A day away

Anybody who has spent any time with me recently would know that these past few weeks have not been the easiest, which means here that within my sphere of people there have been some huge swings of emotion. Lots of good things, but also some pretty difficult stuff to deal with. Most of it didn't happen to me, but to people I care about, which for me is usually worse. Too much drama, lots of work, a good-sized portion of stress, and not enough sleep. So saying I needed a break was a pretty dramatic understatement.

As it turned out, this was a long-planned weekend in Clearwater Beach with my wife and one daughter, which could not have been more right place at the right time. The day of departure completely crazy. Honestly, I can't believe that I managed to get everything done that I did, from making up and giving tests to meetings to teaching a class while eating a Wawa tuna wrap to pretty much every other thing I ever do during a school day all packed in from about 6 AM until 1:30 when I headed home. And at least it seems that I didn't seriously screw anything up in the process.

So we got to the airport just at the right time for our flight, and got into Tampa airport and over to Clearwater earlier than expected. We're staying at the Hilton here, which is a first time for me. It's the 6th different hotel I've used on these trips and I'm pretty happy with the choice.

I usually use Tripadvisor as a primary source for hotel searches, and had always avoided this place, in spite of its almost perfect location, because everyone said it felt old and a little run down. But this year all the reviews said things about "newly renovated," so I decided to give it a try. It's definitely had a going over, and more of it is good than not. The room is good-sized and nicely furnished, if you're into hotel furniture. Hotels are strange things, if you think about it, and how they put rooms together often makes me think about the meetings involved in the planning. Why did they make this or that particular choice? Why is there something like this out here rather than behind the desk where it wouldn't be seen?

The bed is comfortable and there's a refrigerator rather than a minibar, which is always a plus. They have a small fitness center, though the hotel guide says it's on the 3rd floor, which it is not. I ended up finding it by accident looking for the lobby. The only really confounding thing is the bathroom. It's clear that the designers found the space problematic, because there are some quirks. The sink is very stylish and looks good when you are standing over it, but the faucet is on the side rather than in back, which requires more thought from the user than would be ideal to figure out how to get hot or cold water. And as nice as it looks up above you can see the entire plumbing system down below, which is just odd.

In the hundred or so hotel reviews I've written, I've never had occasion to mention the view from the toilet, because that just seems icky for some reason, even though I suspect that most if not all of the people reading this have sat on a toilet at one time or another. Anyway, the underside of the sink is what you see when you're sitting there. It's nice and new and shiny. but not exactly slick. And what you do not see is the toilet paper, or bath tissue as the labels read but nobody, and I mean nobody, ever says or even thinks. That's because it's behind you and hidden in a kind of cubby.

It's also facing away from you, so if you can find it you have to reach back to get at it. Hopefully I won't tear a rotator cuff trying to get at it. And I can't not mention the fact that the toilet itself is several inches lower than normal, which is far more disconcerting than one would think. Any why doesn't anyone understand that people in hotels want to be able to find and use the bathroom during the night without having to leave the bright fluorescent light on? Dimmer switch? Night light? Too difficult apparently.

But at least they designed crown moulding to accommodate the sprinkler...

But enough about that. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant because it was easy. I got 8 hours of sleep, which is about the total I'd had the previous two nights combined. And by the time I had walked on the beach for a little while I felt so much better that I couldn't believe it. The beach here is spectacular- a wide swath of powdery white sand (Ronnie described it as feeling like walking on flour) with a hard packed part down by the water that's ideal for walking. 

It was so nice that I ended up walking 5 miles all told, and it was rejuvenating. Got back to the hotel and ate something and then we went to a ballgame at the jauntily named Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Saw some nice practice baseball and I had a blueberry wheat beer with floated frozen blueberries, a first for me.

Back at the hotel I napped for a bit and then worked out. After a shower we walked up to Frenchy's Rockaway Grill, one of my favorite spots here. Right on the beach and totally casual, no reservations, so we got on the list knowing we'd have to wait an hour and then walked onto the beach to watch the sunset. Sunsets are a thing in Clearwater. Seeing the sun disappear into the Gulf of Mexico can be a real highlight if you catch a good one, which we did tonight.

Don't have more pictures because I was too busy watching it to be dealing with a camera. It looked like the sun was getting squashed down into the water- it almost seemed oval by the time it was halfway over the horizon. When it finally slipped below the edge the hundreds of people on the beach applauded. And hopefully it will rise and set again tomorrow as well. We walked back to the restaurant and waited a few minutes before our table came up.

The food at Frenchy's is good, but what really struck me was how happy everyone there was. Lots of laughing and friendly conversation. The whole day was like that. At one point we were going down to the ground floor and the elevator stopped at the lobby level, which is one flight up. The other people in the elevator apologized for having pushed the wrong button, and I said that considering that was probably the worst thing that had happened to me all day, that it must have been a pretty good day.

Tomorrow is a beach day- baseball at night. It's supposed to be 81 degrees and sunny, so hopefully we can keep the winning streak going. I've had a few occasions in my life where I really really needed a break and this was one of them. I feel blessed, whatever that means, that it's worked out as well as it has so far.