Winter Florida Trip - Travel Day - December 7

This was the year my travel plans were all shook up.  So as I watched things get cancelled and removed from the calendar, I looked for ways to still travel in a way that fit my budget and that would help me heal from the divorce.  When I heard my parents had rented a place on Sanibel Island and had a pull out couch, I might have invited myself for part of their stay.  :)

But I also wanted some time to myself so I'm taking my time getting down there.  After a successful road trip north for Thanksgiving in my Tesla, I was confident that I would enjoy this time in my car just as much.

I left at 6:00 a.m. with a full charge.  The streets were quiet and I had a chance to stop at this stoplight and admire the Magic City sign.

The first colors of the sunrise were just starting to appear as the lights of Birmingham were in my rearview mirror.  Temperatures started out in the 20s but got warmer with every charging stop.  At one point, in the fairly early morning hours, I crossed a river that was engulfed in steam and low level fog.  If only I could have pulled over somewhere to photograph the scene.  It was mystical and a sight I will not quickly forget.  

Albany, GA

These first charging stops were really quiet but by the time I got to Valdosta, GA, they got quite a bit busier.  There was a Cybertruck at this one (pictured below in the furthest stall).

The last one in Ocala, FL even had a warning about being a high usage supercharger and reset my charging limit to 80%, although I could and did override that because this was my last stop and my hotel did not have charging.  All eight chargers at this location were pretty consistently occupied although it seemed that no one ever waited - there was always someone leaving as someone new arrived.  I wandered the mall while I waited and marveled at the sheer number of people and then I realized it's the Christmas season when everyone is out shopping!

I love seeing palm trees and they were all over this mall in Ocala that I walked as I waited for my last charge.

Then before I went to my hotel, I took my car through a car wash.  This was the last intimidating thing I needed to overcome since the divorce.  I know it is silly but I so rarely drove over the last decade and this Tesla has a checklist of things to do in the very brief time you have as you are entering the car wash.  Regardless, I successfully got the car in neutral and pushed all the right buttons before the car wash began!  Yay!

I even vacuumed the front seat area!

Then I checked into my hotel, the Holiday Inn & Suites Ocala Conference Center where the front desk woman was able to easily get my name changed on the reservation to my new name.  I had already changed my name with the loyalty program but the name mismatch seemed to be causing issues with accessing the reservation on the app and I wanted to make sure I got the points!  The hotel is really nice and I have a quiet room on the sixth floor.  I'm loving lounging in the chaise lounge in my room!

I ended the day relaxing in the hotel room and making plans for the next day.

Winter Florida Trip - Tampa/St. Petersburg - December 8, 2024

As I loaded my car after checking out of my hotel this morning, the sky was pained in pastels as the sun got ready to rise.

My first stop was Lettuce Lake Park.  I wanted to arrive there around 8:00 a.m. when they opened and it was about an hour and twenty minute drive from where I was.  I had last visited Lettuce Lake Park about 3 years ago and really enjoyed it.  At that time, I had a chance to observe up close a Little Blue Heron, Limpkin, and so many other birds.  Birds can't be predicted though so I went in ready to enjoy whatever I happened upon.  I later talked to a couple that are regular visitors of the park.  They mentioned that the shorebirds had been scared away by the last major hurricane and had not returned yet so the park had been a bit quiet.  

There were so many Black Vultures!  They would lift off a tree in unison, the flurry of their wings deafening in such large numbers and then resettle in the same or a nearby tree.

I had hoped to see a Little Blue Heron and I did!  This is a juvenile who hasn't received his blue feathers yet.  He was across the way quite a ways so it's not the greatest photo.

This is a Red-bellied Woodpecker - they were so noisy this morning!

Black-crowned Night Heron

Pied-bill Grebe with some gorgeous colors reflected in the water!

An Anhinga pair

White Ibises in flight

These Pied-bill Grebes spent a lot of time chasing each other!

A Palm Warbler

So I sat down on the boardwalk to get a better angle on a White Ibis down in the water when I heard fluttering over my head!

Looking up from the fluttering, there stood a White Ibis right on the railing!

A male Anhinga drying his wings

You can rent kayaks in this park which might be fun some time.

The White Ibises were the bird of the day!

After spending maybe 2.5 hours at this park, I was getting hungry.  My hotel didn't have included breakfast and I hadn't wanted to wait for the sit down restaurant to open at seven (or pay for it honestly) so my breakfast had been a couple peppermint brownies that I had bought the day before and some cold brew.  I stopped at a fast food restaurant called Salems Fresh Eats.  I ordered a Shrimp bowl which had rice, beans, onions, peppers, mushrooms, and fried shrimp.  It was huge but quite good!

Then I headed to downtown St. Petersburg which has a cute downtown area so that I could visit the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts Center.  I love Dale Chihuly's work and so ever since I heard of the existence of this museum, it has been on my list of places to go and it did not disappoint!  My entrance ticket even included a live glass demonstration.

I might have laid on the floor to get this photo of the ceiling..... :)

Here are a couple of photos from the live glass demonstration.  

It's a vase with these intricate handles.

By that time, I figured it was late enough to start heading to my next hotel.  I would spend the next two nights at the Hilton Garden Inn St. Pete Beach.  Being right on the beach, it was not a cheap hotel but I had a free night award from my credit card so only had to pay out of pocket for one night.  

They advertised having EV charging.  From Tesla's website, it looked like it would be Tesla Destination chargers which have always been free at other hotels I have stayed at so I was a bit surprised when I plugged in and my phone told me I would be charged $0.33/kWh.  I'm not against paying for the electricity I use but that is a pretty high price for what you get.  The Superchargers in the area cost $0.33-$0.36/kWh but deliver power at a high speed (a full charge in about 40 minutes vs. 8+ hours).  A slow charger shouldn't be the same price.  Oh well, I guess it's just part of the nickel and diming that happens at resorts today.  I think I'm being charged a $30 resort fee as well on top of my room rate.

The room is very nice though with a little balcony.  I spent some time down by the beach and then returned to my room and sat on my balcony for quite a bit longer.  I have a small view of the water and could see the colors of the sunset.