Chihuly and Tapas in St. Pete

A little burned from my day at the beach, I decided to walk around the waterfront and check out the art in St. Petersburg to avoid too much direct sun! They have a pretty good Chihuly collection, with many of his styles on exhibit, but after walking through it I decided it probably wasn't worth the $15 entrance fee. If you have been to the Bellagio you have seen more spectacular installations. The waterfront area in St. Pete is lush and tranquil, with little restaurants and shops lining the main street. The best surprise was discovering that my favorite Tapas restaurant, Ceviche, has a location right on Beach drive!

Siesta Beach, Sarasota FL

I couldn't have picked a better spot for my first trip to the Gulf! I covered it in an earlier post, but the sand is what makes it amazing. The Gulf water is so warm and crystal clear. I could see fish swimming around my legs! Everything, from the water to the sand, was pristine. I didn't see one cigarette butt or piece of trash...makes Waikiki look like a sewer! In fact this beach puts all beaches to shame! Its easy to see why Dr. Beach ranked this place the #1 beach for 2011.

The Best Sand I Have Ever Felt!

100% Quartz sand = the best sand I have ever seen, felt, walked on. Its got to be about 90 degrees here, but the sand is cool on your feet. My towel just melted into a fluffy white cloud of this stuff!

Devil Crabs

One of the best things about finding myself in Tampa again is the food! My coworkers here introduced me to Brocato's Sandwich Shop, home of the Devil Crabs the size of footballs! I wasn't sure what to make of it until I cracked it open to find that its essentially a crab cake...on crack! I drizzled a little Texas Pete's hot sauce on it...perfection! Yay Cuban food!

The Shrine

I decided to take a little road trip about 25 miles from downtown Juneau to The Shrine of St. Therese, Queen and Patroness of Alaska. This really cool little chapel was built in 1938 on a small island connected to the beach by a footpath. As I was walking back from the island to the beach I saw a pod of Killer Whales about 100 yards from the shore breaching and swimming around. Words cannot describe how amazingly beautiful it is up here!

The Mendenhall Glacier

Named after Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (some buckeye who helped draw the boarder between Alaska and Canada), the Mendenhall Glacier is 12.5 miles long! This picture doesn't do it justice. You can see this toothpaste blue glacier from most of the roads near the valley. The scenery is breathtaking here!

Yep...I'm in Alaska!

I'm not sure what this animal is, but it was at The Viking tonight! I have only been in Juneau for a few hours but so far its living up to all of my expectations!