Florida: Day 3

This was the day I was really naughty and snuck out of my afternoon meetings for a full agenda as a tourist. Plus I went to lunch on the beach and watched my sister and mom play in the ocean (needless to say my attempt to get my white legs some color failed, ). Of course this was a strategic move on my part... the last session didn't look that great and I had to get in my "must sees" at some point.

First up on the agenda was taking the Jolley Trolley to the Dolphin Encounter Tour boat ride. Guaranteed dolphin sightings or another free tour. Apparently seeing two dolphins counts as the guarantee. Oh well, it was a nice ride around Clearwater Beach and Kimmy was super excited to see all the pelicans. I'm not sure why she finds them so cute, something about living in Alaska a couple years ago. We also saw this enormous yacht and wondered what the owners did for a living to buy a million+ dollar house on water! Must be drug dealers :) Kimmy melting in the heat while waiting for the tour to begin.

It's the off season for tourists (consequently it's also hurricane season) and we only had a few other people on the tour with us so I practically lounged on the benches and enjoyed the cool ocean breeze. Note to self, despite its cooling factor in 100+ degree and high humidity weather, skirts are not a good idea for the beach... unless you actually enjoy some creeping tour guide making comments about your skirt blowing around in the wind and practically over your head! Bet it was a shock to see garments underneath instead of what most women wore on the beach!Clearwater is on an island, about an hour or so from Tampa. We had to cross one bridge to get to Clearwater then another one to get to our hotel. Being a Utah girl whose only been surrounded by mountains her whole life, I found the bridges beautiful and a bit freaky. I was amazed that some engineer could actually come up with a plan to build a bridge over the ocean. I just had to snap a picture, plus Kimmy kept asking me to take pictures of the cool bridges!

After our tour we decided to find Frenchy's Original Cafe and try a world famous grouper sandwich. Kimmy was a chicken (literally, she ate chicken nuggets most days we were in Florida) and wouldn't try the delicious beer battered and fried fish sandwich. I'm not a big fish fan myself but hey, everyone said it was a must do and it was well worth the walk. Bonus too, there was a gift shop right next door and my sister and mom were hankering to spend some $$. We spent more money walking to Frenchy's and back to the Pier than the entire trip combined!What's a trip to the beach without a piggy-toes-in-the-sand picture?

After spending all of our cash, we plopped down to watch the sunset. I can't even begin to describe how much I loved sitting in the sand, slight breeze, watching the ocean. It was heaven-sent, a perfect way to relax, and something I desperately needed. It was amazing how good it felt to just enjoy being in the moment... apparently I need to take up meditation or yoga to de-stress more often or better yet, buy a condo in Florida!