4/6/22
Well, yesterday was a relatively uneventful day—I did some chores and then moved from my wonderful Warmshowers host Kathleen’s place to my new wonderful Warmshowers host Patrick’s place, which was about a 3-mile journey. It was a hot and muggy day, so after my arrival, Patrick and I stayed in (with the adorable Jack Russell terrier he’s dog-sitting, Pebbles) where it was cool, and just chatted.
Today was more blog-worthy. For my last full day here in St. Pete, we went over to the Florida Botanical Gardens, which amazingly is a free public park. We explored the trails there—and even saw a mama gator with half a dozen babies! (see photo) as well as a long black snake (not pictured) and lots of cool native vegetation—and also the Heritage Village nearby. I didn’t get many good photos of that place, but it is a sort of village reconstructed from various old St. Petersburg buildings, preserved and relocated from their original sites when development overtook those original sites. We saw an old grocery store, train station, one-room schoolhouse, a few residences, a forge, and more.
From there, we biked through the picturesque Walsingham Park to reach the Pinellas Trail, which is the primary off-road bicycle path here in Pinellas County. We only rode a few short miles of the trail’s total 45-mile length, but it was pretty, and we got to go on a cool blue bridge over a freeway.
Tomorrow, I’ll be boarding the train from Tampa all the way to Savannah, Georgia. I’m sad to leave St. Petersburg and Florida, but excited to experience Savannah, as well as nearby Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Unfortunately, my train is not scheduled to arrive in Savannah until after 1:00 am, so I will not be able to post a blog tomorrow night. Look for one the following night.
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