Trip to Clearwater

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 – Trip to Clearwater

62 degrees at 7 in the morning, and going up to 77 this afternoon!  Time to break out the sandals.  I’m off on an early medical mission to CVS in search of a cure for what’s ailing poor Elliott (nothing serious – just a little GI bug).  This is my favorite time of day for a walk, especially on a day like today when the air is gentle and sweet.  My early morning companions are dog walkers and gulls.  It hasn’t taken very long for me to feel comfortable walking around St. Petersburg thanks to its logically numbered grid of streets.  I’m actually starting to feel at home here.  People seem extremely pleasant, and friendly, too.  Even the drivers who stop for me at crosswalks give me a smile and a wave.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that almost everyone is a transplant.  The Wisconsin T-shirt I was wearing this morning sparked a conversation with a retiree from Green Bay.  And to confirm my feeling that this is going to be another great day, I found not just one, but two lucky pennies on the sidewalk on my way to CVS.  

We have a field trip on the agenda for today – a drive up to Clearwater to visit long-time friends Roy and Agnes.  (Elliott has known Roy since both taught art at the Corcoran in DC back in the late 60s, early 70s.  In fact, he was the best man at our wedding.)  From their art-filled 8^th floor apartment on Ocean Way, we had a great view west over the Gulf.  The water is such an amazing blue-green color, nothing like the North Atlantic.  I can see why they love it here.  After lunch, they gave us a driving tour of Clearwater Beach.  Then Elliott and I took the slow but scenic route back to St. Pete.  We were following Roy’s directions.  Garmin sounded quite irritated (recalculating, recalculating) when we kept ignoring him.  It’s quiet time now back at the hotel – reading, drinking tea, eating roasted chickpeas, doing laundry, and deciding where to go for dinner. 

Sadly, it’s another solo dining venture for me.  Elliott wants to stay in the hotel room and have leftover white bread, canned salmon and applesauce for dinner.  Since it was still shirtsleeves weather, I wanted to sit outside for dinner.  Fortunately, I found an available table on the sidewalk outside the Central Avenue Oyster Bar.  All the others were occupied by the happy hour crowd.  I could sit there and eavesdrop on the surrounding conversations, breathing in secondhand smoke, and watch the cars slowly cruising down Central.  As a reward for doing the laundry, I decided I deserved a rare indulgence – raw oysters.  They were from the Gulf, of course, and they were exquisite – so clean and fresh, and they slid down so easily along with a glass of chardonnay.  I also enjoyed my next course, grouper piccata.  But it’s the oysters that made the meal so special.  I was tempted to order another half-dozen for dessert.  (I didn’t.)