APRIL 20 - FRIDAY & APRIL 21 - SAT., 2012

FRI.- Today we drove to Clearwater. We heard that the beach there was really nice. It was about a 140 mile drive. We had to drive across a very long bridge over part of the Gulf of Mexico. There was a sign posted to check your gas gauge before starting across the bridge. We would go through a very high class neighborhood, then a few miles down the road, it would be a rather run down neighborhood. The city district of Clearwater is like Chicago - large buildings.The beach has fine white sand, as most of the beaches on the Gulf side, so you can not drive your car on them. We were very lucky to see a car pulling out & got a fairly close parking place, but it still was a walk down to the beach. It is very hard to walk on the fine sand.(don't know why the type changed, but I can't change it. Sometimes my computer has a mind of it's own!) Anyway the beach was really crowded, but it was huge, so there was no problem to set our chairs up. The water was wonderful, not cold at all. We were near where they were renting wave riders & para sailing, so there was a lot to watch. Richard did great with his detecting, he found $1.48, an earring,a hot wheel car (for Zachary) . He said it was very easy to dig in the fine sand. It was well worth the drive there. It is amazing how clean the beaches are kept.

SAT. - Today we went to a farmer/french market here in Ocala. Got some fresh fruit & good pastry. It was predicted for rain, so the beach was not an option. In fact it rained last night. Florida has not had much rain & signs are posted all over that because of the dry conditions,, forest fires are a threat. By afternoon it poured. We found another catholic church in Ocala. We went to 6:00 mass. It is a huge,beautiful church, Blessed Trinity. The music was great, a piano, organ, guitar & a really good choir. They have a huge monitor screen up by the altar, & the words to the songs & the readings were scrolled on it. It stopped raining when we got out of church, but storms are predicted for tonight.