Clearwater Beach, Florida

March 2 - 9, 2011

Vacation Village RV Park

Largo, Florida

We arrived at Vacation Village after a stop for the repair on the second refrigerator recall.  There's nothing like having to stop while traveling for ANY kind of repair.  You feel so vulnerable that something else will happen and you'll be stuck without a vehicle!

Vacation Village was one of the worst parks we've ever encountered!  First they tried to give us a site where we wouldn't have been able to open our slides it was so narrow.  Then we went to site number 2 -- those leaves are actually touching the top of the Beave.  We had those little oak seed clusters, those little green tree worms and lots and lots of pollen all over everything.  Tree roots making it almost impossible not to trip over them when going from the rig to the car.  I think if we hadn't been picking up Sarah from the airport in a couple of hours, I would have been on the phone looking for another park. 

But, after we had picked up Sarah, I was so glad to have her with us, it didn't matter where we stayed, as long as we were close enough to the beach!  The plan was to go to a different beach for the first three days of her stay...so we headed to Clearwater Beach and found that wonderful white sand and turquoise water. 

It was quite windy that first day and that fine white sand was all over us by the end of the day.  I forgot we had a northerner here and come day 2 we couldn't go near the beach 'cause Sarah had gotten burnt the day before.  So, she and I went shopping (how sad, huh?)

We did return to C.B. the next evening as they advertise craftspeople and entertainers line the pier to celebrate the sunset, similar to Mallory Square in Key West.  It was a lot of fun, but I have to say certainly not the magnitude of Mallory Square. 

However, we did find a little bar on the beach and enjoyed a couple of drinks while watching yet another magnificent sunset over the Gulf of Mexico.  I have to say, very few times has a Gulf sunset disappointed us.

We had a wonderful morning at The Mustang and Wagon Wheel Flea Markets in Pinellas Park, just south of our campground.  With over 2,000 vendors under cover and another 100 or so outside, it was quite a show! They had a food court that could rival any mall in America...even had a country singer entertaining you while you ate.  That was where I bought my first pair of white sunglasses...so exciting!!!

We spent another day moseying down the narrow strip of land that is home to all those Florida Gulf Coast beaches near Tampa:  Clearwater, Belleair, Indian Rocks, Redington Beach, Madeira, Treasure Island, St. Petersburg Beach and ending up at Fort De Sota State Park where we checked out their campground (possible stop someday), beach and wonderful kayaking spots. 

Note the white sunglasses!!!

We stopped at John's Pass Village and Boardwalk in Madeira Beach to check out all the shops and walk along the boardwalk.  

We had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. where we sat at the bar outside overlooking the drawbridge on Gulf Boulevard. We shared a sampler with fried shrimp, coconut shrimp, boiled shrimp and tempura shrimp (kept hearing Bubba in my head listing off all those different kinds of shrimp!!!) and followed up the meal with picture-taking as Sarah and Ken became Forrest, sitting on his bench with is sneakers, suitcase and box of chocolates!

I don't know where the time went...Sarah and I spent another nice long day at the beach and then it was time to take her to the airport to fly home.  We still had plans to go to Ibor City and the Lowry Zoo in Tampa; possibly take in a day at Busch Gardens.  What happened?  So much to do and so little time.  Sarah, COME BACK!!!!