Don Cesar - The Pink Palace of St. Pete Beach

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We went to the Don Cesar hotel for lunch today. We've driven by it many times on the way to the beach. Having guests from out of town was the perfect excuse to finally go inside and snoop around. It is a beautiful hotel that was built in the 1920's and hosted the rich and famous celebs of the day like F. Scott Fitzgerald (author of The Great Gatsby), Lou Gehrig, and Al Capone. It dominates the landscape around the St. Pete Beach area.



The foyer.


A grand piano and opulent chandelier down the hall from the foyer.


Here's a peek out a window on the 5th floor.


The pool area and beach.


A pink tower, pool, and the spa area.


Tropical garden.


A view of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge from a terrace.

We had lunch at the Sea Porch Cafe, and then went to the beach at Passe A Grille.

More photos of the Don Cesar hotel, the pink palace of St. Pete Beach.

Biggest Whelk at St. Pete Beach

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I found the biggest lightning whelk I've ever seen at St. Pete Beach. The skinny end of the shell was sticking out of the sand, and my foot came across it underwater. I grabbed it with my hand and recognized what it was. The whelk was fighting me trying to dig its way deeper into the sand. I hung onto it, dug it out, and burst out of the water with my trophy. We took some photos and then swam out to deeper water to release it back into the ocean.


Grandma Apple in the water with Alfonze.

St. Pete Beach is a friendly place for handicapped people. Parking is free if you have a handicap sign for your car. Grandma Apple is 80 years old and has bad knees. It was a short walk for her from the parking spot to the beach. The terrain at the shoreline gently slopes into the water, which made it easy for her to get in and out of the water.


Here's a another lightning whelk that Alfonze found. Later we found a live pear whelk and several olives. I don't think we've ever found so many live mollusks in one day.

More photos of shells found at St. Pete Beach

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

We had fun visiting Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) with Abigail and Grandma Apple. It's always interesting to see animals up close that you can only get a glimpse of in a natural setting.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium has a team of first responders to marine life emergencies and specializes in giving medical treatment and rehabilitation to injured animals. The goal is to re-release the animals back to their natural homes. Those that have injuries that make them unable to be released become permanent residents here.


Here is Nicholas the dolphin waving goodbye after a dolphin show. Nicholas was stranded with his dying mother as a calf. He is a permanent resident at CMA.

The most famous CMA dolphin named Winter had injuries so severe that she lost her tail as a calf. Winter was not expected to live, but she refused to give up. She learned to swim without a tail! Today she is an inspiration to amputees and disabled children. The research and development that went into producing a prosthetic tail for Winter has improved the technology for human prosthetic limbs.


These dolphins cracked me up. They were taking turns poking their heads out of the water to look at the people. Their bodies moved straight up and down in the water like yo-yos. Dolphins are such characters.

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is located just over the big white bridge on Route 60 (Clearwater Memorial Causeway) on the right side as you head west towards Clearwater Beach. There are signs along the road. You can't miss it. Drive around the building to the front entrance with the canopy. I highly recommend a visit.

Related Links:
Clearwater Marine Aquarium - Read stories about the individual animals and see release videos.

Astronaut Hall of Fame

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After watching the space shuttle land we went to the Astronaut Hall of Fame.


Apollo 14 command module. Three men flew to the moon and back in this spacecraft in 1971. There are scorch marks at the base from re-entry.

Inside the Apollo 14 command module. You can see the astronauts' seats and some of the controls. From this angle they would have been lying on their backs, feet up.

A tire from the Apollo moon rover.

It is amazing to think that we sent men to the moon when journalists still used manual typewriters. There were no laptops. That technology came later as a result of the space program.

A display showing the space shuttle design process.


The Hubble telescope. The space shuttle delivered and repaired the Hubble from the highest orbit ever flown.


Prototype of a Coke machine for the space shuttle.


Aviator helmets of famous astronauts.


Here I am in the shuttle landing simulater.

