Weekend Happenings and a Rainy Monday

On Sunday morning, the weather forecast was for rain all day Monday and possibly Tuesday.  Although it was the weekend and we knew the beach would be crowded, we decided to head there anyway.  If Monday and Tuesday were to be rain-outs, this could be our last day at the beach.

It was crowded, hot and windy.  We saw 90 degrees for the first time this trip.  I took some photos at the beach thinking my blog post would be something like "Our Version of Where's Waldo", but the photos don't make it look as crowded as it felt.

Maybe I took these shortly after we got there and the beach got more crowded later in the afternoon.  I can't remember now.  We really like it when you can't overhear someone's conversation.  And we could hear plenty.  The north end of the beach was supposed to be good for shelling, so I walked that way.  When I got back, Doug told me that I had missed a seagull stealing his sandwich right out of his hand!  Anyways, it was a great afternoon.

I'm very glad we went because it did rain ALL day Monday.  It started shortly after midnight, rained off and on until around 7:00 a.m. and then at about 10:00 a.m., it started raining again and didn't stop until around 8:00 last night.  I always liked the way rain sounds on the roof , but let me tell you, after hours and hours of rain, it really got on my nerves.  Florida is in a drought and they needed the rain.  I kept telling that to myself...they need the rain...the farmers need the rain.  But after 3 inches of rain, I was grateful that it stopped.

The area where the dogs get walked turned into a mini lake.

Needless to say, they didn't get walked there until after the rain stopped.  It was amazing to watch the "lake" disappear!  I guess that's the advantage of sandy soil.

This morning, the forecast did not include rain (until tonight), but it wasn't exactly going to be a sit at the beach day.  So we decided to head to Howard Park where dogs are allowed on the causeway.  Before we headed there, we went back downtown New Port Richey so that my husband could do one of his favorite things - take a photo of a former Texaco gas station.

Now how would he know that this was a former Texaco station?  By the restroom signs!  He can spot those a mile away.

Out to the causeway we go.  The sun was out and then there were clouds, sunny then clouds, sunny then clouds.  It continued that way, but we sure enjoyed it as did the dogs.

We saw a Great Blue Heron.

A flock of Cormorants.

Doug got his feet wet, but the dogs were not interested in trying out the water.

It was a great last day at the beach!  The trip is not over because this is not our last night out.  Maybe tomorrow is the last night out or maybe Thursday night (if we decide to mosey home instead of killing ourselves in doing a 2 day drive).  But before we leave Florida, we wanted to send all our love to our most faithful blog followers and dear friends, Erol and Susan.  Seeing you guys and fishing with Erol is always the high point of our Florida trips.  We miss you more than you can know.

Now for the last cup of coffee outside in Florida... 

Honeymoon Island State Park and Tiger Town

On Friday, we drove down to Honeymoon Island State Park.  The beach is very nice and you can take a ferry to Caladesi Island State Park.   Here's the beach at Honeymoon Island.

Beautiful sugar sand.

Sudoku on the beach

It was a great beach and we may go back there.  It takes about the same amount of travel time, so we will see.

Saturday morning, we headed to Lakeland to see the Tigers play the Phillies.  Before we were out of town, Doug says "Did you see that big boat?"  I said, "Nope, I was watching the GPS for our next turn."  Doug says, "There it is again."  We had caught up to it.  It was a very large, motorized pirate ship with several pirates aboard.

They were blasting out "Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night" by the Black Eyed Peas.  It was fun to see them driving down the street.  I think they were probably on their way to the parade for Chasco Fiesta.  I mean, why else would a pirate ship be driving down the street on a Saturday morning?

It was the first time we had ever been to Joker Marchant Stadium.  We have seen the Tigers in Spring Training before, but we saw them at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, the home of the Washington Nationals.  Here's the outfield and scoreboard at Joker Marchant:

 The only tickets available were general admission, so first we sat on the berm.

It was so hot yesterday.  We went for a hot dog and to sit in the shade for a bit.  We tried the bleachers, but it was hot there too and no breeze, so we headed back to the berm.  Look at the intricate and colorful tatoo on this guy's back:

We left shortly after Rayburn hit a home run to tie the game, but the Tigers did win 3-1.  It was 88 degrees there yesterday and humid.  It was the warmest weather yet.

We weren't going to go to the beach today because of the crowds on the weekend, but it looks like it's going to be a stormy, rainy day tomorrow, so we may change our plans.  As I'm writing this, it's 17 degrees back home and 64 degrees here.  Stark reminder of what we'll be headed back to next week.

Doug and the dogs are sleeping and I'm ready for a fresh pot of coffee.

