We decided today to go to the beach. When we first decided we were going to Orlando to vacation this year, I knew we were going to the beach at least once, hopefully more. I had originally wanted to go to the gulf side, but then the oil spill happened so I didn't know what the beaches would be like, so I started planning on visiting the beaches on the Atlantic side. I decided on Cocoa Beach. But then the oil spill stopped and the beaches were being cleaned up. So it wasn't until we were on the plane talking to a lady that I decided we were going to go to the gulf side again. She said Clearwater was really nice. I had no idea what beach area though in Clearwater, so we just got in the car and drove through Tampa to Clearwater. I figured once we got there, we could just drive along the coast and find someplace to hang out. I also had read on the Internet that there was a restaurant in Clearwater called Frenchy's Rockaway Grill that we should eat at. I put it in the GPS and away we went to Frenchy's.
When we pulled up, Frenchy's sat right on the beach. We were able to park at the restaurant in some metered parking and with the ocean right there, along with the beach chair rental company, we decided that's where we were staying. I guess we got there around noon. I put a couple dollars in the parking meter and we were set until 5:00 p.m. We went to lunch at Frenchy's - I had chicken fingers and fries and Shawn had the super grouper sandwich. He really enjoyed it. Mine was just so-so. After lunch, we went back to the car and got our towels, noodles, and beach stuff, and away we went. We rented two chairs and an umbrella for $20 and had it until around 5:00 p.m., which was good cause that's the same time our parking meter run out.
We couldn't of picked a more perfect day to go to the ocean. The temperature at the beach was only around 85 degrees, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the water was calm, and there was no one on the beach. We spent time back and forth playing and relaxing in the ocean, and then relaxing and sleeping in our chairs. We had a very relaxing, peaceful time. Next year, I'm beach side ALL vacation though. We also picked the perfect time of year to vacation in Florida (well Dan and Jamie picked the perfect time of year to get married so that we could vacation in Florida!)...the kids had gone back to school and there was no crowds anywhere!
When we left around 5:00 p.m., a huge storm came in, so I'm glad they wanted the chairs back at 5:00 p.m. and that our parking ran out at the same time. I wanted to drive around Clearwater and explore some, but I guess because of the storm, Shawn just wanted to get out of there cause the next thing I knew, we were on our way home....in 5:30 p.m. Tampa work traffic. I was NOT a happy camper. It took us FOREVER to get through Tampa.
Once we got through, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home. We had to stop in Lakeland at the Men's Warehouse and pick up Shawn's tux (for the second time). This time the pants, jacket and vest fit, however they had lost the shirt, shoes, socks, tie, and cuff links. So after they had looked all over the store and couldn't find it, they realized that the driver must of picked up everything when he picked up the wrong stuff to start with. So they scurried around the store getting everything again for us. It was an ordeal....with more to come later in my blogs. After there we wanted Chinese for supper and they directed us to a yummy little Chinese restaurant called Leng's. We ate too much food and then had a long drive home.
We were getting close to the ocean.....I could just tell!
The view as soon as I got out of the car!
This is the ocean view from our table at Frenchy's.
I'm not a fan of eating outside, however I love doing it at the ocean.
Cool daddy-o Shawnie and me relaxing in the shade of our beach umbrella!
The beach view from my chair!
The view from my chair looking left.
The view from my chair looking right.
The beach set-up in the left of the picture is ours. You can see Shawnie relaxing!
