The worst thing about a long vacation with multiple destinations is that you also need to repack your luggage multiple times (I know, you cruisers will say you don't have to do that on a cruise...we'll get to that point in another post coming soon). Luckily, we started last night with the packing and we're getting better about only taking out what we need while we're at that destination.
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Our rental car is loaded up with precision...we have to leave room in back for Tim's travel chair along with the luggage and room for Letty in the backseat. Because of the difficulty in loading Tim into a normal car seat outside of his wheelchair means that 9 times out of 10, he gets to ride shotgun.
We're making sure he's very comfortable and secure. It's a major pain in the rear to keep hauling him and his chair out of the car so we've prepared him to be sitting in this seat for seven hours.
That's right...seven hours.
Tim's OK with it this time because he's not really a fan of flying if he doesn't need to do that. And, if you think about it, it's just a little longer than flying. An hour and a half to fly from Atlanta to Tampa, plus arriving two hours before the flight, plus an hour minimum to get to the airport, plus another hour to collect our luggage, then another to get to our hotel in St. Pete. What's that add up to...about six, six and a half hours? The drive doesn't look so bad in comparison.
Once we're clear of downtown Atlanta, traffic eases up and about an hour or so later, we cross into Florida. After crossing under Interstate 10 (hey, it's the San Bernardino Freeway!) we soon make a planned stop for gas, bathrooms, and snacks at the Love's truck stop in in Jasper, Florida.
Loaded up with candy, cookies, soda, and a couple of 5-Hour Energy's (just in case), we head back out on Interstate 75.
There is barely any traffic. We set the cruise control for 73 miles per hour and enjoy the lush scenery all the way to Tampa, where we finally hit a bit of traffic going through downtown.
An easy trek across a very long bridge on Tampa Bay puts us on the peninsula and into St. Petersburg. The GPS on my phone smoothly glides us to our hotel in the heart of downtown, the Hyatt Place.
We unpack the car, check in, and head up to our room which is nice but has a bit of a spartan feel to it. It's Hyatt's 'minimalistic' design but it's a nice, comfortable room with a window pointed out towards the bay. Unfortunately, the huge condo under construction next door blocks our view but, if we get closer to the window, we can see the water on either side.
The hotel manager tells me there's a row of restaurants and bars along the waterfront a little over a block away. We walk over there, ending up at Canopy restaurant and bar.
The Canopy is a rooftop bar on top of the Birchwood Hotel with a beautiful view of Tampa Bay. An elevator takes us and Tim up. It's happy hour so we order some cheap drinks and a couple of appetizers.
We share this flatbread pizza...
...and this dish of loaded tater tots. It's very delicious and fills us up well for less than $30, including the drinks.
We're here, we're settled, so we still have some time to take a stroll along the waterfront where we find a couple of giant banyan trees.
The sun is setting so it's time to head back in. There'll be plenty of time to see this beautiful city in the next few days.
Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved
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