Today we drove from the southern end of St Petersburg to the northern end of Clearwater with stops along the way, which encompassed most of the popular beaches along this part coast. First stop was not a beach but a hotel, and an interesting one at that!
The Don CeSar Hotel, nicknamed the "Pink Palace on St. Pete Beach", opened in 1928. In 1942 The U.S. Army purchased the hotel and it served as a hospital and a convalescent center for airmen returning from their WWII tour. From 1945 to 1969 it served as a Veterans Administration Headquarters and then was abandoned by the Government. In the early 70's a group of local citizens formed a committee to save the old hotel and in 1973 it re-opened as a resort. Since then it has hosted many celebrities and has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Heading north from there along St Pete's Beach our attention was diverted to a great looking Metropolitan sitting at a nice little ice cream shop. Larry's Ice Cream and Gelatos featured a wide variety of ice cream and we had ours in a waffle bowl. It was delicious!
The next beach was Treasure Island but we did not stop. We traveled over John's Pass and admired the great view. 
Soon we arrived at Madeira Beach. We found plenty of parking in one of the paid lots and headed for the sand and the water! The beach was not crowded at all but there were still a few families enjoying the beautiful weather.
We continued north over Sand Key Bridge and soon we were at Clearwater Beach. Some amazing white sand beaches here. 
Clearwater Beach was really busy. The traffic was thick, the lanes narrow and parking was non-existent. We attempted to find a parking spot in one of the surface lots or on-street parking but it simply was not going to happen, so we headed back towards the base.
So when a career communications technician is on vacation, it is not always about beaches and sand. We also appreciate communications towers and the like. When we were in the Phoenix AZ area we spotted what the untrained eye would think is a Saguaro Cactus but was actually a cellular tower! Today we spotted this "beauty" just north of the base! Ha! Again, to the untrained eye this looks like some sort of sick pine tree, but those "buds" on top are cellular antennas!
Back at the campground we took a break and reviewed the route for the ball game tomorrow - 1310 hrs Oakland Athletics at the Tampa Bay Rays!
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