I wanted to see the sun set over an actual beach so we chose the Pass-A-Grille Beach as our final destination on Tues. Feb. 18th. I’d read that it was uncrowded, very important to me, and i also found a site which listed good parking places; my goal was 8th Avenue, the only cross streets that has free parking for two hours, and after 6 p.m. it’s not enforced anymore. We found a place at about 5:30 and headed a block to the beach.
We passed a restaurant called “grace” but somehow not only did we not go inside, we didn’t even take a picture. Oh well.
the beach wasn’t crowded at all and we spread out our big beach towels and i immediately took a walk. this is my favorite bird photo. So far, anyway.
I started picking up shells as I went but i had nothing at all to put them in, so i carefully piled them up in one hand. I was surprised at what a giant stack i managed to balance. in the bathroom i carefully wrapped them with lots of toilet paper so at least they’d be contained.
the sun was going to set at 6:23. Approximately. and of course i took a million photos because that’s what i do.
there was a nice little outdoor eating place and plenty of chairs and benches nearby and we managed to snag one end of a bench.
everybody was doing the same thing as me. because that’s what you do.
i like this picture because of the bird flying by…
…and this one because of the boat.
after the sun set the sky was glorious.
meanwhile, at home the lake was still frozen.
after the sun set plenty of people cleared out and mom and i scored a couple of adirondack chairs with cup holders and enjoyed some cold wine. a perfect ending to the beach day, but of course i’d have been happy to have spent hours there.
back at home les and sweetie were doing a little bit of swatting at each other. it never gets super-aggressive but i wish they’d be friends already. but they’re on cat-time. maybe it’ll happen someday.
we decided to stop for dinner on our way home a at a seafood restant called Leverock’s Great Seafood, near St. Pete Beach. It’s been around since 1948 and the original owner has a colorful past, if you’re interested in reading about it on the link.
i almost wasn’t going to post this photo because it was after i’d devoured quite a bit of my seafood platter but i like looking at it now because it reminds me of how delicious it all was. i even got garlic mashed potatoes which i never get and they were great.
it was a very big meal, and like i said, delicious. a very down-home place, like if Red Lobster wasn’t a huge chain and had better fish.
A good time was had by all.
and at home, Kevin had a rare moment of Sweetie lying on his lap.
yay, we made it to the beach!
ok then,
g.h.