There are so many artifacts to see. I've been here twice and each visit I discovered something new. An admission ticket from Kennedy Space Center includes admission to the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

More of my photos from the Astronaut Hall of Fame

Related links:
Astronaut Hall of Fame
Kennedy Space Center

STS-124 Shuttle Discovery Lands

We were in Titusville to see Shuttle Discovery land across the river from the landing strip at Kennedy Point Park. The large building in the distance is the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). There was a small group of people gathered. One guy had a radio tuned in to NASA's live feed. Once we heard that the shuttle was crossing the Yucatan peninsula on its way to the Gulf we all got up out of shaded picnic pavillion to look around in the sky. It was a hazy day, and we were trying to spot anything in the air. There were a lot of military aircraft like weather planes, T38 shuttle training jets, and such flying around. Suddenly a commercial jet came from a nearby airport flying really low. It made a thundering noise and my first thought was that something was terribly wrong. As the jet got louder we heard the double sonic boom from the space shuttle. The jet continued flying low and to the north. The problem was that the shuttle was also flying north to turn around and line up with the runway. The guy with the NASA radio said, "That guy is in so much trouble." The commercial jet was in the wrong place, but nothing bad happened. We finally saw the shuttle once it was over the runway. It was interesting, but not as dramatic as a launch. It looked like an airplane landing from a distance.

Just Chillin' at Honeymoon Island

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It was a beautiful day at Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, Florida. People were enjoying the bench swings at the beach at the north parking lot. Further down the shoreline you can see a group of people shelling. It seemed like you could see every kind of blue imaginable in the water and the sky. The hustle and bustle of the working week was washed away by the beautiful scenery and the sound of waves breaking on the beach.

We saw rocks all over the beach so, we turned around to head to the south beach parking lot. We hoped to get away from the rocky terrain.


Here is the view to the south (from the beach at the south parking lot). You can see the white sand of Caledesi Island and the high rise hotels of Clearwater in the distance. There's a ferry to Caladesi Island from Honeymoon Island. The two islands used to be connected until a hurricane seperated them in the 1920's.


We rediscovered the rocky terrain in the water along the shore. You can see people teetering along as they try to walk over the rocks to get in the water. Once you get past the rocks the sand is smooth, and there is a sandbar nearby.


Here is a live whelk found at the sandbar.

The beach was beautiful, but the rocks made it difficult to get in and out of the water. Alfonze developed a technique of laying down and floating over the rocks using his hands to "walk" over them. I had a hard time walking on the rocks, even with beach shoes on. Despite the inconvenience of the rocks it is still a nice beach and I would come back again. The facilities are modern, clean, and well lit.

I'd like to go to Caledesi Island, which was voted #1 Beach in North America this year by Dr. Beach. It is only accessible by boat. Honeymoon Island will be a great place to explore in the winter when we are walking rather than swimming at the beach.

More photos taken at Honeymoon Island

Related Links:
Caladesi Island State Park
Honeymoon Island State Park

STS-124 Shuttle Discovery Launch

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We picked a spot across the Indian River from the launch pad near Kennedy Point Park in Titusville, Florida to view the launch of Shuttle Discovery.


Shuttle Discovery clears the launch pad.


The space shuttle cuts through the clouds.


Close-up of Shuttle Discovery.


The path of Shuttle Discovery from the Earth to the roll that aligns it for LEO (Low Earth Orbit).

Travel Recommendations

We opted to spend the night in Titusville rather than fight traffic at 5:45pm, right after Kennedy Space Center closes. Titusville and the immediate area around it called The Space Coast doesn't really have the infrastructure to support the massive amounts of people who travel there for shuttle launches. Restaurants are also over capacity, so we take a cooler loaded with food and water. It is great to have a Sunpass for this trip in particular, because you can drive through the tolls and pay electronically instead of having to stop to pay cash. The Sunpass is a fantastic time saver when all the toll booths are backed up after shuttle launches. I highly recommend avoiding the Bee Line Expressway (FL-528) after a shuttle launch. The toll booths back up for miles and there are no rest areas between Titusville and Orlando.

Road Directions to Gulf Coast After Shuttle Launch

When we do drive home after a shuttle launch we go north of Titusville taking either U.S. Route 1 or I-95 north to SR-46 to drive east towards Sanford. Near Geneva take Oviedo Road (SR- 426) south to FL-417 south. FL-417 is a toll road that takes you around Orlando International Airport and ends directly at I-4, which takes you west to I-75 (today's Dixie Highway) and the Gulf Coast.

