 I've been too busy, or too lazy, to blog the past few days, so here's a bit of catch-up. |
| Kris and Max |
Thursday morning I got to see Sam, Kris's son, get his drivers license. He got 100% on the test! Way to go, Sam!
Afterwards, Kris and I took off for North Port, where we spent the night at cousins Mary and Mike's house. They retired down here five years ago from Flint MI, to a beautiful home in the country. Mary is a consummate garage saler and decorator, and the house is like a museum, but a very comfortable one. They call part of the house their "guest wing", with two guest bedrooms equipped better than the finest B&B. There is also a large screen room, an outdoor extension of the house, also beautifully decorated and with a heated pool. Their two dogs, Hershey (labradoodle), and Finley (Scottish terrier?) are just sweethearts. I especially fell in love with Hershey, who kept looking adoringly at me with her big golden eyes. Mary fixed us a fine salmon dinner and we spent the evening talking, about an hour of which was the three of them trying to convince me that all my liberal ideas are wrong, and vice-versa. We called it a draw.
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| Nauti Nancy's |
Friday morning I drove Kris back to the outskirts of Orlando and dropped her at a mall where husband Bob would pick her up later. Then I headed back to Tampa, in plenty of time to pick up Jill and Gerry at the airport. The three of us then spent two nights in Tarpon springs. Yesterday we picked up our rental bikes, and Gerry and I rode the northern half of the Pinellas trail. Unfortunately, Jill came down with the flu a couple of days before this trip, so she spent most of the day resting and did not ride.
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| Gerry on a scenic diversion from the trail |
This morning Jill was feeling a bit better, so the three of us started out on the southern half of the Pinellas trail. Jill turned around after an hour or so, which worked out perfectly, as she then drove the car into downtown St. Pete, where we are staying tonight, while Gerry and I continued on the trail to meet her.
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| Warm, sunny, scenic |
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| Someone's valentine |
The Pinellas trail is wide, smooth, close to 40 miles long, flat except for overpasses, and very easy to follow. Parts of it are quite scenic, and parts of it aren't. It's a nice enough ride, but I wouldn't go out of my way to do it again. I think living in the PNW leaves me a bit jaded.
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| This made Jill feel better... |
I do think the southern part of the trail is the nicest, much of it through tree lined residential areas. Crossing a long bridge, we stopped to watch a dolphin and many brown pelicans. A roseate spoonbill sat down and visited with us briefly, as did a flock of Ibises and a big turtle.
Starbucks are few and far between here, but we did manage to find one in St. Pete, just 3 blocks from our hotel. We are staying at the Ponce de Leon boutique hotel, right in the center of downtown. This is a very active downtown with lots of sidewalk cafés and restaurants, and the hotel is one of those delightful shabby chic places. I thought the rooms might be tiny, but we have a two room suite with two bathrooms and plenty of room for our three bikes. Somewhat worrisome is the fact that we have no way to lock our rented bike rack onto the car and we are just parked on the street. Oh how I hope it's still there I the morning!
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