Most of my posts are about pleasant things -- with the occasional rant about things that perturb me!

Friday, February 28, 2014

Fun trip to St. Petersburg

 
This was a fun, quick trip to the west coast - St. Petersburg.  My first stop was Celery Field in Sarasota.  Celery Field is a mecca for birds who winter in Florida.
 
Sandhill Crane
 
 
Limpkin

 
Little Green Heron

 
Red-winged Blackbird

 
Sunshine Skyway Bridge.  According to the History Channel, this bridge was voted 3rd best bridge in the WORLD - it is only second to a bridge in Japan, and, of course, the # 1 spot goes to the Golden Gate Bridge.


 
The view from Ft. DeSoto State Park

 
SAFETY HARBOR
 
What a charming town!  I loved it.  It is about 15 minutes from Clearwater, and SO cute.  There's a harbor with a nice park, and a pier you can walk out on.  We saw lots of shore birds and a couple of manatees looking for some warm water.  It was so charming here!

The Harbor
 




Little blue heron


 
Lots of water fowl

 
And, a couple manatees!

 
Oh, and a pretty pigeon!


 
This was an amazing music/art center


 
The BEST little bakery on Main Street called Joey Biscotti!  Ooooooh, such delicious goodies and really nice owners!


 
EVERY town should have this; it was SUCH a good idea.  It's BYOB - bring your own bag.  You take all your plastic grocery bags and put them into this box so they can be used by people to clean up after their dogs.  It saves the city from having to spend money buying bags, and it recycles those horrible grocery-store bags.  It's a win-win!

 
It was a picture-perfect day in Saint Petersburg to go to the beach.  The Gulf Coast of Florida has the most beautiful beaches!
 

 
A dolphin in shallow water very close by!



 
So pretty!

 
I am happy to be here!

 
Beautiful day in downtown St. Pete to visit the Dali Museum


 
The new museum is gorgeous!


 
Dali's Moustache!



 
It's all about Dali!

 
I visited the Dali Museum at a great time, because there was also an amazing Andy Warhol exhibit there.  There were no photographs allowed inside the museum.


 
Beautiful stairway.


 
Downtown St. Pete as the sun starts to go down.

 
Gorgeous.

 
This was a super cute new brewery/bar in downtown St. Pete.  I'm a non-drinking, but the inside was nice and friendly - decorated very cool.  My friend enjoyed a locally-brewed beer.
 



 
HISTORIC KENWOOD
 
This is an area very close to downtown St. Pete that is all historic homes.  It spans several blocks and it was nice to drive around and see all the cute homes.  The people there take a lot of pride in their historical designation and keep their properties so well-manicured!