Vaga Bond: Hop, Skip, and a Jump to St. Pete Beach

It’s been a busy weekend. Yesterday we launched the 10th Annual St. Petersburg Shuffleboard Club's Annual Tweed Ride fundraiser. We sold 400 tickets and sent cyclists dressed in vintage clothing out into downtown St. Pete to terrorize the city followed by live music, swing dance lessons, a box dinner, and a very successful 50/50 raffle. I had to explain what a 50/50 raffle was (evidently it's a Burgh thing) but once I explained there was prize money involved everyone got on board.

Today I hopped over the Blind Pass Intercoastal waterway to Room #3 to the Sun City Motel on St. Pete Beach.

I’m getting pretty good at packing up the car. I’ve skinnied what I need into one big suitcase. I’ve also learned to carry a bag of bare essential groceries with me (coffee, ½ and ½, bananas, eggs, cheese and crackers, an emergency box of Kraft dinner) because the last thing you want to do after settling into the new digs is to head out again in search of a Publix. I'll do that tomorrow.

The houses in the Blind Pass neighborhood are mid-century cement block. Lately I've been getting into that design. It makes me think of the old Dick Van Dyke show with Mary Tyler Moore - only set on the beach instead of New Rochelle.

The motel is an efficiency studio kitchenette, ruthlessly clean. Marybeth, the manager, gave me a stack of pool towels but since it’s only 52 degrees, I’ll be saving the unheated swimming pool idea for warmer weather. St. John’s Catholic Church is across the street. Hearing their church bells striking the hour is a treat. It reminds me of living in Aspinwall.

I was feeling a Pittsburgh theme coming on and of course, when I stopped at Woody's Waterfront Restaurant for lunch I noticed that they had a football hanging over the register. A Steeler's football.