Florida - St. Petersburg
Follow the river and you will find the sea.
We arrived in St. Petersburg, Florida, at around 6:30PM on Monday after driving all afternoon from Savannah, Georgia, and the long drive was well worth it for nearly a week in the Sunshine State.
For dinner our first evening, we went to Hook’s restaurant where our eyes were bigger than our stomachs from the day of traveling and we dove into a sushi platter as big as the sea. Luckily for us, we had no plans for the rest of the evening other than to relax - and that we did. And we relaxed even more the following day, which consisted of a leisurely walk around the lake, light reading and drinks with dinner on the lanai.
By Wednesday morning, we had worked up our energy - more than enough to spend the entire day celebrating the birthday of the most important woman in the world: my mom (obviously). After homemade breakfast and a 1.5 mile walk in the neighborhood, we went to Pass-a-Grille, located at the very end of St. Pete Beach, where we laid on the very windy beach and enjoyed the sounds of the waves, sights of children playing in the sand, and touches of sea shells flying at us with each breeze.
We went to the Hurricane Seafood Restaurant for lunch where we got - of course - a Hurricane drink, an appetizer of calamari and shrimp tacos for our meal. After lunch, we strolled down the main street and admired the beautiful residential beachfront homes, and then drove back to the house where we relaxed and got ready for the rest of our celebratory evening.
Before our dinner reservations in downtown St. Pete, we sat outside at Flute & Dram - St. Pete’s first caviar, champagne and whiskey bar - where we had a drink and listened to live music. Once it was time for our reservation, we walked down the street to Cassis, a French brassiere-influenced restaurant, where we enjoyed meals ranging from a maple leaf farm duck breast to pan-seared scallops to red snapper and jumbo shrimp - all of which we devoured. On top of our incredible tastes, our dining experience was escalated even more when we discovered that the birthday girl received a free entrée.
Dessert was not forgotten: once we got back to the house, we had three small cakes waiting for us - cannoli, coconut and rum - that we had picked up earlier in the day from the local Mazzaro’s Italian Market.
It was raining and cloudy out when we woke up the next morning, so we decided to drive the 40 minutes into the town of Dunedin. Our stomaches - and our attitudes - were growling by the time we made it there, so for lunch we went to Casa Tina, an authentic Mexican restaurant with a great location - extremely close to our parking garage - and decent food. We then walked around the Main Street of the beach town, in and out of shops, until we decided to make our way back to St. Pete.
Once we arrived to Central Avenue downtown, the rain had lightened up enough for us to stroll 10 blocks south, stopping in a handful of boutiques along the way, and then we headed over to Sea Salt: one of our favorite local raw bars, where we ordered a drink and ahi tuna nachos for a happy hour appetizer. For dinner, we snacked on leftover birthday cake back at the house.
Friday mid-morning, we returned to downtown, where we went to the St. Pete Pier: newly remodeled at 26 acres and featuring several parks, restaurants, sculptures and a walking path to take you seamlessly from place to place.
Lunch was cocktails and a veggie burger at Teak, where we sat outside on the patio of the elevated sculpture-like building on the end of the pier with picture-perfect views of the water. We walked through the farmer’s market held on the pier as we made our way back toward the land of downtown, and had a drink at Canopy Rooftop Lounge at The Birchwood for an early happy hour. Tired from our day in the sun, we ended our evening at the house with chips and salsa for dinner - and a one-and-a-half mile walk around the neighborhood.
For our final day in Florida, we drove to St. Pete Beach and went to Bongo’s beach bar, located just outside of Bellwether Beach Resort. While waiting about 15 minutes for a table to become available, we walked on the beach and stuck our feet in the icy water - a sharp contrast to the warmth of the sunny day. We sat at a table in the sand and had fish tacos and beer.
From here, we drove to 3 Daughters Brewing. We ordered a beach blonde ale at the counter and took it with us to wander around the farmer’s market right outside of the brewery, filled with local vendors, patrons and dogs. There was a live band playing on stage inside when we returned, so we grabbed the only table that wasn’t occupied and listened to the music before making our way back to the house to relax with a book and charcuterie board.
Our day - and our trip in the Sunshine State - came to a close that evening at the local McArthur’s Irish Pub, where we sat at a table inside and ordered some favorites: scotch eggs, curry thick cut chips (fries) and cottage pie-filled potato skins.
We went to bed full of bitter-sweetness that our week in Florida was over, with our week in South Carolina approaching in just an eight-hour blink of an eye.