The weather improved considerably overnight and by early morning the skies were clearing. It was still a little breezy and cool but by mid-morning the skies were clear, the wind died down and it began to warm up.
It was almost noon when we finally got moving. We decided to check-out a couple of beaches nearby. The first one, Fred Howard County Park is near Tarpon Springs so we decided to eat Greek food for lunch again at one of the many Greek restaurants in town before visiting the park. Once again, we had a great lunch, this time at a different restaurant.
The Fred Howard County Park is a county park with picnic areas, hiking trails, fishing, boating and a beach on a small offshore island connected by a mile-long causeway. The beach is very nice and is mostly on the gulf side of the island. It wasn't too crowded today as it was still a little cool by area standards (the high today was about 65 degrees).
We next visited Sunset Beach Park, a small park and beach nearby run by the City of Tarpon Springs. There isn't much of a beach and it looks like its major use is as an outdoor event venue. There is a pavilion with the water as a background and a handicapped-accessible viewing platform to watch the beach and water from benches. There are several covered picnic tables throughout the park and a dirt road circling the park in serious need of grading. It is a nice little beach park but not up to the quality of state and county parks. Everything we have seen here indicates the state and county have done an excellent job of providing park and recreation facilities for their residents and visitors.
With energy left, we decided to drive over to Clearwater Beach , visit the beach and the pier then have dinner at a beachfront restaurant. The Clearwater pier is right in the heart of the Clearwater beach scene. There are usually a lot of people there and the immediate area at the end of the pier where it meets the beach promenade has numerous vendors, street buskers, and shops selling beach accessories and souvenirs. There are also street vendors on the pier selling various kinds of trinkets and things. At the far end of the pier is a fishing area where you have to pay to enter. The pier area is somewhat tacky but the beach is nice and wide and stretches for miles in both directions. It appears the beach is used a lot by locals and the pier area is primarily a tourist thing. Local fisherman may also be the primary users of the fishing area, although the sign by the entrance did indicate fishing tackle could be rented and bait purchased.
We had dinner at the Palm Pavilion Restaurant. It is a short drive up the road from the pier area and is at the other end of the beach parking lot from Frenchy's Rockway Grill where we ate last week. We had a nice dinner and arrived back at the condo just in time to watch another gorgeous sunset.
No baseball again tomorrow. The plan is to take a guided nature hike in Honeymoon State Park tomorrow morning then spend some time at the beach in the park. The weather is expected to be warmer so it should be nice beach day.
Day 22 Pictures
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