I geared myself up and was excited to hit American soil once again; unfortunately it was less than a star spangled welcome home. Searched, residue swabbed, and humiliated, I eventually made it. My bag was not so lucky. I can only imagine the hell it went through. Travelling for 4 months through South America on sketchy buses, collectivos, and hitchhiking…where does my bag go missing? A direct flight from Miami to Tampa.
Separated from the possessions I held been intimately attached to for so many months, my worries were easily distracted by a real, hot shower. A shower without an electrical head, a shower I didn’t need to wear slippers in, a shower with equal pressure and temperature (which of course I had scorching with this new freedom). It was glorious.
Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater are a humid, tropical trio of cities on the Gulf of Mexico coast. Visiting good friends, Davia and Kevin, it was 5 days of beaches, boats, and booze…exactly as I think Florida is meant to be!
Boating the intercostal waterways and exploring the different keys of St. Pete’s and Treasure Island was so cool. There were dolphins and manatees around our boat, huge mansions to gauk at, and best of all shallow sand bars to stop at. Boats stop all around these sand bars, set up volley ball nets, and just party. Pretty cool scene to be ‘exposed’ in.
Anna Maria Island was also a huge highlight, a sleepy little beach community with fifties rancher homes lining the streets to a beautiful beach on the Gulf of Mexico. It was a wonderful afternoon taking in the sun and unusual surf, this due to a tropical storm in the Gulf.
On the other side of the island we stopped at “Rod & Reel Pier” which is a famous fishing spot with a little restaurant which opened in 1947. I tried the Floridian classic, Grouper, quite a tasty fish. Also worth mentioning were my other forays into ‘you can only eat that here’ land…Alligator, Conch Sushi, and of course Key Lime Pie!
Weighed down from very successful beach combing, it is finally time to board my last flight (well two), travel through time and space back to Seattle, and see my Mum!
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