Photo TR: St Petersburg, Florida 8/7 - 8/14

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hello again, folks. It’s time for another redundant and close-to-utterly pointless photo TR!

This time I have no park photos to show you. (Or do I?) Nope… absolutely none. (But maybe I do.) Zilch, zip, nada. (Eh, what he said.)

Three things unique about this trip:

a) The whole point was to drop off my sister at college, which I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around…

b) No photos from an amusement park. (Or are there?)

c) This is the first time I’ve taken a flight to… anywhere… in about 10 years. Needless to say I was excited about it.

d) Dad thought he was leaving his camera at home, when he actually left MINE… so I used his with some good results.

e) This is the first trip I’ve taken to Florida in which I haven’t been to Orlando!

(When I say three, I mean five.)

So, without further ado, let’s get it started!

Maybe it’s just because I haven’t flown in a decade, but USA3000 seemed like a really good and stable airline. It wasn’t a huge corporation (actually, it was in its own terminal at Detroit Metro), and there was no first class or coach, putting us somewhere in the middle. Maybe they won me over with the unlimited complimentary sodas… I don’t know.

We had a “severe storm” roll through the area earlier that morning. I put that in quotations ‘cause it was nothing compared to what I’d go through a week later.

Just a little wet out there…

IMG_0021.jpg


Traffic jam on the tarmac!

IMG_0025.jpg


Good thing our flight was still good to go, ‘cause the week before, Northwest was cancelling flights left and right.

IMG_0030.jpg


I get the job of wingman…

IMG_0032.jpg


And we’re off!

IMG_0033.jpg


It was weird enough that we were above the clouds…

IMG_0036.jpg


…But it was even more odd to see a plane flying BELOW us.

IMG_0039.jpg


It was pretty cool to see clouds and storms developing from the opposite side:

IMG_0037.jpg


Anyone know what this odd lake/river thing is?

IMG_0038.jpg


How many horse tracks can YOU find? (And we’re not even over Kentucky…)

IMG_0040.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
…Holy crap! Final approach already?! I pretty much blinked and missed an entire state!

IMG_0042.jpg


Welcome to Airport!

IMG_0047.jpg


“What can white, gold and black do for you?”

IMG_0044.jpg


Our return flight appeared to be the victim of budget cuts…

IMG_0045.jpg


Our hotel (La Quinta) was beautifully landscaped, but could use a little TLC on the paint. I half-expected Zorro to jump from a balcony.

IMG_0049.jpg


We’d done the downtown half of St. Petersburg last March (do some searching around this place), so now we went to the Gulf Beach side. THAT’s where all the money is. It was like a hundred Ritz-Carltons lined up for 10 miles straight.

IMG_0051.jpg


IMG_0057.jpg


Like the colours on this one:

IMG_0052.jpg


The Don-Ce-Sar Palace is supposedly really famous. All I could think was how much it looked like another certain hotel up I-4...

IMG_0058.jpg


There. There’s your one blasted theme park picture of the trip. (Or is it?)

IMG_0060.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Beach time!

IMG_0067.jpg


…But naturally, I’m drawn to the main attraction:

IMG_0066.jpg


IMG_0065.jpg


IMG_0072.jpg


While the pelicans have not a care in the world…

IMG_0073.jpg


…All manner of sea birds battle for air supremacy! Seriously, they were attacking each other VERY LOUDLY for some food.

IMG_0068.jpg


To the victor goes the spoiled fish!

IMG_0071.jpg


Can anyone tell me what all this stuff is? I know it’s not seaweed, but other than that, I’m at a loss. (Floridians, your input?)

IMG_0084.jpg


…But just then, the palm tree exploded…

IMG_0089.jpg


…Disintegrating the plant life.

IMG_0082.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That’s John’s PASS, folks. PASS. Basically a big boardwalk tourist trap with some nice shops and cool restaurants.

IMG_0091.jpg


This one looked straight outta Amity:

IMG_0092.jpg


What’s everyone looking at?

IMG_0094.jpg


Oh, yeah, the mysterious blurry killer dolphin!

IMG_0096.jpg


…How’s that go again? “Dead men smell no whales?” “Ted’s friend Mel has mail?” I forget.

IMG_0098.jpg


More updates to come, possibly tomorrow or much later tonight. ‘Till then!

