Urban modern Florida in Clearwater

I swung by the Tampa International Airport on my way to Clearwater.   When I left Apalachicola, I had a long stretch on a beautiful highway next to the Gulf.   I was worried about the 6-hour drive to the airport, knowing that my trips usually included stops, so the "ETA" that Google maps promises may stretch.  I allowed about 60 minutes extra to allow me to stop when needed and possible traffic situations.  

Once the road veered inland,  there was a long stretch of two-lane highway with a solid yellow line down the middle, and I was following a black SUV that was dawdling along at 50 mph in a 55.   We were the only two cars on the road.   When I finally came to a spot where I could safely pass, I pulled into the left lane and punched the gas.  As I pulled back into my lane in front of the SUV, i.looked into the rear view mirror and was dismayed to see flashing lights.  The speed limit had dropped to 45, and the SUV was a police car.   I was lucky, he gave me only an informal warning, not a written one.  I think he realized he was going too slow.  

With traffic delays in Tampa, I arrived at the airport minutes before my husband's plane arrived.  

We met his sister and her boyfriend  for dinner at the Rumba, it was good.  

The next morning, she was working, so I ventured out to look for yarn stores.  The closest was in Largo, several miles away.  We drove along busy highway interchanges and on access roads as we made our way past strip malls, auto dealerships, pawn shops, fast food, and car washes.  When we got to the neighborhood with the yarn shop, though, the vibe was more relaxed.  The outside of the store reflected the name of the store, Creativity.  

I found buttons at a great price, and I bought some locally-dyed yarn that claimed Clearwater, Florida and Ohio as the source.  

With some time to kill, we visited a bike store close to my sister-in-law's house.   

Had dinner at Guppy's on the Beach.  It was great.  

I'll add photos to this post when I get to a place with a computer... 

Sand and sun in Apalachicola, Florida

My next stop was in Apalachicola, Florida.  

This town is along the Gulf Coast.  I was greeted by a fantastic sunset as I approached. 

 

After I checked in, I searched out a restaurant.......I found the Owl Cafe was open.  Across the street was a bar that was also open judging from the lights and music, but I was looking for something a little quieter.

The hotel let me store my bike in the laundry room, as it was one of those with no elevators up to the second floor.

In the morning I drove to the downtown area, which was filled with quaint shops and widecstreets that were very walkable.  In fact, I think I saw more foot traffic than cars. 

I parked on the diagonal in front of a bank, and took my bike off the rack. I rode a block out of downtown 

and ended up at what seemed to be a municipal park right on the water.

There was a path and a dock along the way for a short while.

As I rode around town,  I followed another woman on a bike.  She was not wearing a helmet, which seemed to speak of the slow pace of the town. I eventually came to the Gibson hotel/resort where she deposited her bike in front into what looked like a bank of bikes provided by the hotel. 

Continuing my ride, I stopped to take a photo of the Spanish moss hanging from an oak tree, when a dog came out of a house and started barking at me.   Two middle-aged, stocky, bearded men also came out and were watching me.  I apologized to them for upsetting their dog and moved along. 

Next I came to what might be the bike shop in Apalachicola.   There were bikes every where.  In the yard, on the fence, in the tree.

When I got to the corner I saw that the place also appeared to be an antique and curiosity shop. 

A few blocks later I came back into the downtown.  I stopped at a coffee shop. (They also had chocolate, but it was too early in the morning for that.  

I drank my coffee and headed for the bookstore which according to their website was also a yarn shop.  I thought I would be killing two birds with one stone.   

I explored the store,  looking for the yarn.  All I found was a cat!

But it turned out that the bookstore had been sold recently and the yarn shop was now in the art gallery next door. So I headed for the art gallery.

They had a space dedicated to yarn, including a lot of cotton yarns, not surprising in Florida.  I tend to knit more with wool.  I ended up buying a sale book on knitted fabrics by Jean Frost.  

I asked the clerk where ight be the best place in town for lunch, and she suggested I ride my bike out to the marina across from the state park, where was a restaurant with a patio overlooking the water. 

I never had oysters before, so I scratched off a bucket-list item.

After lunch I rode back to the bank, loaded my bike onto my car, and headed for the next destination, Clearwater, Florida, where my sister-in-law lives.  

New-old vibe in Milton, Georgia

 After reaching my hotel in Roswell, Georgia, I got my bike tucked in and then ventured out to eat dinner.

 There was a fabulous place across the street, kitty-cornered, from the hotel so I decided to walk.  

