our off-airport Fox Rent-a-Car outlet in Tampa.  

On the way, we passed George M. Steinbrenner Field, home field of the Tampa Yankees and spring training home of the New York Yankees. We also passed Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buchaneers NFL team.

Home of the Tampa Bay Buchaneers

We dropped our rental, took the shuttle to the Tampa International Airport, and were at our gate by 11AM.  Our flight boarded within 45 minutes, left early, and arrived 20 minutes early back home.  

Our Westjet Boeing 737-700 nonstop to Halifax 

Not bad for winter travel!  And to top it off, the car didn't have a speck of snow on it. We had expected it to be buried!

The flight was only half full, so Pam and I had a row to ourselves in the back.  We pre-ordered a great meal and, as all the pay-per-view movies were offered for free, we watched "Our Brand is Crisis", starring Sandra Bullock.

For $11, economy class can be like it used to be, 20 years ago!

We've made many trips to Florida, but this was our first exploring Tampa Bay.  A thoroughly enjoyable weekend, easy travel, and even some rest! 

A visual lay-of-the-land on Tampa, St.Petersburg, Clearwater and the barrier islands 

Day 3 (February 14, 2016): Valentine's Day in the South

OK, so it hasn't been the warmest time to be in Florida, but it sure has been sunny.  And today actually made it into the low 70s.  We started by driving across Tampa Bay to downtown Tampa, where we did the River Walk along the Hillsborough River.  Tampa has to be the cleanest city we have ever seen.  And the River Walk is one of the nicest city walks anywhere.  

Gators in downtown Tampa?!

Tall ship permanently moored along the Tanpa Riverwalk

Historic bridge along the Tampa Riverwalk 

Silver turrets stand out at the University of Tanpa, across the Hillsborough River

Downtown Tampa skyline

Not many North American cities have an electric trolley system left in place, but Tampa does.  After our walk, we took the trolley from its starting point on Whiting Street to the very end, to Ybor City, the historic ethnocultural section of Tampa.  Along the way, we passed the amazing convention center, Amalie Arena (home of the Tampa Bay Lightning) and the cruise port.

Whiting Street stop on the TECO Streetcar System

Inside the streetcar. Looks old, but twas made in 2000!

At 1PM, we left Tampa and drove on the 1-275 south to the barrier islands on the peninsula. Essentially, these are 30 miles of sand islands on the outer edge of the peninsula.  We started at Fort Desoto Park at the very southern tip, with its pier, World War II fort, and beaches.  From there, we drove a little north to St Pete Beach, where Pam had taken her first Florida vacation with her family as a kid.  We walked the powdery, wide sand beach there for an hour.

The amazing Sunshine Skyway Bridge from a distance connects the peninsula to Sarasota and area, further south 

The pier at Fort Desoto Park 

WWII Bunkers at Fort DeSoto

The wide powdery beach at St Pete 

By 5PM, we were back at the hotel in Clearwater.  On our River Walk in Tampa earlier in the day, we passed the Sheraton.  We noticed they had a restaurant overlooking the river, so we went in and made a rez for Valentine's Dinner.  Our rez for 7PM, but we were a bit late, due to an accident on the interstate.

The dinner was amazing:  seafood chowder, followed by scallops from -- where else -- Digby, Nova Scotia!  The main course was a massive lobster tail from Maine, with jumbo shrimp, a filet of beef, and palenta.  It was all topped off with a chocolate dessert.  By 9PM, we were finished -- just in time to get caught in a post-Tampa Bay Lightning traffic snarl.

The rose was compliments of the Sheraton, not me... Wish I could take the credit!

Our Maine lobster tail

There must be a lot of Canucks visit this area, as we actually had a billboard next to our hotel advertising flights to Toronto and Halifax!  Made us feel close to home. 

All in all, a great Valentine's Day, and a thoroughly enjoyable last day in Florida.

Day 2 (February 13, 2016): Dolphins and sand like flour

It was a late rise this morning, due to a poor sleep, as we could hear drag racing going on into the wee hours from a local race track.  Anyway by 9:45am we were finally up and coherent enough to have made it to a Cracker Barrel Restaurant for an excellent breakfast.  No trouble to tell we're in the South, as biscuits were offered instead of toast, and grits were on the menu!

