ST. PETERSBURG, FL CONTINUED

Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

Day 162
Miles Traveled: 0
Total Miles Traveled: 2523


  We had a beautiful day to continue walking around St. Petersburg, FL.  It is known as the "Sunshine City" because of its climate and great weather, and, today it lived up to its name.  The city has one of the largest public waterfront park systems of any US city.  We have walked through eight of them and there are several more.  The park below with a nice fountain was just steps away from the marina. 

South Straub Park

  Along the walk we spotted a snowy egret perched on a break wall.

snowy egret posing nicely

  We also spotted a cute airplane themed child's playground in Albert Whitted Park which was right next to the small Albert Whitted Airport.  This themed playground is appropriate for the area, as St. Petersburg is the home of the world's first regularly scheduled commercial airline.  In 1914, Tom Benoist started the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line which carried cargo and passengers across the bay in about 23 minutes.  The services were discontinued after only a few months due to financial and technical difficulties. 

Airplane themed playground in Albert Whitted Park

  

  Along with beautiful parks, there were also some beautiful buildings.  The Renaissance Vinoy Resort is a popular place for visitors to stay.  The St. Petersburg Yacht Club, established in 1909, is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the United States.  It is a very prestigious organization and the clubhouse represents that status.  The Mahaffey Theater is getting ready to celebrate its 50th birthday.  It has hosted many famous shows from the Ringling Circus to Elvis Presley and Liberace.  The Dali Museum houses the largest collection of Salvador Dali's work outside of Europe.  Although we did not go into any of these buildings, we enjoyed looking at them from the outside.  

Renaissance Vinoy Resort

St. Petersburg Yacht Club clubhouse

Mahaffey Theater

Dali Museum

  Tom and Janet, who we visited with in Clearwater, drove down to see us again.  We walked around downtown and the park area and ended with a great dinner at Fresco's.  Ironically, for a city located on the bay, this was the only restaurant we found that was on the water.  The company, food, and view were great.  

  

  The St. Petersburg Munical Marina was a nice place to stay.  The location of the marina was also perfect and within walking distance of all the sites.  The only downside was that it was not close to any grocery store, but, who needs that with all the great eateries around. We have enjoyed our stay here at St. Petersburg, FL.