Chasco Fiesta in New Port Richey

This evening, we drove to New Port Richey to check out opening night of the Chasco Fiesta.  The festival began in 1922 when they planned a celebration to attract people to the city to raise money for the community library.  Today the festival lasts 11 days and benefits more than 30 non-profits.  It's held in Sims Park on the banks of the Cotee River.

Tonight was basically food and music.  We had barbecued ribs and corn on the cob.

Then we shared a deep fried Twinkie.  I had heard of them, but had never tried one and it was good!

Then we shared a strawberry shortcake.

Each of the different food booths is run by a different non-profit group.  So the more you eat, the more you contribute.  There were funnel cakes, hot dogs, corn dogs, Italian sausage sandwiches, jerk chicken, beans and rice, sweet plantains, gyros, cotton candy, boiled peanuts, snow cones, ribs, deep fried candy bars (including Twinkies), strawberry shortcake and fried bread.   About the only thing I didn't see was coffee!

The entertainment tonight was Native American Music.  There is a Pow-Wow Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Some of the dancers took the stage before the concert.

Then Arvel Bird and his band took the stage.  He is a Native American flutist/violinist.  He's from Arizona and is staying here at the RV park where we are. I listened to him rehearse last night for about 40 minutes.  He was very good tonight, but I think I enjoyed him more last night because it was casual and intimate.

Here's a link to some videos of Arvel Bird playing.  His music is a very interesting blend of Native American, classical and Celtic.

Arvel Bird's Website

It was a great time.  This weekend, there are many activities...the Pow-Wow, a carnival, a flea market, a crafts show, a parade and a car show.    So, who knows, we may go back again. For now, I'm pouring that cup of coffee that I couldn't find at the festival.

Sponge Docks - Tarpon Springs

We've been here for four days and finally made it to the Sponge Docks.  Not only do you find some of the finest sponges in the world, but there are also many Greek restaurants, markets and bakeries.  We parked at Spongeorama where we watched a movie about the history of sponge diving in Tarpon Springs and walked through their museum.

The sponge diving boats are docked here along with sightseeing boats and fishing charter boats.  Here's a sponge diving boat with sponges strung:

A woman was also selling sponges in a parking lot.

We walked all the way down one side of the street and as we turned to head up the other side, we found a very old fishing charter sign.

That is still a fishing boat and we picked up a brochure to find out more about their charters.  It's an all day deal, from 8:00 to 4:00.  It takes about 45 minutes each way from the RV park to the docks and that's a long time to leave the dogs alone.  We'll try to find a charter that's 4 hours or so.

As we walked up the other side of the street, we found the Hellas Bakery and Restaurant.  It was too early for lunch, but not too early for a dessert.  So many choices..it was so hard to decide.

We finally settled on a piece of baklava cheesecake to share.

We sat outside to eat the cheesecake.  It was so good!  The center of the cheesecake had the traditional baklava filling of nuts and honey and there were crumbled pieces of baked filo pastry on the top.

We headed to the beach for a few hours and then back to the RV park.  When we got back, I took the dogs for a walk.  I could hear a violin being played.  I took the dogs back to the MH and then set out again to find the music.  Turns out it is a man by the name of Arvel Bird who is from Arizona.  He plays Native American flutes and the violin.  He's also a story teller.  I sat there for about 40 minutes listening to him.  His music is beautiful and inspiring.  

Here's a link to information about him:

http://arvelbird.com/bio/

I found out from another person here that he's playing tomorrow night at a local festival called Chasco Fiesta in New Port Richey.  Coincidentally, when we stopped at the grocery on the way home, they put a brochure about the festival in our bag.  I definitely have to talk Doug into going there tomorrow night.  

For now, I'm fixing a cup of coffee and wishing I had bought a tray of pastries at Hellas Bakery.

A Day at the Beach

Today we hung out at the beach again.  We tried a different spot and it was heaven for awhile:

It was mostly us, just a few other people.  We even put the chairs in the water for a bit and sat there with our feet in the water and listened to the sound of the waves lapping.  Then the tide came in.  We kept moving closer and closer to shore.  By the time the water hit the previous sea grass that washed up, all these bugs came out.  They were every where.  I'm not sure what they were.  They didn't seem to bite, but they jumped. I don't think they were sand fleas, but perhaps they were.  When I Googled sand fleas, the results I got were of what the skin looks like if you get bit by them.

Well anyways, we moved having enjoyed 2 hours of mostly solitude.  When we went over to the main beach (where there were no jumpy bugs), it was a bit crowded, but not like it had been on the weekend:

For dinner tonight, I baked some of the fish that we had caught with Erol last week.  Susan and Erol gave us two packages of the fish that Susan had frozen.  I think what I baked tonight was the mahi-mahi.  I sort of did the fish like Susan had prepared it for us.  Salt, pepper, chopped green onion, a squeeze of lemon juice, some white wine and topped with tomato sauce.  Here it is when it came out of the oven:

This was the first time we have used the oven in the motor home.  I think the temperature is off a bit but I will bring a hanging thermometer the next time we travel so we can test it.  Anyways, Doug said it was great and I loved it as well.  We had broccoli and rice along with the fish:

The only thing to top off this day is to have a brownie and (what else?) a cup of coffee.