We then set out to enjoy the northwest of the peninsula.  Clearwater is widely considered to have the best beach in the area and one of the best in the United States.  So we headed straight there!  But before the beach itself, we stopped at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where Winter the Dolphin lives.  Winter is the dolphin that was rescued, had its tail amputated, was rehabilitated, and went on to star in a Hollywood movie, called 'Dolphin Tale'.  It was great to see all the rehabilitation and rescue work they do for dolphins, turtles, stingrays, and other sea creatures.

   Giving a turtle emergency care. 

    in captivity since 2002, Nicholas 

    the dolphin was up to a great

    show!

   Winter the Dolphin

    Sting ray

From the Aquarium, it was on to the beach.  The wind was a-blowin' and it was cold!  We had planned to sit on the beach for a few hours, but it was just too chilly.  Pier 60 is the name of the pier in the heart of Clearwater Beach.  We walked to the end of the pier and walked a long section of the beach instead of sitting.  

    Entrance to Pier 60

    Clearwater Beach

    Pier 60

    Wish we could say we made this!

    Clearwater Beach with its power-

    fine sand

    Pelicans on Pier 60. They did NOT 

    pay the admission fee!

Lonely Planet recommended a seafood place called Frenchy's, so we tracked it down for a clam chowder lunch.  The waiter was a Canadian wannabee -- he knew all the Canadian beers and was proud of it.  We aren't beer drinkers, so he knew infinitely more about Canadian beers than we do.  We did a lot of nodding and threw in a lot of 'u-huhs' and 'wows' to make ourselves sound knowledgeable of our own Canadian brews.

From Clearwater Beach, we drove north to the community of Dunedin, and then over a causeway to Honeymoon Island State Park.  The island boasts some great beaches (again, the cold wind prevented any beach lounging!), hiking trails, an interpretive center, and lots of birds and wildlife.

    Typical of life in Dunedin 

   Setting off on a walking trail - 

   beware the rattle snakes, there are 

   lots, apparently!

   Osprey in its nest

  Great horned owl high in a pine tree 

By 5:30pm, we were back at the hotel.  Last night I mentioned how we always visit Applebee's when we come to the USA.  Olive Garden is another must-do on all American trips, and tonight we did just that.  We have been highly impressed at the genuine kindness of all our restaurant wait-staff,  The Olive Garden waitress was no exception.

All told, it was a day of many sights, wildlife, lots of walking, and good meals.  Good night from the Sunshine State!

Day 1 (February 12, 2016): Two Canucks in search of a beach!

It's been a rough haul for both of us since Christmas, with loads of work stress. So we decided to take advantage of the new Heritage Day long weekend in Nova Scotia and head south. 

We took off from Halifax at 8am today, on a packed flight bound for Orlando. 

Leaving the depth of winter behind, we arrived in Florida ahead of schedule, at 10:20am. That was even in spite of having to be de-iced -- note the green-goo-covered wing!

An easy flight, except that I spilled a full coffee all over myself. What a clutz!

    Downtown Orlando

The plan was never to stay in Orlando at all. We simply flew there, as the nonstop options out of Halifax were limited. Rather, it was Tampa Bay we had chosen to spend our weekend.  We picked up our Fox Rental Car -- a brand new Nissan Sentra -- and started the drive towards Clearwater. A car crash on I-4 put us in a 40-minute traffic jam just to the east of Tampa, but we eventually made it to our Holiday Inn by 2:30pm. 

Shortly after, we set off for the beach at Indian Rocks. The sand is nice, but there are lots of shells. It was wonderful just to be able to walk on a beach in February in 20C. By Florida standards, 20C is nothing great. But the State has had a considerable cold spell and today marked the turnaround. So we felt very lucky to have had such a warm day. 

After our beach excursion, we drove back to Clearwater. As we are staying near the St. Petersburg-Clearwater Airport, I did a run along the airport perimeter fence. And then we headed off to Applebee's for supper - it's our little

American tradition, to eat there when we visit the US. It did not disappoint!

Good night from Florida, where dozens of billboards tout lawyers eager to help you sue the pants off anyone who rear-ends your bumper or causes you to slip on a wet floor, etc. 

   Hey you! Wanna sue?! We'll show 

    you how.