The Sunrise the Sunset Tour. Easter Addition (suicide vest free version)
It is a unique experience to watch a sunrise over the Atlantic then head over to the Gulf Of Mexico and see it set on the same day. That was our mission, we dreamed this up right after coming back from Wilmington NC just to eat at a restaurant my wife and kid saw on Diners, Dives and Drive Ins. So off we go!!
We tried to do this trip 1 week earlier and were stymied by booked solid hotels. We pushed it back to this weekend not initially realizing it was easter weekend, then not caring it was easter weekend.
Mother nature is hard to anticipate, she did her best to ruin the weekend regarding viewings, Conversely the weather... you could not ask for better weather. WE had a cold front come through Friday afternoon evening. I hoped it would clear out for the sunrise but it lingered, the good news is it brought a very nice surprise, temps in the 60's and 50's... in Florida... In April.
I told my wife, enjoy this, we will not see these temps again until October.
We woke up at 6 Saturday morning and wandered out to the beach, we kind of knew is was not going to be worth the 10 minute drive, we decided to go anyway.
We were greeted with an obstructed view of the sunrise. At least it was tranquil and relaxing, a nice start to a long day.
We went home, made breakfast, drank coffee then packed and packed the car for our trip over to St. Petersburg. Maps says 3 hour drive, we did it in 4.. LOL!! We made a lot of stops.
Early on in the trip we drove along a favorite local road. The oaks make a canopy over the road, it is really pretty along here.
We stopped for a pee break, in a town called Myakka, a really middle of no where town with nothing but a small convenience store. The bathroom was horrendous.
Trying to shake that off we moved on.
We stopped again in Sarasota before jumping on I75 to head towards the Sunshine Skyway. We hit up a Chic File and a car wash. We hit a LOT of love bugs and the E30 was a mess.
Off we went and over the Skyway.
We checked into the Hotel Indigo then walked around down town, we had our dog in tow, it was our first dog trip. St. Pete is supposed to be VERY dog friendly and it was. Tons of options for dinner many with outdoor seating and lots of dogs in attendance. The weather was more than perfect for out door dining, wife and kid were in sweatshirts.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and grabbed the E30, we had a 15 minute ride to the beach.
We got there with time to spare.
As you can see in the above pic, mother nature was once again not cooperating. It was really windy and chilly. The clouds made for some cool colors!
Mission accomplished!!
We trucked back to the Hotel for the evening.
Up the street was a farm to table market, Lucie, our dog was very confused about her new home for the evening.
We had her crate with us, except she was barking when we left the room, she NEVER barks. I decided to chill in the room with her and let the wife and kid go to the market. They were after late night snacks.
The next morning I was up early with Lucie, we went for a long walk around town.