We are in week three in southwest Florida, and — sorry to tell you friends back home — the weather is perfect. On a typical day, the temperature starts out in the 60s, zooms up to the mid- to upper 70s and then cools down in late afternoon.
I’ve found that the best time to play golf is about 4 p.m., when the crowds have departed, the rates are better ($53, morning, $43, afternoon), and the sun is starting to descend in the southern sky.
We’ve done a lot of exploring and still have more to do. Brooks was here for a few days last week, and Charlie and his girlfriend Sabrina are arriving tonight, for a few days.
One place I want to get to is Ybor City, a historic neighborhood near downtown Tampa. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Cuba, Spain and Italy. The best cigars outside of Cuba are rolled in Ybor City, and excellent Cuban food, like paella and Cubano sandwiches, is plentiful.
For this post, though, I’ll stick to where we have been…I hope you enjoy the photos.
The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a magnificent structure, connects the Clearwater-St. Petersburg area with the Bradenton-Sarasota area. From end to end, it is slightly more than four miles long. It opened in 1987.Yesterday, we went to Fort Desoto Park, at the tip of the Pinellas Peninsula, and to the nearby town of Pass-a-Grille. Above is Fort Desoto Beach. The fort was built to protect Tampa Bay residents during the Spanish-American War.The centerpiece of Pass-a-Grille, along St. Pete Beach, is the Don CeSar hotel, which opened in 1928 and “gained renown as the Gulf playground for America’s pampered rich,” according to Wikipedia. This is as close as we got. Parking is nearly impossible unless you’re a hotel guest or want to pay a short-term visitor’s fee of about $27.Here are Patty and Brooks at the Manatee Viewing Center near Tampa. (I couldn’t get a good photo of a manatee, so I focused on the beauty right in front of me.)On the way to the Manatee Viewing Center, we stopped in downtown Tampa for lunch. Being on the board of the City of Fountains Foundation, I’m very interested in fountains, and this elegant one was outside the Tampa Bay History Center.We are staying in Dunedin, a city just north of Clearwater. We had lunch today at Olde Bay Cafe, adjacent to the Dunedin Marina.This pelican was just a few yards away, eyeing the diners very closely.Dunedin is growing very fast, thanks in no small measure to tourism. The city’s existing City Hall doesn’t indicate how much it is prospering…But its new, three-story City Hall, expected to be completed later this year, definitely does.
Your story tonight brings back many happy memories. My wife’s parents lived in Sarasota for over 25 years and we spent lots of time at the Siesta Key Beach. I would argue that it is the most beautiful beach in the U.S. Have you been there?
This Sunday we are leaving for Arizona for a three-week visit with KC friends who are also vacationing in Arizona. It will be good to get away from the KC snow and cold temps!
I haven’t been to Siesta Key, Steve. About the closest we’ve gotten was driving up here from Naples, where we spent the first week. There are many great beaches along with west coast.. Patty likes to go to Honeymoon Island, north of Clearwater. Enjoy your time in AZ.
Hi Jimmy, if you are in Ft. Myers or Tampa, I can vouch for Siesta Key too. It is absolutely beautiful. The sand is some sort of Quartz if I recall correctly. It is NEVER hot, no matter if it’s July or August, a 100 in the shade and no shade. The sand on the beach is cool to the touch. It’s a busy beach, but well worth the trip. I am on the opposite side of the state and enjoy Siesta Key.
I’m on the other side of the Florida universe, Casey…But particularly with the Ukrainian crisis, I’m glad he’s in the same state I’m in, instead of in the White House.
Best joke ever, Jim.
You do remember in 2014-15 during the Obama administration that Russians were busy invading the Crimean Peninsula. Then for some strange reason everything went silent from 2016-20. In 2021 Putin starts massing troops on Ukraine and attacks them just a year into the Brandon administration.
Meanwhile, back at home…
Crime – record highs.
Inflation – record highs.
Corona Virus – no change.
Border – illegals entering country at record levels and being placed in cities on
secret transports occurring in the dead of night.
Energy Independence – killed on day one of Brandon’s regime.
Parents of school children – being put on terrorist watch lists for being
concerned about school indoctrination.
I could go on, but you are blind to all of it anyway so what’s the point?
Remember when everything would return to normal if we just removed Trump from the White House? What the fuck happened to that? Brandon is a failure of epic proportions and you old-timers just love him for it! Purely fucking amazing.
Anyway, enjoy your vacation in a free state run by conservatives. If you get your way, we can kiss that goodbye as well.