Weeki Wachee Springs

Last night, we ate at Harold Seltzer's Steakhouse.  It's a chain of steakhouses in the Tampa Bay area that a man from Montreal started.  His grandfather, father and uncle were butchers in Montreal and the restaurant is named in honor of his grandfather.  Doug had a rib eye and I had a filet.  It was one of the best steak dinners I've ever had.  The interior of the restaurant is warm wood, there are giant paintings of old Florida postcards on the walls and the background music was classic Rat Pack.  It was a great experience and I would highly recommend this restaurant if you're in the area.

Instead of going to the beach today (it was so crowded yesterday being the weekend), we went to Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.

The spring is so deep that the bottom has never been found.  The first underwater show took place on October 13, 1947.  Weeki Wachee's heydays were in the late 50's and early 60's.  Elvis even visited there.

These are the original 1947 mermaids:

Today, we saw part of the Little Mermaid show:

And we saw part of the former mermaids show:

They also have a river boat ride:

We saw fish, an alligator, an eagle, and 2 Great Blue Herons:

It was an interesting place to go and we really enjoyed ourselves.  It's amazing to think that 117 million gallons of water bubble up from that spring every day!  We love road side tourist stops.  We're the ones that stopped at the Hormel Spam Museum when we were driving through Minnesota.  We're the ones who will turn around if we drive past an old gas station.  I need to look up where that giant ball of string is located so that we can stop there sometime.

A local artist who was there  recommended a place for lunch  and so off we went to find it.  Sam's Beach Bar was at Hudson Beach.  We had to keep circling the parking lots to find a space.  We left at one point thinking we'd never get a spot.  We decided to try one more time and presto, we found a parking spot.  We had peel and eat shrimp and sweet tea.  Sweet tea is one of my favorite things about the south and particularly in Florida.  A band was playing and the service was great.

The shrimp were so good, we decided to have them for dinner, too.  Off to Publix for some shrimp, crackers and chocolate eclairs.  I've eaten the shrimp so now it's time for an eclair and a cup of coffee.

Exploring The Tarpon Springs Area

We left Venice yesterday morning and drove north.  We crossed Tampa Bay on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.  I was vacationing in Florida in May, 1980 when the boat hit the bridge.  It brought back some memories.  One in particular is about my sister, Gloria.  She and her husband were with me.  We were in a cool little cabin on Longboat Key.  I'm sure the cabins are no longer there.  Well anyways, Gloria was about 6 months pregnant at the time, and no matter how long she sat on the beach, she couldn't get a tan and she normally tans extremely well.   We never did figure that one out.  Another memory that just came to me is the Ruby Tuesday's at St. Armand's Circle.  Ruby was a favorite word of ours then, but I can't remember why.

Here are some shots at the rest area near the bridge:

Boy those dogs get heavy when you hold both of them at the same time!

We arrived at our new location, Suncoast RV Resort in Port Richey, in the early afternoon.  While the park is on busy Highway 19, you wouldn't know it.  I can hardly hear the traffic and we are on the front row.  They have free WI-FI (with a fast connection), cable, a swimming pool and planned activities.  We're staying here 6 nights and it will the last of our stops in Florida.

When my ride from Enterprise finally got here, he took me back to the rental agency to do the paperwork and pick up the car.  I was the last customer of the day.  Just before I signed the paperwork, the rental agent says, "How would you like to have that Mustang instead of the Aveo?  It would be a shame to leave that car on the lot all weekend."  "What Mustang?" says I.  He says "That black convertible out front."  Well, jeez, let me think on that one...hmmm..."Okay, how much extra?" says I.  He says "How about $10/day more?".  I say "Yes, please!"  Needless to say, Doug was happy again.  Twice now we've gotten an upgrade on the car.

Here's a picture of our site at Suncoast:

There are lots of trees, it's nice and shady and man is it FUN driving around in a convertible!

Today, we went to the beach at Howard Park in Tarpon Springs.  The beach is outstanding!  It's the weekend, so the beach was crowded.

But we managed to find a spot for us not too near other folks.

My handsome beach bum.

Tomorrow we hope to explore the Sponge Docks at Tarpon Springs, have some lunch and then head to the beach.  Right now we sit here debating on whether to go out to dinner or eat the leftover meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Either way, I'm definitely going to have a cup of coffee after dinner.