Thanksgiving 2009 at St. Pete Beach - the Brrrrr trip About This Page:

[ShellingConnie]

It all started when I told DH that I wasn't cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. After he did , he mentioned that maybe we should go somewhere for the long weekend.

Why wasn’t I going to cook Thanksgiving dinner you ask?

Well, the past 3 years I’ve slaved over cooking a big Thanksgiving meal, turkey, cranberry sauce, homemade mashed potatoes, gravy, other vegs and 3 different kinds of pies. After spending hours and hours in the kitchen, my family snarfed down the few things they decided they liked in minutes, my DD10 complained about dessert because she doesn’t like pie and then they left. Leaving me to handle all of the cleanup and deal with bunches of leftovers because the kids decided they didn’t like Turkey after all. So after dealing with it for 3 years, I was fed up and not doing it this year. And I’m not doing it ever again unless we have company. And now back to the trip report.

We decided to head to Florida weekend since usually the weather is still decently warm in Florida during that weekend. We also hadn't gotten to the Beach this year and I needed my Beach fix.

Our first choice was Clearwater Beach because I love to go shelling and we find wonderful shells on that beach. But it was not to be. I didn’t want to stay at the hotel we’d stayed at the last few times because each year, the beach area was more and more eroded until there was very little left on our last trip. The only other resort I had found on the internet and liked that was directly on Clearwater Beach itself was fully booked.

Now I'm spoiled. When I go to the Beach I want to stay at a hotel on the Beach, not across the street, not 1/2 a block from the Beach but actually on the Beach. Oh and I want a Beachfront room too.

So we decided to go to St. Petersburg instead.

We hadn’t stayed at that end since my DS was 2 years old. He is now 14 so it’s been awhile. LOL

With the help of Papa Mouse and Sue M. on the boards, I decided that the Sirata Beach Resort would work well. I found a code that gave us 25% off on a beach front room and booked it. In addition, this resort has a Club Sirata card which got me 10% off the food at Compass Grille and 10% off anything bought in their gift shop. It is free so I signed up for it.

Then I packed. Our swimsuits, shorts, tank tops and t-shirts were all ready to go in the suitcases 2 weeks before leaving. I was so happy to get all that work done.

A few days before we left, I checked the weather. Uh Oh. It was going to be unseasonably cold. Rats. We talked it over and my husband wanted to go anyway because the weather changes alot in FL so maybe it would warm up a bit.

So after repacking our bags to reflect the cold weather the morning of the day we were leaving, I took our 2 cats and the dog to boarding for their vacation and we headed to the beach. I should have repacked a few days before but I kept hoping the weather would warm up. This was the day before Thanksgiving.

The drive was uneventful until we hit Florida. Once we crossed the state line, it was pouring down rain. And I was driving this stretch. And I hate to drive in the rain. And it poured all the way into St. Petersburg. Since we got a late start, I pulled into the Sirata Beach Resort in the dark, pouring rain.

Needless to say, we didn't get to enjoy the beautiful view from the bridge we crossed. I just love the warm, fuzzy feeling I get when we cross the bridges heading to the beach.

Up next, will the Sirata Beach Resort live up to my expectations? (pictures coming up!)

[chezp]

Great start!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start!

[pamcarey]

Great start! I hope it warms up for you!

[ShellingConnie]

The parent/teacher conference is all done and while I should be packing a few orders to get a head start on tomorrow, I don't want to. So I'm going to update my trip report instead!

So I left off with us checking into the resort in the cold, pouring rain. Brrrrrr. Squish. Yuck.

The check in building is separate from the rest of the resort so we pulled in under cover and I checked us in. We got our room info (room 2242), room keys and directions on which building our room was in. The person working the front desk was very nice and tried to show me where our room was on the map and off we went.

There are several buildings to this resort. It turned out the evening clerk did have us heading to the wrong building but I noticed it as soon as we got to the wrong one because the number didn't agree with the first number on our key. It should have been 2 but was a 3 so we got back in the car and drove closer to the correct building.

We found our room with only 1 wrong turn once we were at the right building. Totally my fault too. Sometimes I wonder how I find my way to Florida since I have a bad tendency to get lost in places I don't know.

We unloaded the SUV in the cold rain (I could see my breath!) and unpacked after verifying everything worked in the room and there was no sign of bugs. Cause ya know it’s Florida, the land of bugs. And Lizards, and snakes and alligators. We didn’t find any of those in our room either. I think DS14 was secretly hoping for a lizard or two.

The room itself was very nice. I loved the color, a light tan. And the colors in the comforter would have looked wonderful in my bedroom before we repainted it. I didn’t get a picture before we trashed the room but you can sort of see them in this picture.

We had 2 queen beds, 1 comfy chair, a flat screen tv and fridge. There was no table or kitchen type chairs in the room which surprised me and disappointed DH since he was going to be on his laptop and a table makes it easier.

