Pass A Grille Beach St. Pete Florida.... Shell Key Island....Shopping.... Day10 & 11& 12

Monday, May 2, 2011
This has been a day I have been waiting for since January.  I read about this island...Shell Key Island...across from Pass A Grille Beach....in a blog called Gypsea Nurse (  http://gypseanurse.blogspot.com/    ).  It is a pontoon boat tour that goes out to an uninhabited island 10 minutes from Pass A Grille Beach. 

There were shells everywhere along the edge of the water.  They gave us big umbrellas, even snorkeling gear and shell bags.  We got some very nice shells.

When we were walking back to our motel, we saw a little restaurant called The Sea Horse and we ate there for lunch. 

Then we went back to the motel for a nap.  I tried to call Mike's cousin Donna and tell her we were in the area...but she didn't seem to be home...I left a message.  We got up from our nap, checked out the area around our motel, got ice cream cones, watched the sun set, and ate at the restaurant next door to the motel called The Hurricane.

 The sandwiches were so big....we have to learn to share a plate.
 My legs are so sore...especially my calves...guess it is from walking in the sand on the beach.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Today we decided to get up at 6:am and go shelling on the beach, but it is still dark at 6:00.  We had to wait for daylight.  I was looking for a special kind of shell...old ones that were mostly white with lots of little holes in them.  I want to group them together for a picture and call it Ocean Lace.  I did find lots of those shells...old, white, holey, full, broken, conch, fancy and plain, big and little.  But I forgot my camera, so you will have to wait for the picture.  I also found a nice grouping of black and white shells that will make a nice picture. Two pictures to be looking forward to see.  Mike and I walked all the way to the pilings and back, so the pool at the motel looked pretty good to both of us.  After we got dressed we decided to check out the little shops around our motel.

 

 One was a local artists shop.  It had some cuties things, jewelry, paintings and cards.  Mike liked the Large Blue Mermaid picture....$350...but did we want to spend that kind of money on a picture for our lake cottage?  I don't think so!

The next store was called Bamboozle. 

 I first saw it on another person's log.  It was very interesting and very full.  It had lots of cute things, including mermaid things. 

On the outside of the store is a bigger than life size mermaid made completely out of natural beach things...very beautiful.

 I got a mermaid coaster for my bedroom and a mermaid magnet.  I also bought a pair of shorts, a skirt, and a shirt...all in turquoise.  I texted my daughter Jewel and told her that I bought a short skirt, so now the next time we went on vacation together, we could both wear our skirts everyday...inside joke.)
 We went in one more store and the name of it was Dody.

It had very beautiful and expensive things.  Beaded barefoot sandals  $75...I took pictures...I can make them.

 Lovely, beautiful, flowing sundresses $650-$240. I touched and lusted for them.   I can't afford them.  She also had the prettiest big sea shells...they were not for sale...they were part of the decoration.  By this time we were getting hungry again and we were near Pass A Beach Grille so we decided to have a Cheese Burger Pizza and it was pretty good.  When we got back to the hotel, the pool started calling us and it felt wonderful.  Three or four sea gulls have figured out how to get past the guide lines that are supposed to keep them out. 



                                                              

                                

They seemed quite irritated that we were taking so long floating around.  As soon as we get out of the pool...in they go drinking, swimming, and splashing about.  How lucky we are to be retired and be able to travel like this.  Just before sunset, we went to the beach where everyone goes each evening to watch it.

 I pick up some teeny tiny shells while we are waiting.  As soon as it is over, everyone claps.  Another awesome day!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Oh No, today is the day we have to check out of our motel and leave Pass A Grille Beach.
It was hard to leave.  Thank goodness we had packed most of the things in the car yesterday.  Because of that we didn't have to get up early.  We checked out by 11:00am and drove down to the end of the beach so I could spend a few more minutes looking for that perfect shell.  then we got on the Florida Turnpike and looking at trailer and mobile home parks in the Zepherhills area.  One of my Internet friends, Joan, spends her winters in Andy's RV park.  Joan & John are back in New York already, but we drove by their trailer and talked to one of her friends.  Joan has a lovely trellis of pink roses growing right by her front door.  Then we got on US Rt. 19 and headed up the coast of the Gulf.  We are going to try to stay off the big roads.  We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast and Mike really wanted to find a What-A-Burger for lunch.  We could not find one so we basically just ate snacks and junk food for lunch.  We went through many, many little towns on this road.  We passed a really big shell shop and had to turn around and go back to it.  It had giant shells outside.

I bought some shark eye shells, some just pretty shells, and some pretty air plants for gifts......am I crazy....I certainly don't want any more plants at my house.  Bethany has every window that she can full of plants  and I heard she was planting lots of little starter plants since I am gone...what am I going to do with that girl?

It also had lots of mermaids in it for sale...everywhere I go there are mermaids.

                

This shows the most we have had to pay so far for gas.  $3.94...hope we don't ever get to $4.00 a gallon.

Boy were we getting sleepy ,tired of driving, and HUNGRY. 

We passed a restaurant called The Light House. 

There were a lot of cars in front of it, so we thought that was probably a good sign.  We made a U-turn and went back.  Mike was real happy....All You Can Eat Shrimp!  It had a nice salad bar too.  The waitress told us that we might have trouble finding a good motel for quite a while.


We decided we should go back to the last little town called Chieftain and check into the Holiday Express we saw advertised.  When we got there it had been changed to a Days Inn.  It looked OK and it had a spa location in the pool area.  The hotel desk girl got us a good price on a non-smoking room with a king size bed near the spa area.  We haven't had a king size bed for a while...that will feel good.  We unloaded only the things we needed and made a mad dash to the whirlpool...ahhhh heaven!