The restaurant atmosphere was fabulous, it looked like it had been there for a while, but was super-luxe. I ordered the tuna. The filets melted in my mouth.  The croissant was sweet, and the salad was good. 

In the morning I ventured to the local yarn store in Milton, Unwind.  It was in a strip mall.  I realized that it was not a "downtown" in this area, the neighborhood is not very walkable.  You really needed a car to get around.  

Inside, I found a group of ladies working on their projects.  Two of them were making a mosaic shawl, one in a dark-grey and off-white and the other in a light and dark green.  I told them about my trip and that I had come from Ohio. One of the ladies had lived in Crossville, Tennessee and she agreed with my characterizations of the town as having an old-fashioned real downtown, but also stretching out over several miles.   This yarn shop had been described on google as having a real "community" outreach and all the ladies agreed when I mentioned that.  I could tell they had been knitting together for years. 

I spoke with the shop owner and she pointed me toward some of her specialty yarns.  She imports yarn from Ireland and other places.  I ended up choosing five skeins of a merino-linen blend that were sale-priced. 

Next, I sought out a bike shop.  It was several miles from the yarn shop.

The bike shop had a lot of customers who were taking coffee at the cafe bar.  There were bikes inside, but no one greeted me, and no one appeared to be looking at bikes.  The products on display were not marked with prices, which made me think that perhaps they had only recently opened. 

 The bike shop and the bookstore I was looking for were across the street from each other,  in a recently-constructed shopping mall that had apparently been planned to look old by the architects.  

I enjoyed the planter full of pansies outside the bookstore. 

 

The clerks in the bookshop were very friendly and kind.  They were interested in my trip.  One of them was from Sharon, Pennsylvania, originally, until her husband was transferred to Atlanta.  I asked them about the bike shop and they didn't seem to know much about it.  There were a few shelves of used books, but mostly everything in the bookshop seemed shiny and new.  There were several bookcases full of teen literature and several bookcases full of Christian literature.  I saw a shelf of classics and a shelf of gardening books.  It was getting toward lunchtime and they steered me to the "The Nest" cafe at the end of the street. 

It was a beautiful day, and there was a long line at the counter.  I decided to go to Lily's Sushi next door. 

All in all, the shopping experience in this simulated downtown area left me feeling like I had just visited a modern outdoor shopping mall.  It was walkable, but I didn't get that lived-in "neighborhood" vibe that make a town feel cozy.  

I retrieved my car from the parking lot and headed for the next stop. 

Relax in Crossville, Tennessee

I am in Crossville, Tennessee today on my way to Florida. 

It's a quaint little town east of Nashville with Highway 127 running right through it.  

It was quite an adventure driving here from Kentucky on the way to Florida. I was driving after dark on a narrow country road that was hilly and had hairpin turns, and no street lights. A large owl flew out of a tree and scared me.  I kept thinking about the movie "Deliverance".  I finally arrived.   I stayed at a chain hotel just off the I-40 interchange. 

Why didn't I look at the route Google had plotted for me in advance!

 I had selected Crossville because my online research said it had a yarn store, a bike shop, a bookstore or two, and a coffee shop.  

On arriving downtown, I found the town still has diagonal parking spots along the main square.   It is Presidents Day, and several of the businesses were closed.

It also has a locally-owned drugstore!

  That is a rarity these days as the big chain stores have most put competing drugstores on each corner, then folded, leaving residents with a CVS or the pharmacy in their big-box  grocery store. 

The Yarn Patch was just around the corner from the square.  The owner, Heather, was just opening up as I walked up.  She placed a couple of sandwich signs on the sidewalk advertising locally-sourced yarn.  

The yarn store was delightful.

Heather carries supplies and equipment for knitting, crochet, spinning and embroidery, including sashiko.

After looking over the yarn in the store, I took a walk downtown. There was a giant boot on the sidewalk next door. 

The bike shop was not what I expected. It was a power sports center with Motorbikes, but it appeared to be out of business.  

There was a fantastic mural along the side of one of the buildings downtown. There may be more, but I was on foot.  

I had a cup of coffee at the Grinder shop across the street from the yarn store.  

Heather had advised me about a new book store in town, and I drove out to see it, but it seemed that it was closed due to being President's Day.  

There was a Buc-ees along the way, I stopped. What a crazy place!!  Lots of kitchy-type stuff and barbecued food.  I skipped at went to The Cabin restaurant a few miles down the road, where I had hush puppies like my mom used to make and a fabulous salad. 

Then it was time to hit the road for the next stop on this tour.