Enjoying the sunset in St Pete...

I’ve always found the gulf coast to be beautiful and my favorite part of Florida. St Petersburg is located just southwest of Tampa and this area has a number of very nice beach areas along the coast leading up into Clearwater.

With my wife being out of town this weekend, I decided to get out and do something so I scheduled a visit to the Sirata Resort in St Pete. We’ve stayed there before and really liked it. It’s more reasonably priced than some of the larger chain hotels along the beach, yet it’s clean, has some nice amenities and the beach area is great.  All I have to do is walk out of my room and the beach is right there.

It was a relaxing, beautiful drive over there. I had the top down and ended up getting a little sunburned, but the drive was great. I checked into the Sirata around 2pm. My room wasn’t ready right away, but that was no big deal.  I parked the car and walked over to Harry’s beach bar which is located on property. In addition to a very nice breeze, there was a guy playing guitar and singing songs.

While I was sitting there I was thinking how funny and unpredictable life can be. About 2 years ago I was here at the Sirata and I remember at the time, seeing a silver BMW convertible in the parking lot near Harry’s beach bar and I remember pointing it out to my wife and joking with her “that’s what I want that for my birthday“. Two years later, I turn 50 and I’m driving a silver BMW convertible. I’ve always believed in the phrase; “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. 

Back to the present… The bartender’s name was Paris. She was cute. I think she said she was around 40, but even so, she was better looking than the Hilton version, and much nicer. I had a couple of Coors Lights and then a Miami Vice, which is a strawberry daquiri mixed with a pina colada.

They call them Lava Flows here at Harry’s. Paris said she makes the best ones, but I sort of got in trouble by saying the best one I ever had was at the Holland House in St Maarten. There’s a little bar on Paradise Island in Nassau that makes a pretty good one also, but hell if I can remember the name of the place.

While I was sitting there listening to the music, a gal walked up and sat down next to me. She later introduced herself and said her name was Stephanie. She was a good looking woman about my age who lived locally and was planning to meet a friend for a drink. We chatted a bit while Old Man by Neil Young played in the background. The musician was pretty good.

Even though I was content sitting there, relaxing and taking in the environment, after a while I got hungry. Just down the road a bit is a place called Sea Hags. I’ve been there a couple of times before and enjoyed it, so I decided to drive over there and wander in and see what was going on.

There was a guy playing guitar and singing in the bar area and I sat down on a bar stool that looked toward the marina. Looking out the window, I kept thinking about the fact that it was such a nice day and all these nice boats were sitting there with nobody on them. What a shame. What were all those boat owners doing today? I’m thinking to myself, ‘get your friends together and get out there and enjoy life‘.

I ordered a beer and a NY strip steak for dinner. I had tried the double pork chop dinner before and it was awesome, but today I really wanted a steak for some reason.

I ended up talking to an older gal who asked me how I liked the steak. She told me she has ovarian cancer and her doctor told her she should eat more red meat. She said she eats mostly fish and really doesn’t have a strong appetite for red meat. We debated a sirloin from Outback vs. my steak and I said I‘d probably go for the sirloin. A nice sirloin is better than a strip steak in my opinion. That being said, I really like Sea Hags. It’s a nice local place and I would recommend it to anyone.

Afterwards I wandered back toward the Sirata and stopped at the store to grab a few snacks for the room before getting back. When I got back, I parked and walked over to Harry’s again. Unfortunately Paris and her coworker were gone by now and a couple of guys were bartending. It was more crowded and I just wasn’t as enamored with it as I had been earlier, so I went for a short walk.

Before I knew it, the sun was setting. I managed to grab a couple of photos before stopping back at Harry’s for one last beer. Then it was back to my room to relax and watch the basketball game. I truly dislike basketball, but I was interested to see if Dallas could beat Miami. It didn’t hurt my feelings when Dallas won the championship that night.

I enjoyed my time in St Pete. I’ve always said I wanted to live on or near the coast one day. Who knows… like the car story earlier, maybe I’ll have another story to tell one day? It’s like I said, you never know where life is going to lead you. I think you have to keep an adventurous spirit and recognize and be open to the changes and opportunities that come your way. I honestly believe the only thing that stops people from doing things is themselves.

Unfortunately, as with any trip, it always seems to be over too soon and before you know it, the experience and the people have passed through your life and all you have left are memories. Thankfully I can still remember some things and amongst it, a sunset on the beach St Pete isn’t a bad thing to remember…