Tampa Bay & Hillsborough River SP

Our second visit to Hillsborough River State Park in the Tampa Bay area is delightful!  During our visit there last Christmas, we have to relocate THREE times because it is such a popular park and we haven't booked far enough in advance.  After reconnaisance missions on the trikes, map and pen in hand, we scope out the best spots!  We decide that campsite #65 is a real keeper, secluded & private.

When we arrive at our campsite, it feels like we are in our own little private, piney woods.  Even though the 200 wild pigs that are terrorizing the park have done a thorough rooting job through the site, it is lovely nonetheless.

I spot a piliated woodpecker one morning and


the swoop of a great horned owl at dusk....score!

On Friday evening, we take the tram ride tour of the park.  The ranger points out the various trails and other available tours to us.

Saturday afternoon, we visit Fort Foster, a reconstructed pallisades fort just across the highway

which was attacked many times during the Second Seminole Indian War.

On Sunday morning, we take the nature hike with Ranger Brett, about one mile long and very informative.

The concession cafe/store provides delicious, hearty breakfasts and lunches, so we eat there a few times, taking advantage of the free WiFi, a real luxury in a Florida State Park!  The park loop road is two miles long with a decent bike path.  We ride the trikes along it  for several days, twelve miles being our longest ride.

On Christmas Day, our dear friends, Linda and Frank join us for Christmas dinner in the woods!  Before dinner, we take a leisurely hike along the Baynard Trail, over an old suspension bridge spanning the Hillsborough River and through the woods.

Later, I prepare Corninsh game hens with grapes, shallots, and thyme; baked sweet potatoes, sauteed green beans with garlic (fresh from their organic garden), and watermelon/grape/tomato and feta cheese salad.  Enjoying Christmas dinner with the Brandts has been a real treat for two years in a row now.

Earlier in the week, after lunch at St. Petersburg's historic and newly restored Vinoy Renaissance Hotel,

Vinoy Renaissance Hotel

Frank and Linda treat us with a visit to the brand, spanking new Dali Museum!

Linda & Frank & bougainvillea

Mike and I have visited the old Dali numerous times and are thrilled to tour the new facility. "The new space, said the organizers, allows for better presentation. “The works have more air and space around them, and better lighting,” said the project architect, Yann Weymouth of the HOK firm in Tampa. “They have a life to them.”

Dali Museum, St. Pete

"Mr. Weymouth’s striking building is a concrete trapezoid wrapped in an undulating wave of glass and steel. Its solid structure — with 18-inch-thick walls — can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. And its design is an homage to the Dalí Teatro-Museo in Figueres, Spain, which is topped by a Buckminster Fuller geodesic domes."

“Here, we warped it, and were able to let it flow around corners and things that are far more irregular,” Mr. Weymouth said of the curving dome, which he’s called the “Glass Enigma.” It is composed of 1,062 glass triangles, he said, no two of which are identical. Another architectural feat is a soaring spiral staircase of solid concrete that’s a nod to Dalí’s fascination with the double-helical structure of DNA."

Bon Apetit on the Dunedin Pier

The end to a perfect day finds us just around sunset having drinks at Bon Appetit, a lovely restaurant overlooking the Dunedin pier. Ironically, we met the owners, Peter and Mary, fellow Airstreamers in Acadia NP last summer when they invited us to join them for a hike along one of the coastal roads...what a great couple!

Mike gets his first bad cold in a couple of years, so we have to cancel our trip with Linda and Frank to Weeki Wachee to see the Mermaid Show, but there is always next time!

The Chalet returns to its home, Bates RV, Dover, Florida

On our last day in the area, we take the Chalet to Bates RV where she was purchased in May, 2010.

Joseph & Mike

There, she receives some TLC from Joseph, who cleans and polishes her up like a shiny silver bullet just like he did after last year's four-month journey.  We have decided that we will make this much needed detailing an annual event!