The sink was outside the bathroom area and the shower/toilet area was tiny. You couldn’t close the door unless you stood against the side of the tub. But alot of the beach hotels have that issue so I wasn't surprised.

I wished I had brought a shower curtain rod and curtain to use as a privacy screen between the sink and the rest of the room. It would have given us somewhere else to try and dress besides the teeny bathroom. Note to self: Always bring one with me when we drive.

There was plenty of drawer space but several of the drawers did stick. I was wishing I’d brought a candle with me because a little candle wax brushed across the bottom of those drawers would’ve cleared up the sticking problem quick.

There was plenty of space for all of our bathroom stuff under the sink and we had a balcony. Because of the cold rain, I didn’t go outside to check it out. I just looked out the sliding glass door and could tell it would be a beach view because I could hear the surf. Ahhhhhh. That sure made me happy.

The room passed the Connie test and I knew it would be fine for the long weekend.

Here's a pic I took of the outside of the resort while standing at the edge of the gulf looking back towards the resort the next evening:

We were hungry so after unpacking, we checked the resort map and found the restaurant called the Compass Grille. Yum. Food. We had a friendly server and enjoyed a decent meal of pizza (DD10 had a hamburger since she’s very picky about the type of pizza she eats). I also liked the 10% discount.

Then we made our way back to the room (I stopped in the store and picked up 2 small bottles of milk for breakfast) and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Listening to the rain and DH's fingers clicking on the keyboard of his laptop.

Ahhhh. The normal noises of home since we've had so much darn rain this year. At least we are out of the drought.
Next up: Thanksgiving Day. Will we actually get to the beach?

[ShellingConnie]

I just realized I didn't point out where our room was on the resort picture.

Way over on the left side of the picture you can just see a corner of Building 3. I'm talking waaaaay over. Next to that you'll see a small building with a small tower thing on it, sorta green pointy roof on top.

Then next to that you'll see a couple of palm trees and then 2 more tower type thingies with sorta green roofs. Behind it is the main building.

Now if you got this far in my explanation you are doing better than my sisters did.

Our room was was right under the first sorta green tower roof in front of the main building.

Confused? That's ok, so am I.
Guess I'd better put down the Sangria for awhile.

[Colexis Mom]

Great update!

[chezp]

Looks like a nice place.

[pamcarey]

Great update!

[ShellingConnie]

DD10 has gotten her after school snack and the last of the chocolate chip cookies are in the oven so it's time for another trip report update.

Part 1 of Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving morning was chilly (and sunny. Yay!) when I woke up. Nothing was going to stop me from eating my breakfast out on the balcony while shivering and enjoying the beach. That’s one of my favorite things to do at the beach. I love to wake up before everyone else and sneak out to the balcony for some quiet time.

I had decided to save money by bringing items to eat breakfast in the room. The kids and DH chose a box Frosted Mini Wheats cereal and a box of Rice Crispies cereal since they like cereal. Then fruit cups and granola bars (for me!) and a box of donuts for a treat. Plus I tossed in a half a loaf of bread and a couple of those small packages of peanut butter.

Two 12 packs of Diet coke, a 6 pack of Root Beer, 10 small bottles of Sunny D, bottled water and some chips came along on this trip too. I brought plastic bowls, spoons, cups, and knives with us too. And the ever present paper towels. I can never leave those at home. Someone always manages to spill something in the room.

It does save us about 30.00 a day when we do that (even more if we were to eat in a restaurant vs. fast food breakfast). When I combine the money savings with time savings that it would take to go to a place to eat, it’s soooo worth it. Okay, enough with the groceries already. Time for more fun stuff.

DD10 woke up and joined me. The balcony was small and had 2 chairs and a small table so we could eat out there and be comfortable. We did have to bundle up in jackets and wrapped our travel blankets around our legs but it was fun.

We were on the 2nd floor and our room overlooked a deck and was near the playground. It was a good location since we just had to walk down the stairs which were right near our room, across the patio and then we were at the beach. While eating breakfast, we talked about what we were hoping to do that day.

The boys were still sleeping but DD and I decided we wanted to head to the beach so we put on some clothes, grabbed our hoodies and a bucket for gathering shells and headed out.

We found the hammocks first and DD had to try them out. She had a hard time getting in one and it was quite funny. At one point she was laughing so hard she fell right out.

This picture was taken later in the day. Here she is after figuring out how to stay in the hammock.

Then she romped on the playground for a bit. Here's a good playground pic:

We headed across the beach to the water next. It was starting to warm up so we took off our hoodies and walked along the water line looking for shells. The shelling was very poor so we decided to make a sandcastle. I showed her what to do and she worked on that for awhile.

In the meantime, it started to warm up more (about 60 degrees or so. LOL) so DD decided she wanted to put on her swimsuit so we could go swimming. We went up to the room where my husband and DS14 were just waking up. We had a quick snack and put on our swimsuits. Then we headed back to the beach. We watched people struggle with the paddle boats (they had a hard time getting over the sand bar) and I told DS after he joined us that if the weather was good, I’d take him on one. The water was cold but we still went in.

