I'm in the Orlando, Florida area for the week. My daughter Erica and I decided yesterday, a spring-break Saturday, that we would venture to the Gulf Coast to see what "the great flatness" (the husband's description of our beautiful Lake Michigan) looked like on that side of the state. It was not a prudent decision.
It was a perfectly lovely day by the pool at home, with free chairs and shade, and plenty of towels and cold drinks and hot showers available in the house--quiet, peaceful, private. We left all that to drive in heavy traffic out of Orlando--headed for the theme parks and outlets and Gulf Coast. Later we encountered stop-and-go traffic on the causeway near Clearwater, with no opportunity to stop, get off, or pee. Our only salvation was an I-Pod full of favorites to distract us.
The public beach at Sand Key Park was windy, crowded and noisy. Humanity of all shapes and persuasions filled the expanse. I forgot to put sunscreen on one side of my back and burned a bit of virgin skin.
There were chairs and cabanas available to rent along with hotdogs, outdoor showers and restrooms. We opted for a beach towel on the sand and didn't stay long enough to unpack our umbrellas.
But, you almost always get what you pay for ($5 parking fee), and if you go to a publicly available beach, you have to deal with the PUBLIC. I don't think of myself as an elitist, but allow me to say that it was not a beach for the beautiful people.
We did pack a pretty good lunch--a ziplocked kit of tortillas, cold-cuts and pepper-jack cheese and some great baked Naked pita chips and hummus. The red-pepper hummus served as a tasty condiment for the roll-ups. After a short dip in the wavy water, we read our books for awhile in silence. Then I turned to Erica and said, "Are we having fun yet?" The answer was obvious and we started packing up. After trying to park in another area of the coast for at least 20 frustrating minutes we headed back home, rewarding ourselves with large ice cream cones at a Chick-fil-A in Winter Park.
The beach was so crowded with noisy children and old, fat and ugly bodies (including me--but I don't have to look at myself) that I couldn't even take a decent photo of our experience, so I have included some from last year, taken at the end of January, when the water was cold and the only beach bums were birds.
The public beach at Sand Key Park was windy, crowded and noisy. Humanity of all shapes and persuasions filled the expanse. I forgot to put sunscreen on one side of my back and burned a bit of virgin skin.
There were chairs and cabanas available to rent along with hotdogs, outdoor showers and restrooms. We opted for a beach towel on the sand and didn't stay long enough to unpack our umbrellas.
But, you almost always get what you pay for ($5 parking fee), and if you go to a publicly available beach, you have to deal with the PUBLIC. I don't think of myself as an elitist, but allow me to say that it was not a beach for the beautiful people.
We did pack a pretty good lunch--a ziplocked kit of tortillas, cold-cuts and pepper-jack cheese and some great baked Naked pita chips and hummus. The red-pepper hummus served as a tasty condiment for the roll-ups. After a short dip in the wavy water, we read our books for awhile in silence. Then I turned to Erica and said, "Are we having fun yet?" The answer was obvious and we started packing up. After trying to park in another area of the coast for at least 20 frustrating minutes we headed back home, rewarding ourselves with large ice cream cones at a Chick-fil-A in Winter Park.
The beach was so crowded with noisy children and old, fat and ugly bodies (including me--but I don't have to look at myself) that I couldn't even take a decent photo of our experience, so I have included some from last year, taken at the end of January, when the water was cold and the only beach bums were birds.
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| Clearwater Beach - January 25, 2011 |
The frustration at the 2nd parking attempt cannot be over exaggerated. Rarely have I been so frustrated
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