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.