Visiting the Chihuly Collection in Downtown St. Pete, FL

For my birthday this year, I took the day off. One of my best friends birthday is the same day. She flew from Houston to celebrate together. We decided to spend that afternoon in Downtown St. Pete while everyone else had a normal workday. We had lunch at Ceviche, one of our favorite restaurants. After a nice and long luch, we decided to play tourist and went to the Chihuly Collection. This was the first time that we went to see this gallery.

Chihuly Collection, Downtown St. Pete

The Chihuly Collection, part of the Morean Arts Center, is located in Downtown St. Petersburg along Beach Drive. There is a permanent collection from the famous artist Dale Chihuly in the Gallery. The pieces are truly impressive. The entrance is $14.95. There are several ticket options to visit the shop and the glass studios. I got my tickets from Groupon a few months ago at 50% off. There are free tours at the Gallery that I'm sure are a great way to learn more about the artist and his work. Sadly, we didn't have a lot of time to wait for the next tour. Our visit was short, but I'm glad that I visited one of the most famous attractions in St. Petersburg. Pictures were not allowed inside. I got the picture below from the official website.

Photo Credit: www.moreanartscenter.com

Downtown St. Pete

The Vinoy Resort is one of the prettiest hotels in downtown St. Pete

Beach Day @ Ft. De Soto Beach

The best thing about having family and friends visiting is that they all want to go to the beach. I took my friends to Ft. de Soto Beach 2 weeks ago. This beach is a little farther away than most of the Tampa Bay area beaches, but after the tropical storm Debbie in June most of St. Pete Beach are still in bad shape. We are getting ready for another storm heading our way, Isaac, apparently it could be a category 1 hurricane. We have to go buy supplies today just in case that the storm comes our way on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully, we will get some sunshine during the long weekend and Isaac's path will turn away from us in the next few days. 

Covered in Sand Head to Toe

Ft. De Soto Beach Park

Summer Day @ Fort de Soto Beach Park

Debbie, a big tropical storm visited Tampa last June. After reading the papers we thought that the beach was destroyed. My sister and I wanted to go to our favorite local beach, Sunset Beach, located south of Treasure Island near St. Pete. We decided to go to Fort de Soto because the articles didn't list this beach as one affected by the storm. The beach was a little dirty, but other than that it looked like nothing happened.

The beach was not too crowded probably because everyone thought that the beaches were in bad shape after the storm. There is a new $5 fee to get into the park so I'm sure that there are less visitors because of that. 

Ft. de Soto Beach

Ft. De Soto Fishing Pier

Protected Turtle Nests

Everytime I go to this beach I want to walk to the fort. However, we always park too far away and with the extreme heat all I want to do is relax. This time, we parked very close to the fort and before I got lazy I walked towards it. It was nice to learn more about the history of this place. 

Ft. De Soto Beach

I wanted to wait for the sunset, but it is extremely hot in the Summer and we couldn't stay any longer. We need to bring a big umbrella next time to take breaks from the sun. Fort de Soto has been named to America's Top Ten Beaches list by Dr. Beach numerous times. In 2005 it was number one in this list. I never heard of Dr. Beach before living in Florida, but this beach really deserves the title. 

Visiting the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

Last Sunday we went to the Salvador Dali Museum in Downtown St. Petersburg, Fl. The new building was completed in 2011. I saw the picture of the building in magazines but never made the short 30 minute trip to see it. It is always nice to visit Downtown St Pete since it is located next to the water. There are many coffee shops and restaurants along Beach Drive. 

St. Petersburg, Florida

This the largest Salvador Dali Museum outside of Europe. The third floor is the collection, the second floor is the library, and the first floor is the store and coffee shop. There are several of his most famous art works. I was really impressed by the size of the collection. I never expected to see 2 of my favorite Dali paintings: the "Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at 20 Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln" and the "Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory". I wanted to take at least a cell phone picture, but we were not allowed to do it. My mom is a painter and I wanted to send her a picture of the paintings that I saw. I loved the museum and the building is the best part of it. The admission is $21 for adults and it includes and audio tour. We used it to learn more about to the history of the paintings and the life of Dali. We skipped the guided tour since we have no patience to wait for a big group. You can visit the coffee shop and the store in the first floor for free. 

Salvador Dali Museum

Salvador Dali Museum. St. Pete, Fl

"The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory". Photo Credit: http://thedali.org

After our visit to the museum we drove to our favorite Gelateria in St. Pete. We each had a huge gelato at Paciugo and headed back home. It was the end for a perfect lazy weekend.