Week Three

Vacation days tend to merge into each other.  We have eaten well and had our share of adventures.  Grouper tacos at Silas Dent, lobster roll at Pirate Pub and Grub, chicken marsala at Palm Court Restaurant, shrimp and corn chowder at Brass Monkey--all were wonderful.  I had called Palm Court to see when the chef would be making sea food risotto again because Sue said it was her favorite and I had said it was wonderful when I had it there two weeks ago.   The chef offered to make it especially for them and he did and they loved it!


Our Thursday adventure on a cold and windy day was a trip to the Chiluly Collection in St Petersburg. The real hit was the glass blowing demonstration across the street--a part of our admittance fee.  We watched a piece made from the beginning to the end with continual narration.

Our Friday trip was to St. John's Pass where we ate outside on the fishing pier and did some shopping.  On Saturday the Corey Street Art Show was fine but not compelling.  We shopped at Annabelle's Boutique on the same street.  In the afternoon we went to the East West Shrine Game at Tropicana Field.  We thought it would be fun to see the arena and the football players, NFL scouts and Shriners were all housed at Tradewinds right across the street from us.  We were given tickets as we walked up to buy some.  That was good because the game was very boring and we left before half time.


Sunday was the best weather of the week.  I went to mass and didn't do much else.  Sue and Esther spent  time on the beach.  We ate on the balcony on the bay side after watching a sunset we rated ten from the deck.

Monday turned out much better than predicted.   It may have reached 74 degrees.  We ate lunch at The Brass Monkey in Pass a Grille.   The shrimp-corn-crab chowder was wonderful.  The weather changed abruptly around 4:15 but we followed through with our plans for drinks at the Tiki Bar on the beach at Tradewinds Resort.

Tuesday began with a thick fog which cleared later in the morning.  The forecast again was not good but it was so wrong!  The day was lovely and warm with occasional threats of rain.  Sue and Esther enjoyed sitting on the beach with their Kindles.  I joined them for a mango margarita at the Tiki Bar.  Our last fling was a dinner at the Spinners, a revolving restaurant on the 12th floor of the Grand Beach Hotel.  We watched a spectacular sunset over the Gulf and got a good look at just how much water surrounded us on the bay side and then watched the lights come on over the town.

Sue and Esther were picked up by a car at 5 am for their 7 am flight.  I have a late check-out at 12:30 and then will get a Lyft to the airport.  It's a long day for me after a very early waking up.  I hope and pray it goes smoothly and I am with Jim again by suppertime.
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The Lyft driver was there in three minutes, the plane left early, and we arrived in South Bend at least 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. However, the child in the seat behind me grabbed my hair and pulled it hard and the child in the seat in front of me reached around and tried to snatch my pinot grigio!