After the nail appointment we cam back to the RV for an early lunch then left for Judy's doctor appointment in Clearwater.
She has to get an injection in her right eye every six weeks or so to treat macular degeneration. Fortunately, her retinal specialist doctor at UCD in Sacramento knows a doctor in Clearwater/Tampa Bay area who he recommended to administer her shot while we were here on vacation. The doctor here was a student and resident doctor under the supervision and instruction of her doctor at UCD. He was highly recommended, so Judy was comfortable getting the injection from someone other than her regular doctor. The process went well, although Judy's vision remained blurry for a few hours.
It was early afternoon when we left the doctor's office so we decide to head over to Clearwater Beach. We were already halfway there and rush hour hadn't started yet. It wasn't exactly a beach day as it was partly cloudy and breezy with the temperature in the low 70's. We made it over to Clearwater Beach without much traffic, drove south through town and across the causeway over the Clearwater channel that goes out to the Gulf.
Right across the causeway on Sand Key is a large county park, Sand Key Beach Park. It is a large park with a long beach just south of the Clearwater channel breakwater. Due to the weather or possibly the lingering aftereffects of St. Patrick's Day revelery, there wasn't much of a spring break crowd on the beach, just a few families and couples. We took a short walk down to the water and back. It was a place we haven't been before and a potential location for an extended beach visit if we can fit it in before on a good weather day we leave for home.
It was then just a short distance down Sand Key to the Columbia Restaurant, one of our favorite restaurants in the Clearwater area. It is located on the bay side of Sand Key on the water. It has a Cuban/Spanish theme with great food, atmosphere and service.
The original Columbia Restaurant was opened in 1905 in Ybor City, just north of Tampa. Ybor was once the center of the Cuban cigar trade in the U.S. and was the staging point for Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders before they left for Cuba during the Spanish American War. There are now five Columbia Restaurants in Florida and we have eaten at four of them.
We had a pitcher of Sangria, Gazpacho and Tapas for an early dinner. As usual, everything was excellent in a very relaxing atmosphere.
We were able to get back over the causeway to Clearwater Beach, through town and over the other causeway to Clearwater and back to the RV before most of the rush hour traffic kicked in.
The Phillies are on a two-day road trip to the east coast to play St. Louis and Houston today and tomorrow. There are four home games left and we break camp a week from Wednesday. Baseball resumes again on Wednesday, with games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday.
Tomorrow is laundry day and we have a mobile RV repair guy coming to hopefully fix a problem we are having with the RV water pump that pumps water from the RV tank when we are not hooked up to "city water" in the RV park. The goal is also to finish up the taxes if we can.
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