Recommend a visit to St Petersburg

I am lucky that I have friends that live in the area, but I still recommend to go over that way some day for a visit. The downtown area is ever changing with great restaurants and stores. They have lots of parks and museums too. My last trip was primarilty to see a Rays game, but I wanted to explore a little more than I have before. I arrived on a Friday afternoon. Teresa lives off of 62nd avenue North. It is away from the city life but a short drive and you can be downtown.

Our first excursion was to see the new condo of Tim Short. He has a place within walking distance of the center of the city. Here is a picture of Teresa and Tim in his new condo.

Teresa and Tim

Tim gave me a nice tour of the place, and we helped him unbox his birthday present, a new toaster oven for his kitchen. It filled the counter but fit perfectly. It was replacing an oven that was maybe 40 years old. Tim said there was a condo get-together on the roof so we headed up. There was a nice pool and views of both Tropicana field and Tampa bay.

Pool at Tim's condo

We had a glass of wine but were planning to go out to dinner so we skipped the hors d'ouevres.

Teresa and Tim on the roof

We headed down and walked the four blocks to Central Avenue where we went to the Iberian Rooster, a Portuguese restaurant, for dinner. I previously posted about that dinner but here is a photo of the outside if you want to go.

Iberian Rooster in St Petersburg

After dinner, we wlaked over to the Red Mesa Cantina & Lucha Bar for an after dinner drink. I had been to this place before for dinner with Teresa and lunch with Nancy Provoncha, who is also friends with Teresa and Tim. Tim ordered a pitcher of red sangria and we watched the Rays beat the Yankees on the TV over the bar.

Pitcher of Red Sangria at Red Mesa Cantina & Lucha Bar

There was live music also, a guitarist and saxophonist, playing all your favoite hits. I had never heard "Take on Me" by aha with a saxophone before. As we were leaving, the band was on a break, so I told them I loved that song and their unique take on it. They were happy with the feedback!

Fuzzy photo of band

The baseball game was not until 4 PM so I told Teresa I had never been to St Petersburg Beach before. I did not realize it ws so far away but it is beautiful. The first two pictures are of the beach from the point where we had breakfast. The place is called the Hurricane Seafood Restaurant and I guess the building has a long history.

Looking South on St Pete Beach

Looking North on St Pete Beach

We walked, about 1.5 miles, until we were at the Don CeSar Hotel. I took this photo of the place.

Don CeSar Hotel on St Pete Beach

On our walk back south to the Hurricane, I caught these photos of the birds that were fishing. The first is a black-headed gull and the second is a black skimmer.

Teresa wanted me to go visit Fort Desoto Park. She said you could find whole sand dollars on this beach. Problem was that the wind was blowing out of the Southeast and made for a messy time. You could see the Sunshine Skyway bridge that crosses Tampa Bay. Here is Teresa in the wind and surf with the bridge in the background.

There is a people ferry that runs between Fort Desoto Park and Egmont Key. Ther is a wildlife refuge on the Key and there are no roads to get there, only the ferry. Teresa says we will try that trip someday.  Here is the pier that the ferry leaves from at Fort Desoto Park.

We had to get back to the city so we did not stay long. I caught this photo of a sailboat as we were leaving.

We left the Park and headed back to the house for showers. We had already walked over 10,000 steps and it was only around noon. Before the game, Teresa had an appointment at the Body Bungalow. I did not want to sit around so I asked them where the nearest bar was. They mentioned Free Birds Tavern, which was a half mile walk around Crescent Lake. The lake is fairly large and has a nice park. I tokk this phot of a duck on my walk to the tavern.

I was able to find the tavern and saw some regulars heading in a back doorway. So I followed them and found a nice outdoor bar and patio. The propane tanks were stored in a telephone booth.

 We made it to the game which I posted already, dinner at Bavaro's for pizza, and then we headed home. Teresa said she had 20,000 steps on her Fit-bit and she did not do the walk with me to the tavern. So I was probably at 21,000 steps for the day.

On Sunday, we drove down to a park near St Petersburg downtown and did another walk. I took the following pictures on that morning stroll...

Squirrel enjoying the shade of a palm tree

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

One of the new condos downtown

Butterfly on flowers

Gator statue

Elephant Statue

After our walk south, Teresa likes to stop at the Infused Tea Company on Beach Drive. We got iced teas made from fruit blends. Here is the inside of the store....

Teresa ordered the strawberry lemonade (left) and I ordered the Mango Tango (right). They messed up and bought us a strawberry kiwi (center) which they said we could keep and drink while they brought us my correct order.

I took this photo of the downtown skyline as we headed north back to our car. Lots of new condos and many yachts and sailboats.

 There was a boat name that I had to capyure in a photo.....

AS we got back to the car, a man was net casting and the yellow-crested night heron was waiting for him to bring in some treats. The water is very clear in St Petersburg. Lots of walking (that was Teresa's plan) and everything was beautiful, including the weather.

I recommend if you have never been to St Petersburg, give it a try. Make sure to drive your Mercedes or Porsche though....