I lived in Tampa as a child, 1957-61. For a long weekend we’d drive over the old Sunshine Skyway bridge to Longboat Key near Sarasota, where we would stay at The Sandcastle, a Best Western Motel on the beach; the only place to stay along the deserted seascape for miles. Always loved Gasparilla, with the parade of drunken doctors and lawyers dressed as pirates. Florida State Fair 1960: watching the cigar rolling machines with my grandfather visiting from Virginia. Great memories; thanks for sparking them.
Loved the picture of Patty and Brooks. I had to look at the two over and over to figure out who was the mother and who was the daughter. When you go to Ybor City, the Columbia Restaurant is a must. When you are venturing back north, we would enjoy meeting you in The Villages or Mount Dora. Also would love to have you visit us in Apopka…we have a guest bedroom already set up for you. Pictures are great.
I’m glad you mentioned Honeymoon Island beach, if not I would have recommended it. For others who may visit, it is a State Park and much more low key and local than the tourist beaches. At low tide, you can walk over to Caledesi Island which is even nicer, otherwise take a ferry. Both are near Dunedin.
Be warned! Eating a seafood Italian lunch in Ybor City, then leaving the leftover box in your car while you stroll the streets, will result in what we call in my family, the “Ybor City Effect.”
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Your story tonight brings back many happy memories. My wife’s parents lived in Sarasota for over 25 years and we spent lots of time at the Siesta Key Beach. I would argue that it is the most beautiful beach in the U.S. Have you been there?
This Sunday we are leaving for Arizona for a three-week visit with KC friends who are also vacationing in Arizona. It will be good to get away from the KC snow and cold temps!
Have fun with your family!
I haven’t been to Siesta Key, Steve. About the closest we’ve gotten was driving up here from Naples, where we spent the first week. There are many great beaches along with west coast.. Patty likes to go to Honeymoon Island, north of Clearwater. Enjoy your time in AZ.
Hi Jimmy, if you are in Ft. Myers or Tampa, I can vouch for Siesta Key too. It is absolutely beautiful. The sand is some sort of Quartz if I recall correctly. It is NEVER hot, no matter if it’s July or August, a 100 in the shade and no shade. The sand on the beach is cool to the touch. It’s a busy beach, but well worth the trip. I am on the opposite side of the state and enjoy Siesta Key.
I thought for sure you would drop by Donald Trump’s place and help go through moving boxes
I’m on the other side of the Florida universe, Casey…But particularly with the Ukrainian crisis, I’m glad he’s in the same state I’m in, instead of in the White House.
Best joke ever, Jim.
You do remember in 2014-15 during the Obama administration that Russians were busy invading the Crimean Peninsula. Then for some strange reason everything went silent from 2016-20. In 2021 Putin starts massing troops on Ukraine and attacks them just a year into the Brandon administration.
Meanwhile, back at home…
Crime – record highs.
Inflation – record highs.
Corona Virus – no change.
Border – illegals entering country at record levels and being placed in cities on
secret transports occurring in the dead of night.
Energy Independence – killed on day one of Brandon’s regime.
Parents of school children – being put on terrorist watch lists for being
concerned about school indoctrination.
I could go on, but you are blind to all of it anyway so what’s the point?
Remember when everything would return to normal if we just removed Trump from the White House? What the fuck happened to that? Brandon is a failure of epic proportions and you old-timers just love him for it! Purely fucking amazing.
Anyway, enjoy your vacation in a free state run by conservatives. If you get your way, we can kiss that goodbye as well.
I lived in Tampa as a child, 1957-61. For a long weekend we’d drive over the old Sunshine Skyway bridge to Longboat Key near Sarasota, where we would stay at The Sandcastle, a Best Western Motel on the beach; the only place to stay along the deserted seascape for miles. Always loved Gasparilla, with the parade of drunken doctors and lawyers dressed as pirates. Florida State Fair 1960: watching the cigar rolling machines with my grandfather visiting from Virginia. Great memories; thanks for sparking them.
Loved the picture of Patty and Brooks. I had to look at the two over and over to figure out who was the mother and who was the daughter. When you go to Ybor City, the Columbia Restaurant is a must. When you are venturing back north, we would enjoy meeting you in The Villages or Mount Dora. Also would love to have you visit us in Apopka…we have a guest bedroom already set up for you. Pictures are great.
I’m glad you mentioned Honeymoon Island beach, if not I would have recommended it. For others who may visit, it is a State Park and much more low key and local than the tourist beaches. At low tide, you can walk over to Caledesi Island which is even nicer, otherwise take a ferry. Both are near Dunedin.
Be warned! Eating a seafood Italian lunch in Ybor City, then leaving the leftover box in your car while you stroll the streets, will result in what we call in my family, the “Ybor City Effect.”