Les Jones

Funny thing. I work in St. Pete, but literally I cross the bridge from Tampa and where it ends is the limit of my St. Pete knowledge.

My only advice - bring sunblock. The sun here is brutal.

Clearwater is not kid friendly, though it won’t be too bad given that you aren’t doing the Spring Break thing.

Treasure Island has a good beach and several resorts like the Thunderbird. Some restaurants and shops in the area. Can’t say for certain which resorts are over-priced.

St Pete Beach also has a great beach, the big resorts, Seratta and Don Ceasar, are expensive, but I never look at what the smaller resorts would be.

Most of the chains - Days Inn, etc. have some presence on the beach.

You will need a car - that much is certain, though the trolley can take you most places, most people find a car is worth it, unless all you are going to do is sit on the beach.

The adults will enjoy the Dali Museum, though the sexual innuendos in his work may be a bit much for the kids.

Food is universally expensive - and service sucks - on the beach. They view everyone as tourists they will never see again. Local dives are in fact dives. I usually head to downtown St Pete, since I find the attitude is a *little* better.

Beach only? or Busch Gardens? or the Land of the Mouse? (Busch gardens is probably an hour away, the Mouse is several hours, even if the traffic is good - and the traffic is rarely good.)

The Pier at St Petersburg is overrated, though Fred D. who runs the Dolphin Queen does nice tour of the waterfront. Not cheap but a fun couple of hours on the water.

They do a nice fishing charter out of John’s Pass on Treasure Island if you enjoy fishing. Boat rentals and charters I am not up on, but they are scattered around. Also probably more tours, though I think your resort would have the low-down.

Once you get closer to the dates in question, email me and I will try to clue you in on the places to go, places to eat etc.

Robb: will do.

Deb: Most likely Busch Gardens. Our kids are 1 and 3 so I don’t think we’re doing the Mouse this time.

Busch Gardens rocks. Barely 30 minutes from my domicile and we have the sooper-dooper season passes for all of us.

As an amusement park, it blows Disney out of the water (as a theme park, though…).

As far as food, there’s Mel’s Chicago Style Hotdogs right down the street. Awesome wieners!