IMG_0062.jpg
 

Nemo14

Well-Known Member
Danny - my niece got married at Don Cesar 2 years ago. it's really beautiful inside!


and BTW, that red "seaweed" is your basic red tide!
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was Red Tide! That was the first thing my sister mentioned. Good thing I know we're getting our money's worth for sending her to Eckerd (College) for environmental studies. :D

It should be beautiful inside... it has its own city ("Don-Ce-Sar Place") according to Windows Live Local. :lol:
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

So today we met my sister’s roommate, did some shopping, much fun was had, etc… and the next day was move-in time! (I’m really skipping around on the photos just for continuity, I tend to do that a lot… heck, almost half the photos in each update aren’t from the same day!)

Hello, Tropicana Field, home of the worst team in the league!

IMG_0103.jpg


So today we’re back at the Pier. (See March TR for better pics.)

IMG_0122.jpg


I want to take one of those trolleys all around downtown one of these days…

IMG_0104.jpg


That’s about half of the main St. Pete skyline… wait a minute…

IMG_0106.jpg


…GAH! They really are following me!

IMG_0107.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
IMG_0105.jpg


IMG_0112.jpg


So many pirate ships…

IMG_0110.jpg


Wonder if this is the same one that kept us up for most of last night…

IMG_0118.jpg


Glass elevator POV!

IMG_0120.jpg


…OK. These things are seriously fearless. Two pecked at my legs while I was eating my burger (this is at the top of the Pier), and I had to swat away three from eating my fries.

IMG_0124.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Welcome to… this place! (Again, a much more extensive report from last March.)

IMG_0125.jpg


One great thing about Eckerd is their Yellow Bike Program. Basically, you find a bike, you use it to get to where you need to go. Don’t expect it to be there when you get back to it, ’cause someone else will probably use it for whatever they need. They’re free to use, though they must stay on campus. I must have been on there for three hours biking around campus.

IMG_0132.jpg


It’s at least nice to know that she already has a friend willing to provide shelter in case of a hurricane. Those dorms are built up for a reason!

IMG_0134.jpg


One guess which room’s hers…

IMG_0133.jpg


This is about as close to Disney as this trip report will get!

IMG_0150.jpg


At the end of the day, they had this Ceremony of Lights… it was almost like a mini-graduation!

IMG_0135.jpg


IMG_0139.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You’d be really lucky to get into this dorm… sorry, upper classmen only!

IMG_0160.jpg


IMG_0141.jpg


Apparently they renamed/rededicated the chapel since our last visit… still looks beautiful just the same.

IMG_0159.jpg


The beach is obviously a highlight…

IMG_0145.jpg


…Does this look like “LOST” to anyone else?

IMG_0161.jpg


This looks like Sun’s garden, in any case.

IMG_0148.jpg


…Though why they’d need a concrete path and a bike rack on the island is beyond me.

IMG_0144.jpg


Believe me, as ominous as this looks, it was still NOTHING compared to Monday’s 3-hour apocalypse.

IMG_0154.jpg


This turned out a lot better than I expected. That’s all for today, folks!

IMG_0143.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
And we’re back!

So today (Sunday), we decided to at least give this trip to Florida a little more of a vacation feel. What better way to accomplish that, than typical-for-Florida, totally-awesomely-themed mini golf!

IMG_0177.jpg


When they say live gators, they mean it!

IMG_0166.jpg


IMG_0165.jpg


IMG_0171.jpg


…Ooh, look! A helicopter! Hee-hee!… Oh… uh… back to mini-golf.

IMG_0163.jpg


So, naturally, this place is beautifully landscaped and designed…

IMG_0174.jpg


…Not to mention the view! Arnold Palmer WISHES he could build a course like this!

IMG_0176.jpg
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The third pirate ship of the trip!

IMG_0167.jpg


…But at least this one doubles as a hole!

IMG_0168.jpg


Though something’s missing…

IMG_0170.jpg


…Bingo!

IMG_0178.jpg


Yes, folks… this is how close I was to a hole-in-one, and a 2nd round for free. %$!(^$_%^!@^#$

IMG_0173.jpg


So after this, we decided to go across the Skyway bridge to see my sister’s eventual “hurricane evacuation shelter”. (But there’s some nice harbours in between!)

IMG_0180.jpg


St. Pete panorama!

IMG_0182.jpg


The bridge from Fort DeSoto Beach, which was apparently the best beach in America for 2005...

IMG_0186.jpg


OMG causeway POV!!!

IMG_0187.jpg


So… back in St. Pete, ‘cause I’m an idiot and didn’t take other pics… after a lovely-as-usual meal at Olive Garden, these clouds looked particularly ominous… but, you guessed it, they’re still not as bad as it was the following day!!

IMG_0189.jpg


‘Till tomorrow!
 

dandaman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
^Thanks on both counts. :lol:

It bounced off the back bricks, went around the rim before resting about an inch from the hole. :dazzle:
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom