St. Petersburg Beach

Try the blackened dishes at Crabby Bill's.

 

In the Dali museum, time melts as you stand there.

 

First Hooter's, right?

Go kick the manager in the balls.

 

i stayed at the vinoy last month. very nice. also nice because the columbia at the pier is walking distance. sangria. yum. and get the white chocolate bread pudding. seriously. can't be beat.


i'll be the voice of dissent on the dali museum. i thought it was, eh. and, well, the people pissed me off as much as anything. i hate faux intellectuals discussing art. especially if i happen to know a little bit about it. i'll say this about dali, dude loved dick. seriously. loved the cock. couldn't stop painting it. the scale of many of the works (well, more like sketches) are pretty impressive from a purely mechanical standpoint. but hey, that's just me. i kinda feel like dali is frat boy beginner art and something dudes like to buy at poster sales at the student union as a freshman and get really high and look at 'em and listen to pink floyd. but that's just me.

sarasota's nice for spring training too -- especially gus' across from home plate at ed smith stadium for breakfast and maria's chicken in the shopping center beyond left field and across the street for all other meals. seriously, trust me on this one -- quarter chicken with maduros and black beans.

the justrays' park in st. pete is nice, too. don't go to legends. it's crap and just the bullshit you'd expect from anything associated with the yankees.

 

I love that area. I love blackened grouper sandwiches, and some of the best I've had have been at two different places down there (I think Hurricane was one of them). There's also some nice beach bars.

 

Vinoy is quite nice, but he's actually referring to the Don Cesar. The Don is a classic resort - both are very good places.

 

The place we're looking at has a kitchen and we'll probably cook mainly in-house, but we'll eat out one night (we're partial to buffets). I've never had grouper - not a clue what it tastes like (the Fisherman's Catch in Wells, Maine, is the standard by which we judge seafood).
There won't be any baseball on this trip (no money left for a divorce lawyer afterward LOL). Although if we get some rain, we may check out the Dali museum - Mrs. T. is a former art student (alas, not a Roy Lichtenstein fan).

 

Clearwater! Right. And damn I remember how crowded that road was, now that you mention it.

 

Discovered this place by accident when I arrived way early one morning. Good and cheap. Turns out half the team was in there, too. Suffice to say the Reds don't put out much of a breakfast for the players in the morning -- basically a lot of cold cereal best I could tell.