Cookies are done. Time to go save them from burning and protect them from the girl who is now going "Mom, I'm starving. Can I have a cookie?"

[ShellingConnie]

I have now
rescued the cookies from the starving 10 year old after giving her 2.

Thanksgiving Day: part 2

In a short while, DS14 joined us and I walked with them out to the sandbar. DD10 is just learning the trick of jumping the waves so she was nervous since the water was up to her neck. Once we got to the sandbar, we walked along it looking for shells or sand dollars but didn’t find anything at all. The kids were getting cold so we went back to the beach and headed to the room. DH was in the room, sitting in the chair, using his laptop.

I forgot to mention earlier that there is a charge for the internet use. I think it was 9.95. DH has something he got from Verizon that allows him to access the internet so we didn’t have to pay for the internet usage because we were linking thru a Verizon Cell Tower I think. I’m not sure what it is, just that DH wants it for his part time business.

After the kids and I cleaned up (and found out the bathtub drained really, really slow), I realized there was nowhere to hang our wet swimsuits or beach towels. The resort didn’t want wet towels and swimsuits hanging on balconies, it was noted in the paperwork, yet they had no place in the room to hang them other than on the shower bar which wouldn’t hold them all. It was strange.

But surprise, surprise, I was actually prepared.
When we go camping, I have a drying rack that I bring. I threw it in our SUV at the last minute so I had it with us. I went to the SUV since we didn’t bring it in the night before with all of the rain and brought it into the room. I set it up in the bathtub and hung our swimsuits on it since they were the wettest and draped our beach towels over the shower bar to dry.

Since it was Thanksgiving Day, we didn’t think anything was open so we stayed in the room, ordered room service for lunch and we were going to just hang out (which drives me nuts because I am not a sit around all the time person when I’m on vacation. I want to see and do things.) until it was 6pm and time to go to our Thanksgiving dinner at the Compass Grille.

Before our supper, I was bored so DD10 and I did a walk on the beach with her picking up a ton of small shells. DS14 joined us after about a half an hour. DH stayed in the room messing with his laptop. Um, you do know there’s a beach out there right, DH?

Then I wandered around the resort after getting the kids back to the room. They have 3 pools which were empty, a hot tub that was full of people’s kids treating it like a swimming pool, a fitness room, guest laundry and a tiny arcade. There was a courtyard area as well. While walking around, I found out that you could get towels by the pool that you could take to the beach which was good to know. I used those for the rest of the trip instead of our beach towels.

Now you’d think I would have taken pictures of the pools? Or the arcade? But nope, I sure didn’t and I didn’t realize it until now. Sheesh, I was lax on my picture taking this trip.
I did take some pictures of the courtyard:
One of the gazebo's:

And one of a waterfall in the courtyard:

There was a fountain in the courtyard but it was being fixed so I didn't take a picture of it.
So are you bored yet?
There's only 1 more part to Thanksgiving. I promise!

[Colexis Mom]

Great updates!

[chezp]

What a lovely relaxing day.

[pamcarey]

Sounds like a nice, easy day! You are brave to get in the water in that cool weather!

[ShellingConnie]

Now that the busy weekend is over, it's time for an update:

The quick final part of Thanksgiving day:

So after my walk about, I headed back to the room, grabbed DS14 and we hit the arcade. He had fun beating me at hockey but the rest of the arcade was not really fun for him. It was so tiny and half the games didn’t work. Before heading back to the room, we went to the guest services area where I told them about the games not working. They were very pleasant and thanked me for letting them know. Then we picked up brochures on some things to do in the area and went to our room to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

Of course after I was all dressed and ready I decided to have a quick sip of a Diet Coke. And spilled it all down my front. Luckily, I brought a second shirt that matched the sweater set I was wearing so I just changed the shirt. But then I had to change my earrings and necklace to match the new shirt better.

The Compass Grille at the resort was a nice place for Thanksgiving dinner. It is a casual restaurant so it’s just right for us. I had made a reservation a week before we left and was glad I did. They were telling walk ups they would have a 2 hour wait and this was at 6pm.

The food was very good except the desserts (the pecan pie was delicious but the rest of the pies were bland and they didn’t have any other dessert choices except pie which my DD10 doesn’t like) and we had a nice server. He looked exhausted and when I chatted with him, I found out he had been there since 7 that morning and was going to be there until they closed at 10pm. No wonder he looked so tired!

Dinner lasted an hour and a half because we decided not to rush. Oh and the important thing: I had the House Zinfandel Wine to drink and it was very good. Everyone else had Diet Coke.

We tried to walk on the beach afterwards but it was pitch dark and very cold so we went back to our room instead. I read (I love my kindle), DS14 and DD10 watched TV and played with their Nintendo DS’s and DH was on his laptop until bedtime. I also set out DD’s shells on the balcony to dry.

And that ends Thanksgiving Day.
So will tomorrow be warmer?