Travel Blog: St. Pete, FL
The watch ticked over 4pm on a Friday and I was sitting in a client meeting going over at work - that was the time I supposed to leave to pickup the girlfriend on the way to a weekend vacation. A few minutes later I was out the door with a car packed on the way to pick her up and head to the Sirata St. Pete Beach Resort.
This was my first time spending a weekend on the St. Pete beach so I was excited to take advantage of this resort that was under an hour drive away. Immediately on arrival things looked a bit odd with a few police cars disrupting the entrance of the hotel with the parking attendant describing a "situation" ongoing.
However, a few minutes later they were gone and we were parked & checked into the hotel for the weekend.
Once we got the above map it set in that I don't really have to travel far away to attend a resort - they feel comparable and this one is under an hour away. What I mean is my car was parked on Friday and did not move an inch until we left on Sunday - the resort had us covered and we could walk to anything we needed.
As dinner approached we walked next door to a beach bar that had the tables literally in the sand. It was of course all about the view and atmosphere for this place as the cold frozen drinks melted insanely fast and the food wasn't that great. Sometimes though its about convenience over quality and this was 50 steps away in the sand.
As the night got darker it was time to visit the pool which would hopefully have way less little kids than the day. The cool thing we noticed is one pool was tinted red at night and the other blue. The sign said "Open dusk to dawn" and we were clearly in the pool past that with others, so guess that really isn't enforced. Same with the "no outside drinks" rule as nearly everyone had a personal tumbler cup.
When the morning struck on Saturday it was time to slip out for a beach run, which was a challenge of finding the best place to run that wasn't wet, but had strong enough sand to prevent your foot from sinking in.
I guessed the wrong direction to run at first and hit the end of the beach just as my watch clicked at the first mile. So I double backed and went the other direction for mile 2,3 and 4 which left mile 5 & 6 for the return to the hotel. Beach running was an experience, but not something I would see doing daily if I lived on a beach. The consistency of a trail or sidewalk just makes everything so much safer on the feet.
The large chunk of Saturday was beach day and boy it was hot. Even with some shade, towels, long-sleeved shirt and sunscreen re-applied consistently I still got burned. It was a fun time people watching and cooling off in the water every once in awhile. One odd thing was a family deciding to setup their tent within a few steps of us, which made no sense given that there was plenty of space everywhere else.
Only after the full weekend did I begin to fully understand the "style" of each beach resort and we were generally in what I describe as the family friendly one. Other resorts looked like party central or so elegant it was for folks wanting to spend a few thousand dollars for the weekend.
As the afternoon ended it was time to head to the birthday party of a friend located at Postcard Inn (PCI) Beach Bar. This party started a bit rough with the venue not remembering the agreement of the party - missing tables and catering, but with a few escalations it was resolved. The drinks at this place were a bit better than our resort, but boy it was an endless stream of what looked like college kids obsessed with non-stop partying.
As the party ended and the after party began we found ourselves at Jimmy B's Beach Bar which was absolutely jammed packed with people. It was quite dark and loud so I struggled to hear or understand friends around me. I guess unless I'm also toasted beyond belief this jammed packed popular bar scene isn't much of my cup of tea anymore.
As Sunday came - a recovery beach run was had and it was time to pack up and leave before things got hot. The beach weekend was over and it rained on the way home - so perfect timing with heading out on Sunday. This post ends here, but with the birthday near another beach weekend approaches.