Visiting Kennedy Space Center

The best time to visit Kennedy Space Center is on a non-shuttle-launch-day. Traffic is usually no problem in and out of Titusville. If you want to Mapquest the Kennedy Space Center, look up Orsino, Florida.

Related links:
Kennedy Space Center
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA: Space Shuttle
Sunpass

How to Clean Sea Shells

Materials:

* protective eyewear
* rubber gloves
* bucket of water
* tool to remove barnacles
* small brush for scrubbing
* plastic bowl for bleach solution
* plastic tool for use in bleach solution
* mineral oil or baby oil
* soft cloth for polishing shells with oil

How to clean sea shells:

1) Use protective eyewear while cleaning shells. Barnacles tend to fly off unexpectedly, and bleach can injure eyes.

2) Scrub with a small brush in water. Remove barnacles with your fingers or a small tool.

This is assuming there is no live animal inside the shell that needs to be removed first. I don't harvest live mollusks. Some places in Florida limit how many live animals you can take. Others prohibit it.

Don't dump sandy water down the drain or toilet. Sand will clog drain pipes. Dump sandy water out in the yard.

3) Soak in a 50/50 solution of bleach and water. Use rubber gloves to protect your skin from the bleach. Use plastic tools for moving shells around in the bleach solution. There is no set amount of time. Usually a few minutes is all it takes to remove the outer layer of debris on the shell.

Take care to dispose of bleach solution properly.

4) Rinse the shell in water and scrub more if necessary. Then allow the shell to dry.

5) Polish with mineral oil or baby oil. This will bring out the color of the shell. Don't use food oils used for cooking, because they will eventually become rancid and smell bad.

Here's an example shell.

Before: This crown conch was covered with mud. Underneath the mud was a thick layer of algae. I used a bucket of water and a fingernail brush to scrub it. I dug out the mud that was packed inside the shell with a small screwdriver. Bleaching removed the outer layer of algae, but the shell still looked dull. Some color was showing through the inside, so I persisted with the clean up. I tried sanding it with fine sandpaper, but stopped. I didn't want to ruin the fine details on the shell.


After: I continued to soak the shell in water after bleaching, and scrubbed some more. After allowing the shell to dry I started polishing with mineral oil. The texture of the shell made it hard for the mineral oil to soak in, so I held it over a bowl and dumped the mineral oil all over the shell. That is when the color finally started to show up.

After: The top of the shell was a dull beige color before the mineral oil bath. I was so amazed when the stripes appeared. I'm glad I didn't ruin the details with sandpaper. The crown looks like fine porcelain.

Related links:
Seashells.org
The Shell Factory, Fort Myers, Florida
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel, Florida

Sea Shells from Fort Desoto Park

Sea Shells by Sunshine Skyway Bridge

We found these shells at the Sunshine Skyway Bridge south rest area.

Funny Sign in Ruskin

Now hiring sausage biscuits.

Tomato Festival in Ruskin, Florida

Here are some cool old tractors. These photos are from the heritage area at the Ruskin Tomato and Heritage Festival.

Water pumps.

Spinning, weaving, and knitting.

Blacksmith

Skins and tents.

Lithia Springs Park, Florida

Lithia Springs is the source of the Alafia River.


The swimming area at the big spring.

One of the smaller springs. The water is clear blue-green and smells sweet. There were many different kinds of fish. They must be used to being fed by people, because a group of fish swam towards us as soon as we came to the edge. Alfonze remembers swimming in springs like this when he was a kid. Back then he saw water moccasin snakes with heads as big as your fist slithering into the water. (((Correction: Snakes with heads as big as a 10-year-old's fist.)))
Maybe that's why the smaller springs are fenced off now with no swimming signs posted.

The banks of the Alafia River look like another world. It looks dark and sinister compared to the springs. We found a sign by the river that said "Don't feed the alligators!"

Light shimmers on the surface of the spring water.

Palm trees strike poses that look like cobra snakes.

The water from the springs smells sweet and is clear, but it was slimy to touch. I'm not sure I would want to go swimming in it. I was fascinated with the natural terrain around the springs and the Alafia River. You don't have to walk far to get to those areas.

The entry fee to Lithia Springs Park is $4 per car.

Click here to see more photos from Lithia Springs Park.