I know at the end of my last post I said that the next edition would include the cities of Tampa & St. Petersburg. As our travels in Florida progressed however we actually came back to the Bay area twice so I will leave Tampa for our 2nd post on the area and concentrate on St. Petersburg for this one.
Driving past Tampa into St. Petersburg so many memories passed through Julie and I. I had gone to college and lived in Tampa for a number of years in the early 2000’s and couldn’t help but remember the fun I had all those years ago. In all the years that I lived in Tampa I had rarely crossed the bridges across the bay to go to St. Petersburg. I had crossed a few times a month to go to one of the gulf beaches but I can count on one hand the amount of times that I had gone specifically to St. Petersburg. As Julie and I were on a quest to see new spots in the bay area, St. Petersburg it was.
St. Petersburg (or St. Pete as I’ll now call it as the locals do) is a city made up of small neighborhoods. St. Pete, unlike Tampa across the bay is a much more pedestrian friendly city. It has an easy to navigate grid pattern and generally all buildings are less than 5 stories with huge oak trees lining the streets giving it a very homey feel. To make it even easier most of the shops and restaurants are on 3 streets leading towards the waterfront, 1st Ave N., Central Ave and 1st Ave S. The Grand Central Neighborhood is the furthest out towards the center of the Pinellas Peninsula and it’s where we started our journey today.
Grand Central has had a rebirth in the last few years and is home to St. Pete’s LGBT community. As we were there a bit early in the day we didn’t have a chance to visit many of the establishments as they were bars and restaurants but it looked like the neighborhood had changed for the better as there were few vacant storefronts in this part of town. Adding to the charm of this area was the Kenwood Neighborhood just north of Grand Central. This neighborhood is famous for it’s early to mid 1900 Florida Bungalow style homes. Most were original and really neat to walk around and see.
Walking closer to downtown we entered the EDGE district. According to the districts website the word EDGE not only describes the district in a geographical sense as it is on the edge of downtown but also is an acronym for “Entertainment, Dining, Galleries & Shops, Etcetra”. The amount of restaurants and breweries seemed to double as we entered this area. Almost every storefront seemed to cater to your eating or drinking needs. This district is also the current home to Major League Baseballs, Tampa Bay Rays. As this was the case there were also baseball promotions everywhere trying to get you to eat at their establishment before you walked over to catch the game. In this district you are able to see the huge domed stadium where the Rays play that stands above everything else in the neighborhood.
Finally we ended up downtown and wandered around St. Pete’s waterfront. This city has done an amazing job with their waterfront parks system. Looking online I found out that their waterfront parks system is the 3rd largest in North America with parks stretching for 7 miles. This did not surprise me at all as it seemed that we had walked most of this stretch. Julie and I made our way to Vinoy Park where we sat down on the break wall taking in the scene for a while. There were a few people fishing, some rollerblading or just walking. As we sat looking out at the water a few dolphins and rays made their presence known. The dolphins swam in circles a few hundred feet out and the rays glided past us just a few feet from the shore. It was neat to see these creatures while sitting in a park next to quite a big city. From the waterfront we wandered back into the city having dinner at Chiang Mai Thai Restaurant (awesome meal there) before meeting our good friend Nick at Cage Brewing. We knew Nick for many years and he had just moved down to the Tampa/St. Pete area. It was great to catch up with Nick, as it was the 1st time that we had seen him since he had moved south. After a beer and good conversation we headed to our campsite for the night.
One last little fun fact on St. Petersburg. The story goes that the city was named by chance of a coin flip. There were two founders, one from St. Petersburg, Russia and one from Detroit, Michigan. Whoever won the coin flip would get to name the new city after their hometown. St. Petersburg, Russia won.
For those wondering we stayed at the St. Petersburg/Madeira Beach KOA campground. This was great as even though we didn’t go it was located just a few minutes drive from Madeira Beach. It was also on a small inlet itself so you were able to fish or kayak right from the campground. Julie loved that there were blue herons walking around the property. If you’re ever in the St. Pete area and looking for a campground check out this KOA!
The next day we woke up excited to get going. Today was a beach day for us. We packed up the van and headed out. Today we were headed to the North Beach at Fort DeSoto. Fort DeSoto is an island county park located just south of the tip of the Pinellas county peninsula. This was my favorite beach when living in the area as to me it looked like most of Florida probably had looked prior to people coming and building massive hotels directly on the beach. It was a little further out of the way than going to Clearwater Beach or St. Pete Beach but I love it. After parking your vehicle you walk through a path through the woods to reach the beach. We brought our camping chairs, towels and packed a lunch. The day turned out to be absolutely perfect. Bright blue skies, temperatures in the low 80’s and crystal clear blue waters.
Towards the middle of the afternoon we packed up and headed over to the area of the island where the actual fort is located. The Fort is a civil war era fort that was built and in use between the years of 1898 to 1910. The Fort was originally surveyed by Confederate general Robert E. Lee, but built and used by the Union army as a blockade to prevent any Confederate ships from entering Tampa Bay. It is pretty neat to see; as it’s free, you are more or less able to wander wherever you want on the property. One of the few powder rooms now holds pictures and a history of the complex and the island in general. We wandered room to room before checking out the sights including its massive cannon style guns. We then went on top of the fort, which gives you great views of the surrounding islands as well as the nearby Sunshine Skyway Bridge. From here we called it a day and headed back to the campground for the night.
Next up……We venture south to the Conch Republic – Key West!
