Acting like a Tourist in St Pete

It was a looooooong trip to & from Panama City to retrieve our car, but we've enjoyed having our car this past week or two.  The weather our entire first week here was strong east winds.  This week, a low pressure system is in the Gulf, making its way towards Florida.  So we're enjoying Maximo Marina much more than we wanted to.

We've enjoyed visiting our relatives in Seminole (two families), along with our nephew & family from Florida's east coast.  We've been able to get together several times, including a cookout at their house.  We've shared a lot of memories around this marina & the nearby neighborhood where Sue used to live.



Sue in front of Salvador Dali museum in St Pete.

We've driven around St Pete several times to find the junior college that Sue attended in 1969, as well as finding the house where she lived in 1966 & her high school.  We drove to Fort Desoto beach, one of the best beaches in Florida, where we used to go way back in 1967 when we were dating each other.  And, of course, several times we drove past her old house nearby to reminisce.




Outside the Dali museum, Sue sits next to the
"melting clock"





We drove to downtown St Pete to visit the museum we've been waiting for -- the Salvador Dali museum.  We've both been fans of Dali & his surrealist art for many years (and we've been jealous of our daughter since she visited the largest Dali museum & his home/studio outside Barcelona Spain).  This is supposed to be the 2nd largest collection of Dali works in the world.  Most of this was originally a private collection of a friend of Dali.  



At the Ringling estate & museum

We also drove south across the new Sunshine Skyway bridge & Tampa Bay to visit the John Ringling museum & estate in Sarasota.  It was amazing to see the history of all the circuses in America & Europe, & how the Ringling Brothers started in the business.  John Ringling ran his circus, and after joining with Barnum & Bailey, became the "Greatest Show on Earth".  And he made millions of dollars doing so.  His estate was modeled after castles in Venice Italy, where he visited often while searching Europe for circus acts.  In America in the early 1900's, when "the circus came to town", it was a major event, since it took about 100 train cars to transport the 1000-1500 circus employees & their gear & their animals.  The logistical effort to move & feed such a large army was noted by the US Army prior to WWI, when the Army asked Ringling for advice.  The Ringling family sold the circus around 1967, so although the name persists, the Ringling family is no longer involved.

Ringling's winter home on Sarasota Bay

We need to get back to cruising, 'cause we're starting to look too much like tourists!!