Tuesday was another lazy day which started like the others with the normal morning ritual. We added a morning devotional (Drs Les and Leslie Parrot's 'Love Talk") to the routine and managed to do a chapter most every morning. We spent most of our time just relaxing, talking, and walking the beach the next few days.
That evening, we met up with *Yvette and went to St, Petersburg, or "St. Pete's" as it is known by the locals. We had dinner at "The Pier" (a local shopping mall over the ocean) and admired the view but missing the sunset again. It was cool, windy and a tad cloudy but pleasant none the less. We had fish at Cha Cha Coconuts, but it was not as nice as I would have hoped. It was OK, but just average. The waiter was a stoner looking guy who did not seem to care about offering good service, so his tip was not as big as I normally would have given.
After dinner, we wandered The Pier a bit and took in the view. "Yvette" took a photo of me and my wife with the ocean as a backdrop and we headed out. On the way back to the van, my wife asked "Yvette" if there was anything interesting close by. "Yvette" informed us that the shops near by catered to the more affluent of the population and we could wander around town for a while if we wanted. We had not wandered very long when "Yvette" spotted a Ben and Jerry's. The look on her face told me all I needed to know...she was in the mood for ice cream.
We went in and sampled the new Baklava flavored ice cream but decided it was not as tasty as we had hoped so my wife got a cheesecake milkshake and "Yvette" and I got banana rum ice cream cups. The banana rum ice cream tasted like Bananas Foster and I made short work of it while we walked. We gravitated towards the soulful sound of a lone trumpet being played in a court yard outside a hotel. The musician was an older black man with a tip jar playing snippits of old favorites. My wife took a couple of dollars and placed them in the cup and we sat on the bench and listened for a few minutes while we watched people enter and leave the court yard.
When the ice cream and music were gone, we walked back to the van. We started to head back and realized we had made a wrong turn. "Yvette" had a map so I made good use of it. The streets in down town St Pete are all numbered, streets and avenues, north and south with the same numbers so you have to be careful when using a map. After a couple of missed turns, we found our way back.
When we got home we took the dogs for the nightly walk and settled in with some TV. It was not long before we both started dozing on the couch, so we headed off to brush our teeth and hit the hay.
The next morning was more of the same routine. We had planned to go to Busch Gardens on Wednesday, but the forecast was calling for scattered thunderstorms and it was cloudy so we stayed home. No need to waste parking fees if it rained at BG. So since it was not going to be a nice day for the park, we spent the next 2 days puttering around the cottage and dealing with our biggest dog who had gotten an irritated paw and required a trip to the local vet and some meds. That added about $100 more to our vacation cost than I had expected, but we were still OK on funds. I cooked dinner on the grill...chicken with a spicy orange sauce. It was great and we had enough for lunch the next day.
Thursday was a down day, the only real excitement was at dinner. We walked to "PJ's" and tried to enjoy an overcooked dinner of shrimp, scallops, and Mahi-Mahi. Since dinner was not all that great, we ordered dessert (I had the Mississippi Mud Pie and my wife had the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake) and enjoyed that. Right after I finished my dessert, I spilled my drink all over me, soaking my entire left side. I was SOAKED. I cleaned up as best as I could, paid the bill and walked home, sticky. I got back and cleaned up while my wife walked the dogs. Later we laughed about it and watched some TV before settling in fo the night.
Friday arrived and we decided we were going back to Busch Gardens. Thursday had been very overcast but Friday was shaping up to be a cool comfortable and sunny day. The started with a bit of excitement as we managed to lock ourselves out of the cottage at 5:30 AM. The cottage had locks on it that automatically locked unless you turned the lock from the inside first. We are not used to that so I started carrying the key with me wherever I went. That morning, my wife went out to let the dogs use the bathroom and she closed the door behind her. She did that a lot and since she did not carry a key, I had to let her back in. Well, After she went out side, I realized I was not really sleepy, so I put on a shirt and shorts and went outside. I failed to grab the key before I pulled the door shut and locked us both out of the cottage. Even though it was a run down little cabin, they had put new windows wtih deadbolt locks on them so getting in via a window was not going to happen. The only real way in was the door I locked behind me. The side door was deadbolted from the inside and it was rather secure.
There was a pane of glass that was lose that I thought I might be able to remove, but since I did not have any tools (the van was locked as well) that was not going to happen, either. There was a gap in the door frame that looked like it had been jimmied in the past (I am sure we were not the only people to get locked out of that cottage), so I thought I would give it at try. Now if you have ever been locked out of your house that has simple door locks, you are probably aware that the old style laminated driver's license works very well to get in between the door jamb. Well, I did not have my wallet with me and there was NOTHING I could find to get in. I was afraid I was going to have to ask the police or fire department to help me. Then my wife and I managed to break a plastic Yoplait yogurt container open (from the trash) until it was one long flat piece of flexible plastic. While it was not the perfect thing to use, I was able to get back in the cottage after about 20 minutes of praying and jimmying. What a way to start the day!
The rest of ourl morning routine took much longer on Friday than it normally did (duh). We did not get to the park until 3 PM and it closed at 7 PM. That gave us only 4 hours to take pics and finish up riding a few of our favorite rides. When we arrived, we found a good parking place but the park was packed with kids who were out of school. Lines were long (we waited over an hour to ride the Rhino Rally) and some of the rides were having problems (Montu shut down for a while). We did manage to ride it after a wait of about 40 minutes. I took as many pictures as I could and then we headed out.
The drive home was uneventful. We were supposed to meet up with "Yvette" after she got off work at 8 PM. We had not eaten and 8 PM is late for us to eat, but we love "Yvette" so we waited for her. She had a last minute customer so she was a few minutes late getting to Crabby Bills for dinner. We chatted and waited for our food and listened as a table of drunks laughed very loudly and made silly comments, most of which I could not understand. Our food came and it was as good as we had expected it would be. I had another blackened Mahi-Mahi sandwich (I could live on those) and my wife ordered clam chowder and grilled shrimp. "Yvette" ordered grilled scallops and we all three enjoyed chatting and eating.
After dinner, we took a walk on the beach. It was dark, but the moon was full. The full moon prompted "Yvette" to tell us that the full moon brings out the weirdos...not that we saw many that week ;) . We walked about a half a mile and turned around to walk back. It was cooler than short sleeves and shorts would allow comfortably, but we managed until we got back to "Yvette's" car. Hugs were given, good byes were said and we went our separate ways. We would be driving home in the morning. A long 20 hour drive was ahead of us and we needed some sleep.
I will finish this a bit later. Lunch is over and I need to get back to work :)
*Not her real name
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