41

A few weeks ago was my 41st birthday. A couple weeks before I made reservations for the Hilton at Clearwater beach. Then Ian came through and almost ruined our plans. However, the last minute turn to the south spared the Tampa area and there was hardly any damage. 

The morning of my birthday I woke up and went to the gym. This is my new tradition on my birthday, going to the gym and pretending I'm not getting old. After the gym we packed up my Honda and drove out to St. Petersburg to the Sunken Gardens. I saw someone's post on Facebook about the Sunken Gardens and couldn't think of anything better to do before hitting the beach. 

The gardens were amazing, but a little small. I thought it would take hours to get through the place. When we drove up to the gardens it was right in the middle of the city, kinda in the ghetto, and then there's just a lot there and gardens behind the wall. It took us just over an hour to walk all of it before we headed out to one of my favorite restaurants, The Colombia (Cuban food).

After dinner we went to the hotel. What a different from Miami and the Tampa Bay area this time of year.  We got hit with a cold front and it was too cold to go in the ocean that night so we took the kids to the pool. I got in the heated pool and it was too chilly for me. I ended up just sitting there drinking my cocktail. This was the first week of October and already cold. Today is 11/24 (Thanksgiving). We took the kids to Miami Beach today and it's still really warm.

We spent a couple days at the beach. In the middle of the day it was warm enough to get in the water but cold when we got out. It was windy and the water was not the typical clear blue. It was kind of brown and murky. We had a good time but I think that's the last time I'll go to the part of Florida this time of year for the beach. In the summer the water is warm and crystal clear. I had been talking this place up to the kids and then we get there and I felt like it wasn't even close to what I was expecting.

At the Sunken Gardens.

Zach standing by a huge bromeliad.

I don't remember what this is but the flowers were really weird.

The lily pads with the wall on the top were really cool. I've seen better pictures of them from this garden though. They were kinda small when we were there.

I don't remember what this is but when I find out I want to get one.

The biggest bamboo I have ever seen.

Vines growing up the palms.

This was one of the coolest parts of the gardens. The vines on the palms were so thick.

Clearwater beach.

From the pier. 

We dug a huge hole on Saturday.

At dinner. I was looking for coconut shrimp in a mango sauce but ended up getting it in marmalade. I don't remember where but I had the best coconut shrimp in mango sauce somewhere in that area 15 years ago.

We were worried about bringing Dean to a seafood restaurant but they were really good about cross contamination there. They even gave him a special allergy flag.

Sunset Saturday night.