We flew to Tampa stopping, as usual, at DFW to change planes. Our home base for the week was the Great Heron Inn on Indian Rocks Beach which is just a few miles south on Clearwater Beach.
This is the "Great Heron". He hangs out around the pool and the beach and always reminds me of my Dad. I don't know why, I guess they sort of look alike.
Here is our bedroom. This place is stuck in the 50's but it's comfortable and right on the beach and the price is right.
It has a full gourmet kitchen. Well, a full kitchen anyway.
This was the view from our window.
The view from our balcony
This is the aforementioned pool and the Great Heron
Our first stop was "The Pub", just a short drive away on the bay side.
Gotta have a Yuengling draft - you can't get Yuengling in San Diego.
Checking my Bird Reference Manual, I found this to be a Black Skimmer, rather than some sort of deformed tern. I don't remember seeing one before.
Next day was beach time, that's Lorri out past the dunes
Gee, I wonder what's in the cups? Probably not coffee. This is the beach looking north.
There is the Great Heron Inn in the background. Our "suite" was on the upper right facing the beach.
This is the beach looking south. The beaches here have fluffy white sand and lots of shells and they go on forever. Not much in the way of waves, though, more like a lake.
Here is Lorri sitting on the balcony of the GHI.
I'm guessing this was taken on Thursday in honor of our Thursday Happy Hour Friends back in SD.
The sun sets over the Gulf
This is Crabby Bill's, another favorite spot, just up the street - walkable!
We're sitting at the bar, our usual seats at Crabby Bill's. We hadn't been there for about five years but it hasn't changed a bit - same bartender, same stuff on the wall, etc.
Same bar fly offered to take our photo
Same dead grouper above the bar. This was new, though, local octopus ceviche! Looks ugly, tastes good! Lorri wouldn't go near it because of the ugliness.
Here we are for a nice lunch at Bon Appétit in Dunedin. This was my parents favorite place for a "fancy" lunch.
You can see we were having a little rainy weather and overall, we did not have very great weather in Florida, unusual for the time of year we visited.
Checking the menu, enjoying the wine...
My lunch, lorri's lunch.
Meanwhile, back at the beach...
Another view of the Great Heron Inn
On Saturday we met Lorri's 2nd cousins at "Gators" a restaurant/shrine to the University of Florida Gators, at John's Pass, a few miles south of Indian Rocks Beach
It was another cloudy, rainy day.
But it was fun to meet Lorri's cousins for the first time. Lorri does a lot of family history research and that's how she found them. They live in St. Pete Beach.
The cousins: Laura, Lorri and Elizabeth and Elizabeth's friend Jill
Looks like the sun is out finally and Lorri is getting primed for a beach run.
I found a mermaid on the beach
Another view of the GHI
Here is a photo of how the GHI looked when it was still "Alpaugh's" My family has been coming here for so many years, I remember when it looked like that. In fact, I stayed there when it looked like that!
This is Cinco de Mayo at the local Mexican Restaurant with our bartender bombing a selfie.
That's more like it - margaritas!
This is the other side of the GHI. We're packing up and getting ready to head north in our trusty rental Nissan Altima.
