Clearwater Offshore Races

Over this past weekend I made my way out to Clearwater Beach to watch some offshore boat races while Dana was hard at work. While they were pretty far off the beach it was still real entertaining to watch. The boats were impressively fast, and equally as entertaining, very loud. Here are a few good action shots-

There were a number of helicopters following the action from above, which in themselves were entertaining to watch. The photos below show the number of people that turned out to watch the action. Considering this isn't the busiest beach time of year there were a ton of people that showed up. You can also see the mass number of boats anchored offshore watching- they were solid on the horizon- I'm pretty sure everyone with a boat in the area showed up.

-Grant

The East Coast

Last weekend we finally began to explore the rest of the state of Florida- beginning with Miami. We didn't reserve anything ahead of time, which worked out great for us as we got a great deal just off the beach in an old hotel that was built back in 1939. We spent Saturday walking around South Beach, enjoying the clear water, and getting our fill of Cuban food.

This is the hotel we stayed inn- (get it?)

The view of the beach from our room-

The entire area kept is original architecture, which made all the street scenes very uniqe and colorful.

So far, this is the best Florida beach we have seen yet. The water was clear and clean, the waves were larger than in the gulf, and the characters on the beach really kept us entertained.

Saturday night after dinner we sat outside our hotel enjoying some mixed drinks and desserts.

Sunday morning we spent a little while out on the beach before check-out time, then headed into Miami to see the Bayside Marketplace, which my Dad worked on back during construction. He tells me I saw it back when I was 9 months, and as far as I can tell, it hasn't changes a bit.

Following another great Cuban meal, we headed on back to St. Pete via Alligator Alley. Not much to see on this drive...

-Grant